Inside an old barn in Manotick near Ottawa’s southern edge, a toy car jumps off a clay ramp. It sails through the air for a second or two before missing the landing and barrel-rolling until it stops, stuck on its side.
Dave Walker heads over to the car to right it before a fellow racer presses the throttle and sends the radio-controlled vehicle on its way.
He says this kind of camaraderie is par for the course on the Electrosport RC racetrack, a gathering space where on any given weeknight more than a dozen enthusiasts show up to trade parts and improve their lap times racing mini-cars.
“I call them my track homies,” said Walker, a member and volunteer who’s become the track’s unofficial spokesperson.
He says the club is unique, not just for the space and the hobby, but for the community it’s generated.
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For those who gather at a race track in Ottawa’s south end, tinkering with radio-controlled cars is much more than child’s play.
Built in 2019 with six tonnes of clay dug from the nearby Rideau River, Electrosport RC racetrack is housed inside a converted barn for polo horses, according to owner Ward Yaternick. It took 28 dump trucks to get it all here, he added.
Now you can find up to 40 people, mainly men, at the club some nights, Walker said. They pay a fee for access to the track where they race 1/10 scale models of cars and trucks that can reach speeds of up to about 70 km/h.
A typical RC vehicle is about the size of a shoebox and costs anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand.
Walker said after his first visit in 2021, he was hooked.
“It was like revisiting childhood excitement,” he recalled, comparing the joy of the track to opening up a Nintendo console or a Tickle Me Elmo when he was a kid.
He said the generosity of his fellow racers inspired him to keep coming back, like when someone gave him a part to repair his first car after it broke down.
“Instead of driving home, upset, like an angry kid that didn’t get a Christmas present, I go home four hours later with a giant smile on my face,” he said. He now owns more cars than he can count.
Walker also appreciates how racers come together to care for the track, for example by maintaining the right level of traction in the summer heat by taking turns spraying the surface with water from pumps typically used for pesticides.
Not just a kid’s hobby
Though there are often one or two kids who accompany their parents to the track, members say it’s mostly a club for the inner child.
For Fadi Salibi, it’s a space to make up for something he missed out on when he was young.
“I really wanted to get into it as a kid. I didn’t have the opportunity,” Salibi said. “Now that I’m an adult and I have some time and I have some money to put into it … I absolutely love it.”
He said he isn’t bothered by assumptions that the hobby is a kid’s thing.
“People have all sorts of hobbies,” Salibi says. “There’s enough stuff going on in the world today. Put a little joy in your life — and this is one of the things that brings me joy.”
Competitive edge
On certain nights, racers compete the for fastest lap, watching the results on a large computer screen and listening for the automated voice announcing the winners. The average time for beginners to lap the track is 45 seconds, though Mike Zufelt, far from a beginner, said he can do it in 20.
When he was in his 20s, the former competitive racer travelled to sponsored events in the United States and Japan, and almost turned pro. Now he hangs out at the track to connect with other racers and build skills and community, rather than competing or acting as a spokesperson for car brands.
“I just do it for fun now,” he said.
Though there’s an RC car track closer to his home in Kingston, Ont., Andre Havreluck drives the one hour and 40 minutes to Manotick every Friday night. He said it’s worth it for this track’s unique terrain and the community that’s been built there, both in person and on social media.
For him, it’s also a great place to blow off a bit of steam.
“If you’re on a long car ride or just got home from vacation and you can stop in on a place like this, you’re a new man a couple hours later,” he said. “It really has been wonderful for me.”