STARTING LINE
EDITORIAL
Executive Editor MAT T HIGGINS ❯❯ matth@airage.com
New Media Editor JASON SAMS ❯❯ jasons@airage.com
Senior Editor PAUL ONORATO ❯❯ paulo@airage.com
Technical Editor KEVIN HETMANSKI ❯❯ kevinh@airage.com
Associate Online Editor BRANDON WILCOX
❯❯ brandonw@airage.com
Copyeditors COREY M. WEBER, KATHERINE PIERPONT
Editors-at-large LI TO RE YES, JOHN CARY
Electric Revolution
Why all the fuss about electric, and why now? I admit that I’m biased. While I have
raced both nitro and electric extensively, I got started in racing when electric off-road
was really taking off, and I’ll always think that’s how racing should be. Racing back
then was zero hassle and pure fun—at least that’s how I remember it. I’m not alone,
and I believe that’s a big reason why the electric revolution is such a big deal. And as
far as why now, this rebirth of electric is happening now simply because the combination of LiPo batteries and brushless motors has made it possible to go electric with the
extremely popular 1⁄8-scale buggies and truggies. Electric never went away as an
option in RC, but for the last five years, everyone has been racing mostly 1⁄8-scale off-road where the only choice was nitro. How far will this electric revolution go? There’s
no reason why electric won’t soon become the most popular power source in RC. It
happened on the RC airplane side of the hobby, and it will happen with the cars. You
heard it here first. Electric is back and will soon be back on top.
CONTRIBUTORS
ROB ALLGEYER, KENNY BERGSCHULTZ, JERRY DUNLAP,
RICK EYRICH, ELVIS MACHADO, JOHN MATRISHON,
ERIC MILLER, JOEL NAVARRO, ERIC QUERTERMOUS,
MARK RONGE, TOM ROSS, DON SPIELBERGER,
PAT TRI TLE, BILL ZEGERS
MEDIA SERVICES
Vice President Media Services and
Corporate Strategy LAURENE R. BOOTH
Creative Director BETTY K. NERO
Associate Art Director KEVIN MONAHAN
Staff Photographer HOPE MCCALL
Video Producer JOSEPH ARTHUR
Web Producer HOLLY HANSEN
Data Coordinator KATHARINE BENSON
Traffic Coordinator TRACEY TERENZI
ADVERTISING
Senior Account Executive MITCH BRIAN 203.529.4609
Senior Account Executive BEN HALLADAY 203.529.4628
Account Executive BRIAN VARGAS 203.529.4649
Advertising Assistant YVONNE RODNEY 203.529.4630
Matt Higgins,
Executive editor
Follow me online @
twitter.com/mattatrcca
This issue is all about electric’s comeback in RC. I asked the team which platform or racing class they
thought was best for modern electric use:
PAUL: “1⁄10-scale
touring cars
because the worry
of a battery dumping is gone, and
brushless motors
require minimal
maintenance.”
MATT: “The best
platform for electric
is the short-course
trucks like the
Slash and SC10.
They’re beginner
friendly yet still
great racers.”
CONSUMER MARKETING
Circulation Director RICH RUKANIEC
Marketing Analyst GILLANN BLUNSCHI
Marketing Manager VANESSA LaFERRIERE
Marketing Assistant EMIL MICIK
KEVIN: “I think the
best platform for
electric is my
nitro’s starter box.
It fits so well and
does a great job.”
JASON: “1⁄10-scale
off-road is the perfect platform for the
current brushless
and LiPo tech. It’s
reliable and fun, and
they are becoming
more durable.”
BRANDON: “The
durability of 1⁄8-scale
truggies combined
with the hassle-free
operation of LiPo
and brushless make
the truggy a super-easy choice.”
PUBLISHING
Group Publishers LOUIS V. DeFRANCESCO JR.,
YVONNE M. DeFRANCESCO
Ask for Radio Control Car Action
at your local hobby shop!
FROM THE WEB
BE A ROCK STAR!
At RC Car Action we
dig rock crawling and we know you
do too, so this year we’re
unleashing round two of the RC
Rock Crawler special issue that
was such a hit last year. We
made this issue even better with
15 custom builds, more expert
driving tips, totally mind-blow-
ing scale creations, and a
whole lot more. You can find
this issue at hundreds of
hobby stores, bookstores and
newsstands and also online
at the RCStore.com. Look
for it in August, and get
your copy while you can!
40% YES, AT CLUB AND NATIONAL
LEVEL
SHOULD ELECTRIC 1⁄8-
SCALE RUN WITH NITRO?
RockCrawler
LOADED!
15 BUILDS & PROJEC TS
RADIO CONTROL
SPECIAL ISSUE!
RULE
THE ROCKS
30%
YES, BUT ONLY
AT THE CLUB
LEVEL
DIAL IN YOUR
CRAWLER
WHAT’S BEST?
WIN NOW
SHAFTYVS. MOTOR ONAXLE
PRO
DRIVING SECRETS
5
30%
NO, AT ANY
LEVEL
CUSTOM SCALE CREATIONS
rccaraction.com ROCKRACER!p. 92 THINKBIGp. 51
¡
Check out the polls on the
rccaraction.com homepage to
participate in our next reader poll.
TAMIYA JEEP WRANGLER
Hobby Shop distribution by:
Kalmbach Publishing Co.
(800) 558-1544 ext. 818
National and International distribution by:
Kable Distribution Services
14 Wall Street, 4C
New York, NY 10005
(212) 705-4621
20 Westport Road,
Wilton, CT 06897 USA
Phone (203) 431-9000
Fax (203) 761-8744
Customer Service
(800) 877-5169 or
rccaraction.com/cs
For more ways to contact
us, check out our Reader
Services page.
I know everyone faithfully reads my editorial first, but when you’re done here, you
need to check out our “Helis 101” article. If there was ever a topic that plane and
car guys could agree on it’s that helis are cool. We have just the primer to get
you started in something different. Speaking of mixing it up, if you’d like to see
more alternative RC, let us know by emailing us rcca@airage.com.
MIXING
IT UP
Magazine Publishers
of America
rcx.com
PRINTED IN THE USA
