Speed World Hobbies, Hamilton

Yesterday, fellow Super Pit Co-Founder Bill Jones (right) and I (left) spent the afternoon at Ferraro Super Quads & Speed World Hobbies in Hamilton, Ontario. They have recently opened up an indoor carpet offroad race track, and this was the first chance I've had to check it out. Although it is a little on the small side, I was very impressed with the use of space. The jumps are very well made. I remember thinking to myself that they looked rather FastCats-esque, then when I talked to Mr. FastCats himself, John Catricala, he said they called him while they were building them. There's a table top, a double-single, (that can be tripled if you're willing to take the risk) as well as a couple of singles, and some little bumps that can be doubled if you hit them right.

My fastest lap time was something like 13.3 seconds, although for me mid-to-high 13's were a good average. The hobby shop is quite impressive, stocking lots of parts for things like Traxxas and Team Associated. Unfortunately however, no Kyosho parts. :( I found it very easy to aggressively push myself lap after lap, something I haven't been able to do since running at FastCats.
They will be running a points series in the very near future, and as long as it doesn't conflict with racing at Motor City, I'll probably take part!
Here is a video of Bill and I doing a few laps on the current layout:

While I was recording Bill's laps I couldn't believe he was turning mid-to-low 12 second laps. I couldn't believe how fast his laps were. That is, until I watched the video again later, and realized that part of the track was knocked out of the way, shortening the overall track for him. :P That being said, like always, his average laps were at least a few tenths quicker than mine.

I'm definitely looking forward to running at Speed World again. This week Rob Porto and I are going again, and I'm sure Bill will come along too.

[/Tim Sanderson]