pictures and video's from 2010
May 27th- Early qualifying saw 92 trucks qualify and went very smoothly.
Pics of todays action: http://s256.photobucket.com/albums/hh176/arquatro/2010%20RC%20World%20Finals/?action=view¤t=e4153ae8.pbw photos by Allan Quatro.
Early qualifiers were rewarded with $1,000 in prizes contributed by HPI Racing, Pro-line racing, GH Hobby, and Spektrum. LOTS more prizes will be awarded throughout the event.
RCCA Magazine Coverage:
http://www.rccaraction.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=news&mod=News&mid=9A02E3B96F2A415ABC72CB5F516B4C10&tier=3&nid=3A5783A14F2446FDBC4F6B0E8F4F4055
News from No Limit R/C:
http://www.nolimitrc.com/news/51/
PICTURES AND VIDEO'S FROM 2009
No Limit R/C Monster Truck Worlds Finals
Friday May 22-24, 2009
Words & photo: Rodney Wills
Poplar Branch, NC: Memorial Holiday weekend, No Limit R/C Monster Truck Worlds Finals sponsored by HPI RACING and Debbie's RC World, celebrated the 4th annual event with over 200 event participants competition for bragging rights and prizes in excess of $30,000!
Also in attendance is the man himself, Dennis Anderson as well as his son's Adam [Driver of TAZ Monster Jam Series] and Ryan [Crew for TAZ]. While they are best known for their participation in the full size monster truck world, they are massive R/C enthusiast! So massive, that they have built a specific area for running R/C monster truck events at their house and a newly added Baja specific track! In fact, this event is at their house!!!
A weekend of competition! With over eight different categories such as 4X4 Small Block, 4X4 Big Block, along with several electric powered classes such as the Pro WheelyKing and and the newly added gas powered 1/5th scale Baja class - all made for an exciting race weekend! PLUS PULLING!!! Pulling was added a couple of years ago as an exhibition class and has grown quickly as enthusiast love the sport and is fun to watch as brute force is the name of the game!
While most full-size Monster Truck fans have fun watching from the grandstands, the R/C enthusiast has dreams of driving and bringing his or her dreams to reality in the most affordable, scaled-down solution within the radio controlled hobby. Truth be know, the full size monster truck drivers as well as their support crew have fun with the R/C monster trucks and carry them in the full size support rigs as they criss-cross the country, a true testament of a cross-over hobby for motorsports enthusiast.
Plan now for 2010 [5th annual event] as we will be back in Poplar Branch, NC during the Memorial Day weekend, at the Diggers Dungeon for more RC Monster Truck Racing! While the Dungeon is the preparation/service/repair shop for the full size monster trucks that compete in Monster Jam Series, site also includes the Digger's Dungeon Souvenir Shop and a newly added Digger's Diner of which we tested out over the weekend - awesome food - killer SHAKES! And make sure to also check out the super competitive R/C Monster Truck Racing.
If you are looking to get into the radio controlled monster truck racing hobby:
Competition Info: www.nolimitrc.com
Visit Debbie's RC World in Chesapeake, VA. The official shop sponsor for No Limit R/C Monster Truck Worlds Finals: www.debbiesrcworld.com
Digger Dungeon Souvenir Shop is open 7-Days a week and located on Highway 158 about 40 miles from the Virginia Line. Highway 158 runs along the coast. The dungeon is 15-20 miles north of Kill Devil Hills.
Digger Dungeon is located at 5650 Caratake Hwy., Poplar Branch, NC 27965
For more information you can call the Dungeon at 252-453-4121.
http://www.gravedigger.com/dungeon
The Power Turns
Images / words: Rodney Wills
Hello HPI FANS!!!
OK, for this installment of images, I have chosen the POWER TURNS. I came back with so many images I just started grouping them into themes and will showcase them as such. The POWER TURNS are AWESOME!
The event was such a spectacle! But at the end of the day, it's all about these monster trucks, the drivers and the awesome display of power! With agility, driver control and self-control, drivers are juggling precious seconds to cross the finish line. Pressure is on the line! While it's easy to punch it and blast down the straights, the turns are what usually burns everyone. Overshoot it, cook it, roast it, what ever you want to call it, if you get it WRONG you are dead!
Get it RIGHT and it is one of the most AWESOME displays of driving talent melted with RAW power. The kind of raw power that the SAVAGE family of vehicles deliver earning sacred rights as the #1 vehicle platform and placing many drivers on the podium at the No Limit R/C Monster Truck World Finals.
This is NOT your typical Truggy/Buggy race and to dominate in those multi-lap environments is absolutely no guarantee you can even wheel competitively in the off-road obstacle-riddled drag racing environment of the monster truck world!
Monster Truck racing the NO LIMIT way, while most might scoff at, discredit or downright downplay - has sent a few "na-sayers" home with "L's" on their foreheads wondering just what happened! Side-by-side drag racing is tremendous pressure, absolute FUN!
Again, HPI thanks all of the drivers wheeling our products across the globe and especially at the No Limit R/C Monster Truck World Finals! THANK YOU!
More to come.
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POWER STARTS at the 2009 No Limit R/C Monster Truck World Finals
Words / Photos: Rodney Wills
POWER - POWER - POWER! It’s what everyone dreams, lust, wants and downright NEEDS! But-really? Well, at least we think we do. But no matter, if we don’t have enough or have too much, in the world of monster truck racing, it’s basically up to one finger, the trigger finger to squeeze the throttle-trigger and hope it doesn’t result in a back-flip bang or a flame-out dud.
Traction and weight-distribution are calculated in milliseconds just after sorting the power start in hopes of getting off the start line clean enough to stay on the throttle delivering mad-rip out of the starting box! Did I cut a clean light? Did I react fast enough to the green? Can I make time on my opponent? All that is going through the head and you haven’t even gone 20-feet yet AND if you did not traction roll yourself onto your roof! IT’S ALL ABOUT THE START!
But after that fraction of a second, you have a whole hand of driving talent cards do dish out and hope you don’t run out of card dealing talent before you reach the finish line. In monster truck racing, this one moment, this one-lap is over in a very short time… try and average of 13.5 SECONDS! That is a blink of the eye compared to the Baja track laps averaging 37-seconds with 20-30 minute session resulting drivers getting tired on the drivers stand. There is not session or multiple-laps or make up time, much less, mistake time at the NO LIMIT RC MONSTER TRUCK WORLD FINALS! The only time you are going to shave is off the light and have you had your energy drink of choice to increase your reaction time! O’yea, SWEET TEA official energy drink at the Digger’s Diner!
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SLED PULLING at the NO LIMIT R/C MONSTER TRUCK WORLD FINALS
Photos/words: Rodney Wills
Sled pulling... There is something both natural and unnatural about sled pulling. You might think about the holiday reindeers and maybe the Iditarod Great Sled Race...
...but R/C Sled Pulling?
While I remember Benjamin "BOBO" Winslow, Henry Cross and the Dungeon Crew talking about it a couple of years ago, I had yet to witness it myself until Saturday night. Everyone was beat from the long day of trashing with the Monster Truck racing and the Baja activities. It was an early rise to be at the track all day and dinner call was calling and we where tired! It seemed to be around 7:00pm, dinner passed by as the group had transformed an area on the Monster Truck track. Someone get the Cheezits, its going to be a late night!
Scraped and packed smooth to what looked like an outlaw dirt drag strip complete with two lines of baking flour on either side marking the course with two white lines in the dirt, plus a start line and a finish line. That seemed short, was my first thought, and any Savage enthusiast, I was sure, would be of the same opinion. The whole atmosphere was that of a loose-knit hyper-relaxed feeling of being at the illegal street races.
"What is going on?" Who is going to race who?" "Who has the baddest vehicle?" Best thing to do in these circumstances is to just lay back and observe, but sorry I have a camera and I want to see the action - plus this is not illegal but at the same time, I'm not hearing anything about R/C truck pulling in California so I want to see what is going on!
What I saw going on is that we, HPI Racing have been the chosen truck to use in pulling. While everyone's rig has a different flavor, style and mechanical set-up, the basic platform of choice was the HPI Racing SAVAGE with BIG BLOCK POWER! THANK YOU PULLING ENTHUSIAST! We where very impress and very blown away by what we saw! We forgot about dinner and fell into the truck pulling hype! Then if the single Big Block screaming Savage is not enough... then, the Unlimited Sled Pullers had two BIG BLOCKS in one chassis! Now that was the spectacle as these trucks would pull some 60 pounds across the ground.
It would be past mid-night before the festivities would end. Off to the local 7-11 for dinner as everywhere is closed! We where both delirious and elated - What a day - WHAT A NIGHT!!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
4x4 Big Block Sled Pulling Winners
1] Ray Mowery - Savage XL
2] Benjamin "BOBO" Winslow - Savage XL
3] Henry Cross - Savage XL
4x4 Unlimited Big Block Sled Pulling
1] Henry Cross - Savage XL
2] Dan Bright - Savage XL
3] Benjamin Winslow - Savage XL
My limited knowledge of pulling is just that, limited. But, we did tip our toes into the pulling scene last year at the 20th Anniversary event of The National Radio Control Truck Pulling Association (NR/CTPA). This event was based indoors on carpet and electric powered. But the Nitro Dirt based pulling is the extreme side!
National R/C Truck & Tractor Pulling Association's website www.nrctpa.org
Forum for pulling: http://www.rcmt.biz/bd/forumdisplay.php?f=33
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Steel Cage Match @ NO LIMIT RC Monster Truck World Finals
Photos/Words: Rodney Wills
If my truck pulling experience is reminiscent of street racing, then the R/C Steel Cage Match while I have no reminiscent experience to pull from, is more like a dog fight! But again, nothing illegal going on so Michael Vick may want to give Dennis a call. Scenes from Fight Club pop into mind with again, the whole underground flavor. I said it in 2007 during my fist visit and will say it again, this kind of action just doesn't happen in California! Thank goodness I was raised in Alabama - I get it!
Steel Cage Match, I feel, is Dennis's most favorite part of R/C World Finals and is "THE" perfect ending to the event weekend, an absolute FINAL. It's Gladiator, Survivor Man and Monster Jam World Finals [full-size] all wrapped into one, and scaled down to fit within Dennis's side yard R/C playground as well as the participants wallets as total destruction praised. It's an affordable Agro-relief! It's Rock Stars destroying guitars and drums on stage. It's what the fans want to see and wish they could do. It's what the participants want to do - release and destroy! Rather barbaric, but the "release" is overwhelmingly contagious and the spectators, fellow enthusiast and the guys on the field feed off one-another.
But Dennis Anderson starts it! His baritone voice over the PA system gets the crowd hyped and even gets the participants hyped! Then, Dennis's "signature music" by artist George Thorogood & The Destroyers and their song "BAD TO THE BONE" starts to blare out over the PA system too! You know it's about to go down!
"Just what is it that is about to go down," you may still ask? 26+ RC Monster Trucks with 26+ drivers all in the "pit" at the same time and it's a game of "Last Man Standing" to see who can destroy who and who can survive to the end! It's AWESOME! It's CRAZY! And yes, it's the craziest thing ever seen within the R/C industry! It's you and your truck against all the other trucks and drivers. No turn marshals. You have to manager your own vehicle as no one really wants to risk getting blind-sided in the ankles just to flip over someone else's vehicle driven by wild-eyed crazy drivers. But who can blame them? No, not guys not marshaling. Who can blame he drivers, as they are wild-eyed crazy due to the fans roar the loudest all weekend during the Steel Cage Match! The fans and fellow enthusiast are to blame as they "drive" you to go crazy and destroy your truck!
WINNERS: First time participant, Michael McAllister [Right] of HPI Racing Customer Service Department driving an electric powered Savage Flux. Sponsor of the Cage Match was RC Driver Magazine and they had a deal for the winner to receive HPI Savage and a custom build up of the vehicle by RC Driver staff that would also include a feature in the magazine.
As Michael is an HPI employee and sponsor of the event, he graciously gifted the prize down to second place winner, Travis Mowery [Right] driver of a custom Cage Match built Nitro 5.9 Big Block powered Savage.
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pictures and videos from 2008
