Local man Andrew Makepeace has been hooked on RC racing since the 80s when he found his first car in a hobby shop.

“I thought it was really cool and I just had to have it,” he said, as the miniature speed machines shot through the straights and slide off in the chicanes.

“I think it cost me $300 back then and it was put-it-together-yourself.”

The club is made a comeback last week, after years of hiatus, lead by drivers Andrew, Darrin Byrnes and Collin Marlow.

“The end game is to get the club to the stage where we can host championship-style races and get in with the regional championship levels, where we get racers from other clubs coming in and racing with us,” Andrew explained.

With clubs in Glen Innes and Coffs Harbour, there is a growing interest in the hobby-sport and the thrill-seeking drivers who take the stand for the fastest laps and wicked spills.

“Most of these guys, they love working on cars,” Andrew said. “And if you can’t afford the room or the money to by 20 real cars, you can buy half a dozen of these, and you change the body shell, and it is all of a sudden a different vehicle.

“For the most part, it is being able to control something, and do things with a car that you can’t do with a full-size car because it’s going to cost you and hurt you.”

Formalities were still underway to see the disused Gilgai tennis court permanently transformed into the tight-cornered track that claimed more than one experienced driver on the weekend, but the standing committee was confident the club would be allowed to use the land.

From the driver’s stand, Andrew laid out the skills a driver needs to conquer the straights and slide through the tight corners.

“(Drivers need) a bit of determination and a willingness to focus on what you are doing,” he said. “For me, I just love throwing model cars around. It’s fun.” It’s a hobby with a holding around the world.

“Some of the vehicles here are manufactured by a company that can quite proudly boast that they have won 27 world championships.”