So maybe the track isn’t your thing. Maybe you were just there and it’s clogged with party renters and fear for your ride and your sanity has overcome you, chasing you back to the homestead. Maybe you’re antisocial and you don’t like to share your marbles. Whatever the case may be, backyard bashing is one of the most popular segments of RC driving, mainly because everyone who has ever possessed an RC car has done it at least once. There are no rules to being a backyard basher so no one can tell you that you’re doing it wrong, And if they do, you can calmly ask them to get the frick off your lawn. But before you go out there and get bored after the first thirty seconds of blowing donuts in the grass, here’s some guidelines to keep in mind so that you can get the most out of your bashing.
YOUR RIDE
So what are you going to bash with? On the track, your Team Associated, Team Durango or TLR buggy is fast and nimble, low slung and tightly tuned. In your backyard, it’s likely to get stuck in freshly cut grass and whimper in pain as it bottoms out on small rocks. I’m not saying you can’t bash with a buggy. I’m saying that you probably shouldn’t. Chances are, you’re going to want something with a little more ground clearance like a truck. Pretty much anything besides a buggy or a Losi Strike. But let’s face it, if you bought a Losi Strike, you’ve probably quit RC altogether, moved to a remote location and taken up crochet. So far I have made a hat to keep myself warm and a bag to bury my Strike in.
LOCATIONS
You’ve gotta start somewhere, right? Not all bashing takes place in your backyard, but it is obviously the most convenient. Your choice of vehicle is going to play a big part in your decision here. Hiking trails are a great place for your crawler or rock racer, but it would be disrespectful and dangerous to be launching a monster truck down trails filled with hikers, horses, and bikers, so try to keep that in mind before someone gets a concussion. Also, if you’re running a nitro, I believe the only place where you are legally allowed to run them, due to noise and emissions regulations, is in Antarctica, somewhere near the South Pole. Just head south until your nitro gels up and you’re almost there. If you’re headed away from home, remember to bring everything you’re going to need to run your ride. Batteries, tools, fuel, spare parts, spare vehicles. Anything goes in the backyard, and you won’t have to pack up the car, so we’ll focus mostly there.
CREATE
So you’ve got a wide open lawn. Now what? Blowing donuts is only fun for about a minute or so, unless you are easily amused. For the rest of us, it’s time to be creative. Here’s where the magic happens. Scraps of plywood and two-bys make perfect ramps when perched on a cooler or folding chair. The leftover bricks from your patio can make a killer crawler course. The roof of your shed can be a table top of epic proportions. Don’t be afraid to get a little crazy. The beauty of bashing is that you can do no wrong. At the track one day, I had a hardcore racer tell me that if I built a loop-de- loop or wall ride on the track, he would never come back. “You want a loop-de- loop? Go build one at home,” he said, huffing off, my dreams shattered like a crystalline unicorn that had just come within my reach. Then I thought to myself: “Actually, that’s a great freaking idea.” The maiden voyage of my backyard loop-de- loop claimed the lives of two monster trucks, a short course truck, a stadium truck, and a small, innocent bird. That bird really should not have been flying there. We said a little prayer and buried it next to the Strike, in a cemetery I’ve dubbed “RC mistakes.” This winter, as a violent storm blew snow and small wildlife around in my backyard, I watched calmly as the loop-de- loop caught the wind just right and rolled down the hill, smashing to splinters against a tree. No worries. The next one will be better.
UNDERSTAND FRICTION
This isn’t a physics class, and I am no physicist, and I promise there will be no math. Some surfaces grip a lot more than others. This is important to keep in mind. When you’re bashing, you can’t expect consistent grip. The grass has less grip than your driveway. Stone has better grip than a wet two-by. If the landing of your savage triple is on your driveway, it’s not a great idea to keep the throttle pinned on the landing. Unless you like buying drivetrain parts. Or, if the last bit of crawl onto the roof of your shed is a wet two-by- six, it’s not a great idea to be standing directly under your Wraith. They’re even heavier than they look. Broken parts and broken noses might happen, but if you pay attention to what you’re driving on, you can save yourself some embarrassment, as well as some money.
DON’T SWEAT THE BROKEN STUFF
It’s going to happen. Parts don’t last forever. Bashing deals with a bunch of unexpected obstacles that you wouldn’t typically see on a track or a trail, but that’s what makes it so much fun. Things like sheds and pickup trucks might make killer jumps and features, but the bigger it gets, the more you’ll break when things go bad. So take pride in the fact that you snapped your chassis in half trying to clear the F350-to- Cub Cadet double or laugh about that time when you missed the launch on the Cooler-to- shed roof gap and blew all the a-arms off your monster truck. Hopefully you get some fun out of it before you have a catastrophic failure, but breaks happen. They reveal weak points not only in your vehicle, but also in your driving style. Learn from them, no need to get upset. You might feel better momentarily after you throw a hissy fit, but now you’ve got a broken controller too, and five less friends. With any luck, you’ve still got a friend with a spare ride, or you might have one of your own. If you’re really desperate, you could go dig the Strike out of the back yard and give it a drive, if only to remember why it was buried so deep in the first place. Just make sure you’re not digging up the bird. That poor little guy deserves to rest in peace.
Conclusion
There are no rules. There are no classes. There are no laps. Bashing is simply for the fun of it. Bashing also gives a purpose to that random pile of lumber and patio block that hides behind your shed. As an added bonus, if you pile it up neatly when you’re done it will be easier to grab next time and will also keep your parents/significant other happy. So when the toolboxes at the track have chased you away, or you don’t feel like trying to shave another tenth off your lap time, don’t worry. There’s still plenty of ways to have fun right in your own backyard, where you might as well go big, because you’re already at home. Now go out and be the best backyard basher you can be!
Words By: Marc Aubin
Photos By: Greg Vogel
