2026 Golden State Off Road Championships
Aug 7-9th, Camarillo California
The Ventura Roadrunners Club is the second oldest R/C club in the United States. Having started 52 years ago it was founded on the fun and excitement that r/c car racing brings both on the ashpalt as well as the dirt. Their facility at Freedom Park in Camarillo California has been a staple of mine every chance I get to make the trek there. The facility having a fantastic On Road track as well as an equally great Off Road track to choose from makes daily practice as much fun as an organized race.
This past weekend was the annual Golden State Off Road Championships. This marks, I believe, my 11th year attending this event and I look forward to it every year. The Club, the facility and the weather all combine to make an awesome event to attend. The track layouts are always fun, flowing and have grip when the groove develops. This year would be no different!
This year I would challenge myself by racing four classes. Short Course 2wd, Buggy 2w & 4wd and Vintage Buggy (2wd). Each class brings it's own challange and driving discipline.
Up first was 2wd 17.5 Buggy. I have been racing my Schumacher LD3 buggy with a 13.5 motor for a majority of this year and finding myself now with a challange of gearing and battery selection. Tires were an easy choice going with the very reliable JConcepts "Rehab" in the Aqua compound on both front and rear. My first qualifier was a push to see how I stack up to the competition. I was suprised to find out I could somewhat hang within the top drivers and would emerge 2nd in all of my qualifying runs. Beaten only by Track Star / Schumacher driver Jeremy Hase JR. this would also be the case for the Double A mains on Sunday. RESULTS: Q2 / P2
Next class would be 4wd Buggy. Racing the Schumacher PB in 13.5 no matter if it's the Expert Class or 40+/Masters class this past year has been incredible! This buggy suits my driving style very well on any surface and for this event would prove no different. Tire choice would fall to JConcepts Ellipse front and rear again in Aqua compound. I would go on to TQ and win all rounds of qualifying and both A mains Sunday. RESULTS: Q1 / P1
Now on to Short Course 2wd with my Track Star Typhoon (Schumacher Storm Conversion). This truck has been a soul crusher for our competiton. It's like a well trained attack dog. You give it subtle commands and it does all of the aggressive things it needs to. However, I found out that the commands were not properly being "received". After two qualifiers I had DNF'd in both due to what I would later find out was a broken antenna inside the receiver. (Huge thank you to Robert Morris from KO Propo USA for taking time out of his Saturday to help diagnose it) Q3 was a different story. I would avenge my first two qualifiers by winning. Points wise this would put me Q3 for the mains. Having swapped out tires from JCon Ellipse Aqua to AKA Chainlinks in Soft for the mains I would take the win in both A mains. RESULTS: Q3 / P1
Finally... Vintage Buggy. The craze for older r/c cars hit an all time high last year at the Vintage Worlds in Vegas. Since then it has been the fastest growing segment of the hobby and the sport. This year I threw my hat in the ring and decided to try to get entered into this years Vintage Worlds in Vegas. Mission accomplished! So... I needed to build a couple of buggys and get them dialed in before September. I can honestly say this has been a fun class to drive and remember what it was like to drive a rear motor buggy. Of course they are Schumacher and the buggy I am running this weekend is the Cougar 2 Works! A work in progress thoughout that last few months (build blog coming soon) what a blast to drive! It's also been pretty successful against it's vintage rivals. This weekend the rules are allowing 13.5 motors of which was a last minute decision so I am stuck with the 17.5 that I normally run. However it proved to be a great combination for this track. I glued up a set of JConcept Rehabs in Aqua compound and literally just made two changes (ride height & arm kick up) all weekend. I would qualify Q2 and would go on the win A main #2 but the tie breaker went to the A1 winner so I finished P2. RESULTS: Q2 / P2
All in all a fantastic weekend! Thank you to the Roadrunners Club for another great event. Thank you to my wife Carna for keeping me & my race program in check as well as wrenching on cars between rounds and mains!
If you have any questions about the cars / trucks, parts or just need assistance with your race program contact us anytime @ trackstarrc@gmail.com
"Stay Tuned!"~Jimmy
