This past weekend I attended my first RC event in Michigan–the Great Lakes Gauntlet at Walter RC Park in Saranac. I had a fantastic time and met a bunch of fellow RC enthusiasts. It's exciting to see how popular RC is up here. Pulling into Walter RC Park my excitement was high because on the front of the property was an Oval dirt track, an off-road dirt track, a bash area, a crawler course, and a flying field. We continued passed all that and headed to the back of the property where they have miles of trails in the woods.
At the end of the farm field, there were several rows of people who camped out the night before when they held their Purgatory race, which looked like a lot of fun. It was a timed course that was a lot like a rock racer setup. I wish I'd had been able to make it out for that. The videos I've seen of it on Youtube look amazing.
The Great Lakes Gauntlet had a show and shine setup at the opening of the trails, an SCX24 course for fun, a scale town for photos, and two trails for the competition. It was a timed event where the drivers are responsible for marking their missed gates and hand of God instances. There were a lot of people there competing for the time and others who were enjoying being on the trails with friends trying to make all the gates. Any way you hit the trail led to a great time.
I ran into Ethan Boening who I'd first met several years ago on The Tank RC's "RC Talk" livestream. It was cool to meet him in person and hang out with him and others in his group on the trail. His group let me jump in with them on the trail.
It was also good to run into other people I'd met at Axialfest Badlands the year before and the many others I met for the first time at the event.
I ran my Vanquish VS4-10 Pro and am continually impressed with how well it handles. It has the Spektrum Sensored Brushless combo in it that delivers super smooth power. My Reefs 422HD V2 points the truck where I want it to go and is strong enough to move the tires when they are stuck in rocks or roots. JConcepts Landmines tires really hook up on the rocks and in the dirt. Round that combo out with a Spektrum DX5 Rugged for great one-handed control and the Smart 3S 4000mah 30C battery for lighter weight with long run times and you are set for a fun time on the trails.