What is an Axial Recon G6?

What is a RECON G6? If you have ever been to one of these events, the veterans will tell you, “It is whatever Parker wants it to be”. For those of you that are new and interested in these events, we take a look at the ins and outs of this revolutionary R/C scale event series.
RECON G6
2013 Rules & Guidelines
The RECON G6 is an r/c scale adventure that will test a driver’s ability and their r/c scalers capability. A driver will navigate their Axial vehicles through a stage marked with trail markers and perform mandatory skill sections and complete driver challenges along the way.

Goal: Finish all predetermined stages and complete all mandatory skill sections and driver challenges while maintaining a drivers log book and having fun.
Classes: There are several classes to choose from. A driver may only challenge themselves in more than one class if time allows and the second class is a different tire size. Each class will offer a driver different levels of fun with different challenges and guidelines.
-Adventurist 1.9 – This class is for drivers of 1.9 scale vehicles who enjoy a challenge. The Adventurist will demonstrate driving ability with more skill sections and more stage challenges and contend with the ever present break out time. This is the class for the driver who realizes that finishing the adventure is the goal. Drivers may use natural winch anchor points or be assisted by other Adventurists by a tow strap, winch, or another drivers shoe laces. The Adventurist may partner up with fellow Adventurist or several to experience the stage as a group and help each other reach the goal of finishing.

-Adventurist 2.2 – This Class is the same as the Adventurist 1.9 Class. Wraiths and Wronchos are at home in this class.

-Ultra 1.9 – This class is for drivers of 1.9 scale vehicles who take their scale challenge to the next level. An Ultra Driver will have to complete class specific stages and tasks and mandatory skill / driver challenges in the quickest time possible. This class is a more like a rally cross style stage with a quicker pace and more difficult mandatory challenges. Drivers of this class must use natural winch anchors points only or be helped from another Ultra Driver. Any outside assistance will result in a Stage DNF. There are no time restrictions for the Ultra Class Driver and a pee test for doping may not be mandatory, but highly recommended for any Ultra Class Driver who isn’t sweating.

-Ultra 2.2 – The same as the Ultra 1.9, except 2.2 tires are used.

-RECON G6 Teams – This Team Challenge is for 1.9 drivers who share one scale vehicle. This could be two friends or two family members that drive and maintain one scaler. Each team driver will be required to drive half of the total stage or any configuration of the stage as the Driver or Team Captain deems. If a stage is 200 trail markers, each driver will be responsible for driving half of the trail markers then handing the driving duties over to their teammate to complete the stage and finish. Keeping your vehicle together is part of the team challenge. While one team member is driving, the other will be their stage buddy. A Team driver may winch off their stage buddies shoe lace.

RECON G6 Scale Vehicle Requirements:
The rule of thumb here is simple; is it scale?
-Axial Vehicles or custom vehicles with Axial transmissions, Axial axles, Axial chassis or a significant amount of Axial products only.
-Your Axial based scale vehicle must be 1/10 car / truck with a scale chassis or custom tube scale chassis.
– Wheel sizes may be 1.55, 1.9, or 2.2, Tires that fit these wheels must be a licensed manufactured tire or knock offs. Tires must resemble the real thing and can only be siped or grooved. No other alterations may be made.
– A minimum of 5 scale items must be attached and remain attached to the vehicle. This may include mandatory scale items that may be used on stage for recoveries. The number of scale items may vary from event to event.
– A tow strap is mandatory on all vehicles at every event. A tow strap may be used to assist or recover other drivers on stage.
– All scale recovery items/tools, must be attached to the vehicle and after their use, be placed back on the vehicle. This includes sand ramps, tow straps, and hi-lift jacks. The only exception is lug wrench or nut driver. Real tools may be on the driver.
– All classes are allowed to use dig and 4 wheel steering on their scalers if they choose.
RECON G6 General Rules:
Rule #1 – NO HAND OF GOD. (HOG) A RECON G6 is all about driving. In keeping with the essence of the r/c scale scene a driver may not assist, stop, catch, or kick his/her vehicle. There are no penalties for electric winching or using your tow strap with help from another competitor or for reverses, so DRIVE SMART! The penalty is a DQ for hogging your scale vehicle. Performing on course repairs or having to touch your vehicle for recovery purposes is not hogging. Picking your vehicle up out of water, mud, sand, or rolling it over onto its wheels with your hand is all examples of hogging your vehicle, thus resulting in a disqualification. If this happens, log the HOG incident in your drivers log book and report it to G-Central.
Here is a brief video explaining this particular rule….

Rule #2 – A driver can not drive through a trail marker and reverse back through it to avoid trail obstacles. This will result in a DQ. A stage is directional and a driver must maintain the intended direction of travel. Reversing through the trail marker in the intended direction is ok and may be required during mandatory reverse skill sections.
Rule #3 – Mandatory skill sections are just that, MANDATORY! They will be located throughout a stage and will have an entrance and exit. There may or may not be a trail marker at a mandatory skill section. This does not mean you can bypass the section. Each class will have a mandatory skill section(s) and it will be marked with a class specific color boundary. A driver must drive their class mandatory skill section(s) only.
Rule #4 – HAVE FUN! The RECON G6 is the premier scale adventure event in the World. Each class has different parameters that must be met, but you are only cheating yourself out of one of the best experiences you will have with your r/c scaler by not driving with integrity and the willingness to perform each challenge in the spirit of scale r/c.
General Guidelines:
Stage Format:
– A RECON G6 Main Stage will consist of a stage. The stage will take a driver through various terrain conditions and return them to G-Central where a driver may pit for repairs, eat lunch, or full fill a mandatory pit stop. Some drivers may choose to continue on with the stage, but all vehicle break downs that happen on stage, must be repaired at the spot of the breakage or return to G-Central or their pit and make the needed repairs. Then they can return to the area of the break down and continue.
-Trail Markers [1 min+/-] – Trail Markers are numbered and different colors to mark the stage route and direction of travel. The red trail marker is always on a driver’s right and is the intended direction of travel through the trail marker. The left trail marker denotes the stage a driver is on. A driver may not straddle a trail marker. A driver must get all 4 tires through the trail marker. If a driver dislodges a trail marker or steps on a trail marker, that driver is responsible for putting that trail marker back in to position. All trail markers must be traveled through. Missing any trail marker will result in a DNF. Any trail marker hit or dislodged will result in 1 min penalty to be logged in the driver log book.
– Stage Boundaries [5 min+/-] – There are several types of stage boundaries. A sponsored stage boundary is a boundary that displays G6 sponsors and is the only boundary section of a stage that multiple drivers can be in at the same time. All other boundaries are one driver at a time inside the boundary. A Pink boundary is always a time bonus; whether it is a driving section or a driver task, pink = time bonus. Orange ribbon marks 1.9 mandatory skill sections. Yellow ribbon marks Ultra Drivers mandatory skill sections. Blue ribbon marks the Wraith and 2.2 skill sections. All of the above mentioned boundary markers, if touched by a driver’s vehicle is a penalty. If a pink ribbon is touched, no time bonus will be awarded and the driver must finish the section and mark his/her boundary penalty.
– Mandatory Skill Sections are marked with the appropriate boundary ribbon and must be driven. A mandatory skill section may be driving through mud, water, snow, sand, or a taco stand. A driver may be asked to drive up or down a steep grade, handle a tarmac track or hook up to a pull sled and attempt a full pull. A mandatory skill section is designed to test the driver’s ability and his/her vehicle’s capability.
-G-Tags [15 min+/-] – G-Tags are additional placards on a trail marker. Think of a G-Tag as a check point. G-Tags will be placed along a stage and will be in a specific order. A driver that misses a trail marker with a G-Tag will receive a time penalty.
Penalty Winch [3 Min+/-] In the case that there is not a competitor there to help you with a pull strap, or you do not have a working winch, then you may employ the penalty winch. The penalty winch is a scale tow strap, lanyard, or winch line that you would operate with your hand acting as another vehicle to extract your stuck rig. The idea is to act as though your hand is another vehicle and pull the stuck or rolled over vehicle out of its situation in a “scale manner”. You must mark the use of the penalty winch down in the driver’s log book. It is always best to use an onboard working electric winch, or use a tow strap with the assistance from another competitor. Use of either of these methods does not result in a penalty.
Once a penalty winch (self used tow strap) is employed, it will be necessary to mark this down in the G6 driver’s log book.
– Driver Log Book – RECON G6 works on the honor system. All Drivers will be on stage, driving at the same time. The driver log book must be maintained and the necessary information must be logged or the driver will receive a time penalty for an incomplete log book. G-Tags, boundaries, and time bonuses are examples of what a driver will track in their log book. Filling out your log book correctly and accuratly could result in a time bonus.
– Driver Challenges are tasks that the driver must complete. A driver never knows what he or she will have to do, but rest assured, it will provide spectators (and organizer, Brian Parker) entertainment. Some examples of past tasks have been hop scotch, airsoft target shooting, or reaching into a bucket of guts for a time bonus. Driver challenges are random, and come from the depths of Brian Parker’s brain.
– Stage Challenges have drivers keeping their eyes wide open for objects of desire. A stage challenge that a driver completes may net them a time bonus or even swag. These challenges often include picking up extra cargo along the route. Returning this cargo to G Central is rewarded.
– “Not Mandatory, but Highly Recommended”, is a phrase often used to describe an event specific task. As stated, these tasks are not mandatory, but highly recommended and would behoove a driver to participate in this task.
– Stage etiquette should be adhered to at all times. Make 3 attempts at a trail obstacle and then winch or receive assistance from a fellow G6’er. Drive smart. There is no penalty for winching or having a fellow G6’er assist you. Faster drivers have the right of way.
– All scale items must remain attached to the vehicle. If sand ramp has to be used, it has to be replaced back on the vehicle. The mandatory tow strap must start attached to the G-Ride. After its first use, a driver may keep it in his/her pocket. All other scale items must be replaced after they are used. The number of scale items may change depending on the G6. In addition, a specific scale item may be required. A driver must meet these changing requirements.
– Time Bonuses [5 min+/-] – There are two types of time bonuses that a driver can earn. First, a driving time bonus must be completed cleanly to earn. If a driver has to assist their vehicle in any way or a boundary marker is touched or crossed by the vehicle, no time bonus will be awarded and the section may or may not have to be completed before a driver can move on, even if this means winching out of the section or being pulled out by a fellow G6’er. The second is a driver’s challenge. A driver must successfully complete the task to earn the time bonus.
– Driver’s Meeting Challenge is an online challenge that a driver must successfully complete to receive a time bonus or swag at the driver’s meeting.
– Pit Repairs -[No Penalty] – Every G6’er knows that sooner or later, no matter how much preparation went into their G-Ride, something is going to break. In the G6 Challenge, any breakage that happens on stage, must be repaired then and there. If the repair cannot be made on stage, then a G6’er may make a Pit Repair. Naturally, a driver may find a flat spot near the breakage spot that is out of the way of fellow G6’ers, that is perfectly ok, but if a driver needs to make the repairs in the pit, they need to head straight to the pits. After the pit repair has been completed, the driver must return to the spot where they removed thier scaler from the stage and continue. There will be no penalty when a driver removes his/her scaler from the stage for a Pit Repair. A driver’s time will not stop for Pit Repairs. A driver must finish with the scaler that they started with. No switching of scalers, if a scaler cannot be repaired, the driver must immediately inform G-Central of their DNF.
Battery reccomendations- Every G6 event will be different, therefor the required battery power for each event will differ. The average G6 event will last 3 hours, so make sure you have the battery power needed to go the distance! Pay close attention to the G6 intel specific to the event to make sure you have the mAh to do the job. Do some homework to know the economy of your rig. You can count mAh rating on the battery versus your run time and know what you will need based upon the estimated time for the event.
RECON G6 brings pure adventure, but with all fun adventures, things are always changing. Drivers need to read the intel thoroughly, because each RECON G6 is different in one way or another and that will never change. Pay extra attention to the statement, “This is not mandatory, but highly reccomended”, this is especially necessary if you want to have an advantage going into any RECON G6 event.
If you love driving your r/c scaler as much as we do and you breathe adventure, then light the lipo’s and come get your scaler fix…
…in a RECON G6!
The next G6 on the Calendar is the RECON Ultra4 G6 at King of the Hammers, this is the last event on the 2013 KOH schedule starting at noon on Saturday, if you own an Axial R/C, come out and get your fix in this historic RECON Ultra4 G6. For more information on this event, click here.
For more information on RECON crawlers, and to see past G6 events, please visit their site here.
To see more about the G6 on the Axial Blog, click here.