Every year, eager hobbyists and R/C hobby insiders wait with anticipation for the yearly National Model and Hobby Show, or as it's known to those in the know, simply:

Chicago

This year was no exception. Many companies spend weeks or months getting prototypes on schedule to debut at the show, finding just the right booth treatment to wow visitors, ordering new shirts, designing new logos and working overtime to finish catalogs and flyers.

The HPI Booth
Last year, HPI won the Booth of the Year award out of all the exhibitors at the show. This year, we spiced it up a bit more by adding a track for the new Micro kit and changing the layout of the booth slightly.

The HPI breakroom TV was aimed at competitors ;-)

Crowded!

Cool logos are a must at all trade shows. It's a law somewhere.

Still crowded!

Reader's Choice Nitro Car of the Year

The Nitro RS4 line of cars has had a long and illustrious history. Initially it popularized the Nitro touring car segment, then it spawned a rash of option parts, then you couldn't go to a track without seeing one, and finally it wins the 2001 Reader's Choice Nitro Car of the Year from the readers of Radio Control Car Action magazine! What an honor, to be chosen by the readers of one of the largest R/C magazines in the world as the Nitro car they'd most like to have!

The Micro!
The new Micro was of course on display, showing customers exactly what they would look like when completed and what they would look like after 4 solid days of running 6 hours or more a day (see the track below).

The (in?)famous paint jobs of Shawn Ireland and Kent Clausen on a briefcase for scale comparison

Three of the demo Micros between rounds of abuse

The Micro Track!
With the release of the brand new Micro RS4 kit, we were finally able to have a decent track area for visitors to play around on. This was definitely the major draw of the area! Lots of show visitors, and industry luminaries lined up to have a go at the wheel.

Is it okay for Mark Pavidis and Richard Saxton to be shown here?	HPI instructions guru Chad Geisler (in black) lets a father and son team work out the Micro	People waited in line for some time to have a chance to drive the Micro cars
The crowd was pretty large most of the day	HPI's General Manager Dave Potter handles the throttle for a visitor	A pretty big track!

New Engines
There's nothing like more power to invigorate your Nitro driving experience, right? With that in mind, we are currently testing new engines for release soon. The 12R SS and its brothers will definitely be the envy of the track, with their black anodized cases and purple heads! The engine will be available in a variety of configurations: with or without pullstarter and with slide carb or rotary carb.

Bodies, Bodies, Bodies!
The HPI wall o' bodies was back in full force as always, demonstrating that we are definitely not slacking off our body production. All the newest bodies from the past year were on display.

Customer Service
Customer Service Tech Wes Mott was on hand to answer specific questions from customers and visitors. Watch him, he's super fast!

Lots of Cars!
The rest of the display tables contained a mix of HPI kits that are currently available.

 

The three new truck bodies on display together	Decal maestro Matt Kearney waits for questions on the Micro	The new Beetle Cup Racer drew a lot of smiles!	The awesome Viper GTS-R show car gathered several fans
	The Super Nitro line-up gets bigger every year!	Dave Potter answers questions between meetings