RC Racing - Almost As Good As The Real Thing

Troy Siahaan
by Troy Siahaan

With the Phillip Island round of World Superbike starting this weekend, this officially marks the beginning of the 2012 racing season. As a precursor to this weekend’s festivities, however, we thought we’d get the racing juices flowing with this YouTube gem of radio-controlled motorcycles going wheel-to-wheel on a RC-specific racetrack.These aren’t the same RC toys you might have played with as a child, either. Just look at the speeds they’re able to produce. Nope, these are purpose-built RC motorcycles. The racing action is rather intense, and if you’ve never operated a RC machine like this before let me tell you, it takes some real skill behind a controller to get them to go around a track this quickly.

It’s definitely an entertaining video that actually captures some of the same challenges the World Superbike competitors will face this weekend: line selection, managing traction from each tire, throttle and brake application, and dealing with traffic.

Be sure to watch to the end, otherwise you’ll miss a RC reenactment of the famous 12 o’clock wheelie Max Biaggi barely managed to save as he won the 1998 500cc race at Brno. Welcome back to race season, everyone!

Troy Siahaan
Troy Siahaan

Troy's been riding motorcycles and writing about them since 2006, getting his start at Rider Magazine. From there, he moved to Sport Rider Magazine before finally landing at Motorcycle.com in 2011. A lifelong gearhead who didn't fully immerse himself in motorcycles until his teenage years, Troy's interests have always been in technology, performance, and going fast. Naturally, racing was the perfect avenue to combine all three. Troy has been racing nearly as long as he's been riding and has competed at the AMA national level. He's also won multiple club races throughout the country, culminating in a Utah Sport Bike Association championship in 2011. He has been invited as a guest instructor for the Yamaha Champions Riding School, and when he's not out riding, he's either wrenching on bikes or watching MotoGP.

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