There are few things Jamie Hotchkiss enjoys as much as spending thousands of dollars on high-end remote-control vehicles and then smashing them up.

"When you can control one of these crazy machines, it's just a lot of fun," Hotchkiss (senior-electrical engineering) said. "Mostly what I do is ramp 'em four to seven feet in the air onto cement."

What Hotchkiss does in his spare time may not make sense to a lot of people, but he has been successful in meeting others with the same hobby -- by co-founding the Penn State Remote-Control Club.

"To completely demolish your truck isn't fun when nobody's there laughing," he said. "[The club] gives you people to come out with and have fun."

Justin Heinly (sophomore-mechanical engineering), who also founded the group, said although the club is not yet official, he expects it to become so within a month. He said there are about 20 people interested, which is the minimum membership requirement.

"This hobby is much better with numbers. It's fun to run them by yourself, but it's a heck of a lot more fun with more people," he said. "I mean, there's 40,000 people here -- I knew there had to be other people into this."

Heinly said the club encompasses all remote-control vehicles, including off- and on-road cars and trucks, and model helicopters and airplanes.

Dave Brown (graduate-electrical engineering), who became involved when he saw a flier for the group, said most of the vehicles run on nitromethane fuel, rather than electricity.

"They're not like regular cars you would buy at a toy store," he said. "They are very, very high-revving, powerful engines."

The vehicles get up to about 40 to 50 mph, and some can even do 70 mph, Brown said.

"I think the most exciting part is running them and breaking them," he said. "I like to figure out how to fix it. It's miniature engineering on a small-scale, I guess you could say."

The members raced their vehicles Jan. 29 during halftime at the Penn State men's basketball game vs. Wisconsin. They also participated in the U.S. Hot Rod Thunder Nationals last Friday and Saturday nights at the Bryce Jordan Center.

"I love being out there in front of the crowd and showing off our cars because most people have never seen them before," he said. "So it was really enjoyable."

Hotchkiff said the members meet about three times a week to take the cars out, usually to big parking lots, where they can drag race or set up ramps.

"Hopefully, if they get enough people, we can go to tracks and start racing," he said.

Jack Tsai (senior-biotechnology), another founder of the group, said the club is great for the artistically inclined, like himself. He said designing the car's exteriors offers an outlet for creativity.

"It requires a lot of art. The vehicle cover comes clear, so you can literally put anything on them," he said.

Peter Sharp (freshman-information sciences and technology) said the group also enables people of all ability levels to learn from each other.

"You have people with more knowledge and with less knowledge. The biggest thing about the club is they share expertise," he said. "You think you know a lot, but you can always learn from others."

Heinly said the club may also work with the State College Radio Control Club to use its facilities and coordinate activities.

But for now, the group will continue having fun doing what it's doing.

"The RC club offers the ability to make friends, learn about mechanics, learn how to build cars and learn how to work on cars," Sharp said. "It's all a positive experience."