The hard work of redesigning the track at Three Mile Bend and testing it finally paid off on the weekend.
Chris Coulter, president of Red Deer Radio Control Car Club, has been involved in getting the track ready for the Battle at the Bend, a weekend long remote control car race that featured cars from all over Alberta and parts of Western Canada.
Coulter estimated about 100 vehicles, of varying classes and sizes, were on hand for the races.
The event was to start on Friday night with practice races, but they were washed out by rain.
On Saturday, there were qualifying heats and it concluded early Sunday afternoon with the final races.
“We take turns going between cities,” said Coulter. “Every three weeks, there’s a race that goes on in Alberta.
“We started the Battle at the Bend last year, we figured we’d need something catchy, and we’ve kept running with it.”
Although they just took the catchy name, races have been taking place for about 10 years. The club has 65 to 70 members.
Coulter was at work leading up to the event building the new track.
“We took the Bobcats out and levelled the track and built a new layout,” said Coulter. “We’ve been on it for a few weeks and it’s a lot of work and a lot of testing is involved.
“We always bring our vehicles out with us so we can test the jumps and perfect them.”
Coulter described the vehicles racing as “hobby-grade.” Some are worth thousands of dollars. On top of the kit costs, the racers carry many spare parts and other equipment to race their vehicles.
Coulter said his wife races a one-eighth scale buggy. The kit for the buggy cost about $700.
“Then you have to build it, tune it and then you put your own engine, your own electronics in there,” said Coulter. “Then you’ll need fuel, tools and starter boxes.
“When it was all said and done, just to get my wife on the track and racing we were about $1,500 deep into it.”
This is the club’s big annual race, and it provides most of the funding for the non-profit group.
A raffle was also held and all proceeds from the raffle were donated to the Central Alberta Sexual Assault Support Centre.
The winner walked away with an HB D8-12 buggy valued at about $1,000.
For more information on the club, visit their Facebook Page under the group name Clutch Nutz R/C Club.
mcrawford@www.reddeeradvocate.com