Hackfest and a good race :)

I decided to race Friday and Sunday this weekend. Originally I was planning to only race Stock Buggy, but a hackfest on Friday night that ended with a broken car, changed that.

Stock Buggy, Friday
I was trying out some new camber link locations (ie roll centers) to see if the car would rotate around all the hairpins at OCRC. I was also looking for more power out of my motor and changed my ESC profile to one with a more aggressive throttle curve and power.

I don't recall much about the actual racing, other than I got punted around in the back of the field. Two bad starts and hacking in the qualifying rounds, seated me in the back of the A main. I was turning laps in the low 23 second range, while the top drivers were in the 22's. My times were 13:05 and 13:23. The 13:05 run put me in 6th.

In the main, I was struggling in the back of the field, trying different lines to see if I could make up some time. Until while trying to avoid an accident on the straight, I got hit, and broke a ball stud. Game over :(

Stock Truck, Sunday
Since my buggy was broken, I decided to try a new setup on my T4, and race it Sunday. AE posted Mayfields setup from the Cactus Classic, which is what I put on my T4. This setup runs 35wt oil in all the shocks, which seemed stiff on the bench, but what the heck I'll try it out.

During practice it felt ok, but was a little hard to drive. I decided to get used to it and see what kind of lap times I'd run in qualifying. For round 1, I decided to gear down 1 tooth (motor was running in the 160°'s), change my power profile in my ESC to slightly lower power and linear setting, and stood up my front shocks 1 hole. It was a little easier to drive, but still too "edgy". I was running laps in the low 23's and turned a 13:05 in 4th. However, it just didn't feel planted. I decided to change to 25wt oil in all my shocks and see how it felt in round 2. It did feel much better and was easier to drive, but my lap times showed no improvement. I finished in 2nd with a 13:04, still no 14 lap run :( Go figure...

For the main, I reduced my throttle expo to -30% and moved the tops of my front shocks to the inside hole on the tower. I had qualified 3rd for the main. I got an excellent start, moving into 2nd in the finish line hairpin. I tucked in behind the leader, and was never more than a straight behind him, but he never made a mistake, and we were running about the same average lap times. I was able to close the gap a little, but was never close enough to make a pass. I finished in 2nd with a 14:13! My 1st 14 lap run! :)

I think for the next time I run my truck, I'll lighten the springs from blue/green to silver/black and see how that feels. I also plan to try 20wt oil in my buggy, as I seem to like the handling of these "light" shock setups.

Until next time....