Ultimate Scale Truck Expo Is In The Books!

If you missed out on all of the action at the inaugural Ultimate Scale Truck Expo in Williston, FL then BOY DID YOU MISS OUT!! Here's ScalerFab Team Driver, Ant Petrone, with the highlights.

So the first ever Ultimate Scale Truck Expo is in the bag, featuring an amazing 9 courses, a hill climb, a basher park, scale rally course, and even a course just for micro crawlers I can easily say this was the event to be at if you are into scale tiny trucks!  That’s not even taking into account the amazing vendor row which featured some of the biggest names in the industry  like RC4WD, GCM, Vaterra, Castle Creations, ScalerFab, JConcepts, and Pit Bull Tires just to name a few! 

Spanning the course of 3 days, the event had something for everyone in the hobby.  The 9 courses featured some of the most amazing scale trails I have ever seen in my life.  It didn’t take long on courses to see that Rob Matthews and the others who helped put this event on put their very souls into making this the best scale event ever.  So much time, detail, and thought went into each part of what they did on the courses.  In addition to some of the most beautiful natural scenery the state of Florida has to offer. Eagle-eyed drivers had plenty of little hidden gems to spot along their journeys from tractors to numerous little wooden houses littering the country side.

Make no mistake while the courses offered amazing scale trailing there were numerous different paths to take on each course offering plenty for drivers of all skill levels.  For those looking to make the event a leisurely stroll there was no shortage of options while those looking for more of a challenge also had plenty to find including paths along shear 60 foot drops going straight down into deep bodies of water.  Surely one wrong move along those meant you were going home with one less rig than you came with!

One of the coolest parts of the event was also one of the simplest.  Course 1 was a short course set up high on a large hill near the event.  At first glance it didn’t appear to offer much other than a nice walk around the top of a large hill but once I got to the top where the grass had grown in I was blown away by what I saw.  Rob had spent months going to the trail every 2 weeks with a weed whacker to cut two tracks in the grass.  The tracks, because they had been there for so long at this point, gave the course a super scale appearance of a real off road trip 1:1 vehicles would be found driving on.   It was a blast to drive my scale truck in the grooves, instead of being a simple and mundane trip through some grass and small inclines now became a fun game of trying to do my best scale driving that I could.  Such a simple thing as cutting tracks in the grass to give it a real appearance set the tone for the rest of the weekend for me.

After enjoying a few of the courses word was spreading quickly about an amazing bridge we had to check out on what was being heralded as a 3 hour long course.   Course 7 was the course to do according to everyone at the event so on my last day there my friend Shane and I had to see it for ourselves.  We set out do the course with the guys from the local Remote Control Hobbies of Orlando and  JConcepts we arrived and were instantly joined by the guys from RC4WD as well as Rob himself quickly followed by Hemistorm and the crew from Pit Bull Tires and Exclusive RC.  With about 50 people on the course at once we all had a total blast putting our scale rigs to the test and just enjoying everything the hobby had to offer together.  When we reached the end we quickly discussed how much fun the bridge was and how the course wasn’t nearly 3 hours long, but a quick glance at our watches showed it did in fact take 2 hours and 45 minutes to complete!! Time flies when you are having fun has never been truer.

There is no doubt that I can easily say that USTE was the most fun I have ever had in this hobby to this day.  If I was only to make one event a year I could easily make it this event and I would never have a single problem with that.