If you have read any of my blogs, you would have probably read of a state-of-the-art facility we have here in Canada called Fastcats. Well, it seems as though this world class facility north of the boarder will be closing at the end of March. They have had a number of big name drivers attend their facility over the last 5 years, who have all been amazed by the facility for everything from its size, cleanliness, and electronic gizmos that made racing there so different from any other facility I have personally ever been too. The hard work the entire Fastcats family had put into the track should not go unnoticed by anyone in the r/c community. Take this chance to check out pictures on their website www.fastcats.ca and possibly even attend one of the last big onroad race(s) that will be held there Feb. 19-22 which is the final leg of the NorthEast Grand Slam series, or the Feb. 28 Tamiya Championship Series race.
The most unfortunate part of this facility in my opinion was defiantely its location. As hard as the entire family worked, it was a very difficult to overcome the handicap they had right from the start: location. The track is located in Oakville, which for those of you who don't know is about 45min west of Toronto, and about the same distance from Niagara on the opposite end. This made getting there during the week very difficult for those coming from the east end of Toronto - which is where a large portion of the r/c population is located here in Canada - and as a result few people would want to travel over an hour on a weeknight to get at the most 1hr of track time. The summers have also been a problem for Fastcats as most of the r/c racing in the summer is 1/8th scale offroad, which they had no control over.

All in all, I had many great memories at Fastcats. The track opened only a year after I started racing, so much of my "development" lets say has come at that track. Some of you have encountered some of Fastcats' creations without even knowing they came from that track! If you have been to the Snowbirds the last few years, or the R.O.A.R. carpet nats in Cleveland last year you would have noticed the "FastLaps" system. You scan a barcode on the bottom of your radio, and the computer will pull up all the laps your transponder has done in the last race, or even month if you care to know! It is pretty neat stuff!!

Fastcats will definately be missed by the many people who have walked through its doors! However they claim they won't be gone for long and have something lurking in the shadows once they are done their much deserved break!
Lastly, if any of you have any snow...please send it to Vancouver for the Olympics!!

Steve Bortolotti