The Gisborne club, which is in its third year, will be racing in the 4wd and 2wd short course trucks, 4wd modified, 4wd stock and 2wd modified buggy classes.
Each race lasts five minutes.
The first day is all practice. Tomorrow features another half-day of practice, followed by the first two rounds of qualifying.
Day three is the business end of the competition — the last two qualifying rounds, then the first two rounds of main races.
Champions from each division are decided on the fourth day.
Gisborne racers have been gaining traction in the community with Mitre 10 giving the club the use of its carpark on the first and third Friday nights of each month. Porter Hire provides a lighting trailer for the gatherings.
The club also has an off-road track at Manutuke Eco Retreat.
It is undergoing upgrades to improve drainage and the course layout by Rick Brenchley and Wayne Sutherland.
If all goes well, it should reopen within the next two months.
Matt Spackman, who operates the Local Hobby Shop inside Barwicks Auction Mart, has all the RC parts and accessories one could ever need, as well as a passion for modifying and repairing RC cars.
“RC is a cool hobby/sport that can be done by anyone,” Spackman says.
“Young, old, boys, girls — it's one of the only sports I can think of where male and females compete against each other and are not split by gender.
“It's also great that it doesn't matter about your physical abilities. As long as you can hold a controller, you can race.”
The cars are small but require a lot of fine tuning and setup to make them even more competitive as competitors look for any edge.
Modifications are similar to their scale counterparts but are much cheaper and, of course, the cars are smaller.
“The space required to work on the cars and setup can be done on a coffee table instead of a full-sized workshop,” Spackman says.
The club is working with the district council to get an off-road track in the city that will be open all year round and will be the main off-road track for the club.
It hopes to have it open to the public early next year.
With this track in development, there is a pathway to hold the biennial nationals in Gisborne, something the club is striving towards.
