Bringing your hobby with you

Today at Sunday brunch we saw a flyer on the wall of the Dining Facility (DFAC) advertising a RC (Remote Control) Race at a track on Camp Liberty. So we stopped in on the way back to the office to check it out. As my first time at an event like this, it was pretty impressive. The track had multiple jumps, banked curves, an overpass/bridge, electronic starting/timing/scoring, and a reviewing/control stand. There were probably 10 different teams - all with multiple classes of RC cars: small or large, 2-wheel or 4-wheel drive, electric or gas powered, and all the spare tires, suspensions, tools and assorted machinery to keep them going. That's definitely bringing your hobby with you to Iraq.

We watched a "buggy-class" race, which are 4-wheel drive battery powered cars, then a gas-powered race. I didn't realize how fast these things were until I saw them in action. They were getting a couple feet of air over the jumps. Of course, a normal part of any car race are the crashes. Expecting these to happen, there were people all over the track to get the cars going in the right direction again, but some vehicles got knocked out completely, with broken wheels, busted suspensions, and even one that caught on fire. Of course, the priority for the race staff wasn't putting out the fire, it was getting a picture of the burning car because it was cool. I am not sure the owner agreed, so the fire was put out pretty quickly. It became very obvious what all the tools and spare parts were for, so the teams could fix the cars up for the next race.

It seems odd that I had to come to Iraq to see a bunch of guys racing RC cars around a dirt track. It was pretty cool though!