Everybody’s Scalin’ For the Weekend – Gate Crashers

Bashing your scale truck is a ton of fun, but have you ever thought about competing with it? Any form of competition can be intimidating but you may be surprised at how much you enjoy it if you just give it a try! If you’ve ever thought about taking that new Axial Deadbolt or SCX10 to a comp but weren’t sure what it actually entails, click the “Read More” to get the lowdown on the most common event types.

Please keep in mind this list is meant to be a general overview of the most popular competition types and therefore doesn’t go into extreme detail. You should reach out to your local club to see exactly what they offer!

Standard Crawling Competition

This is the type of event most people probably think of when they hear “comp crawling”. The course, either man made or natural terrain, is laid out and marked with gates (flags or tennis balls usually) and drivers much navigate through them in an intended direction. It’s scored by marking down points for various infractions (i.e. +1 for using reverse, +10 for having to rollover a vehicle, etc) and the lowest score wins. This was the most popular competition style during the early days of the crawling scene, and it remains to be with the traditional crawling crowd (think non scale appearing, motor on axle buggies).  Some clubs have done away with the +/- point system and gone to a simple timer. Lowest time wins, with time penalties for rolling over or needing to touch a vehicle.

Cross Country Race

This is my favorite. The premise is simple – you must navigate a course, sometimes designated by flags, sometimes just a trail, and are scored by your total time of completion. The tracks are typically long (sometimes several miles) and a premium is put on vehicle construction and durability. The course will normally require drivers to tackle very tough obstacles and vehicle touching is frowned upon. The RECON G6 series popularized this form of racing and it’s a total blast.

Trail Comping

Drivers will head out on a standard trail run but will pack a few gates so they can setup a makeshift course on a tough set of rocks/obstacles should they come across a good spot. It’s normally relaxed scoring and makes for a good way to mix trail bashing with the element of competition.

Top Truck Challenge (TTC)

Each driver has to run a series of individual events that contribute to an overall score. Events can consist of rock crawling, sled pulling, mud bogging, hill climbing, water holes, you name it. Most are designed to put the trucks through hell. The driver with the best combined score is crowned winner. TTC’s have been popular with full scale off-roaders forever (YouTube search “Top Truck Challenge” and you can easily waste an afternoon), so it’s no surprise that they have caught on like wildfire with r/c clubs.

For more rock crawling news on BigSquidRC you can click here. To see what’s happening in the scale scene you can click here.