Recreation
Radio-controlled cars offer speed, adrenaline

By Seabrook Mow
Special to The Advertiser

It's the final lap, and by now the drivers have been pushing themselves and their cars to the limit. Each driver relies on past experience and honed reflexes to guide his or her car around the track.

Henry Miner of 'Aiea checks out his TMax car before a race in Pearl City. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Instead, a marshall quickly rushes over to the car and turns it right-side up, allowing driver and car to resume racing.

Where's the driver throughout this ordeal? Cruising with all the other drivers a few feet away from the track racing their radio-controlled cars by remote.

"The only thing that hurts is when the cars hit you in the ankle," said Bert Nuuanu, 39, of 'Ewa Beach, a racetrack and Total Radio Control Car shop owner.

But if a car was to smash into something like an ankle, it would probably leave a bruise as these electric- and gas-powered vehicles can reach speeds up to 30 mph.

Nuuanu holds radio-controlled car races at his track, every second and fourth Sunday of the month, deep inside Pearl City Industrial Park.

"This is my field of dreams," Nuuanu said. As 30-40 participants from O'ahu and the Big Island — young and old, novices and veterans — gather to race each other around the twisted PVC pipe-lined dirt track.

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Total Radio Control Car Racing WHERE: At 96-1268 Waihona St., Pearl City WHEN: Every second and fourth Sunday of the month COST: $8 to race per car, includes two qualifying races and one main race PHONE: Bert Nuuanu, 455-3137, phone; 844-7732, pager OTHER RACE TRACKS: At Ke'ehi Lagoon, the first Sunday of every month. The cost is $7 a race in each class. Participants also must have a ROAR insurance program, which is $30 a year. Phone Felix Racoma at 456-1279

According to 10-year race veteran Leone Kamahele, 48, of Mililani, who works at Midas Muffler, the number of racing participants has increased over the years. Nuuanu said that's because radio-controlled cars are the easiest and simplest to learn of all the radio -controlled hobbies.

"Cars are the easiest to repair and care for, unlike boats where you have to deal with the salt water or planes where if it crashes that's it," Nuuanu said.

He describes a playing/repairing ratio for each remote-controlled hobby, and for cars it's a one-to-one ratio, where a person spends half the time racing and the other half repairing.

Repairing and upgrading these custom cars are what make this hobby expensive. If a motor breaks, it will cost around $150 to replace. "Like any hobby it's expensive, but compared to golfing every week, racing is real inexpensive," Kamahele said. He said that he spent around $2,000 over the past five years on his cars.

Buying a new car, however, could cost a person $200 to $2,000. Also, most cars come in a box and need to be assembled.

For the amount of money and time invested into these cars, hobbyists expect them to perform exactly like an actual car would on the same terrain.

It's evident as spectators notice a huge difference between these high-powered cars flying and jumping around the track, compared to the single-frequency remote-controlled cars that children get for Christmas.

"But racing (cars) is all about having fun; it's the camaraderie and a chance to escape from everything else. Besides it's a real thrill to race someone side by side," Kamahele said.

In keeping the competitive spirit alive, Nuuanu awards points for a car's placing, which can then be redeemed for prizes, such as new parts.

"We're like one big family here, some people even potluck out here. Everyone's just here to help everyone out, like if we ran into problems before, we won't let you run into the same problems."

After all, Nuuanu has been racing cars for the past 20 years.