I raced Friday and Saturday again!

Like I said, I raced 2 days in a row again this past weekend!  I raced stock buggy both days also.

I finished 2nd of 11 entries Friday and 1st of 8 on Saturday. Unfortunately there were only 4 heats Saturday:(

Friday's results. 

Saturday's results. 

Lowest cell and battery IR I've seen so far on a racing charge program. 

Mid Motor T4!

Sick!  Me wants!

http://www.redrc.net/2014/10/centro-ct4-2-conversion-kit-for-t4-platform/

Stock Buggy Weekend Racing!

I had an itch to race Stock Buggy Friday and Satuday night at SDRC this weekend. Normally I would only race Saturday, but I think there has been more competition on Friday's, thus I decided to race Friday also.

This was the my first weekend of racing on the new layout, but not my first time driving on it as I practiced on it last Sunday after returning from Arizona. 

Friday I would arrive late and not get any practice runs in, but I was ok with that. I used my blue compound dirt webs, since they started to have some grip last Sunday.  Lots of fast guys were racing tonight, and Joey was in a different time zone than the rest of us!  I managed to place 2nd in round 1 and win the heat in round 2, qualifying 3rd for the A main out of 21 entries.  I ended up finishing 5th after a few mistakes in the opening laps which put me down in the order. 

Oh ya. My brothers name was listed on the results instead of mine by mistake and never fixed. Lol!

Saturday was a relaxing day. It was pretty empty in the morning, so I wish I got more runs in, but instead I decided to change the setup on my car and rebuild the diff. I glued in the trailing inserts into the steering blocks, installed some offset steering block bushings,  put in a step of drag brake, and fitted a new wing. 

By the time I was finished, the track was busy!  I was also testing some new charge cables I built and used a different charging method. I'd discharge at 17A, then charge at 40A, then check the cell IR.  I was getting about 2 miliohms per cell.  I've seen others get down to 1 miliohm or less!  They must discharge at higher rates?

The entries for Saturday night were on the light side and there was only 1 heat of stock buggy with 6 cars.  Based on the other guys in the heat, only 1 of them could possibly beat me.  I ended up winning both heats of qualifying, getting the TQ, and winning the main. 

My buddy gave me a new car stand also!

Not a bad weekend of racing :)

SRS- Scottsdale RC Speedway

SRS is the home of the 2015 Cactus Classic and will be run indoors for the first time next year.  Since we were in Arizona, we had to at least practice here and maybe race. It also helped that our hotel was a few blocks away. 

So after racing at W3, we got some dinner, and my friends checked into their hotel room.  Once they got settled in, we all piled into the rental car and went over to practice for a few hours at SRS since they didn't close until midnight!

The drivers stand has high compared to the ceiling, such that your head was above the ceiling lights, which blocked the glare and made feel like you were looking into a brightly lit stadium. 

I got about 5-6 runs in over the course of 3 hours. The dirt was super high traction and bumpy, resulting in it being very easy to traction roll, even at slower speeds.  I could barely string together laps where I didn't flip over!  The clay was also very sticky and coated the bottom of my chassis. It felt like my car would stop for a second as the chassis bottomed out!

This didn't make it much fun to run here, thus we all agreed to head back to San Diego in the morning rather than race Sunday afternoon like we originally planned. Instead we headed directly to SDRC to get a few hours of practice on the new layout!

Warehouse 3 Racing! 10/11/14

Finally it was race day!  First race also outside of California ever! I was able to get 4 practice runs in, changing tires every run. First up were the super soft tires I bought for W3. Pushed like a bus!  Next up were my silver dirt webs. Still pushing, but not as bad. Then came the balding gold dirt webs. Twitchy steering a tad loose on power. Last were my balding clay typos with blown out foam. Good rear bite with small push. Raceable!  I would try tunning out the push with suspension changes.

For round 1 I put in new pucks and went up to white rear springs. I crashed twice on my 1st lap and had to work my way up the standings. I lucked out though as there were not many cars in my heat and everyone was way slower than me except for 1 guy, who won the heat. 

After all 4 heats of stock buggy were finished, I was sitting 10th overall and 2nd in the B main.   With a clean run I think I can turn 14 laps and make the A main. 

For round 2 I went up in rear spring rate again, to grays. This race I lead the heat most of the run, crashing only once on the next to last lap, by the slowest marshal at the race :(  Landing the ski jump off the straight I flat landed and bounced onto my lid and the marshal took forever to get my car. Owell.  At least I turned 14 laps, and moved up to the dreaded BQ position. 

For the B main I went up again in spring rate to blues.  I got away clean but made a mistake shorting the middle double in the six pack, losing the lead!  Luckily the leader crashed a few laps later and I took the lead back. I cruised in for the win and bumped to the A main!

Next was the A main!  I started 8th due to someone ahead of me going home. Fine by me!  My racing buddy Riley, also from SDRC, bumped into the show too!  SDRC in the house!  I would end up finishing 7th after a short battle with Riley in which we tangled in a racing accident. I was just happy to make the main :)

Team SDRC getting ready for the mains!

Video of the Stock Buggy A Main at W3 featuring myself and Riley!

Made it to Arizona!

I arrived in Arizona Friday afternoon and checked into my hotel.

This place was only a few blocks from SRS, so after I settled in and rested a bit, I headed out to take a look at SRS and Warehouse 3, where we'd be racing the next day. I was also searching for some tires for W3. 

SRS in Phoenix!  Home of the 2015 Cactus Classic and ROAR Off Road Nationals!

Next stop was Warehouse 3 Racing in Peoria. 

We will be racing here the next day.  The track is brightly lit and the dirt seems tacky and smooth. Should be a fun day tomorrow!

Arizona bound!

This weekend I'm heading out of state for the 1st time ever to race RC cars!  I've only raced in California since I started racing at the age of 12.  Some friends and I will be racing Saturday at Warehouse 3 and Sunday at the new indoor SRS, home of the 2015 Cactus Classic!

It turns! Halfway at least :-/

At least I qualified 3rd, putting in a good run in the 2nd round of qualifying after the class was resorted and split up. In round 1 with late sign ups there were 12 cars in 1 heat!  Traffic was nuts with some cars a lot slower than the fast guys.  In the main I was maintaing my 3rd place position with a gap on 4th, but about 2 minutes in, I sent it in too hot into the turn at the end of the straight and traction rolled dropping to last.  I go big a few laps clearing the triple and caught up to a pack of wrecked cars and managed to move back up to 5th. 

Stock buggy blowout #4

Car and driver hurting.  Hopefully it turns around at my next race.