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Old 2011.01.24, 10:16 PM   #1
mdowney
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Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 215
Microsoft MIX 2011 - Mini-Z racing

Hi everyone -

As some of you have read about in this forum, I work at Microsoft and I'm coordinating a Mini-Z racing event at our upcoming web developer conference in Las Vegas, NV on April 10-14 (Microsoft MIX). If you're a web developer/designer or enthusiast and would like to take part in five days of Mini-Z racing send me an email and I'll try to get you a discount code to attend.

Background:
I'm an avid RC hobbyist and was asked to chair the pre-conference workshops for this year's conference. During one of our planning sessions our events director asked if anyone had ideas for fun activities for the attendees. I saw a golden opportunity to finally dive into Mini-Z (something I had been wanting to do for a while). Knowing that we would have to Microsoft-ize such an activity by geeking out the track and the cars as much as possible, I started the planning back in November so we'd have plenty of time to get everything prepared.

Our plan is to have plenty of vehicles for attendees take turns racing with. Kyosho America has enthusiastically agreed to help us out and even be on-site to help maintain the cars and oversee the racing. We will have at least a dozen MR-03 US Spec kits in the rotation, all slowed down and trimmed up as well as possible to make them easier to drive. We opted for the higher-end models because we had a secondary goal of using the equipment to kick off an employee Mini-Z racing club and figured we may as well get the good stuff.

Mini-Z Racer/TinyRC, PN Racing, and RCP (Kittrich) have all offered us their support in getting all of the equipment that we need and answering all of our (my) questions.

I have to say this has been one of the most enjoyable business AND hobby experiences I have ever had. The Mini-Z community is OUTSTANDING in how helpful and friendly they are. I've raced all scales of off-road, on-road, and rock crawling for years and no community comes close to this one. I spent a week in San Jose recently getting as much track time as I could at Fast Pace Racing and Inside Line Racing and had more fun than I've had in a really long time. I think I'll be hooked on Mini-Z for a long time. Now I just have to turn down the volume on that little entrepreneurial voice in my head that keeps telling me how much opportunity there is in this space...

In any case, I will try to keep posting info on this thread as the event develops. If you want to participate or learn more about what we're doing feel free to PM me or email me at work: miked --at-- microsoft --dot-- com.
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Last edited by mdowney; 2011.01.24 at 11:50 PM.
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