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New Track

We are now up and running in our new track which is located at 337 Bath rd., downstairs from Aaron's furniture. As usual racing starts at 6:00pm on Tuesday evenings for onroad and 10:00am on Saturdays for oval. Doors are usually open an hour or so before racing starts. Practice runs on Saturdays after oval has finished from approximately 1:30 till 5:30 and on Sundays from 1:00 to 4:00.

We have just over 3000 sq ft of racing surface with plenty of pit space, a two level drivers stand and a snack shack for goodies.

Welcome

Welcome to Leading Edge RC Speedway. A website about radio control (RC) racing in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. This site is aimed towards those that are new to RC racing and to keep our regulars informed of current news and happenings. LERCS operates in a club type atmosphere that is owned and operated by all the members of the club, this allows us to keep our prices for racing down, it is not a business. To become a member just show up and race. At LERCS we try to offer an atmosphere that is fun, informative and competitive. RC racing can be alot of fun but there is definitely a learning curve to it. You will not be competitive for wins when you start out but you will be competitive with other drivers that are at your stage of racing. Many of the classes have enough racers that there is an A and a B group. Newer racers and novices are usually in the B group, with more experienced racers in the A group. Click on any pictures for a larger image.

Beginning with the first Tuesday in October and running till the last Tuesday in April we run at our indoor track at 337 Bath road. Beginning with the first Tuesday in May till the last Tuesday in September we run outdoors at the Cataraqui Canadian Tire store at Princess and Gardiners. Show up a little early and help with the track building process to help reduce your racing costs, more on that in the racing fee's section. Spectators are more than welcome at either location. Racing usually starts at 6:00PM and runs till about 10:00PM. Come early to get some practice before the racing starts, doors are always open by 5:00PM at the indoor track.

Your first night out
What to expect

Each person gets 4 races per night. The first 3 races are heat or qualifier races, with the last one being the main or point's race. The qualifier races will determine where you start in your main. The main is where you get points scored and over a 10 race series will determine the winner of each class. The faster drivers will start ahead of the slower drivers. If there are enough drivers this will be divided into the A and B groups also. This allows newer drivers to race in an atmosphere where they won't feel that they are in the way of the faster or more experienced drivers. This is also carried over into the next weeks racing. As you get better you will move your way up to the A group. If you have bought your new RC vehicle at Leading Edge Hobbies your first 4 races are free. This allows you to get your feet wet in the racing scene with no extra cost to you.

On your first night of racing you will be registered into the driver's database. To do this we need to know 4 things.

• Name
• Class of vehicle you are running
• Radio frequency or channel
• Transponder number if using a personal transponder

Once everybody has registered the heats will be made up and posted in 3 areas

• The bulletin board/frequency board
• House transponder location
• Race director

Starting your first race

You put your car on the track and are all ready to go, what happens now? Go over to the drivers stand and run a couple of warm up laps with your car. As you run around the track, there is a scoring loop under the carpet that picks up the transponder you put in your car. This will send the information to the computer as to how many laps you do during the race. When the race director is ready to start the race he or she will get all the cars lined up on the straightaway. He will say drivers ready, marshalls ready, on the sound of the tone. When the tone sounds you can start your race, 5 minutes later the tone will sound again to end your race. At this point you finish the lap you are on and your race is over. Wow, you have just completed your first race, what a rush. Take your car or truck off the track, return it to your table, return the house transponder and then you get to go and marshall the next race. Marshalling is going out on the track and sorting out cars that have crashed, more on marshalling in another section. Also if you crash or get hung up during your race, you must wait for a marshall to get you straightened out, using reverse on the track is not allowed. This process is repeated for each class of vehicle until each person has run a race. When each person has run a race this is the completion of a round. Each round takes about an hour and there are a total of 4 rounds in a night, 3 heat and 1 main.

This may seem a little overwhelming to start with but people catch on quickly and before you know it you are an old pro. We have all ages racing but it may be a little hard for kids under 8 to grasp the concept of racing and competition, but there are always exceptions. Some of the classes are intended for new or novice racers and other classes are intended for more advanced or more experienced racers. There are no hard and fast rules set as to what class to get into but we have found in the past that new racers that enter into classes that are for the more experienced racers, usually become frustrated and quit. It may look easy when you watch an experienced driver running their car around the track but it is a skill that is acquired over time, if it was too easy than you would get bored with it quickly and nobody would want to do it. Also don't be afraid to ask questions, every person that is racing now was once new to it and had questions themselves. This can be a fun and rewarding hobby to get into and one that can be enjoyed for many years.

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