Powell Racing

Author: AC Powell

  • Introducing the R/C Tire Selector WebApp — Find the Right Rubber for Any Track

    After a little suspense, the time has come to pull back the curtain on something I’ve been quietly building: the R/C Tire Selector WebApp — a tool designed specifically for 1/8 scale buggy racers to take the guesswork out of tire selection.

    What started as a thought experiment quickly turned into something I felt was worth actually building and sharing with the community. If you’ve ever stood at the track unsure which compound to throw on based on the conditions, this app is for you.

    What It Does

    At its core, the app lets you match tires to track conditions — fast and simply. Enter a track temperature, select your track condition, or do both. When you combine temp and condition, the app recommends a specific compound and tire. If you just pick a condition, it shows you the best tire options along with all available compounds.

    Clicking on any tire pulls up a full breakdown: recommended track conditions, available compounds, temperature ranges for each compound, and a photo of the tread pattern so you know exactly what you’re looking at.

    Current Features

    • 10 tire brands with full compound listings
    • Temperature suggestions per compound
    • Suitable track conditions for each tire
    • Tread photos for every tire in the database
    • Compound cross-reference chart — finally know what “SS” or “Green” actually means across different brands
    • Dark mode / Light mode toggle
    • Mobile-friendly version
    • Offline mode — the app works without an internet connection once enabled
    • Browse by brand — just want to see what a specific brand offers? You can do that too
    • Suggest a tire — if your favorite tire isn’t in the app yet, you can submit it

    What’s Coming

    The app is actively growing. On the roadmap:

    • Personal tire catalog to track what you own
    • Search and filter by tire name
    • Favorites and bookmarks
    • Compare mode
    • Shareable links with your current selections
    • Tire usage history and analytics
    • Track condition presets
    • Compound availability checker
    • Tire use history by track

    Want Early Access?

    The app is currently in beta and not yet open to everyone — but I’m actively looking for testers to kick the tires (pun intended) and give feedback. If you want to get your hands on it early, reach out and I’ll send you a beta code.

    Let’s build something the R/C community actually needs. 🏁

    Video of the app working coming soon!

  • Something’s Coming…

    Tired of guessing which tires to run? Tired of digging through your pit box, wondering what compounds you actually have?

    I’ve been working on something.

    A tool that knows surfaces. Knows temperatures. Knows what’s in your arsenal and what’s not.

    No more endless scrolling. No more second-guessing at the track.

    Just answers.

    Stay tuned.

  • RC ONE AVID carpet off-road nationals!

    I was “suckered” into racing 1/10, AGAIN! why do I let myself get talked into these things. I guess it is for the children! lol

    So yeah, I went to RC One and raced 1/10 Stock 17.5 and 40+ mod (with my 17.5). Needless to say, it was a fun 3 days with Nathaniel, Ilan, and Wes. I also met Dylan and Dalton (one of whom I met previously outdoors).

    17.5 was a blast once I got tires and gearing situated. I had the chance to bump from the C to the B, but nerves got the best of me.

    40+ was complete chaos. I was running a stock car in a mod class with way more people than should have been in a class, but it was still a great time!

    Would “probably” do again…..Probably……

  • Back into it!

    Back into it!

    As per usual, I planned to do this blog thing and stick with it. I did not. lol

    Let’s try again.

    Did some 1/10 racing the other day with Nate, Nathaniel, and Ilan. Shhh, don’t tell anyone.

    It was fun. I had a great time. Little cars are hard lol.

  • Life Changes

    Sorry for being absent. I have had some person life things going on, all good, that have kept me from racing. I am hoping to start racing again in September. For now I am focused on family because that is where I need to be 🙂 This life change is going to be great for me and my family and we have already seen the benefits. Thanks for coming to read and I will have more RC stuff posted as soon as I can 🙂

    Thanks again!

    -ME

  • 2025 Summer Series @ Novi Water Tower Race 1

    2025 Summer Series @ Novi Water Tower Race 1

    2025 Summer Series Race 1 @ Novi Water Tower has concluded.

    Lesson 1 for the day: One of these days I will learn that the inevitablility of me changing my diff fluid to match the surface is 100%. Until then, I shall me going into heat one with the wrong fluid and then changing it between rounds 1 and 2 :).

    I really thought that the season opener would of been the biggest race day with 94 Drivers and 180 Entries but the the 1st round of the points series did not disappoint with 100 Drivers and 196 Entires. That meant only 2 rounds and a main just so we could finish the day.

    All in all the day went well once we got the wind situation dealt with. Round 1 in both classes went okay. The track was just tool cold for what I chose tirewise but not horrible. Once it warmed up my tire chose was spot on.

    Lesson 2 for the day: Always make sure your directional tires are on the proper way BEFORE glueing them.

    So yeah, I glued a fresh set of tires for round 2 and the mains and I glued 2 of them the wrong way which meant I needed to unglue them when an exacto knife. FUN STUFF!! lol. Either way I sorted it out and the tires worked great!

    All in all I guess I cannot complain since I didn’t change my fluids for round 1. I did struggle a bit in my eBuggy Main but I had a blast in my eTruggy main.

    For my eBuggy main I stand by my statement that we should of restarted the eBuggy main due to people driving over others. Went for 2nd to last then had to climb back to 5.

    For eTruggy, I ended up in 5th because I wasn’t paying enough attention to the announcer. I thought I was chasing 4th, then I let someone go by me who I thought was lapping me. Turns out I was in 4th and the person I let by was in 5th and was now in 4th. It was great racing and I enjoyed it alot.

    I am pleased with my results @ the Novi 2025 Summer Series. I have one more race until I break for Xray Challange Prep.

    Here is my obligitory photo

    2 tekno etruggys and 2 tekno ebuggys on a table. ready for the 2025 Summer Series

  • Road to XRAY CHALLENGE

    Welcome to the “Road to XRAY CHALLENGE”! Since XRAY CHALLENGE is 4 weeks away it’s time to start getting ready.

    It’s time to start prepping my cars for the three-day fun-filled event. To start, we have these beauties, so now I get to rebuild my differentials on my ebuggy.

    An image of Tekno Diff Parts needed to rebuild a Tekno ebuggy differential.
    Tekno Diff Parts

    I have a few things that need to get done before then, including getting some practice in; Novi this weekend and TARCAR next weekend.

    • Prep new bodies
    • Drill new PINK wings (finally bought some Jcon LD Pinks)
    • Go through all my parts and make sure I have spares of breakables
    • Sort tires and replace any that I will need for Browns
    • create a food list so we know what we are eating (that town has limited food options, and it hurt us last year)
    • Create XRAY Bingo list!

    That’s all until my next Road to XRAY CHALLENGE post.

    I hope to see lots of racers!

    See my FAQ for more info about me and my stuff.

  • Glass City Series Race #1

    The Glass City Series Race #1 was this past Saturday. With a decent turnout, it looked to be a fun day! I didn’t have a plan other than redoing my diffs from the last race at Novi. I decided to stick with two classes, 40+ eBuggy and Open eTruggy. I struggled with tires and some setup, but I managed to work through them all, and both my eTruggy and eBuggy were looking good (not sure about that driver, though). Round one had me toward the bottom, with some tweaks, and rounds 2 and 3 moved me up toward B sort, which was an excellent place for me to be. My eBuggy was good for the mains, but I had a couple of driver errors, and I didn’t bump up to the next race. For eTruggy, I made a horrible audible for tire choice, which did NOT pan out for me. Oh well, I will get’em next time at the Glass City Series Race #2 or maybe #3!

    For now, I am starting to prep for the 2025 XRAY Challenge @Brown’s Hobby. I need to replace some parts, as well as clean and rebuild. Then, I will have one or two races before heading to Brown’s. Last year at XRAY Challenge, it was stupid hot but also way fun. I am looking forward to hanging out with my usual pit neighbors and hopefully repeating or beating my results from last year.

    I have the following options for races before Brown’s on the weekend of the 27th, so you will find me at one of these locations, I am sure.

    Look for me at any of those and come say hi! I like making new friends and meeting new people.

    Glass City Series Race et48 2.2 and EB48 2.1

  • Race Report Novi 2025 Season Opener!

    Race Report: Saturday, May 11th was the Novi Season Opener race, and there were a lot of people there. Infact, the most people they’ve had at any race, 94 drivers and 180 entries. This made for some kick ass racing and a very long day in the sun.

    I dragged Jim out with me as he had not been there before. I raced eBuggy and eTruggy. 5 heats of eBuggy and one larger heat of eTruggy.

    eTruggy

    eTruggy was pretty good. I made sure my truck was not set up all wonky, got my typical Novi tires on, and was ready to go. Then OhBoy comes over and here I am changing tires lol (glad I did). I took 3rd in the first heat and 5th in the 2nd. Fortunately, my 1st heat qualifier of 3rd stuck for the mains, and I would sit in p3 for the mains. Ooohhhh the mains. With a lot of people racing, there tends to be a lot of stuff that happens, and this day saw a lot of racers’ etiquette go out the window. I was running off twice and had other random things happen. I was super frustrated and decided to pull my truck. At first, I thought it was me, but a friend confirmed I was punted twice by hacky drivers who didn’t even check up after. Oh well. It happened, and I still had fun.

    eBuggy

    My eBuggy heat 1 and 2 was a shit show to say the least. I could not get my car to do anything I wanted. Heat 2 was better than Heat 1, but I still struggled. Diff changes, ride height adjustments, droop adjustments, tire changes, and even driving style changes had me traction rolling at almost every corner. At this point, I was ready to send it for the F main and call it. Jimmy says as I wait for the mains to start, “I think you should take a lot more droop out of your car. I was already at 113/123, so we agreed I should go down to 108/118. I had removed almost 12mm of droop from my car that day. Then Nathaniel says, “I have these tires I ran a race on, why don’t you try these and see if it is any better.

    Hold on to your hats, y’all, cause this race report gets better!

    My car finally felt like my car in the first main. I managed to bump 4 times from the F to the C. It was the most I have moved up in a race weekend, and although the sun was beating on me and my lack of bringing enough food and water was killing me, I had a BLAST! For many reasons, I couldn’t quite make it from the C to the B, but I fought hard.

    Thanks!

    I want to thank Jim, Nathaniel, Erik, and Wes for always letting me bounce Ideas off them and helping me when I ask. I would also like to thank Scarlet (Jim’s daughter) for dragging my car back and forth during my bumps to have someone swap batteries for me.

    I forgot to take any photos of my cars, so here are some pics of Jim’s car 🙂

  • Racing Outdoor has begun!

    Outdoor RC Racing Season 2025 has started!

    I had my first outdoor race of the season @ TARCAR. It was a great day that started wet, and I didn’t want to practice. Rebuilt my eBuggy shocks 2 times because why not lol. I had my favorite pit person with me, DOC ATP, and I bumped to the A main in both classes I raced (40+eBuggy/Open eTruggy)

    The next race scheduled is on the 10th of May @ R/C Raceway at Novi Water Tower Park. It should be a blast!

    Hopefully, I will keep the blog thing going. I always forget to make posts like this, and I want to do better 🙂 Thanks for reading and happy racing!

    Racing cars Tekno EB48 2.1 and a Tekno ET48 2.2 sitting on a table with thier front ends pointed at each other.

    See https://dodgecityrc.com/faqs/ for more info about my racing or equipment.