LP-86 Challenge!

May 19, 2025

This past weekend Rogue Factory hosted our very first LP-86 Challenge along with an Open Class Fun Comp! What an awesome time it was!

First up was a standard King of the Hill Open Class Fun Comp. It was a mix of regular chassis and some LP-86s thrown into the mix. The LP-86's were somewhat at a disadvantage, but it was to be expected. This was a good test to see if a solid axle chassis should be competing against the full on comp chassis. I personally feel it's a good place to make the divide. As always it was a good time. In the end, Vittorio Santiago was able to lock down 1st Place! Jonathan Belda took 2nd Place. Robert Clinker took home 3rd!

Open Class Winners - 1st Vittorio Santiago, 2nd Jonathan Belda, 3rd Robert Clinker

Later on in the evening it was time for the LP-86 Challenge! This is what this day was really all about. The idea behind the LP-86 Challenge was to create a Spec Class with the focus on fun.

The D-Like LP-86 Line Up

Rogue Factory took charge of this one, so Joe and I were able to take part in the fun! It was a nice and needed change for us since it’s been literally years since we got to be up in the mix. It was a Random Tandem format, so we drew numbers and got paired up. It was a ton of fun with Shaine Collins even singing during some of the runs and some nutty sound effects. The mood was light and fun with a lot of laughing and joking going on. I would say it was just a bunch of RC Drift heads having a blast.

The Winning Chassis - Bone Stock D-Like LP-86 Not a single upgrade. All Driver!

For the competition side of things, Joe Durkee took home the win with First Place! Jonathan Belda took home Second Place, and Vittorio Santiago secured Third Place! Joe was able to take the win with a completely stock LP-86!

LP-86 Challenge - 1st Joe Durkee, 2nd Jonathan Belda, 3rd Vitttorio Santiago

Afterward, the feeling seemed to be unanimous, it was a lot of fun! Everyone agreed it was fun and hopes this class will take off. I know I’m looking forward to the next one.
Special thanks to D-Like for supporting this event, and to Andrew Goodluck for the awesome prizes!!!

Jonathan Belda vs. Joe Durkee
The Final Battle

Some observations I made during the entire event:

Everyone was ready for the LP-86 competition, but it wasn’t the normal comp vibe. Normally, most everyone is testing and tuning. Trying to get their chassis “just right” and trying to squeeze every last bit of performance from their setups. I would say the normal comp vibe is on the more serious side. This time, there was very few if anyone “tuning”. I would say maybe trying to get the bodies to lean equally left to right was about the extent of it. Most found humor in that and the vibe was more fun and a lot of joking was going on. It felt like there were a few new LP-86s in the house which was cool to see.

The tandems were looking really good and there were no big differences in speed or angle between all the cars. Normally, there will be some cars really fast and some really slow. For the LP-86 Challenge, they were all closely matched.

Stuart's Best Old School Body

For the most part, the tuning and equipment were removed from the equation, and it was all about driver. Because of how the LP-86 drives and how it looks while doing its thing, it adds an element of fun to the experience.

The D-Like LP-86 Circle! There's about $500 in chassis right here!!! J/K 

For these reasons, it seemed like this was a really good format. The lack of tunability kept things about the driving and the typical comp day frustrations just weren’t present. This was the goal and it worked very well.

We will definitely be sorting out some details to make this even better for the next one. We are shooting for July, so if you are interested, get ready!

A huge thank you to everyone who came out to support this! We needed this to figure out where to go from here with this Spec Class. Details to come!

SEE YOU ON THE TRACK!