What a great thread, I thought I'd share my start in the hobby. Unlike many once I started I never stopped racing, but have loved every minute since I started.
Like many my first memories of proper RC cars came from watching the Tamiya videos in Harrod's. My dad would take me for a free trip to show me toys I couldn't have, and this started my fascination. Eventually after much saving I managed to persuade my dad to help me buy a Frog, that was in 1985. Neither of us were at all technical and it took us weeks to build the car, we were total technophobes and if the pinion fell off we went back to the shop to get it fixed.
I spent a year driving round the local park, which involved my mum bringing me home from school and then driving to a park that was big enough to drive in! I never raced anyone but knew from magazines about the racing that existed. Eventually my dad gave up one Sunday a month and we started racing at a little club in Epsom called Surrey Radio Control Car club. I had managed to get a Samurai by then and it was much easier to drive compared to the frog.
My first meeting was a revelation, with so many cars and drivers. Somehow I managed to make the A, but the Samurai broke in the last round and we couldn't fix it, so the frog got an outing in the final! This meant I was shying away from all the drivers for the full five minutes. After the first meeting I never got near the A for another year.
The fast drivers at our club were in another league, Guy Walker won every week and Mark Sadler was always second, both with SWB Cats. Mark's family would later set up Wasp. I went through an Optima, PB Mini Mustang and a Cat XL and was equally slow with them all.
In 1987 I watched the Worlds at Romsey and was blown away by the drivers skill and being so close to the people I saw in the magazines. My hero was Pete Stevens who made the A with the prototype optima mid.
After the worlds my dad took my mini mustang to Aeronautical models in Camden as we just couldn't get it to work. I was at school, but my dad came home looking amazed and said that he had been in the shop and some bloke spent the whole afternoon rebuilding my car. Dad said they'd gone for a coffee and got on great. After a bit my dad pointed at a picture in the magazine and said "that's the bloke who built your car", which happened to be Pete Stevens. Pete turned into a great friend for over 20 years, but to me that act of help summed up what I love about RC.
With more knowledge and help I started to finish more races and make a few A's, my dad got talked into travelling a little more by Pete and by 1988 we were racing at Oaks Park, Eden Park and Toddington. I got to watch many of the greats of the time (Pete, Glyn Peglar, Kevin Moore, Andy Powell, Andy Langdon, Ben Sturnham). I also did my first nationals, a 2wd at Eden Park with my Ultima, coming in the G final, and racing George Land, and a 4wd national at Chingford racing my Optima Mid where I also made the G. Finals were 8 cars and the top guys were gods to me!
I'll write a few more memories at some point, but the early years were magic, so much to learn and lots of firsts. I think it took me nearly two years to win a club A final, and then only two more to make a European A!
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