Holiday Race #1- OCRC Raceway

I wanted to post some updates from the track, live, as I completed each race, but with working on 3 cars, there wasn't very much down time. Maybe next time :)

Tonight was Race #1 of the Holiday racing season :) It was also the maiden race for my new B4. I would be racing it in Super Stock Buggy and running my B44 in Super Stock 4wd. My brother would be running my T4 in Amateur Stock Truck. My brother and I got video of all our races, so this post incudes almost an hour of video!

Super Stock Buggy
My B4 was not hooked up at all :( The setup I put on it was way off. It was difficult to keep pointed in the right direction. For my 1st practice run I tried a pair of worn Holeshots. The rear end slid around so much that I pulled it off after only a few laps. Next, I tried my Double Dees. These were much better, but I still had to be careful. I decided to switch to my Square Fuzzies for round 1, as well as loosen my slipper a 1/4 turn, put silver springs on the front shocks, and loosened up my diff a little bit. I would also just apply traction compound to the rear tires only.

The Squares felt ok, but I still couldn't get on the gas too hard in round 1. The car was also pushing too much in the sweepers, and didn't carve through the turns how I liked. I had a decent start and was in 3rd place, but got hit from the back in the whoops and got stuck on a pipe. I ended up in last by the time I got marshaled :( I hung on and finished in 5th with a 14:00. At least I didn't finish last! Check out the race below.


I made no changes to the car for round 2. Just wiped down the front tires with a wet rag and washed and sauced my rears. My lap times were still around 21 seconds. Not too impressive :( I was still unhappy with the handling, but I crashed less this round, and went a little faster, finishing 4th with a 15:20.


I would have to switch tires for the main, as my Square Fuzzies had developed several bald spots during the last race! I'd go back to my Holeshots, crossing my fingers that they'd get me through the main. I had qualified 6th out of 9 cars. I was able to avoid an accident on the start and went over the step-up table-top in 3rd! But I landed short and wrecked. After I got going again I was in last place. I struggled with the car being so loose the entire race. I even spun out a few times at the end of the straight under braking! Thankfully, nobody hit me! I finished where I started, in 6th, with a 14:03.


I need to make a bunch of changes to the car! Let's see.... Remove all the travel limiters from the front shocks, change the oil to 30wt, pistons to #2's, and install longer silver springs. Install the 25° caster blocks. Change the rear oil to 25wt with #1 pistons. I also need to enable anti-lock brakes in my 4pk.

Super Stock 4wd
I only took 1 practice run with my B44, as it felt pretty good with the Inside Job tires I was running. I needed to sort out my B4 anyway and help my brother with running my truck.

In round 1, I got a horrible start and was running in 4th place. I then started reeling in Joel Navarro from RC Car Action (the orange car). We had a good battle going, but he was a little squirrelly, making it hard to make a pass. He finally wrecked and I was able to go by :) I think something happened to the leader that same lap, and I found myself in second place! Adam was in the lead now, but he was long gone, so I kept out of trouble and finished a lap down with a 15:00.


In round 2, I had a decent start and came across the line in 3rd. Woohoo! But then, Adam takes me out in the whoops section, sending me over the pipe and I get stuck :( dropping down to 4th. The leaders wreck on the next lap and I catch back up, but Adam hits me again after the step-up table-top! I held onto 3rd and wasn't too far behind the leaders, but wasn't able to make a pass. I finished with a 16:18. After the race, Adam apologizes to me for hitting me during the race. I told him not to worry about it, but to just clean up his driving.


I needed to change tires for the main, as my rear Inside Jobs had started to go bald. I went to my Double Dees and again only sauced the rears. These tires were hooked up! I was almost a second a lap faster on these tires compared to the Inside Jobs :) and turned some laps in the low 18's. I kept my nose clean for the 1st lap and found myself in 2nd place right behind the leader, Adam. We would have an epic battle for the lead the entire race, swapping the lead several times. He made a clean pass on me going through the whoops and then later over the triple, but I took the lead back when he made mistakes. We raced to the line, but I made it over for my 17th lap and Adam got caught, so I took it easy on my victory lap! Too easy in fact as, I slowed too much for some cars in front of me, and couldn't make the gap from the step-up to the table-top and ended up on my lid. It took forever for a marshal to turn over my car, but it didn't matter, as there was no way to lose the lead now! :) I had won the race! Check out this great race between Adam and myself below.

Oh ya, my brother did pretty well for his 1st race back since we were kids. He went a lap faster every round and qualified in 5th for the Amateur Stock Truck Main. He finished the main in 3rd place! Congrats Ran! Check out the video's I took of his races below.

Round 1

Round 2

Main Event

Next up will be the Winter Series race at Delta RC in Antioch, CA. I will be running Mod 4wd and maybe SS Buggy. Maybe this time I'll have live updates from the track! Stay tuned!

New layout at OCRC!!! *UPDATED*

Almost there!! Looks like this layout will be more technical with some big jumps and run counter-clockwise now...

*UPDATE* The new layout is complete! A huge roller onto the straight was added last night. The left side of the track looks to have many hairpins and narrow lanes. There's a huge triple in front of the driver's stand. In the center of the track seems to be a huge pit that you land into. Should be a very technical track!! Can't wait to try it out next month, as I will be racing in Northern Cali over the Holiday break...

Ready to Race!

Just finished painting and applying decals to my B4 body a few minutes ago. All ready to race tomorrow :)

B4 build completed! (almost)

Bored here at work so I thought I'd post an update on my B4 build!

I mounted up the front tires a couple of nights ago, (the rears are the same as on my B44) then set the ride height, camber, toe-in, and steering endpoints last night. I still need to paint the body and pick up a 78 or 72 spur gear, then it'll be ready to race :) Some things I noticed compared to my B3: the cars overall height seems lower, the rear wing is tiny, and I need another body with sidepods tall enough to clear the heatsink on my LRP Sphere ESC. I had to cut a hole in the stock body to clear it :( I can also probably shorten my motor wires a bit, but I left them alone for now. I'll also probably need to lengthen the battery wires to switch to bullet connectors when I pick up the Reedy 35C lipo pack when it comes out.

Hopefully I can get the body painted Saturday and pick up a spur gear at the track. Then I'll take a few pics of it before I dirty it up :)

I also picked up an HTC Touch Pro Pocket PC Phone and an unlimited data plan, so I may start blogging from the track with updates after every race! (If I have time that is)

Holiday racing schedule

My first holiday race will be this coming Sunday at OCRC. My brother will be running my T4 in the Amateur Stock Truck Class. I will be running my B44 in Super Stock 4wd (or Mod if there aren't enough entries for SS) and possibly my B4 in Super Stock 2wd (if I can get it ready by then).

Next I plan to race Round 2 of the Winter Series at Delta RC in Antioch, CA the Saturday after Christmas day, since I will be at my parent's place in Pittsburg, CA over Christmas break. This is my "Home" track as it was where I started racing over 20 years ago (well the relocated track anyway, as the original was torn down in the early 90's to build track homes).

Then I want to try and run at Norcal Hobbies in Union City, CA. I first learned about this track earlier this year when I was working in Hayward at a vendor of my company. But, at the time I haven't gotten back into RC racing full time. Hopefully they'll have some club racing going on the Saturday after New Year's, as they haven't posted a schedule online yet for next year.

Happy Holidays!

Unintentional break from racing

I was planning to run the Bob James Memorial race out at OCRC, but I overslept Saturday morning :( By the time I woke up it was already 9:30 am and racing started at 10 am! I did catch some of the racing on LiveRC though, and it looks like I missed a great event :( I will definitely be there next year!

I decided to work on my cars a bit, (as I was now awake) and get them ready for racing next Sunday. I changed the motor in my T4 back to my LRP 17.5, as my brother will be racing it in the Amateur Truck class! I hope he does well! He tells me he's been practicing by playing VRC, the RC car simulator game.

I plan to rebuild both cars soon. I want to rebuild the shocks and diffs on both my B44 and T4, and possibly change ball cups on the B44, as I've been noticing alot of slop lately. I also want to try some different settings on both. I just need to pick up a bunch of rebuild kits first!

I was also able to finally get my B4 built! The chassis is done, but I need to install the electronics and paint a body for it.

OCRC Gyro Hobbies Platinum Battle! Better late than never :)

I haven't run a "big" race since 2002 when I ran at the Reedy Touring Car Race at Tamiya USA in Aliso Viejo, thus I was somewhat nervous during the 1st qualifying round. This made it difficult to drive smooth :( I'm not sure why I was nervous, as this race was really just a glorified club race and the turnout wasn't much bigger than a large turnout for a Sunday club race. It probably didn't help that I was racing sick too :( I was also a little disappointed, as I was hoping for a alot of entries in the Super Stock classes, to see how fast/slow I was. There were only 2 heats of Super Stock Truck and 3 heats of Super Stock 4wd. But this time there was a prize on the line! The winners of the Super Stock classes were going to get a Platinum membership to OCRC and discounts for a year in the Gyro Hobby shop!

Super Stock Truck
I would run my new Holeshots for round 1 of qualifying. They felt a little loose during the race, but I wasn't sure if it was really the tires or my nerves. I just wasn't able to get into a good rhythm during the race :( I finished in 5th with a 14:01, which seated me in 9th for the A main. I would need to go faster in round 2, as I was currently sitting on the "bubble", since only the top 9 were going directly into the A, with the 10th truck bumping in by winning the B main. Below is the video of my run, but my Dad ended up following the wrong truck for part of it, thus only caught the end.



In round 2, I switched over to a new set of Panther Stingers. The track had more bite than the previous weekends and was beginning to develop a "black" groove on the racing line. The Stingers felt alot better and my nerves had calmed down, so I was able to go faster this time :) I finished 4th with a 15:15! I was also able to improve my qualifying spot to 8th in the A! Unfortunately, I don't have any video of this run, because the camera quit for some reason right after the warm up :(

I was in the show! I made the A! Woohoo! Although, I didn't really have a chance at the big prize, I would still give it my best, as you never know. The leaders could drop out, or not be eligible for the prize, thus I wanted to finish as high up the order as I could! The track had grooved up good by the time the mains came around! I bet a set of Taper Pins would hook up now, as the track was dry and swept and didn't have much dust. Too bad I left those tires at home, since they've never worked in the past :( Oh well, next time.

I got a horrible start! I tangled with Smalley after the hairpin then got hung up on the pipe. I was running in the back of the pack :( After a few more laps I thought I got a break, as there was an accident at the end of the straight, and I was able to go around! But, I got loose squaring up for the step-up table-top and went off the far side of the jump :( Thankfully I didn't loose any positions. The leaders came up on me next, so I let them by when they got close enough. Now Matt was right on my tail for position! But, I went too wide at the end of the straight and pushed on the staggered doubles, allowing him to squeeze by for 7th :( Toward the end of the race a few cars dropped out and I moved up to 6th, where I remained. I finished the race with a 20:03 in 7 minutes. I didn't like how my Truck was handling at all. It seemed too "edgy" and not really hooked up. I think I'll rebuild all the shocks and diff and try out some different settings on the front end and start over. My truck always felt pretty good in stock, but I guess the more powerful 13.5 motor is too much for that setup. I would have liked to finish better, but at least I made the A main :) Check out the race below.




Super Stock 4wd
4wd was the biggest Super Stock class with 24 entries. It would be a challenge to make the A in this class. I headed out to the track for some practice. I wasn't feeling too good, as I was still fighting off a bad cold, but I wanted to try some new tires. I had picked up a set of JConcepts Double Dee's just in case my Holeshot didn't work. They felt pretty good, but my practice run was cut short :( I hit a car on its lid after landing the triple and broke a shock shaft! :( Fantastic! I pulled off and went back to the pits to rebuild my shock. I would need to make the repair as fast as possible, since I wanted to get back on the track for a few laps, to test the car. I was able to finish with about 10 minutes left before the track closed! I ran out to the track for a handful of test laps. Everything seemed to work ok, so I went back to the pits to get ready for qualifying.

I still had a bit of nerves during the 1st round and was still having trouble finding a good rhythm. I was swapping 3rd place back and forth with Brandon though :) I made few bobbles on the triple and got loose at the end of straight, stuffed it into pipe, ending up on my lid on the last lap :( This mistake probably cost me a 16 lap run, as I finished 4th, with a 15:01. This put me in 10th, or the BQ :( I would need a faster time in the second round to get into the A. My Dad had a bit of trouble following me in the beginning, but sorted that out. Check it out below.



In round 2 I switched over to my Holeshots as the track was grooving up and there was barley any dust on the it. I thought that the slightly softer compound and shorter pin height compared to the Double Dees would be faster. But, the timing computer crashed about a minute into the run, and Jeremy stopped the race. We would try it again after the end of the round. After marshaling, I went back to the pits and cleaned my tires off a bit, then re-coated them with Buggy Grip. They were mostly dry by the time our race was up again. I also didn't bother charging my battery as it would have no problem running for 10-15 minutes anyway. I was having a good run this time and the car felt fast! It did feel a bit loose, but it wasn't too bad. I was on a 16 lap pace and running in 4th, when I noticed that the car was losing some punch. As if the slipper or diff was loosening up! Great! This was my last chance for a shot at the A and something broke on the car :( A few laps later, all the punch was gone, and I couldn't clear the jumps anymore, so I pulled off with about a minute left in the race. At least this let go now, instead of in the main. My time from the 1st round seated me in 4th for the B main. Nuts! I really wanted to make the A, and now my only way in was to win the B. See the race below.



When inspecting the car, I saw that a CVD pin had gotten past the retaining ring and ejected from the joint. Thus, I lost drive to one of the rear wheels and the pin had cut a groove in the arm. I bet this was why my car felt a little loose during the race. Repairing the CVD wasn't a big deal, but changing the rear arm was going to be a pain, because the rear of the car would need to be taken apart to get to the hinge pin out of the car to change the arm. I was busy getting the car ready for the main, so my Dad kept an eye on my raffle tickets for me :) but, I didn't win anything good. I did score a metric 4-way wrench though :) After finishing up the repair, I decided to switch back to my Double Dees, as theHoleshots were pretty worn and I wanted to run fresh tires for the main.

Starting in 4th, I had a real chance of winning as the guys in front weren't that much faster. I was able to make a pass for 3rd off the start, but it didn't last long as I bobbled and dropped back down going into the center table-top. I got 3rd place back after the whoops and held it going over the triple and onto the straightaway :) But I got bumped when squaring up the step-up table-top and went off the far side of the table-top :( Next I tangled with another car in mid-air going over the triple, and got the worst of it :( The 1st few laps were very chaotic! I finally got some breathing room and tried to catch up to the cars in front and improve my position. But, I clipped the inside pipe on my approach to the triple and crashed between the 1st and 2nd jump :( Next I try to pass a car going over the center table-top and actually land on top of the other car and crash again! Then I go though the whoops and my car does this weird flip and crash yet again! So far this race was not turning out very well for me :( I thought I finally got in the clear and settled down, but a few laps later a car tangled with me at the end of the straight, and I got stuck on the pipe right before the step-up table-top, and ended up landing on the far side of the table-top again. Nuts! Then I do another weird flip in the whoops, but at least this time I was able to keep going. This race was a joke with one crash after another! Then to cap it off I stuff it into the pipe at in the hairpin at the end of the straight, and it takes forever for the marshal to get me :( I drop another position and finish the race in 7th with a 16:21. See my laughable performance below.



I was over driving the car the entire race. I kept pushing passes when I should've been more patient. Normally I drive in a more controlled manner, but with the competition being so tough, I had to step it up a notch and I probably went too far. It's a fine line between going safe and too slow and going fast and pushing too hard.

Next time I think I'll need to do a more complete rebuild of the cars prior to a "big" race. I had been running my B44 for more than 2 months straight with virtually no maintenance, and I had parts break on me during the race. For a club race I wouldn't care, but with prizes on the line, I should've looked over the cars more carefully. I plan to rebuild the shocks and diffs on my B44 and T4 and try different settings on both. I think I'll also secure my CVD pins with some heat shrink tubing! LOL!

The next race I plan to run will probably be the Bob James Memorial next Saturday, then the Sunday club race the following weekend, as my brother will be coming up from San Diego to try his hand at racing. In the meantime I plan to get my B4 built and ready to race :)

Bob James Memorial Race

From the OCRC site:

"In Loving Memory of Bob James, 1959 - 2008. You were a huge part of our R/C Community and OC/RC Family. You will be dearly missed. Rest in Peace my Friend. The 1st Annual Bob James Memorial Race will be held on Saturday, December 13th. Please mark your calendars and tell your friends. The race will be the standard club race fee but everyone is more than welcome to donate as much as they'd like."

Doors open at 8 am, racing starts at 10 am. Come out if you can.

Race info

Brushless friendly spur gears for the B4/T4/B44!!!

Finally! AE has released smaller spur gears for the B4/T4/B44! This will allow the use of smaller pinions when using 17.5, 13.5, and 10.5 brushless motors and let you gear a 17.5 in a buggy! Just in time for me too, since I plan on building my B4 this weekend :) Read about it on RedRc.net

I haven't been able to write up and post my race recap from the Platinum Battle yet :( I've been really busy at work trying to get things done before the Christmas shutdown and my folks have been staying with me since Thanksgiving, so I'm busy with them after work. I should post it this weekend though, and it'll be a cool one with videos! As, my Dad came along and filmed my races :) Stay tuned!