2010 Hostile Racing Products BajaFest

Words: Scott G.

The annual Hostile Racing Products BajaFest event has established itself as the place to be mid September year after year. If you own an HPI Baja vehicle, this is your Woodstock. Set in the forest of upstate New York several hundred Baja enthusiasts come from all over the planet to experience the festival that is BajaFest. The who’s who of aftermarket manufacturers are on site to show off their latest goods and mingle with the enthusiast community. The participants have a choice of 9 competitive disciplines to participate in throughout the 3 day event. A record 195 Bajas were on site for the 2010 event. This is the largest Gathering of the HPI Baja vehicle to date. If you like driving your Baja in the dirt, this is the place to be!

The Facility
Rob from Hostile Racing Products has turned his home and land into the Disneyland of HPI Baja Racing and Bashing Venues. His 40 acre piece of beautiful Springwater, New York has been developed into the biggest permanent large scale racing location in the United States. Set smack dab in the middle of the property lays a six acre opening in the trees that is home to four individual race courses and one huge oval and off-road combination track. For the event Rob hires in all the amenities including restrooms, food service and has a fully stocked pro shop onsite. Rob even opens his house up to all those who are camping on site to use his showers. Very few people in this industry have the passion that Rob does for the large scale hobby. He has put all of his efforts into his Hostile Racing Products business, and taken the majority of profits and pushed them into the BajaFest racing compound. He and the entire Hostile family are extremely dedicated and should be recognized for their efforts.

Atmosphere
If you decide to stay on site, you will be awakened at roughly 7 AM every morning when the action gets rolling. The tracks are open from 7 AM until 11 PM and you can bet the smell of 2 stroke oil will be in the air during that entire time period. As you walk the grounds of the Hostile compound you will see hundreds of people all on a different mission. Some people are working feverishly to finish a new Baja build for the days of racing while others are relaxing with friends discussing the latest hop ups. The edge of the six acre opening is filled with people camping in all sorts of vehicles. From the average Honda civic loaded with friends, Bajas and parts sleeping under a tarp strung between four trees all the way to full service trucks and trailers loaded to the hilt with race Bajas and tools. Whether you stay in a tent, rented motor home or one of the pop up tent trailers Rob has on site you won’t miss any of the action. This event is literally a festival of speed and adventure that goes on for three days straight. Just because the track closes at 11, doesn’t mean the festival slows down. The after hours party is nonstop allowing everyone staying on site to get to know the people they often communicate with on the internet. Campfires are started, barbeques are fired up, and the days’ action is rehashed through stories while chilling around the fire pit devouring some barbeque and sipping an icy cold beverage.

Racing and Bashing Venues
The main track consists of a 600’ oval with an off-road track in the middle. Two drivers’ stands service this track. This is the epicenter of racing at BajaFest. Lying next to the main track are 2 more off-road tracks both with their own drivers stands. These tracks remain open to the competitors for the entire weekend as a place to test and tune your cars for competition or just to have some fun. A 200’ x 20’ drag strip is in the back corner of the facility allowing guys a spot for heads up racing and a shot at bragging rights of having the fastest Baja at BajaFest. Above the Main track sits the long jump lip. A competitor will use the same drivers stand as the main track to drop into a hole and launch their Baja as far as possible. The first place the Baja makes contact with the earth marks the distance. Friday is slated for open practice for all disciplines. Saturday morning is when off-road racing gets going. All the qualifiers are done by mid afternoon, and the Mains are run into the evening. As soon as off-road racing is done the lights come on, the track gets groomed, and the oval racing gets under way. The oval qualifiers are run all the way up to the 11 PM cut off. Unfortunately the 2010 event had its share of rain, causing the oval results to be determined by the qualifying order.

2010 Hostile BajaFest Race Results

Off-Road
5B A-Main
Baumgardner, Jady
Erik Shauver
Scott G.

5T A-Main
John Schultz
Baumgardner, Jady
Arnone, Gregory

Oval
Late Model A-Main
Ehrhart, Ronald
Curry, Adam
Joslin, Steve

5T A-Main
Thilking, Mike
Fontaine, Sebastien
Duda, Steven

5B A-Main
Citrano, Dennis
Thall, Steve
Finnie, Dave

Open Class A-Main
Schultz, John
Johnson, Art
Skoglund, Tim

EDM A-Main
Paluchniak, Scott
Johnson, Art
Rob, Hostile

Whats Hot?
Off-road Baja racing is hot, it has been steadily growing and growing. Oval on the other hand, is the hottest of the hot. This was apparent at the 2010 BajaFest event, as well as previous BajaFest events. The Hostile Racing Products facility was the first in the country to build a Baja specific dirt oval track, and has the largest dedicated oval racing group in the country. The EDM class of oval cars is the class to watch. These HPI Bajas have been outfitted with a specially designed Lexan body to represent the East Coast Dirt Modified genre of one to one race cars. The bodies generate tons of down force in the corners and provide incredible traction on the straights. Most of the competitors in the EDM class have installed some extremely powerful engines that can power a Baja around a 600’ oval in less than 12 seconds. The excitement of the main event in this class is second to none. With cars screaming sideways pelting the wall with dirt and rocks, the intensity translates from the drivers stand to the track to the spectators. The whole crowd is on the edge of their seats to see who will come out on top. This is some incredible racing!


Event Sponsors

Hostile Racing Products
HPI Racing
Oneill Brothers Racing
DDM
SUH Racing
PhatDad
Turtle Racing
TGN
Large Scale RC
HPIBajaForum.com
Killer RC
Threshold
5th Scale Canada
ATX
Outerwears
Asylum RC
Team Chase RC
Igloo Racing Products
Craftwerks RC


To stay up to date with the latest information about the HPI Baja vehicle and events near you, be sure to visit www.hpibajaforum.com

Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.
Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.
Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.
Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.
Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.
Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.
Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.
Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.
Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.
Use your arrow keys to move through the images.	Use your arrow keys to move through the images.