[IMAGE] Many years ago, ROAR was looking for a site to host the 1/8 offroad national championships. A friend of mine, Mickey, was in the process of setting up the best off-road track he could make (and being a contractor, with lots of heavy duty machines, he could do a lot!). I put Mickey in touch with Mike Queller, and the result was a pretty durn good national championship race here in Miami. The track was named Miami RC Raceway. Fast forward a few years. Mickey got busy with other things, and the track fell out of use. In fact, I thought it had closed down. Not so. It turns out that another fellow who worked at Orange Blossom Hobbies with myself and many people I knew, Baruch Lorio, had started up his own hobby shop, Extreme Hobbies. Baruch was determined to bring the off-road track back to life. He started two years ago - he cleaned out years' worth of junk and neglect, got the lights working again, set up areas for parking, pitting, etc., and set up a schedule that would fit any racer, novice or expert. He kept many of the features already built into the track, such as the elevated pit lane, so mechanics can more easily get to the cars. The driver's stand is long and wide, with several "milk crates" so even small people can get up to height. The new track is open on Thursday and Friday nights, and then on Saturdays. On Thursday and Friday, it's practice time, from 7pm until midnight. Saturdays the track opens at 3pm, and again is open until midnight. Races are held Saturday, for whatever classes fit the cars that show up that day. There is even a bleacher area set up for spectators. Baruch has the right idea about many things. There is plenty of parking near the track. The lights allow people to avoid the hot summer days in Miami, and run at night when it's far more comfortable. He has arranged for a group to come each day and provide food and drinks. There are lots of huge tables for pitting, and they are to be covered with a tarp unless/until a hurricane threatens. Lastly, knowing how the economy has hurt so many r/c enthusiasts, Baruch set the entry fee to only $10 per day, for any day you want to come out. According to the people I spoke to when I visited the track, 30 to 40 people usually show up, with whatever cars they happen to own. Some are using very basic beginner's cars, while there are also some experienced racers who bring competitive gear. Baruch plans to bring extra cars with him, so newcomers can rent a car and find out what r/c is all about. Art Carbonell and I got there around 7pm Thursday, July 15. There were about fifteen people there, with more showing up all the time. Before the sun went into hiding, I shot most of the following photos, to try and show what this track looks like. Even with a wide-angle fisheye lens, it was difficult to get the whole track in. I didn't want to use flash for the night shots, so I tried out Nikon's high ISO setting of 25,600 which amazingly allowed me to take action shots in next to no light. I'll post some of the track photos here. I'll also create a gallery of some of the racer's photos, and later today I'll post a few HDR photos of the track. Should anyone wish to visit the track, the address is 20800 SW 117 Avenue if you're on US1, going South, turn right on SW117 Avenue and the track will be on the left side, where a "side street" starts to branch off to your left. The phone number to reach Baruch at Extreme Hobbies is 305-265-8511. Plans are already being considered to talk to the people hosting the Florida State Series races, and maybe get Miami included in the near future. [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE]68 responses total.
The following is a slide show of some of the people at the track, the guys out on the track just having fun, and working on their cars. Provide a good r/c facility, make it reasonably priced, provide lots of comforts racers like to have, and make it FUN - the rest will take care of itself! [IMAGE] CLICK ON PHOTO TO START SLIDESHOW [IMAGE]
[IMAGE] Miami RC Raceway, after sunset.
(For a little bit of history, check out item:offroad3,173,
and also item:offroad3,287 )
I went back to the track last night, to see what was going on, and to take a few more photos. As before, there was a good size crowd, perhaps 30 to 40 people. What was surprising, is that while I remembered a few people from the week before, at least half the racers were different from the previous week. This track is very different from most of the tracks I go do. While everyone else is doing "big-time" racing, this is more of a small country-style track, a bit out of the way, where different people can come and simply have fun driving whatever car they own on a really nice track! There's minimal organization - race against whoever you want, whenever you want, with whatever car you happen to have. It is *SO* different from the organized places I'm usually at! Track maintenance is whenever it's needed - the track guys tell people to stop driving, and go out there with the hoses. The driver's stand is huge and tall, and gives a great view of the track - but despite that, much of the time the drivers are right there on the ground, driving their cars around them. There are no official marshals, but there's lots of people willing to stand out there and take care of disabled cars. There's also hardly any place on the track where people get to break their cars - broken parts seem to be non-existent. I got there around 7pm, and left around 10. The crowd was thinning out by then, but the track doesn't really close until midnight. The people running the place see this as fun, not work, and they're getting as much enjoyment out of others using the track, as the people who come there to ....play! I think "play" is the right word here! I was asked if I knew of anyone getting rid of any old carpet - the track would like some more, to use on the jumps. If anyone reading this is in the Miami area, and has some old carpet to donate, please contact Baruch at "extremehobbies@bellsouth.net". Here are a sixteen photos from last night: [IMAGE] An HDR photo of the track, a little after a beautiful sunset. [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] The LiPO pack in this car caught on fire, but didn't blow up. Yet. [IMAGE] The Pits [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE] [IMAGE]
is that art carbonell in the photo.
Yes
Art and I worked out a swap, and he got my Mugen MBX5 and a trunk-load of offroad goodies (several cars, the box of tires in the photo, starter boxes, engines, and a 1/10 Losi truck thrown in). After running it a couple of times, Art decided he still prefers on-road, so he sold the car to Sean. Now he's trying to sell the other goodies he got from me, in this case a box full of 1/8 buggy tires. We went to Mills Pond a few times, but it's much easier for us to get to Miami RC Raceway (not to mention that they always have DELICIOUS food being cooked on the spot!) As Art put it, he prefers on-road because he likes to be in complete control of the car, and he doesn't get that feeling from off-road.
Video!! (Right click, open in new window, resize) [IMAGE] Miami RC Raceway - Practice Night
Looks like a FUN track and for the most part SC friendly!!! Looks like a place I'd like to race sometime - BUT, it's just a BIT far from Missouri!!!!!! Western Missouri at that!!!!!! I've never understood why some people 'practice' from ground level - makes it 'bout impossible to learn the track since everything looks different from the stand..... BUT, to each his own!!!
Chris, it might be because if you have to marshal the car yourself, you end up going up and down the steps quite a bit.... I dunno. I know guys with new cars seem to like to do that, but that makes them less capable when they've got to do it for real, from up on the stand. They'll probably learn to do otherwise real fast after they get hit by one of the errant cars.....
Greetings, i would like to take this opportunity and thank everyone that has help on the track. like i said before this is a community thing. this track is basically the result of effort of volunteers . they are so many names i don't know where to start but, they know who they are we see them every week there working and sweating hard working in the track. also making contribution with money is another way for anyone to help on the track and also there is another huge group who has contributed with money helping the track get better for the public. if possible i would also like to take this opportunity and ask for anyone that can donate Carpet for the track. we are basically looking for big or fairly nice size of carpet. and other things like wood etc. anyway thank you one more time please feel free to call me at 305-265-8511 or you can email me at extremehobbies@bellsouth.net or you can arrange to drop off the items in the track any day any time . thank you all have a wonderful day
Finally opened the account...where are the new pics??
Carlos, maybe you mean these? http://www.sgrid.com/2010/july/miamircraceway/index.html Everything is posted except the video from this past Thursday evening. I need to buy a cable to connect my camcorder to my laptop. If the slide show isn't what you meant, which images are you looking for?
I guess I meant the video...thought you were taking pictures also.
Carlos, all the video I've shot so far is posted up above. They're on Youtube (where people can find them) and also on Facebook (somewhere, I have no idea how this works yet...). Last Thursday's video is still in my camera. I need a firewire cable that will connect from my camera to my laptop. The laptop has the small firewire connector, and the only cable I've got goes to the much larger DV connector on a desktop. The day after I buy a cable, I should have the video posted. Hopefully that will be very soon!
Greetings, im happy to announce we just got new clay. we are working in the process right know to lay it down and start packing it.
also the loop is down and we have all ready run some test and is working great. this week we are going to be running some prep races to test the equipment so i encourage people to show up and try for testing purposes.
Baruch, I will be covering the Great Lakes Challenge race next week; I'll probably come back to the track with my camera gear in two weeks. It sounds like things are getting even nicer!!
yesterday it was a good day. the track was good and systems are up and running . it was not raining.
Today we had another great night. we just finished testing the equipment. we also ran a couple of races. we seem to be pretty good condition for this coming week on the big race. we are hosting a race in the miami R/C raceway. on august 27 is a friday
Nice race flyer!! :-)
[IMAGE]
Can't wait till Friday...I need to hit 28s!
I'd love to be there to photograph the event, but I've already got a commitment to cover the Great Lakes Challenge. ....next time.
i understand .. Mr. mike is ok .maybe next time.. today i went to the mils pond park to check out their track and took over there some fliers with the intention of distributing them . but we got rain out . it was a long trip .. know i understand what they mean when talk about traveling over to mils pond park. the track is amazing they for sure know what they are doing. plus they have lots of clay.. lots of it. and they have been doing this for a long time.. about the flier is basically thanks to two people .. Mr. mike Myers for the wonderful photo and Carlos for the editing of the image adding the letters. well once again im going to check tomorrow coral springs to see if i can distributed some fliers to them.
The reason Mills Pond is a great track is not because of the amount of clay they have. Its because of all the work that Bart, Greg and very rarely a few volounteers put into it. They open for practice Wednesday and race Saturdays yet on any given Thursday or Friday night you find those guys maintaining, cleaning and improving the track. The colmunation of their work is the track you see today. The same can be said for Coral Springs and any other great track.
If you guys put the same effort and work into the track that the Mills Pond management consistently does in theirs, you can expect similar results. I really hope you do as I've had a lot of fun over there a few years ago.
I witnessed Baruch and his brother in-law spend all week long at the track this past week. I wish I can be of more help!..I did enjoy this weekend seeing the younger kids out there bringing their Slash and Rustlers. They had even more fun when they got to practice with the transponders. I got my RC10T2 running...I just need to teach my 1 1/2 year old boy how to drive it...
Guys it rain so hard yesterday . the track got flooded. we are going to close the track for this week and we have to canceled the race also. we are going to re schedule the race for some time next week. sorry
Baruch DO NOT i repeat DO NOT re schedule for next week next week the region 4 off road regionals will be held at rcis in Jacksonville so i think it will be best to re schedule for two weeks from now
Ricardo I doubt that is gonna have much impact on the turnout in Homestead. I bet the head count from Mills going to the Regionals is less then 10 and of that maybe 1 or 2 tops might effect the Homestead track.
randy you coming down....I say race on the scheduled day....working on the track never hurt any one
No I just started a new job. Not gonna make it that far south for awhile
So the track is flooded yesterday and the race is tomorrow. What are you guys waiting for the water to evaporate? That will never happen, the track needs to be drained and worked on. No reason to cancel a race because it rained 3 days earlier. I've drained that track many many times and had it ready to race a few hours later.
I agree 100%.....work is all that is needed...I have see mills pond underwater on the same day they race and have raced the same day plus the track grooves up, so just because it rained yesterday doesn't mean you can't race tomorrow
hammond just use the quicker picker upper those should work
Or you could do it like OutaControl and use buckets and sponges,
Baruch, if the race does get delayed, let me know and I'll try to make it there with my camera gear. Don't let this change your decision if you do want to go ahead as planned - I'll just do the photo work at a future event. Whatever you do, I guess you need to let everyone know as soon as possible, so people make plans accordingly.
well those are all great ideas but lazyness comes into play and things don't get done........sean you coming down.....it's a strapped up layout lol if here is a jump in the middle of the straight where do you plan on starting the mains from?
we are going to be schedule the race for the month of September. either on the 13th or the 17th. what would be a best day ?
Randy i am going to the regionals and also want to race this one just for fun if you can come down and lets run
Not me Ricardo. I'm sticking to Pond club races for my Nitro fix. Only other event I want to hit is the electric regionals at Springs.
come on randy come and race.....don't you want to hit the jump in the middle of the straight at full wood..........lol
LOL thats a good one peakman Randy i thought that the electric regionals were going to be at farmers
Farmers is no more Ricardo. Word is Springs will be hosting it now. Better for us LOL
ok so what day do we do the race.
september 13th is a monday....the 17th is a friday....you should have the race on the 18th and open the track early enough for people to setup and get practice in before starting the races.....most people work during the week and can't get to the track early during the week....even with a light turnout there is no way you can get done before midnight....the question still remains where are you planning on starting the mains since you have a huge pile of dirt in the middle of the straight that is doing nothing but wasting clay and at the start of the mains the cars need to be spread out so there isn't carnage or a major clean up on isle 3...just my 2 cents but what do I know
There's so much hate and I don't understand why... This would be the lay out for the starting grid...I don't see an issue... [IMAGE] I don't know which "pile of dirt" you're talking about...
has nothing to do with hate....it's common sense....maybe try attending a track that has a success rate of putting on big races and continues to get them and see how it is really done instead of having a goat rodeo....that starting lineup will not work when you have cars full wood into a sharp turn but I guess you will find out when cars get punted everywhere.
guys i don't understand either.. when it comes time for us to work on the track many off you don't show up do not donate or add any input in to the track and when the work is done there is a lot of criticism and you don't seem to see the big picture .. the big picture is after all the struggle and had work and with NO MONEY we and first off all NO experience we have been able to restore the track. maybe it does not meet allot of the requirements of many professional drivers but it was put together by a bunch of people that does not know anything about it and WANT to fixed the track and start something. at least we are trying NOT like other people they dont help and only complaint.. PLEASE we DO NOT KNOW what we are doing and WE DO NOT HAVE MONEY we are working with what we have .. ..............
the starting grid shown in the picture by Carlos it was the best idea we came out with at the time.. we are in a working progress and things are not set in stone, but they required time and work.. like i said at least we have the track back and we are trying .. i really appreciate the hard work everyone has donated time and money to the track.. we are still in working progress. we are learning as we go along.
I've got a video that is "almost" done, which will show how well the track works with several cars, including when it's all at night under the lights. Nobody who was driving out there at the time realized how bad the track was, and how unhappy they were supposed to be. Good thing they didn't know, as then they might have reminded themselves that they weren't really having any fun at all. Then too, there's that saying "Anything is easy to do, when you're not the one who has to do it." It might come as a shock to some people, but there are a whole lot of people who would rather race on a track like this, than the much better track a few miles up North. For someone who's an experienced racer, a more complicated track designed for "real" competition is better, but for a lot of people just starting out, MiamiRC is a far better place to learn the basics while having.... dare I say it??? ....fun!
That's fine Mike but when you want to hold a RACE and attract a bigger group of people something as simple as a starting area has to be considered. Baruch the layout you have in mind works fine with electric cars that have no problem sitting still. It dangerous with Nitro cars. Remember, pit men are holding onto these 8lb fire breathing cars and have to be able to get out of the way. Staggerd starts dont work with Nitro. No complaining. Just giving an explanation why its a bad idea.
Thank you Randy .. for the Imput. any ideas.. of other ares. besides removing the jump in the back.?
will the track be open this week?
where is the loop located in the picture?
Right before the starting grid that I drew. The only thing I can think of is to move it to the back straight but not sure if there is enough line to do so. This would allow the pit man to be off the track.
the loop can stay where it is...it doesn't have to be on the straight....when the cars cross the line that will start the race
It's too far back for me to remember correctly, but the photos I took of the track layout back when we held the nationals there should still be online. Mickey came up with a layout that satisfied everyone, as I recall. Maybe I can find those later tonight and post a few of them. I'll look around...
the loop is right where Carlos just mention. so... were can we start the races... ?
Baruch I see a crossover jump. Please tell me that its not a double cross?? IE demolition derby aerial event about to happen?
randy it's a crossover with no landing either and pretty much full punched until you get to the corner but not a double and yes it's dangerous, especially when you will have turn marshall's running around in that area......but hey I think the track has roar insurance you can start the races anywhere on the track and as soon as the cars cross the line the software will start recording laps
I'll work at getting the video posted shortly; it will show things a lot better than trying to imagine them from the photos....
will the track be open tomorrow for practice?
if the weather permits yes..
we just came from the track. and is flooded. the day started nice but around 4:30 started raining .hard. making lots of poodles. we are not going to open cause still raining right know it has not stop ..
Will be there tomorrow to drain it out! I wanna run tomorrow!
will the track be dry enough to open tonight?
You have several choices: