In this edition of the JConcepts Friday5 we talk to California team driver, Oscar Ramirez!
1. How did you get started in RC? Was it racing right away, or did you bash vehicles before you found out about the RC race scene?
I did do some Traxxas bashing before we heard a local indoor carpet RC track was opening in 2016 called “Ricochet RC Raceway”. We brought our basher RTRs then we bought some race kits and the next thing we know here we are racing all over the nation.
2. On many indoor dirt off-road tracks it seems like the hot ticket is to run slicks. Do you prefer slightly treaded tires or slicks? And why do you think things have moved this way?
The regional dirt or clay tracks here in Southern California we run on are high bite, and that seems to be the new norm as we all want to go fast. Slicks are the only way to go fast all around the track and that’s all we run now.
3. From your experience what is the easiest AND hardest maintenance task on your RC cars?
Well since we run mostly on carpet it is very easy to keep our cars clean. Just blow off the carpet fuzz and the cars look new again. What seems to be the hardest thing to stay on top of when we run on dirt is tires. It can be a pain sanding tires for high bite track conditions, and luckily the new JConcepts Smoothie 2 is fixing that.
4. Name one JConcepts product that you feel is overlooked by many but you find it very useful.
The Combo Thumb Wrench is a must have in your tool box as I use it to remove shocks, battery hold downs and many other tasks.
5. Name one thing people might be surprised to know about you.
One thing people might be surprised to know about me is that my favorite race car driver is my daughter Emma Ramirez who is also part of the JConcepts team.