What have we been doing?

Hello fellow thrill-seeker,

We’re finally ready to start talking about some details of our exciting project. 🍾

I know I promised you all updates during the month of August as you signed up for this yet summer, family, beach and a literal solar eclipse got slightly “in the way” delaying me sharing news here.

I’m finally stepping out of the cloud of silence to essentially kicking this off publicly.

We’re still in pre-launch mode but want to let you all know what’s coming so you can also participate in shaping it. More on that soon.

Keep reading!

First things first
What exactly is this going to be?

Snapshot of one of our internal tests

We aim to bring everyone the opportunity to (re)discover the joy of racing Radio Controlled (RC) cars! And do it alongside your favourite (or not so favourite!) people.

How?

We’ll bring RC racing experience to your indoor venue. Office space… garage… Living room… You name it!

We’ll take care everything: the cars, the track, controllers, lap timing system… anything needed to make the experience as transparently fun as possible for you and your group of colleagues, friends or family, no matter the experience level.

It’s being tailored to fit the company team-building needs and adapt to work-environment venues. Although, technically, it adapts to any flat surface as long as it’s sheltered from wind and dirt.

❝

Bringing the joy and thrill of small-scale racing to your very doorstep.

— André, founder

Lice, really?
Piolhos? Isn’t that… lice? 🙀

I have to address the name: Piolhos Elétricos.

While we’re communicating in English, we retain our very Portuguese core identity as we’ll be operating in Portugal.

Piolho elétrico is the endearing term used for someone that cannot stand still. Typically a small person but the term doesn’t come with an age or size limit.

That’s what struck us. Just like our cars: they’re tiny and “electrifyingly” fast! We absolute love that energy—both in humans and technology alike.

Side note: Yes, it literally translates to electrical lice. But what’s the fun in living in a literal world? 🙃

Let’s talk progress
Behind the scenes

Spray painting is fun!

In the last few weeks we’ve been getting ready to make this concept smooth for our clients.

Here’s what we’ve been up to:

Multiple car classes

Three distinct types of Cars: we boiled it down to 3 different classes of cars to make it easier for drivers of all skills to have fun and compete on an equal footing.

Akin to spec racing series, all cars are technically equal. If you win, you can say brag it’s a skill gap and not because you had a faster car.

We’ll have 1/28 and 1/24 scale cars—all electric, obviously. 👀

Multiple track layouts

We’ve tested different layouts to ensure versatility and flexibility while retaining a challenging factor for our racers. The area required changes depending on the layout, but it can be as little as 3×3 square meters or even less.

Our ongoing tests are still focusing on a final set of options to ensure a fun and competitive time for racers of all levels.

The right tire compound

We’ve confirmed the right combination of tires for all our cars with our specific track material in mind.

Timing system

Proper racing requires strict time tracking and small scale racers is no exception.

All races will have strict timing tracking each car individually and showing to everyone watching who’s ahead and who’s behind. At this tiny scale, it’s hard to follow along with visual cues!

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We have plenty of other ongoing threads being developed… like smooth onboarding for our racers, proper visual identity for our project as well as an easy way to hire us to come turn your own space into a thrilling track! A small meeting room can accommodate endless fun.

All talk… when walk?
When can you try this?…

…Soon™ in Lisbon!

Before we open for the public, we’ll be doing trial event very soon.

It will happen somewhere in the city of Lisbon. It’ll be free and likely on a Friday and/or Saturday.

We aim to collect feedback, test a few different things and learn from all of you before we finalize our format and bring it out into the world.

Stay tuned. We’ll let you know through this newsletter and also through our social media channels.

Wait, what?
Do you have unanswered questions?

In the meantime, if you have feedback for us or some questions you’d like to see answered, let’s do it the old-fashioned way:

Send us an email to [email protected].

Especially if you’re interested in booking us—let’s chat to make sure we build this aligned with your needs. ;)

Obrigado!

Thank you to every single one of you that have pitched in with ideas and feedback along the past few weeks and months. A lot of what we have already is a result of a wide community of friends and partners. We’re deeply grateful for feeling the warmth of such a vibrant community of creative minds even before we took our very first (official) step.

Until next time,
andr3 for Piolhos Elétricos ⚡