Stock Buggy, SDRC, 7/26/14

No official improvement on my fast lap or race time, even after all the testing last Sunday :(. I qualify 6th and finished 4th in the A main at least. Qualified with a 14:17 and fast lap of 21.660. 

B5m setup testing

So I decided to go to the track Sunday to test some setup changes I've been wanting to try. Specifically the arms and front shock tower from the B5 rear motor buggy. This seems to be the hot setup among all the factory drivers, so I thought I'd see what all the fuss is about. 

I tried the rear arms first. They seem to add more rear grip, as I could get on the power more aggressively than before, making the car easier to drive.

I then flipped the rear hub insert to the up position, raised the rear ride height to 25mm, and the camber to 0/-2.  My fastest lap was about 22.2 seconds. 

Next I installed the front arms and tower and left the rear arms on. 

My new fastest lap was down to 21.6 seconds!  For the next run I stood up my rear shocks by moving the top mount to the outer hole on the shock tower. 21.5 seconds!  The car feels so comfortable to drive hard into the corner and then power out!  I think I'll try some stiffer rear springs and see if I can go faster than 21.5 seconds next weekend. 

Stock Buggy, SDRC, Saturday 7/19/14

I was able to get a clean start and made my way up to 2nd in the closing laps of the race. My car was easy to drive, and I was driving conservative to not crash or make mistakes. I still need more speed though. Maybe I need practice only day to test some setups?

Stock Buggy, SDRC, Friday 7/18/14

I was able to get up to 2nd when everyone crashed in front of me!  I eventually got passed and dropped to 3rd, and I was able to hold on. My B5m is working better, becoming easier to drive after I moved the battery to the back of the chassis, but I'm still looking for more speed. 

Stock Buggy, SDRC, 7/12/14

Second race with the B5m. While my current setup is fast, it's not comfortable and easy to drive in a race :(  I qualified decent starting 5th in the A main vs 5th in the B main last weekend.  But when racing in the main my cars rear steps out mid corner on power, allowing cars to pass me on the inside :(. Combine this with driving mistakes and I dropped to 7th at the finish. 

For the next race I'm moving my battery from the front to the back of the chassis in an effort to get more on power grip. Unfortunately this requires moving my receiver and rewirng my speedo :(. Time to get to work. 

1st race with the B5M! Stock buggy, SDRC, Saturday 7/5/14

I finished building my B5m this weekend since I couldn't wait any longer to race it! My painter also finished the body for it so I was able to use my normal paint job instead of a sperm rocket all white paint job. 

What a pig!  Final race ready weight was 1378g. 4g extra I guess for the decals and Velcro to mount the body. 

I did ok finishing 3rd in my 1st race with a mid motor car. Unfortunately, my time was only good enough for 8th. 

I tried some gold dirt webs for this round, but my car was way too loose and hard to drive, even though I loosend my slipper some. I get bumped out of the A and would start 5th in the B. 

I get a horrible start getting caught up in someone else's wreck and drop to last. I work my way up when others crashed and found myself in a 3 car battle for 2nd place and the bump to the A main. Then I get taken out by who I thought was a friend and he did not wait for me. Unfriend.  At least my car was a ton better in the main. I changed back to the tires I ran in the 1st round, along with standing up my rear shock 1 hole.

For the next race I plan to lighten the oil to 30/27.5 and return the shock mount to the middle hole on the tower.  I want to also try a stiff rear sway bar.  As I think this will give me more steering in the corners without taking away forward traction.