Post Christmas Racing! SDRC Saturday 12/26/15

It wasn't as busy as I thought it would be. 

I raced expert stock buggy this time out, but I spent most of my time working on the 3.0. I also repaired the beads on my 1/8 electrons.  I also tried my barflys, but they pushed too much. I even ended up balding a front tire before I even raced on them!

Back to stock buggy. I blew out in round 1, but qualified 3rd in the A with my run in round 2 :)

I would finish 4th in the A after getting as high as 2nd. 

TLR 23 3.0 body!

Since my regular painter was busy, I used another local painter which some of my friends use. He did an awesome job, but changed the graphic some, which was fine by me, as it's the colors, which really identify my car. This is also the 1st body I've had with chrome trim instead of silver. 

Return to 1/8 buggy!

We headed to SDRC for some pre-Christmas racing. It turned out a lot of other people had the same idea as the stand was full of drivers, 15-20 at a time, from 3pm until racing!  Thus, I only got 1 test run in with my buggy to break in tires, as I couldn't run full speed. 

I would spend all my runs getting used to running the layout with so much power on tap. I also was changing swaybars trying to keep both rear tires on the ground. Lol!  I changed to my softest rear bar and installed the soft front bar. Installing the front bar turned out to be what kept the rear tires on the ground. 

I would qualify 3rd, get a clean start, take the lead, then make a mistake and drop to 7th. Oh well. I need to pick up a few more sway bars to adjust the car balance while keeping the tires on the ground. 

Motor Head RC again?!

We raced at MHRC again, in preparation for round 2 of the Ice Breaker series next Sunday. This time race my fresh B5m with a MurfDogg 17.5 and 1507g weight. 

The clay here has more grip than SDRC and has a layout with some wide doubles. For stock buggy anyway. With the fan my motor temp still reached 150F!

I ran some low pin height clay typos this time. They had awesome grip, but were edgy. I even traction rolled a few times!

I ended up qualifying and finishing 3rd. 

Fresh B5m!

I decided to run my own car again!  I rebuilt the diff, shocks, and switched to flat pistons. I also put my MurfDogg 17.5 back in and installed the Trinity fan mount. 

 

The motor temps were in the 130F range. I think I'll change to a bigger or more powerful fan to get the temps closer to 100F. 

I got into the low 18's and qualified 5th in the A!  Huge improvement over Wednesday!  I had an awesome start and moved finished 3rd :)

Top Gun layout, 1st race

Didn't go very well for me. I was only able to get 1 practice run in where I ran for 20 minutes. Learning the layout was easy enough, but figuring out where I needed to slow down and where I can go faster takes more than one session. 

I got faster every run, but mistakes I made testing the limits, caused me to turn slow 5 minute runs. I ended up qualifying mid pack in the B main. Oh ya! There were 15 expert stock buggies also!

In the B main, I turned a slow 16 lap run and had a fast lap of 18.7. The guys in the A were turning 18.2's though.  I also switched from dirt webs to electrons for the main. 

Trinity fan mount

So. I want to try running my MurfDogg 17.5 again, but it tends to run hot, so I've decided to mount a fan on my B5m. I found the Trinity fan mount on Amain the other day and decided to try it. I have a few MuchMore 30mm fans I can use with it, so all I needed was the mount. 

The fan points at the endbell instead of the can, like other mounts I've seen. I hope the fan doesn't break!

TLR 22 3.0!

I impulse bought a TLR 22 3.0!  Amain had a 10% off coupon, so I picked up a kit.  I've never owned a TLR car before, so this will be a learning experience. I've driven my friends cars in the past though. 

I plan to build it to race in the 13.5 or mod class. I already have a Tekin RSX, motors, HV servo, and transponder for it, but need to pick up an e-receiver and temp sensor. 

Tinted windows! Updated!

While watching the mains at Top Gun race, I noticed that some cars had tinted windows. I don't know if they were painted like that or they had window tint film applied to the inside. I did like the look enough to stop by the auto parts store and see if they had any window tint film. LOL!

I found a roll of 6" x 26" 20% film for $16, so I bought it to try out on a few bodies. Hahaha. 

It was a pain to cut to the right size to cover the window. I got a few air bubbles and lint under the film also. And the edges of the film on the inside aren't the neatest. But from the outside it looks decent enough. And when I'm zipping by at race speed you can't see any of the imperfections. Maybe I'll ask my painter to tint my windows for my next body?

I'll probably do a few more bodies when I have some time. :)

Update:  I found out there is paint made for tinting the windows!  Tamiya Smoke!

SDRC Top Gun Shootout

This weekend was the Top Gun Shootout at SDRC. This meant no racing for me, as I don't like to run "big" races now. Instead my friend and I headed to MHRC for some practice and wrenching. 

The track was empty almost the entire time, so it was nice to have the track all to ourselves!  I got my fast lap in stock buggy down to a 17.8 and installed the brass c mount I got and switched over to my MurfDogg 17.5 motor. I just need to rebuild my shocks and change pistons (3x1.4 / 2x1.6 flat with 32.5 / 30 oil and green/green springs), and all my setup changes will be done. 

I did drop by Sunday though to watch the mains. The racing up front was clean for the most part, but it was typical bump and run in the back of the pack. I'm glad I skipped the race :)

Motorhead RC Raceway, 12/6/15

I got talked into heading to the desert to race at MHRC Sunday by my friend who couldn't race earlier in the weekend. 

I haven't been there since June, before the track box was expanded and the drivers stand moved. The stand and track box are a little bigger now, but they lost some pit spots in the process. Pits were added upstairs, but I didn't see anyone using those. 

I tried some slicks on my brothers car in practice and round 1, but it didn't work out so well. Lol!

I was 2 laps down and 1 sec slower on fast lap than the leader. Oh well. 

I put some 2.2 gold dirt webs on for round 2 and went 2 laps faster and almost stole the TQ!  But I crashed on the last lap. Lol!

In the main I ended up making a few early mistakes, and needed to push hard mid race in order to catch up. I'd close the gap then crash again!  I stole 2nd on the last lap and had the fast lap of the race at 18.0. 

I'm thinking of racing the second race of the winter series here. Just for fun of course and to see if I can beat the locals. :)

Expert Stock Buggy with a rent a ride?!

I decided to race my brother's car instead of my own, as I had it with me to clean up and was doing work on my car. It was still fast but I needed to make a few changes to get some push out of it. 

I still managed to qualify 4th in the Expert Stock Buggy A Main and finish 2nd after a few fun battles :)

Friday night 1/8 buggy racing, 12/4/15

I decided to race 1/8 buggy again Friday night since my gear was still in my garage from Wednesday. Lol

Round 1 was a mess with bad marshal jobs and hacking. Lol!

Round 2 was much better after everyone calmed down. 

Win is a win!

Wednesday night racing again?!

I ended up racing again on Wednesday night 12/2/15, as my friends wanted to try out their new cars. Lance would be racing his new 1/8e Buggy and Fred his new B5m FL kit. I raced my RC8 with the 6x1.3 flat pistons and 32.5/35 oil that I put in on Sunday.  I took 1 practice run before racing and ended up crashing a bunch trying to get used to the new track conditions. The track was being run dry in preparation for the Top Gun Race next weekend. My car was loose and sliding around a bunch!

In round 1, a front CVA bone broke and my forward drive was severely reduced, so I pulled my car off the track. 

In round 2, a nut on one of my rear shocks came loose, which caused me to lose my Ghea delrin shock bushing :)

I qualified last due to not finishing either qualifier.  I was the fastest buggy on the track but ran out of time before I could catch Lance in the lead, as he didn't make too many mistakes. Next time I guess.

Expert Stock Buggy?!

Expert stock buggy returns to SDRC.  This class was at SDRC about 18 months ago then disappeared after 2 months. I wonder how long it will last this time?  I signed up for Stock Buggy, but was entered into expert like I expected to be.  I guess I belong in it as I managed to qualify 2nd and was the only other driver to turn 17 laps. Well tonight anyway. 

I got a clean start and took the lead when the leader crashed. I held the lead for 3-4 laps, but made a mistake and dropped to 5th, then back to 3rd after a pile up.  I haven't lead with fast guys in the field for awhile and I guess my nerves got the better of me :(.  Still fun though!

Post Thanksgiving Racing

I headed back to SDRC for more racing after taking Turkey Day off. There was also a sale going on that dropped the price of parts in the store to what I would normally pay at Tower, so I picked up some things I was planning to buy anyway, plus a few impulse buys. Lol!

During the sale I picked up some diff bearings, Schelle rear hub ball link mounts, Schelle aluminum rear hubs, Schelle aluminum rear camber link mount, and AE brass C suspension mount. 

I decided to race 1/8e buggy this time around as my friend's son wanted to also race 1/8. My car felt pretty good and I managed to turn 18 laps in round 2 and drop my fast lap to 16.6!  I TQ'd but got 2nd in the main after making a few mistakes. 

Pre Thanksgiving racing!

I raced stock buggy the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I guess a lot of guys had the same idea since there were 3 heats!

My car was loose all during practice, so I dropped my rear shock oil and springs to 25wt with black springs. 

I had a good start and race for a change! I started clean from 3rd and got up to 2nd! But a few bobbles dropped me back to 3rd.