Popular hobbies in Egypt are usually centered on arts, sports, reading and writing, but only a few would put RC (radio control) car racing, planes and boats on the top of their list of hobbies. As small as the number of people interested in RC cars and airplanes in Egypt is, they are all familiar with the shop Hobby 25, and may have paid it a visit at least once or twice. Hobby 25 describes itself as "the first real hobby shop in Egypt. It is the official store of RC cars, trucks, planes, helicopters, boats and their accessories in Egypt. Hobby 25 also offers maintenance and spare parts. Started three years ago as an idea by Rawy Abu Lela, a fanatic of the sport who wanted to establish a shop that serves the needs of RC toys fans, the shop is owned by Vertex Company with capital that exceeds LE 1 million. "We are now operating without neither achieving profits nor losses . When we started we had to deal with huge losses, said Hesham Nagah, one of the establishers of the shop and a practitioner of RC planes aviation. Hobby 25, located in Nasr City close to Al Ahly club, sells different kinds of RC cars, airplanes, nitro and electric power helicopters, RC boats as well as Byron fuels, engines, car accessories and radio equipment mainly imported from outside Egypt. Car prices range between LE 700 to 10,000 depending on their model: on-road, off-road, sand cars and trucks; while airplanes prices range between LE 1,000 and 50,000, according to size and engine type. "We also offer the services of assembling cars and planes as well as maintenance, Nagah said. "Our customers are mainly composed of professionals who participate in RC car races and RC airplanes shows and amateurs who buy cars to play at home, he said. "I have been involved in this sport for three years when I had a car back in Dubai, said Ahmed El Ghezawy, who was visiting the shop to change a spare part of his RC car. "This sport needs more publicity in Egypt to gain more fans, he said. A major problem that faces the sport is low level of popularity; however, Hobby 25 organizes events to introduce it to the public. "We mainly depend on people telling each other but we also organize exhibitions like the one we had at the Master rest house on the Cairo-Alexandria Road. We also have plans to organize more similar events, Nagah said Radio Auto Club of Egypt (RACE) organizes more than 16 races a year with two main races during the season: the last one was held on Feb. 6 and brought together more than 20 racers. Established in 2001, RACE uses the American RC car racing regulations in the races they organize on the fields of Victory College in Maadi. "The sport is growing [in popularity] quickly among Egyptians and there has been rising interest in it. In the past Egyptians constituted 10 percent of the members, now they form 90 percent of it, John Klingler, head of RACE, told Daily News Egypt. "In the beginning we used electric cars only but five years ago, the government allowed Hobby 25 to import Nitro fuels and we started racing with nitro cars for the first time, Klingler said. Klingler expressed his hope that one day one member of RACE would participate in European and American races outside Egypt. On the other hand, RC airplanes aviation existed in Egypt for more than 50 years; however, there are only four professional trainers here. According to Nagah who has been practicing it for 18 years, RC planes aviation is more difficult than cars because it needs training on how to use cars and it needs space. "In order for the plane to take off it needs at least 100 meters, that's why we usually go to open spaces like deserts, he said "The initial and running costs are very prohibitive and it isn't affordable by the average person, he added. Another problem is the lack of an adequate number of technicians qualified for the maintenance of this genre of electronic toys and those who exist "need more training, Nagah said. Yet despite the hobby being an expensive one, aficionados are taking full advantage of Hobby 25's services, and taking it to new levels in Egypt.
