HPI Challenge Race in Houston, Texas is Complete!

Concours | Qualifying | Main Events | Awards | Special Thanks!

What a busy weekend! Kent Clausen and Frank McKinney were kept busy all weekend long (September 25 and 26), helping racers and Hobby Center track owner Issac Ben-Ezra, but everyone involved had a lot of fun and went away from the weekend with big smiles, a great experience, and lots of free stuff!

Kent and Frank landed in Houston Friday afternoon on the 24^th of September, and went from the airport straight to the Hobby Center race track to see the track in person. After looking at the pictures and hearing descriptions of it from racers and the track’s owner, Issac, they had to see it for themselves!

The first impression was "Wow, that’s really BIG!" This is one of the few R/C tracks where Nitro racers could actually use their 2 speed! The top speed of the fastest Nitro cars was estimated to be about 50-60 on the back straight, and with a track designed for 1/8 scale cars, the 1/10 scale Nitro sedans appeared to be right at home! Racers could easily go two wide through most of the turns and chicanes, and wrecks between cars were rare to see all weekend long.

A picture of the whole track from the roof of the Hobby Center store. The straight is 255 feet long!	Another view of the entire track from the roof of the store - those are people in the foreground!	A view from the track surface near the pit lane, looking to the far end of the track
The entrance to the driver's stand, with pit lane and wall just in front	The view from the driver's stand, looking to the left down the track	The view from the driver's stand looking to the right towards the Hobby Center store
	One of the two very long pit tables, with spaces on either side for racers

The second impression was "This track must get tons of exposure!" With the track and shop’s location along a major Houston area highway, and the bright red driver’s stand and pit tables, many spectators were already at the track, just to watch the practice on Friday afternoon! Several black and white checkered flags and the new fluorescent HPI banners helped draw in extra onlookers for the entire weekend.

Many racers were already practicing, having driven up that day or the day before (!) to check out the track and the locale around the track, which is located about 30 miles south of downtown Houston. Issac, his wife, son and daughter were all at the track helping get things ready, and the Hobby Center staff was very helpful and courteous. One member of Issac’s sales team even recommended the 1/8 scale Proceed over the other 1/8 scale offerings before he knew who Kent and Frank were!

On Saturday at nine most of the racers were already practicing on the track, getting tips from those who had been practicing the day before. Since the track is brand new, the layout had to be learned by everyone and a proper setup had to be found before qualifying started at 1 PM. Roughly 30 members of RCRC San Antonio showed up, complimenting a good showing of local Houston racers, and other racers from Austin and College Station. We expected 90 to 100 racers to show up, and with a final turnout in the high 80’s, we’re very happy to have met our goal of race entries!