If you've been following the RC community for a while, you may have seen the legendary two-man challenge pop up on the Elite RC page — or maybe you caught the classic photo of Ryan Lutz eating pizza while driving. One person on the trigger, one person on the steering. It sounds simple. It is absolutely not simple.
We decided to give it a go here at Adrenaline RC, and it made for one of the most entertaining (and humbling) sessions we've had on the indoor track in a while.
The Setup
Our ride for the day was Jake's trusty Sparko buggy — the same one that held up beautifully at Motorama. After a few setup tweaks to dial it back in for the indoor track, it was running the Cayote 6500 packs, Crest 8 Evo ESC, and a 4268 2200KV motor. Tires? JConcepts Silver Dirt Web 2s with green FDJ compound. A proper setup for a proper challenge.
For the other half of this experiment: Uriel. If you haven't seen him at the track lately, you're missing out. He's only been driving for about 10 months, but he's been putting in three to four days a week of practice and has moved from sportsman all the way into the expert class. Don't let the humility fool you — this guy is quick.
Jake handled the throttle and brake. Uriel took the wheel. What could go wrong?
How It Actually Went
Everything.
And also kind of nothing, because we figured it out.
The baseline solo lap came in at a 18.5 — a solid reference point. Then Uriel stepped up, grabbed the steering wheel of the radio, and we headed back out.
The first few laps were... a sight. The Sparko's C-hub geometry is significantly more responsive than the pillow-ball AE buggy Uriel normally drives, which meant he was used to steering before the corner, not at the corner. Add in Jake's aggressive brake habit pitching the car into oversteer, and the car was doing things no one intended.
Lap times were climbing into the mid-20s. There were a few marshals. There was definitely some on-track communication happening.
But here's the thing — they adapted.
The Adjustments That Made the Difference
Two changes turned the session around:
1. Reducing steering rate in the radio. With two people sharing inputs, even small movements on the steering wheel became exaggerated. Dialing the rate down gave Uriel better control without over-directing the car.
2. Jake easing off the brake. His natural instinct was to brake hard into corners — but that brake input would pitch the car and send it straight into whatever Uriel was doing with the wheel. Switching to a lighter brake (or skipping it entirely in some sections) let the car flow more naturally.
Once those two things clicked, so did the driving.
The Result
Their best lap: 1:94 (19.4 seconds).
They ended the pack on a 1:95 as the battery faded.
Starting from 24+ second laps and working down to within a second of Jake's solo baseline? That's a real result. Not bad for a challenge that looked completely hopeless at the 6-minute mark.
Try It Yourself
This is exactly the kind of thing that's more fun when the whole community gets involved. Grab a buddy, head to your local track, and try the two-man challenge. Do a baseline lap first so you have something to measure against, then swap in your co-driver and see how close you can get.
Record it, post it on Facebook and tag Adrenaline RC Racing, or throw it up on YouTube and tag our channel. We want to see your runs — the good laps and the ugly ones.
The full video is live on the Adrenaline RC YouTube channel now. All of the gear from Jake's Sparko build is linked in the video description at adrenalinercracing.com.