Pictures from the Hot Rod Shootout!

My T4 during the Stock Truck B Main

Me warming up before the Stock Truck B Main

Me in the background (2nd guy on the right side) marshaling the Stock Buggy A2 Main.







And just because :) The Hot Rod Hotties!

**All photos taken by Jason Boulanger of Xtreme RC Cars magazine**

Expansion of OCRC's off road track!

OCRC's off road track is about to get a little bigger!

I went out there to do some midweek racing last night, and to my surprise I saw some posts bolted to the floor. They're about 2 feet away from the wall along the back straight. Robert tells me its to make room for the clay he plans to add in a few weeks, in preparation for the Proline Surf City Classic at the end of August. OCRC is about to get more traction! :) I wonder if the gold barcodes will still be the "fast" tire?

So, on to the racing.

I decided to run stock truck, to see if I could put in another 15 lap run, since I wasn't able to do it during the Saturday Series race. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to :(. Heck, even in the main where you get a short first lap because of the heads up start, I couldn't put in a 15 lapper. I even blamed my truck, since the rear shocks were leaking some. I decided that there must be dirt in the oil, messing up my rear bite, so I decided to refill them before the main. But, when I dumped the oil out, it was still clear! :( I was crushed! My driving was the reason I couldn't go 15 :( I must be making a too many driving mistakes and getting caught up with lapped traffic again. Looking at my lap times showed each run had 2-3 24+ second laps killing my chances. My 15 lap runs from last Friday were mistake free, with my longest lap being in the 22 second range. Dangnabit! My runs from tonight were 14:10, 14:11, and 14:06... Ended up finishing 2nd out of 5 cars.

Oh ya, I'm getting pretty fast at rebuilding shocks now, since I need to do it all the time :( When I bleed them I put about 5-7 drops of oil in the cap, push the shock shaft all the way in, level off the oil with the top of the shock body, then just screw the cap on! The rebound usually ends up being pretty close, but if there's too much air, just add another drop or 2 of oil to the cap. If there's too much rebound or the shock shaft won't go in, take away a drop or 2. That's it!

OCRC Sat Series Final

Last weekend was the final race of the OCRC Sat Series! I was in 2nd place in Stock Truck and 3rd place in Stock Buggy. I had a small chance of moving up a position in Stock Truck if I would be able to beat the guy ahead of me in the points, in the main. Up for grabs was about $100! My brother had an outside chance of placing 3rd in the Amateur class. To do it, 2 things had to happen. The leader would need to finish as low as possible (ie break) and he would need to place in front of the guy ahead of him in the points.

We ran the Friday night club race as a practice session for the series race the next day. We both needed to learn the new layout and jumps, as the track was slightly changed from the last series race. My brother would be running his new T4 for the 1st time on Friday! No more sharing my truck, which makes it a whole lot easier, since we were usually back to back in the round.

I did really well in round 1, winning the heat and setting the TQ time at 15:17. I didn't have as good a run in round 2, turning a bunch of slow laps and lost the TQ :( I ended up finishing 3rd with a 14:06. I would start the main in 2nd place. The start was clean, but I had nothing for the pole sitter. I closed the gap when he made a mistake, but he pulled away again, and I was never close enough to attempt a pass. I finished the main in 2nd place, earning $5 off my next race! Hey! That's new! :)

My brother had a good night too with his new truck. I set it up as a copy of mine, so he was running the same setup and gear. Gold Bar Codes, SPX esc, and Murfdogg 17.5! He did well in round 1 finishing 3rd with a 12:17. In round 2, he was running in 2nd when the sensor wire came out! I was watching his run and grabbed his truck then plugged the sensor wire back into the motor, but that gave him a 63 second lap :( He was turning consistent 21-22 second laps though. Not too shabby, considering I'm turning low 20's. He qualified 6th in the A with his time from round 1. He did really well, finishing in 2nd place! He also won $5 off his next race :)

The next day was the last race of the OCRC Saturday Series! Time to get paid! Since we ran Friday, all we did was take 1 run with our cars, to "warm up"' and get the "driving feel" back. I hate running a race without first doing a practice run.

In both my Stock Truck qualifiers, I got caught up with lapped traffic a few times (need to be more patient!) and finished 4th each time, only putting in 14 lap runs. I would end up qualifying 2 spots behind the guy I needed to beat in order to move up in the points and win more money :( I started the main in 4th place out of 7 trucks. Not too impressive :( I would need a bit of luck and a clean start to beat the guy ahead of me in the points! The start was clean through the 1st section of the track, but I guess the TQ or 3rd place truck stuffed a pipe right in front of me and I ran into the back of them :( I was able to "pop" out of the mess, by punching the throttle and jumping over one of the trucks, and I took off! I saw the lead truck going over the big double in front of the driver's stand, meaning I was in 2nd! Unfortunately, the leader was the guy I needed to beat. I drove as smooth and as fast as I could, but was unable to catch him. I would need a bit of luck or a mistake to close the gap, but no such thing occurred. Soon the TQ, caught up to me. I was able to keep him behind me for a lap, but he made a pass right before the finish line, and took over 2nd. I held on to 3rd, turning a 14:03. I ended up also finishing in 3rd in the series, taking home $85 :)

Stock Buggy would not be as exciting, as only 2 of us showed up to race. I was too far behind him in the points to beat him even if beat him in the main. So, $25 practice session :( He was too fast for me, out qualifying me and beating me in the main. Oh well, I still finished 3rd in the points, winning another $85 :) I walked away with a total of $170 from the series :)

My brother was getting the track down, and now turning pretty consistent 21-22 second laps. He was able to beat the guy in front of him in the points, moving up a position. Unfortunately, the other guy that needed to lose, won the main, thus he finished the series in 4th.

Because of the low turnout, we were done racing by 3pm, so Robert offered up some free racing! There would be 1 qualifying round and 1 10 minute main. The winner of the qualifier would get an OCRC t-shirt, and the winner of the main, $15 off their next race! My brother and I ended up in the same heat, so we decided to just race each other. In each race, I pulled away from him on the start, but when I came around to lap him, he sped up! I think I was only able to pass him once or twice in one of the 2 races! He was driving really well! Then Robert started following our race, instead of the leaders! LOL! He commented that the teacher has now become the student, and that my brother was smiling, while I was fuming, as I couldn't put him a lap down :( Hahahaha! We were having a lot of fun and continued racing, while letting the race leaders by.

Other stuff:
-My buggy was really loose on power! Need to play around with the slipper, throttle expo, and install the 0.5° hubs.
-The buggy's rear wheels were also flopping around a lot! I need some new bearings!
-Both the truck/buggy suspension's have a lot of slop! Need to freshen them up with new bulkheads and a-arms.

West Coast RC Offroad Grand Opening

I headed out to West Coast RC this past Sunday to run the Offroad Grand Opening Race! I've already run at West Coast a few times, but this time, the track and hobby shop were officially open for business. My brother also came up from San Diego to run Amateur Stock Truck, but no such class exists, so he had to run in my class, Sportsman Stock Truck. While he can wheel a truck around a track fairly well, he's not able to turn fast and consistent laps (not yet anyway).

We got there at about 10:30am and setup our pit, then headed out to the track for practice. My brother needed to learn the layout, so I gave him as many tips as I could, and he started turning some laps. It was still the same layout as the last time I ran, but the track was a lot smoother now and some of the jumps had been reworked, to make them a bit easier to clear (thank you!) I just worked on my line and jump timing, while my brother learned the layout. Unfortunately, my brother broke a front A-arm on the big triple (luckily the shop now had some stock!), then blew out a rear shock :( He replaced the arm, and I rebuilt the shock for him, since he can't do it as fast as I can, and he wanted to get back on the track as soon as possible.

Around noon, we started looking for the free BBQ which was supposed to part of the grand opening festivities, as it was posted on RCTech.net that they would be serving food from 12 noon - 6pm. Unfortunately, nobody was manning the grill :( We were getting hungry, but waited to see when the grill would be fired up. Around 2:30 pm, we were about to make a run over to Wendy's down the street when we saw Danny getting the grill ready and got in line! We both got a hot dog and a sausage, along with some potato salad. It wasn't bad, but we had to gulf it down as racing was about to start in 15 minutes and we were in race 4!

Our Stock Truck heat was packed! 11 cars! That didn't seem too bad as the track is fairly large with lap times nearing 30 seconds. I was worried though, as since there is no IFMAR qualifying at West Coast, it would be a mess, with all the traffic and fighting for position. I was right as there was a huge pile up on the start, causing a lot of yelling on the stand, as the marshals moved in slow motion to clear the mess. Luckily I started on the pole (thanks to heads up qualifying) and got away clean. But, :( I clipped the pipe in the hairpin after the triple and rolled, losing the lead. Then while trying to get my rhythm back, Art was able to make a clean pass on me, dropping me down to 3rd. I was able to hold on to 3rd, but what a mess in traffic! I got hit several times by lapped cars, as nobody would give room to the faster cars. Notch wasn't much help either, as all he did was call out who were the leaders and not calling much traffic. My brother was in the same heat, and he didn't have much luck either. I think he got caught up in the pileup off the start, then also got hit by other cars attempting passes. He finished in 9th.

For round 2, I would be starting in the back of the 11 car heat (thanks to heads up qualifying again, sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. Thank goodness I wasn't number 5, as I would be screwed in both qualifying rounds, starting the middle of the pack). I took it easy on the start and tried to pick my way through the mess. I think I moved up to mid pack by the triple, but got hit after the hairpin double and needed to be marshaled, dropping back down the order. I got hit and marshaled a bunch (which took forever btw, because there were were only a few marshals on the track, and they had to run really far to get you). Again, there was a bunch of yelling in regards to being hacked and slow marshals (which also happened to me btw), I got fed up and yelled back "Shut up and learn to drive!" Which quieted down some of the other guys for a lap or two... I managed to finish in 4th, but my time sucked, as I had to start in the back. I don't remember how my brother did, but I don't think he had a good run either. He also stopped his run when he thought Notch called him finished (hard to hear Notch in there, with all the yelling, and noise from the fans), but when we looked at the results, his time was stopped with 30 seconds to go (his time was at 4:30), so he missed out on another lap :(

The mains were up next and would be 7 minutes long. I qualified in 4th, with my time from round 1 (10:02). I got up on the stand and apologized to all the driver's standing near me for running into them, as I knew I would. Sorry! Art was yelling at Notch to get more marshals as he was about to start the race with only 4 marshals on the track! A few guys ran out on the track, and before I knew what was happening, the race started with little warning! A huge pileup occurred right in front of me, right at the finish line! I saw it and drove around the mess and the marshal running toward it. I went through the valley and landed on the table top in 2nd place! Whoohoo! I drove as fast as I could to stretch the gap to third place as big as I could! I was driving clean and turning good laps, until I caught up with the back markers :( Nobody would give me room and ran into me instead :( I got pushed off line and punted into the next lane, but thankfully didn't need to be marshaled! Again, Notch wasn't calling traffic, he was just announcing who the leaders were. I guess we were on our own. I need to learn to yell out "Yellow car, 2nd place car behind you! Please let me by !" (ie. don't run into me or try to race me). I hung on to 2nd place, winning $10 race bucks :)

My brother was running in the back, using the main as a chance to get more practice and work on his timing for the jumps. He told me that any time another truck caught up to him, he'd move over and let them by, and they were still running into the back of him! :( What horrible driving! I think I lapped him twice, and he did an great job driving and giving me the room to get by. I slowed my pace a little and he moved to the outside of the lane a bit, and I dived underneath him to the inside. He waited until I cleared him, then returned to his line. This is how it should be done :) Thanks bro! The other cars wouldn't give me any room, then try to race me as I was lapping them, and I would get hit :( My brother ended up finishing in 10th after blowing out another shock with about 2 minutes to go, then hitting a rut at the end of the straight, and popping a rear camber link. He'd like to thank the marshal that tried to pop the link back on, but wasn't able to :(

Thoughts:
-What happened to Super Sunday racing with 3 rounds of qualifying? We only ran 2 rounds :(
-I like IFMAR qualifying! You get somewhat cleaner runs.
-11 car heat? Wouldn't a 6/5 split lead to cleaner racing and better qualifying? I guess saving 15 minutes is more important than clean racing and a good time :(
-Need to treat every car as it's trying to take me out, even when I'm lapping them! I think this would increase my chances of getting by without getting hit.
-Even with all the fans and open doors, it's still freaking hot and humid in there! I wish there was a fan on the driver's stand, as after every run I was covered in sweat :(

West Coast RC Raceway, Inaugural Offroad Race

My new friend Andrew (who I met at the Shootout and came from Thailand to race) and I decided to head out to WCRC in La Mirada, to run the 1st ever offroad club race there!

I had no idea what tires to start on, so I just ran what I had on my car at the time, Gold Barcodes. I ran these for 3 runs, while learning the layout. The Barcodes weren't hooking up very well, so for my next battery, I tried the following rear tires- M3 Square Fuzzies, Green Double Dees, and Red X-3000's, all paired with M3 wide ribbed fronts. The Square Fuzzies and X-3000's seemed to hook up the most. I was able to get on the gas really hard as long as my car stayed pointed straight! The track was more bumpy/wavy than the tracks I usually race on. Which is good I think, as I get more experience running on this type of surface, but I'm slow compared to the rest of the field :( The dirt at WCRC is 100% clay, and still a little soft I guess, causing it to get a little rutted and bumpy.

Two jumps were giving me issues on the layout. A fast kicker jump that went down hill into a hairpin, and a large double with short takeoff. I was having trouble getting the right speed to hit the kicker, downside the lander, and make the hairpin. I either case, or land long hitting the pipe :( The big double was giving me fits, because I didn't have the punch needed to clear it consistently :( Back in the pits, I decided to gear down my car and tighten my slipper a bit. As it turns out, my slipper was really loose! No wonder I didn't have the punch!

For round 1 I ran the X-3000's, which hooked up really well when sauced, but I still didn't have the punch I wanted. I led the heat for haf the race, but made a mistake and stuffed it into the pipes a few times and caught a rut at the end of the straight and flipped, falling back to 3rd :( In round 2, I went back to my normal gearing, and tightened up my slipper even more! I also switched to my Square Fuzzies, as I wanted to see how they compared to the X-3000's. They felt ok, but my lap times were slower, allowing the leaders to pull away :(

For the main, I went back to my X-3000's as I was able to turn a few fast 29's with these compared to the Squares. I also decided to drop my gear by 1 tooth, and turn my speedo up to profile 8. I had nothing to lose as I had qualified 8th in our 13 car main! I got a good start, moving up to 6th on the 1st lap :) I battled it out for 5th mid race, but made a mistake on the big double that has been giving me problems the whole night, and dropped back to 9th. I was able to catch back up though, and make some passes and finished in 7th.

Andrew did really well, qualifying 2nd and finishing 3rd. He also gave me a few tips on how to drive bumpy tracks, as that was all he raced when he lived in the US during college.

Randomness:

-I need more experience running on bumpy tracks!

-I need to bring a hat to use indoors here, as the glare from the overhead lights made me squint, making it harder to see my car on the backside of the track.
-Need to bring a fan for my pit, as it was freaking hot in there!

Andrew gluing up some Panther Raptors

My pit space looking toward the offroad track

View of the offroad track from the onroad track driver's stand

View of the pit area from the onroad driver's stand

Right side of the onroad track

Left side of the onroad track

Left corner of the offroad track


Right corner of the offroad track

Hot Rod Hobbies, Offroad Shootout, Days 5 and 6

Was too tired to recap the last 2 days of the Shootout, so I'm doing it now :)

In Stock Buggy, I had a really good run in round 3 finishing my heat in 3rd with a 17:00 and about 15th or so in the round. In round 4, I decided to run my new Murfdogg 17.5 that I picked up from Matt Murphy at the track. He suggested I run a 72:34 ratio, but not having time to switch my spur I ran a 69:33 ratio, which was pretty close.

I didn't have as good a run in round 4 though, making a lot of mistakes during the 1st 3 minutes of the run :( I finished 7th in my heat and in the high 30's for the round. I ended up qualifying on the pole for the C Main. I was tied for the last spot in the B Main, but lost the tie breaker :(

In the main I had a good start and made no mistakes for 5 minutes! Then, I got sideways coming up the peristyle, allowing the 2nd place car to get really close! Coming down the hill I aimed for the inside of the turn, to block the inside line, but I clipped the pipe and ended up on my lid. The 2nd place car passed me for the lead! Then, on the last lap I got hit by a lapped car, allowing 3rd place to close! I was marshaled in time and was able to hold on to 2nd :)

My Stock Truck runs were the opposite of my buggy runs! I had a not so good run in round 3 and a decent one in round 4. Again, I tried my new Murfdogg 17.5 motor in round 3, along with the Orange Bar Codes I finally finished mounting up. The motor was quick!, but the Orange front Bar Codes felt too twitchy! It also probably didn't help that I mounted them wrong :( I finished 9th in my heat and high 20's in the round :(

I pulled it together in round 4 though, putting in a solid run! I went back to my Taper Pins, as I wasn't comfortable on the Bar Codes. I was fighting for 3rd place, but eventually finished 5th in the race and in the low teens for the round. This seated me 6th in the B Main.

In the main, I got a killer start and made my way up to 3rd on the 1st lap! I was in 3rd for about half the race, but the 4th place truck went for a pass at the bottom of the hill and we got together, and I got the worst of the deal, as I got stuck on the pipe and needed to be marshaled, dropping to 5th. I chased down the 4th place truck, which happened to be Matt Murphy, who sold me the Murfdogg 17.5 I was running in my truck! lol! He made a mistake in the small triple, allow me to get by for 4th, where I finished.

I didn't take 4wd Super Stock as serious as my buggy and truck classes, as I don't have the latest batteries for this car. I'm using the TrakPower 20C packs, while everyone else is running the latest gen 25-40C packs. I had a decent run in round 3 turning an 18:21 (my 1st 18 lap run of the weekend btw), finishing in 4th. In round 4 I turned in another 18 lap run (18:08) and finished 3rd. I ended up qualifying 4th in the C main. I got into a few accidents in the 1st minute of the main, dropping to the back. I wasn't able to recover and finished in 6th. Oh well, I need to get some batteries to be more competitive.

Random thoughts:
-It was freaking hot! My pit area reached 110°F on Saturday!
-Need to bring a towel to put in my ice chest next year.
-Don't make big setup changes between rounds of qualifying!
-The line around the track still makes a difference in offroad. Sometimes I forget that, since I'm too busy just trying to clear jumps, and my lap times suffer.
-Once qualifying starts, just drive!

Hot Rod Hobbies, Offroad Shootout, Day 4

Too tired! Must sleep.

Right now I am in the "B Qualifier" for Stock Buggy and Truck, and the "'C qualifier" for 4wd Super Stock after the resort.

Decided to go back to mechanical motor timing in my truck, instead of esc timing. Felt much faster. Dropped lap times by almost a second!

Installed motor heat sinks on my truck/buggy motors and geared back up to my normal gearing for Hot Rod. Cars were faster while keeping motor temps below 180°F.

Hot Rod Hobbies, Offroad Shootout, Day 3

No pics today, as I was busy turning laps!

Today was controlled practice, in 6 min sessions. I've got the layout figured out, and can turn consistent 21 sec laps, with a high 20, here and there. I still need to tighten up my line and decide if I should clear the big tripe leading up to the hill. I can do it, if I swing wide, but it's risky, since if you crash, it's hard for the marshal to reach that area. The other option is to take the turn before the triple tight, and go double-single, then shoot up the hill. Not sure which method is faster, but watching Brent Calvert in practice, he chose to clear the triple....

My motors are also still running hot, and I still feel like I need more gear, so I plan to put my motor heat sinks on and gear back up, as I need to pick up 0.5 seconds per lap (crosses fingers) I was running 69:35 in buggy and 72:31 in truck at the last JBRL race at the end of May, but the high that day was 86°F or so. Today the high in my pit reached 100°F!

I'm also trying to figure out my new SPX esc. At the JBRL race I was using mechanical timing on the motor and esc. Right now I'm running 0° timing on the motor, and letting the esc control the timing. I may return to using mechanical timing, as my truck just doesn't feel as fast as before, and experiment with the SPX during club racing.

Time to get some sleep, as I'll need to wake up at 4:30am, to make it to the track by 6am for the 1st day of qualifying!

Hot Rod Hobbies Offroad Shootout, Day 2

Day 2 was another day of open practice, but the 1st on the dry, grooved track! I got there at about 10am and proceeded to set up my pit and get to work mounting the 3 sets of JConcepts Orange Bar Codes that I bought (and they still need to be glued and balanced!) I didn't finish that until about 2pm! I had better get some track time as the track would be closed at 6pm for maintenance. I was able to get 2 runs on each of my cars (buggy, truck, and 4wd), so 6 runs total. They were handling good, but I had a slight on-power push with the buggy. I also still need to nail down the gearing, as my motors were running hot! (probably because my practice runs were about 7-8 minutes) I also need to figure out what profile to use on my new LRP SPX esc in my truck!

The layout is fun and challenging! Still working on getting the line up and timing right for the small and big triples The toughest part of the track is the hairpin at the top of the hill because your car disappears behind the pipe into a blind spot! Kinda makes it hard to judge the spacing to the pipe and when to turn in! I saw them fixing that before I went home though, so hopefully I can see my car there tomorrow :)

I had planned to get some video of the factory guys practicing, but I didn't have much free time :( Once I finished mounting my tires, I got in line to practice. Then I was either, working on a car, waiting in line on the driver's stand, or driving, until the track closed. I did manage to snap a couple of pics of some of the factory pits, as they were all right across from me!

Yokomo

Front-Murfdog Motoworks

Left-Kyosho

Then behind Kyosho was JConcepts and Associated

X-Factory

Hot Rod Hobbies Offroad Shootout, Day 1

This is a pic from the left side of the track during open practce for tonight's club racing. The track will be run wet, so I don't plan to race.

The next 2 pics I took in the morning over the fence before the track opened.

This is the right side.

This is the left side.

I plan to leave after watching some of the races and after the traffic dies down some. I'll be back in the morning to hopefully get some practice in on the dry, grooved track :) Oh ya, I also need to glue up a bunch of tires!

Here is a short vid of the layout that I shot using my cell phone.