Fast and Furious: The Expensive Experience

Ever wonder how some people ease their adrenaline rush? Fast and furious is one of the answers. However, their happiness comes in a small package -- remote control racing cars (RC). For racing car enthusiasts, it was not just an expensive hobby but it is a way for them to show their skills in handling cars which have technicalities as complicated as Formula 1 car.

For Zainal Sojar, one of the fan, has been involved in this since 2008, mooted by interest in motoring sports. "I came here (Titiwangsa Lake Garden RC racing track) every Saturday and Sunday. The difficulty in dealing with RC makes this more interesting and make me addicted even though it is an expensive hobby," he said while cleaning his RC for a race session today.

He said for people who are interested in this hobby, they need to prepare an initial investment of RM4,000 to RM5,000 to get at least a RC and basic equipment for it.

Meanwhile, the caretaker of the Titiwangsa Lake Garden RC racing track, who wants to be known as Am, looked at this as way of releasing stress after a long day at work. "I have been in this sport for two years now and it is a stress reliever for me. I even sold my car to buy RC and the equipment that is needed. Even now, I never regretted my decision," he said. He said even though it is an expensive hobby, everybody is treated as equal once they entered the RC racing track.

"It is important for us to sharpen our skills in driving and managing RC to minimise the risk of accidents. While driving these RC cars, fokus is the utmost important element as even with a small fly, can affect the concentration of the owner who is holding the remote control," he said.

RC are self-powered model cars or trucks that can be controlled from a distance using a specialised transmitter. The term RC mean either remote-controlled or radio controlled, where remote-controlled includes vehicles that are connected to their controller by a wire but common use of RC today usually refers to vehicles controlled by a radio-frequency link.

Zainal pointed out that there is some scepticism among the public which seen this as mere entertainment for children which is not truth. "The technology that it has is quite similar with the robot, so how come some people still see it as a child's play. The technology even has similarity with Formula 1 cars," he said.

Even though it is an expensive hobby, Zainal together with other RC racing cars enthusiasts are still determine to make it popular among the youth.