I can’t say I’ve been on many car adventures – in fact, I’d say I’ve only been on one proper adventure, but it was quite a doozy. Back in 2006, when I was running RC Car Action magazine, HPI launched its brand-new 1/5 scale gas-powered buggy, the Baja 5b.
This was literally a big deal because the car was enormous at nearly three feet long, and also a big deal because the 5b was the first 1/5 scale car to come from a “mainstream” hobby brand that was easy to find in hobby stores and arrived ready to run with the fit, finish, and performance expected of a big player like HPI was (at the time, anyway). Before the 5b arrived, large-scale RC was a tiny niche supported by just a few brands selling relatively crude cars that were hard to find and poorly supported by American hobby stores.
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Hoping for a huge hit with he car, HPI put together the first and, I believe, only big-time media press trip for the buggy. All the RC car magazines (remember magazines?) were invited to experience three days wheeling 2WD off-road buggies on the Baja peninsula, courtesy of Wide Open Baja. The two-seaters were still VW-powered then, as Wide Open had only just begun moving over to Subaru boxer power. But even with “only” the heartbeat of a bug, the lightweight two-seaters could really haul culo.
Two drivers were assigned to each buggy, and would trade places behind the wheel at each stop on the trip down the peninsula. I was paired with HPI’s Akira Kogawa, designer of not only the 5b but many other classic models. Speed was limited only by driver confidence and courage, unless someone had such an excess of either that they were slowed down by the guide driver. Going faster made the cars easier to drive, to a point, as greater speed helped the car skip over rough terrain and whoops whereas driving more cautiously would allow the wheels to fully dip into every depression and make for a much slower, rougher ride. It was a blast, but just three days of exciting off-roading, beautiful Mexican scenery, delicious food, and sketchy hotels wasn’t enough. I would have happily stayed a month.
So that’s my big car adventure. Tell me about the one’s you’ve been on, and the adventures to come.
Top graphic image: Wide Open Baja
The post What Car Adventures Have You Been On / Would Like To Go On? appeared first on The Autopian.
