Dads Share Their Passion for R/C Cars

It's not very often you get to enjoy a new piece of technology with your wider community. But our R/C car club for dads had just that pleasure the other week. We started the club as an excuse for us dads to get together on a Sunday event. We each purchased Carisma GT14 R/C car, and set about customizing them ready for our weekly meetings.

It's all gone well and we have about ten people, each with Carisma cars, in our tight-knit little radio-controlled community now. Then last week, one of the dads turned up with a new version of the car, the GT14 Mk 2.

Everyone gathered round to see the piece of kit that promised to offer a range of new racing setups for us. We ended up spending a good chunk of our time that evening talking through what we thought of the new design, which bits were better and which were worse. Here's what we decided between us:

The carbon fiber Chassis and Top Deck have both been remolded on the Mk2 and eliminate the need for a motor vent hole. This should not only avoid burnt fingers that stray onto the hot metal, but also reduce ware and tear on pro motors. With these changes the chassis adopts a squarer shape, that produces a stiffer more positive driving experience.

More subtle changes to the chassis include the front and back digits that flank the wishbones and enable you to define the ride height and suspension movement with greater accuracy. Underneath a combination of alum key bolts and screws are used and look to offer more secure and flush fixing of the standard parts - such as the front and rear differential.

There are a range of other adjustments to tighten up the design all round. The battery housing for instance now only has the (universally preferred) rear placement - rather than the forward or back options of the MK1. The top chassis deck is also now in one piece to provide greater stability.

It was a little like someone bringing a new toy to school and everyone wanting a go in the playground. Only here we didn't have to go in for lessons — it's great being a grownup sometimes, isn't it!

What I most appreciated about all this was the community aspect of it though. So often the new technology that I find most exciting, like the Nintendo 3DS for instance, is something that my immediate friends don't really "get." I end up swooning over the tech specs and press releases on my own.

At the Carisma R/C club we were all on the same page and could talk in detail about what we thought of it. This sort of group experience is commonplace while you are growing up, but is quite rare for busy parents.

Where do you get to enthuse about your gadgets and tech with people face to face?

Photo credit: Tim Pestridge Commercial Photography