Nitro XCam2

October 3, 2001 - His stats are amazing. He’s known as "Speedy" Shayne Barr, and he races Nitro RS4 remote controlled Racecars competitively. His two favorite venues are what are known as Capitola, and Salinas. Although these cars are remote controlled, they’re not toys. These cars are nitro fueled, 1/10 scale, and they can go as fast as fifty miles per hour.

This scenario may sound somewhat familiar to some of you, but that’s because it is. X10 ran a story on him last year. Since that story, Shayne has gone on to maintain his status as one of the best and fastest on the Nitro circuit. At the Capitola race, Shayne has only lost one Main Event all year, and in that one he finished second. He’s only lost one Main Event at Capitola, but that was because Salinas was running the same day. At Salinas he says that he should repeat the Nitro Champ, "as long as I keep showing up."

To make his racing more interesting, he has hooked up the XCam2 to his racecar so that not only can he race the car, he can also view the race from the car’s viewpoint after the race is over. "I used the XCam2 with battery pack," he says, and he provides pictures of his setup on his website.

To hold the wireless camera on the car he uses a product called "ShoeGoo" which he says is like heavy-duty rubber cement. "It holds good" Shayne says, "but will come off of smooth surfaces if you need it to."

The camera itself is "mounted to the rear window panel with 2 bolts with foam sandwiched in between," Shayne says of his setup. "A flat panel antenna points out toward the rear to prevent breakage if the car flips," which of course is bound to happen from time to time when a car is moving at that speed.

According to his driver profile, Shayne has been racing competitively since 1999. As his favorite racing quote goes, "It’s not how fast you go, it’s how fast you get there." And Shayne is quickly making himself a name on the Nitro circuit, and he’s a very visible competitive racer.

He’s also got the only car with a working CarCam (XCam2), which he says was turning heads at his last event. He says he "had a few people come over and watch the video" after one of his practice sessions. Magazine photographers were there taking pictures of it as well. He ended up in at least three magazines that he knows of, but the numbers could keep climbing as more magazines go to press.

With a wife, two kids, two cats, five fish, two snakes, and two racing cars, Shayne is definitely busy. But that’s always been his style. As he likes to say, "Work hard, play hard, and reap the rewards."

And the rewards are definitely coming in. Shayne and his CarCam, and the XCam2 have become the hit of the circuit. The XCam2 can also play hard, and work hard.

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