Before your first tandem run: what lead and chase actually asks of you

These assume a 1/10 RWD chassis on a track's house surface, whether that is carpet, P-tile, polished concrete or asphalt.

1. Watch a battle filmed at the track you plan to visit. You are looking at the layout, where the clipping points sit and how much room chase cars are given on entry, not at anyone's settings.
2. Ask the track what applies on tandem night. Many tracks and competitions run a spec tire so nobody buys grip. Whether RCHQ does is not stated in the video description, and tire rules vary shop to shop, so ask before you buy anything.
3. Get consistent alone first. A clean full lap, same line, without walling, repeated several times in a row, is the entry requirement nobody posts. Chasing adds a moving obstacle to a lap you already have to hit.
4. Match tires to the surface, then set the rest around them. Hard plastic compounds — PP, ABS, POM and the blends sold by DS Racing, MST, Yokomo and others — behave differently on carpet than on P-tile. Ride height, spring and gyro gain are part of that same configuration, which is why drivers talk about a carpet setup and an asphalt setup as whole packages.
5. Check your gyro gain on the night's surface. Gain is how strongly the gyro corrects the steering servo. Many radios let you trim it from a dial or an auxiliary channel, so you can adjust between runs instead of guessing in the pits.
6. Pack the parts that end sessions. Charged 2S LiPos, spare tires in your surface's compound, body clips, a spare servo horn and a spare shell. A broken body post is a short night.

Chasing too close, too early. Proximity is what the chase run is scored on, but a new chaser who crowds the lead car on entry usually takes both cars out. Hold a gap you can actually keep and close it over the run.

Using gyro gain as a cure for throttle. The gyro measures yaw and applies counter-steer correction. It does not pick your line, manage the trigger or stop a spin caused by too much throttle on entry. Turning gain up to cover an input problem tends to make the car feel vague rather than fixing it.

Arriving with the wrong tires. A compound that works on one surface can be useless on another, and if the track runs a spec tire, yours may not be legal that night.

Assuming a format from a clip. Random pairings, judged battles and casual tandem sessions all look similar on video. The RC-Drift Network post labels the Barry and Myron run a Random Tandem and does not describe the pairing process, so there is nothing to copy there except the format itself.

The full run is on RC-Drift Network's channel as Random Tandem RC Drift Battle at RCHQ - Barry & Myron, posted on 5 October 2026. The channel also credits RCHQ as @rchqonline and runs its own site at rc-driftnetwork.com.

If you want a practical use for it, watch the chase run twice: once following the chase car to see where it gives room, and once following the lead car to see which clipping points it commits to. That is the information a tandem video gives a beginner that a solo run does not.

Next useful step: book a session at your nearest track on a night that is not a competition, run solo laps until your line repeats, then ask a regular if they will lead a couple of laps for you at a gap you choose.