THE Cub Report – Never Say Never, Except For…
Well hello there rc fans, thanks for tuning in to this week’s Cub Report. Our bash crew hopes you had a stellar weekend, just as we did at Horizon Hobby’s RC Fest.
Of course everyone wants to know how was attendance at RC Fest this year. To me, it was heavier than expected on Friday, very heavy on Saturday, and a bit slow on Sunday. At its peak on Saturday, the parking lot was filled and the Horizon crew was shuttling show-goers from an overflow parking lot! As far as people actually driving and competing in events, those numbers were fairly low, but then that was to be expected the first year IMO.
How was the venue? The Horizon crew was very well prepared and the airfield where they hold the show was in tip top shape. Over the course of the weekend, the venue was kept clean, the food was good, and everything was fairly well organized. Being the first year of RC Fest where people could bring in their own cars/trucks/airplanes/drones, we were expecting a lot more issues, but the Horizon crew had put in the hours/footwork to ensure that things went as smoothly as possible.
What were some of the key points from the show? The youth market was a big focus, as it should be. Youth are the future, and like I’ve said many times, the “kid class” at your local track is the Most Important Class any track should have. In the case of bashing, expect to see more emphasis going forward on getting kids into the hobby. FPV was big at RC Fest this year too. While FPV has yet to take off in surface, it looks like things are getting oh so close. Finally, there was a big emphasis on community. The air guys were having a blast with the surface guys. The crawling guys were having a blast with the bash guys, etc. You just never see all the different genres of rc together in one spot driving/flying at the same time, RC Fest did a fantastic job of bringing everyone together by keeping everything very relaxed and casual.
We will be doing multiple posts on RC Fest in the next couple of days so I don’t want to say too much about RC Fest here, but the event was a success and everyone we talked to had a great time there. We shot well over 1,000 stills and we have over 20 hours of video to go through, so just hang tight for our coverage. Our guys working behind the scenes have been extremely busy the last few days recording content, now they are hitting the editing and posting stage.
Oh, and I do have one more note about RC Fest. We were lucky enough to be able to get some time with Horizon Hobby’s CEO Joe Ambrose. If you are a consumer you might not recognize the name, but if you work in the industry, you know that is a pretty big deal. Actually, it is an enormous deal, in this industry, it is extremely rare for the media to get a chance to freely sit down with a CEO like Ambrose. Brian and Tim got in a lengthy audio interview where they went over a number of topics, including a lot of talk about Horizon buying most of Hobbico. You will NOT want to miss that interview, we will keep ya updated on when it will go live.
Also a bit on that same note, our next podcast is nearly finished featuring Pro-Line’s Matt Wallace. Matt is one of the nicest guys that you will meet in this industry and he really opens up to Gluth on the podcast. I just got my first chance to listen to it this morning, when you listen you can expect some cool behind the scenes info on what it is like to design and produce the hottest wheels, tires, and bodies on the planet. Matt also talks a lot about the PRO-MT 4×4, a truck that he designed, and a truck that is very near and dear to my own heart. While I don’t have an exact date, I would expect for that podcast to go live at some point later this week.
Finally, with RC Fest 2018 in the books, we once again are looking at the future. We are still looking for input on us holding a big MAXX-Fest event in the Chicago metro, and we will be holding a BIG scale event in October, also in the Chicago area. If you would like to see a Traxxas MAXX series (T-Maxx, E-Maxx, X-Maxx) only bash, shoot us an email, or message us on social media.
That’s all I have for ya this week folks, as always, get out and support your local hobby shops and bash spots when ya can.
YOUR Cub Reporter
