For those of you who don't know me, my name is Kevin Focht. I used to run the website called The Big RC and have been a local racer for at least a decade. In that time, I have seen RC racetracks in the Portland area come and go. All for various reasons. To be honest, I never really wanted or thought about having a track. This just kind of fell into my lap. The owner of the building is a client of mine, and have become close friends. They have talked before about me moving my studio to the basement of their building, but the ceiling height was an issue. A couple months back, I was at their space and they asked if I finally wanted to see the space, so I went downstairs. As soon as I walked in the door, I knew it wasn't right for my photography, but went wait a second, 5000 sq ft of space for cheap....an RC track right in the middle of PDX!
The positives: The space is really clean, and because it's underground and concrete, heat and ac are awesome. It stays really nice year round. There is electric about every 4 feet around the whole area. There are plugs in-between the beams, so adding lights is a snap. The location is great, as it is right off of Sandy blvd at 42nd. There is a parking lot that can be used after hours and weekends, and the bank next door has given permission to use it's lot if they aren't open. The area is nice and there is lots of parking on the street too. We will literally roll out the astro ( yes it's astro, not carpet) build jumps, and a driver stand and start racing.
The negatives: The ceiling height is only 8'6" at the beams. The good thing is there is no poles obstructing anything. We will have a 2ft drivers stand, but that's what RC Plus in Salem has. The track itself will be 36-40 ft by 70ft. Not huge, but still workable. You have to go down a set of stairs to get in the place, once again not bad, but not optimal either.
What's the deal? I am willing to get this thing rolling and take care of the rent, insurance, and electrical and various other things that come along. Ron from RC Plus was nice enough to offer to rent his extra loop and computer. I will take care of that. What I am asking the RC community to do, is to help pitch in for the initial start up costs. Once we are rolling, I will take it from there. My plan is to race on Wednesday nights, and Sunday mornings. I might have one other practice day a month and a random Friday race, but right now that is the plan. This is not going to be my main business, as my photography business keeps me more than busy. I just want a place to race on those dreary winter nights. I will be also need help with building, and setting this place up. I have never run a track, but so far great people have come forward to help.
The Costs: Here is the breakdown estimates of the costs.
Astro: $2000-2500 I will get a break if I pay for it up front.
Wood for jumps and driver stand: $800-1000
Lighting: We will need 20 shop lights with LED tubes $700
Paint: Shawn Stewart was nice enough to donate his time to paint, cost of paint is $500
Pipe for track: $500
What I'm looking for is the RC community to crown fund $5000 to get a track in downtown PDX. I know that sounds like a lot, but in reality if 100 people donate $50 bucks each, we have a track to race at this winter. I'm willing to get this thing rolling and take the chance on the lease, I just want racers to have a little skin in the game too.
When we hit $5000 I will sign the lease and we are racing within a few weeks. If we don't hit it, I will refund your money and we will find other things to do. If the budget is less than is expected, I will use the extra funds to improve the track. Pretty simple right? Let's race!!!
I will be keeping a running total on the PDX RC Underground page, so we know exactly where we are at!
All racers who donate will get a special race/practice day all to themselves before we have our grand opening! Racers who donate will have their names put up on a wall of fame at the track!
Please make sure and put your proper email in your notes if it is different from your PayPal email
Here is a list of the donors so far.
$500 worth of paint and painting: Shawn Stewart
$250 donors are: Garth Williams,Josh McCall,Ken Christmans, Miguel Andrade.
$100 donors are : Mo Hille, Troy McCune, Ali Drebi, Jerry Woolet and Gene Ipm, Jeremy Howard, Brian Stromberg, my lovely fiancé Karli (who doesn't race)
$50 donors are : Ty Gebhardt, Tommy Tuit, Dave Erlich, Brendon Panasewich, Tom Davies.
Donation of $25 (you have my gratitude)
Donation of $50 (includes two free race days )
Donation of $100 (includes free racing for a month)
Donation of $250 (2 free months racing and a T-shirt)
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