NIA, BIRMINGHAM – 18TH SEPTEMBER After an early start from home (4.15 am) the No Limit RC UK crew (www.nolimitrcuk.com) arrived at the NIA. The arena was ready for the Monster Jam Pit Party (www.monsterjam.com), with the 6 Monster Trucks parked up and waiting for the crowds. They were Gravedigger & Charlie Pauken, Captains Curse & Alex Blackwell, Monster Mutt Dalmation & Candice Jolly, Disney XD & Dan Evans, Iron Man & Lee O'Donnell and UK Monster Truck Swamp Thing & Tony Dixon. As there was not going to be a moving demonstration of RC cars at the Pit Party, due to lack of space in the arena, No Limit set out a static display of rc cars, trucks and a really good selection of scale replica monster trucks. The doors opened at 10.30 a.m., and the crowds just poured in, filling the arena floor. There was a lot of interest in the No Limit display, especially the replica Monster Trucks, from the pit party crowds and the No Limit crew spent a lot of time giving information and advice on the rc products available. After the pit party, it was time for the No Limit team to prepare their HPI Savage XL's, (www.hpieurope.com), Trophy Trucks and Bajas for the pre-show rc demonstrations. There were going to be 2 shows; one at 1.30 pm, the other at 6.30 pm., so there was plenty of time in between to do any necessary work to the rc cars, and to take advantage of the excellent catering facilities. The floor was concrete, so there was plenty of scope for wheelies, donuts and drifting plus a couple of jumps – one ramp was placed by a pile of wrecked cars that the Monster Trucks were going to crush - there were some amazing jumps over them which included back flips. The crowd which included the Monster Truck drivers and mechanics seemed to enjoy it as much as the rc drivers. The Monster Trucks put on 2 spectacular shows. In the first half of the show each Monster Truck had to do ‘wheelies', ‘manic challenge' and ‘doughnuts'. Charlie Pauken did a reverse move, going from one direction to the other when he was doing the ‘doughnut' challenge. It is a very difficult manoeuvre to do – and we saw it! Also in another amazing display, Alex Blackwell & Captains Curse did an amazing ‘doughnut' – a 41 revolution cyclone! During half time, there were some fantastic acrobatics, aerobatics and tricks by freestyle motorcross riders, BMX bike riders, freestyle sportsbikes and a quadbike! Everyone had a totally Monster day at the NIA – and hopefully rc racing will gain new members. Roll on Cardiff! MILLENIUM STADIUM, CARDIFF – 9TH OCTOBER Another early start – another Monster Jam! No Limit arrived at the Millenium Stadium at 7.45 am but could not get into the arena to set up the stands and demo area because there were a couple of Monster Trucks and an army tank in our area of the stadium – Monster Trucks & tank v. RC Cars, no contest! When we were eventually allowed in, it was a totally awesome sight – the spotlights were on and all 12 Monster Trucks and jumps were ready and waiting for the Pit Party. There was Captains Curse & Alex Blackwell, Disney XD & Dan Evans, El Toro Loco & Damon Bradshaw, Gravedigger & Charlie Pauken, Iron Man & Lee O,Donnell, Mohawk Warrior & George Balhan, Monster Mutt Dalmation & Candice Jolly, Nitro Circus & Cam McQueen, Podzilla & Drew Thornton, Swamp Thing & Tony Dixon, Taz & Frank Krmel and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle & John Seasock. No Limit managed to get their static displays of rc cars, trucks and replica scale monster trucks, which included Gravedigger, Taz, Monster Mutt Dalmation, Monster Mutt and Batman. and the rc demonstration area, ready with just 15 minutes to spare before pit party time. We also had on display a pulling sled for use with nitro trucks, made by www.outlawhobby.com, which was quite a novelty. Thousands of people arrived at the pit party and, as at the NIA, the rc cars attracted a lot of interest, from youngsters to pensioners. We had drivers from MMR Largescale (www.mmrlargescale.co.uk) and Manselton Models (www.manseltonmodels.co.uk) with us this time and everyone put on an excellent display of jumping, drifting and doughnuts using HPI Savage XL's, (www.hpieurope.com) Bajas and Trophy Trucks for the 3 hour pit party, keeping the crowds happy, which were 6 - 8 deep at our barriers for most of the time. At the end of the pit party, there was a big rush to clear everything away in an hour, in readiness for the Monster Jam. One of the show marshals came over while we were still clearing up and casually informed the rc drivers that they were doing the pre-show display in the main arena in 10 minutes and to be ready, which caused a bit of panic with the drivers trying to sort out their cars. But they were ready on time and the HPI cars were used to their full potential and more by jumping the full size mounds of earth that had cars set into them, which kept the spectators entertained with their high flying action, and which were later used by the full size monster trucks. The Monster Jam show was amazing, with the race-off's and freestyle runs – how does a five ton monster truck do that?! The Monster Truck racing final was between Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and eventual winner, El Toro Loco. El Toro Loco also went on to win the freestyle competition, tying with Gravedigger but winning with bonus points gained during extra time, which meant he won the Double Down trophy for winning both competitions on the day. We all had a lot of fun – not many can say that they have been part of such a big event as this. Thank you Monster Jam for letting us be part of your spectacular shows! Many thanks go to our main sponsor - HPI UK - for all their support and assistance for these shows and throughout the 2010 season. Thanks also go to Monster Energy for their sponsorship this year. We're looking forward to the 2011 season – bring it on!
