DIY Network

RC On-Road Racers: Indy Speedway on 1/10-Scale From "Radio Control Hobbies" episode RCH-302

Chris Chianelli takes a trip to the world-famous Indy speedway.

In this segment of DIY's Radio Control Hobbies, host Chris Chianelli takes a trip to the world-famous and historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway where some RC racing is taking place -- in addition to speedway attractions on a larger scale.

Chris visits Indy Motor Speedway on their "community day," on which the general public gets to come to the track and interact with drivers and see the track up close. As one of the community-day activities, some of the real Indy drivers get to try their hand racing some RC cars.

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	Figure A
	Figure B
	Figure C

Indy Speedway RC Racing

When Chris visited Indianapolis Motor Speedway on their Community Day, he met and talked with Bob Harkey, a retired Indy Car series driver who started racing at Indy in 1964, and finished in eighth place in his first race.

On the infield of the speedway Chris also talked with Steve Trebing, contributing editor of RC Driver magazine, who also developed a 1/10-scale version of the Indy track. The scale track is a joint project between RC Driver and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Kids and spectators get to watch and race 1/10-scale Duratrax ® cars, painted to look like the top-10 Indy drivers' cars on the miniature track. Big-kid Chris Chianelli also got to take a few laps with his newly customized TC3 ® racer (figures A, B and C).

For this track, which has a slicker surface than some, Chris made use of lighter-viscosity shock oil, softer tires and softer springs in the front. But with the engine and power hop-ups Chris installed earlier on his TC3, his car was promptly and disgracefully disqualified by race official Bob Hastings.

Later in the afternoon, world-class drivers from the Indy Racing League get to try their hand racing 1/10-scale TC3 racers from Team Associated ® (figure D and E). The race is for charity and the cars, personally autographed by their respective drivers, get auctioned off to benefit a local children's hospital.

Figure D

Figure E

	The winner: Sam Hornish, Jr.
	Disqualified! The power performance mods Chris added to his DIY TC3 racer earlier may have been just a little too good -- and not exactly legal for the Indy race.
	On Indy Speedway's community day, the public gets a look at the Indy track and some of the cars -- past and present -- up close.
	Steve Trebing, contributing editor of RC Driver magazine.

The Winner: Sam Hornish, Jr.

The Final Word

. . . and RC racing advice from a real Indy pro -- Sam Hornish, Jr: "Don't crash."

RESOURCES :

TC-3 Road Racer from TEAM ASSOCIATED®
Associated Electrics Inc.
Website: www.teamassociated.com

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Website: www.indianapolismotorspeedway.net