Track Focus – Hudy Racing Arena
Name – Hudy Racing Arena
Club – Private Track
Country – Slovakia
Location – Trencin (120 km North East of Bratislava)
Direction – Anti-clockwise
Surface – Asphalt
No. of ETS Races hosted – 0
The greatest R/C venue in the World, there is simply no other way to describe the Hudy Racing Arena in Slovakia. Built in 2006 on the grounds of a former soccer stadium, the massive 25,000 square metre facility also includes the factory of both Xray, the only true r/c car manufacturer in Europe, and Hudy but it is the Arena which dominates the grounds. Hosting its first international event this weekend as it plays host to the season finale of the Yokomo Euro Touring Series, the complex houses three tracks and from the moment racers drive in the main gate they can’t but be immediately impressed by what they see before them.
For the ETS it is the outdoor asphalt track that is being used while indoors there is another asphalt track and a carpet offroad track which this weekend had been cleared to make space for extra pitting area for the near 250 entries. In typical Hudy fashion everything about the Arena has been meticulously thought out with the first word out of every driver this morning being ‘amazing’. In terms of racing on the track, Tamiya’s Marc Rheinard said it is really nice but to go fast is quite hard due to the high speed chicane and end of the straight, which isn’t actually straight, making the breaking point difficult to get right each time.
Used mainly as a development track by Xray along with hosting Xray Challenge races, the Arena is open every Wednesday to the public for practice although the number of racers in the surrounding area is not particularly high. While the complex is already impressive it is set for further development with the addition of a cover dirt offroad track which Juraj Hudy said will be similar to the Padova track in Italy. This addition is expected to start construction later this year and is set to be ready to host its first race next year.
The story behind how Juraj Hudy and the journey his company took to his current location is very interesting. Located about 100 metres behind the Arena is a little row of garages on a back street where Juraj rented Unit No.1 in 1989 when communism ended in what was then known as Czechoslovakia. From there he started making parts for slot cars which he sold mainly to the United States through a friend of his who had emigrated there. Building up to two employees in the small unit, as he started to make drive shafts for Serpent, both these workers are still with the company which today employs 80 people. While working for yourself in communist times was not allowed, Juraj used to make 1:8 Onroad cars in his flat before he officially became self employed producing about 10 of these hand built cars a year. Out growing the ‘shed’ they then moved to a bigger unit in the town of Trencin which in turn they out grew as they expanded their product line which now includes the FX Engine brand. In the now ultra high-tech factory, the original machine which he started out with in Unit No.1 is still in use in amongst the computer controlled CNC machines.
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