Firstly, I’d like to use this opportunity to wish you all a (VERY) belated slab of Christmas and Happy New Year wishes. Yes, I’ve been laying very low for the last 6-8 weeks as there’s been a lot of stuff (mostly good!) happening in my life. But I’ve decided to give myself more time on the things that make me happy and ausmicro.com is one of those things – so expect to see my idle ramblings a little more often!
LOTS of new faces on the forums, which is great to see! Sometime during the Chistmas/Holiday period we had the forum hacked and there was always the deep-seated concern that longterm damage would be done to the work that we (Aaron, Me and YOU) have put into the community. Thankfully, and due largely to the enormous personal efforts of Aaron, we’ve come back bigger and better than ever. Sure there’s some tweaking to be done, but the architecture is there for a big future. Thanks, too, to the small team of dedicated moderators who are doing a great job keeping the house in order (which gives Aaron and I an opportunity to sleep every now and then!)
I’ve been juggling my hobby time amongst my cars. As many of you know, I enjoy a mix of Micro RC (esp Tomy Bit Char-G), Mini RC (esp Kyosho Mini-Z), 1:10 scale (I have a Tamiya nitro touring car) and my 1:1 scale car 😉 Christmas was a great opportunity to pull all of the gear out onto the loungeroom floor (err… except the 1:1 scale) and give everything a clean/tune/test. Thankfully everything still works!
I gave the gift of a Bit Char-G to a close friend for Christmas. He’d never seen anything like it in his life! Yeah – it had a standard 1.0 motor in it, but he was blown away. After countless upgrades, hacks and mods, I’d forgotten how much fun even the standard cars were. Of course, he’s since ordered himself some hop-ups from TradingDirect and I don’t think his life will ever be the same again. On my advice he threw in a Micro B 2.6 and suddenly his mother and cat hate me for the monster I’ve created. Their home’s flooring is not officially a racetrack. Another addict joins the fold. Expect to see him on the forums sooner or later.
I see interest continues to grow about some race meets. I know that Steve from TradingDirect has a few ideas, as do you guys and Aaron/myself. Rain, hail or shine (or bushfire as the case is at the moment) we WILL have an ausmicro.com raceday in Q1 this year. Stay tuned for more information/collaboration on the details.
I know it’s kind of off-topic, but I’d like to extend my personal sympathies to anyone affected by the bushfire season here in Australia. In the last 6 months we’ve lost almost 550 family homes across the country (including 450+ in Canberra last weekend) to these horrific fires. I hope and pray that none of you have been directly affected. If you have the capacity to make a donation (large or small) to the bushfire appeal, you can find details of the branch/account numbers at CBA Bushfire Appeal details
Finally, thanks for your continued support of mini/micro RC hobbies and your interest in ausmicro.com. Bring on 2003
Kind regards
Derek Jenkins
Sydney, NSW, Australia
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