The wheels are starting to spin for a new club in the lakecity.
The Williams Lake RC Club — a remote control car-racing group — has been meeting regularly on Sunday afternoons behind the Williams Lake Curling Club on a dirt track.
“This is just an awesome place for this,” said Steve Marlow, the WLRCC president, who added the club is currently in the process of applying for official society status with the city.
All models of cars — both gas and electric — are used by members. And the catch, Marlow said, is the sport is exciting for kids and adults, alike.
So far roughly 40 people participate in the racing, ranging from age six to 60-plus.
He said the idea to start a club came up after talking with Carl Johnson, owner of Dollar Dollar in Williams Lake who supplies RC cars and parts in his store.
Johnson had donated several cars to the Child Development Centre, and the CDC had began hosting regular race days as part of its programming.
“I came across that and I thought, jeez,” Marlow said. “I hadn’t even thought about RCs for the past 20 years, but there are a lot of people who are into their kids having fun.”
Johnson said, additionally, Shawn Webstad, along with Steve, has been a huge help in getting the club up and running.
“Shawn has been a key person in organizing it,” Johnson said. “He’s the guy that has helped at the CDC events and who has a great amount of knowledge about RCs. Shawn is always there to help the new guys fix what they have broken and come up with a lot of simple fixes.”
Marlow currently builds the track each week prior to race day, but hopes to eventually expand and get permission to build a permanent track.
“Eventually when you get more people we can start to have classes [race divisions] each week,” he said.
“I think you need the competition to make it more exciting.”
Cars range in price from around $300 to $400, however, Marlow explained parts are inexpensive.
“You can replace parts once you have the car for around $10,” he said.
He added with winter on its way he hopes to get the club up and running early in the spring.
“That’s the plan,” he said. “I need to have our [society] papers filed by Oct. 10 so if that goes well we’re hoping to start early.”
For more information on the WLRCC e-mail Marlow at rounder1413@icloud.com.
