I'm so bummed out.....may not keep Baja now.

Two weeks ago my friend an I were on our way to our freaking awesome bash pit outside of town when to our shock, we found the gates were closed and locked! With guys cleaning up the garbage and burning what they could. I've been going to our local bash pit for years now and i've never seen it gated off before. I just couldn't believe it was suddenly off limits when its been open to basically anyone the past few years

Wanting answers, I spoke with my LHS guy who help me find the gentlemen who oversea's the property but doesn't actually own it. I spoke with his wife at their home the other day near the bash pit. They both own a road construction company next to the abandoned dirt site. Keep that in mind for future reference.....

According to her, she stated the the multibillionare of our state, Denny Washington, owns the land. It was used for highway road expansion years ago but hasn't been hardly used and its freaking awesome for us to go bashing at, especially with Baja's. No doubt you've seen my pics of both the place and my various trucks their over the years.

His wife stated that the owner was apparently upset with "someone" stealing his dirt out of his gravel pit and the legal implications if someone were to get hurt on his property for whatever reason. Even they weren't informed up until they saw some crews show up with direct orders from Washington himself to put up new steel gates and lock them and shovel big piles of dirt over any car access roads.

What makes this even more frustrating, is that my LHS guy has actually seen the land owner himself take loads of dirt and gravel out of bash pit in broad daylight. Illegally stealing it basically for his own construction company needs which is right across the street. In other words, him and his wife utterly lied to my face about the reasoning our bash pit was closed down, it was their damn fault in the first place!

Now all of us local RC bashers get the shaft because of some greedy asshole thought he could get away with stealing someone elses property and play the denial game.

What makes this really sucky is that it was basically THE PERFECT place you could ever imagine to run a Baja in. Lots and lots of room, lots of area to go high speed, get insane air, run around in circles, have races and just have a blast!
Now that its gone, all im left with is boring, flat grassy area's and small recluse dirt pile area's left to run my Baja in, which is nowhere near as fun as our bash pit was. I tried again today to go to another abandoned construction area, but it just wasn't the same. My Baja can't stretch out its legs and im left wondering if I want to even have it now, its that much of a downer to loose our bash pit. Maybe i'll sell it and get another Flux that I can run in more area's without noise complaints, catch bigger air without breaking stuff and just be able buzz around place my Baja shouldn't or couldn't. I dunno....

Goodbye bash pit of the gods, it was fun while it lasted.....

[Semi Pro]

I'm sorry but, your mad because someone doesn't want you on their land that you had been trespassing on without ever asking if its OK and now its the end of the world?

grow up, get motivated make your million and buy your own place to play.

sounds like you got a great lesson about the real world

[Arct1k]

There is a freaking road running next to the bloody pit... Just park on the side of the road and bash...

Why the drama?

PS Sorry not big on sympathy tonight...

PPS I'll give you $400 for it (shipped of course)

Yah, but its surrounded by barb wire almost the entire way around.

[bdebde]

Why not just contact the owner and ASK PERMISSION??

I own nearly 100 acres farmland that is right along a river. Many many years ago, guys would ask if they could go fishing on my property, so no problem, I would let them. Now a days, not a single person asks permission, and when I inform them that they are trespassing, they want to argue and try to tell ME who owns the land. WTF is wrong with people these days?

And sorry dude, but just because no one ever told you that you were trespassing, does not mean you weren't.

[Semi Pro]

Originally Posted by bdebde

Why not just contact the owner and ASK PERMISSION??

I own nearly 100 acres farmland that is right along a river. Many many years ago, guys would ask if they could go fishing on my property, so no problem, I would let them. Now a days, not a single person asks permission, and when I inform them that they are trespassing, they want to argue and try to tell ME who owns the land. WTF is wrong with people these days?

And sorry dude, but just because no one ever told you that you were trespassing, does not mean you weren't.

agreed, we used to have no problems with hunters on the farm, we just wanted to know who was hunting ,when and where to be safe.

the people who didn't ask were greated with German Shepard's and AR15's


to quote Tyler Durden........ Just Ask Man

just because someone didnt say it is not ok doeant make it ok, its about respect..........damn i sound old like my dad

[rawfuls]

Dang that does suck, but I have to agree, just ask the guy, who knows he may be someone who was always interested in RC and was just too busy to give it a try.

May be a longshot, but worth it.

Just ask, and good luck.

Yeah, very true. My GF say's im just being obessive about it like so many other things and that I should just let it go. Woman just don't understand sometimes....

[suicideneil]

How high is the fence, and is there a security patrol ( or just that locked gate )? You see where this is headed hopefully...

Have a look on google earth too, see if there are any near by spots that look promising.

[Bondonutz]

That was a killer spot for bashing without a doubt, but we all have seen our great spots come and go.

Wipe your tears away and move on or go dig your pacifier out and curl up with your binky.

[TexasSP]

I'll top Arct1k's offer and give you 401 shipped. Take that Chris!

Seriously, in today's sue happy world I wouldn't want random people playing on my property, getting hurt, then suing me for their being idiots.

There has got to be other places to play in your are somewhere.

One nice thing I like about trail trucks and crawlers, EVERYWHERE is my playground.

[simplechamp]

"the land owner himself take loads of dirt and gravel out of bash pit in broad daylight. Illegally stealing it basically"

If he is the land owner, how can he be stealing his own dirt?

It's too bad you are losing your spot, but I wouldn't go and sell your truck just because of that. I haven't even found a good bash spot yet since I started in RC but I still like to drive my vehicles. You'll find something else, just have to start looking and be patient.

[JThiessen]

Freeze - listen to your GF....she's right. You dont know how good you have it out there. Every time I drive through there I can easily spot a dozen great places to bash, and that's just from the freeway.

A landowner, when they lease out gravel rights to a company, very often retains the right to get gravel. Its actually more common than not. We do it with our property, and even have the right to sell gravel if we want. Most good gravel pits have been fenced off for years, so its actually kinda suprising that it took them this long.

Denny W is fairly unreachable. He used to be a real jerk to people - but a lot of that had to do with people always coming to him when something needed "donations". We used to hang out with a common crowd - but it wasn't until after I moved to WA that I learned that he was a millionaire. I have heard he has gotten better in his latter years (he must be @60 now?).

[simplechamp]

Originally Posted by JThiessen

but it wasn't until after I moved to WA that I learned that he was a millionaire.

This sounds like the start of a good mystery novel LOL

After owning both, a Flux last year and a 5T this year, im starting to think about going back to a Flux. I've compiled my personal experience comparison with pro's and con's last night and im trying to decide what to do.

HPI Baja 5T

Pluses:

Very long run times
Awesome noise/smell factor
Attracts a lot of attention
Big and bad
Can be drivin in wet/cold weather with no adverse effects
Nothing else like it
2WD is pretty fun

Minuses:

Expensive to maintain
Not able to jump very high
More prone to breakage and costly repairs
Constant need to be checked, cleaned
Heavy and bulky to move and carry around
Oil/gas spills can be a real mess
Hard to find area's decent enough to run in
Noise factor increases chance of annoying people
Noise factor also decrease's areas can be run in
Takes longer to clean
Tires wear out quicker
Tuning can be become problematic
Constant need for air filter to be checked/cleaned
No reverse
Large and complex to work on
Difficult to find decent area's to run in
FM radio needs to be upgraded
Bodies are expensive to buy and paint
Concrete wears out tires quickly
Dogboots wear out fast
Drive out of town for non ethanol gas
Requires large area to work on
Hard to land jumps correctly, not mid air controllable
Engine will require rebuild after awhile
Requires more upfront cost for durable parts
2WD harder to control



HPI Savage Flux HP

Pluses:

Very fast, agile
Very durable
Can take extreme punishment
Can do insane jumps and landings
Able to be controlled in mid air
No noise pollution to worry about
Can climb pratically anywhere/anything
Cheaper to maintain
Can be programmed via PC *nerd points!*
Parts are usually cheaper
Tires last longer
Smaller and easier to move around
Has reverse
Less complex to work on
No airfilter maintenance
Includes decent 2.4ghz radio and bulletproof diffs now
Easier to bash with Lee's Stampede
Cheap, paintable bodies
Can wheelie easily
Can easily be driven on concrete
Able to be run in variety of area's
No dogboots to maintain
Takes up less workbench space
4WD brushless powa!

Minuses

Lipo's can be expensive and require babying
Shorter run times
Not the same "cool" factor as Baja
Not as fun to work on/tweak
6S Lipo could result in more part breakages
Running in wet/cold weather not recommended
Requires expensive charger
Needs more batteries for longer run times