New tire and motor testing

We headed over to SDRC  for some Saturday club racing. I needed to break in some tires and test my new MurfDogg 17.5 motor. 

The tires were Proline Electrons in MC compound. I've been saucing them with Liquid Wrench all week.  They actually  had good grip right away!  No break in needed!

I was also trying out the 2014 spec of the MurfDogg 17.5. It felt down on power at 1st so I geared up 2 teeth.  It was faster but faded toward the end of my practice run to the point where I couldn't make the triple!  The motor temp was only 150F but lost a lot of punch. Maybe I'll check the rotor diameter and try it again later. 

Time for racing!  Heads up qualifying was the program for tonight, meaning you needed to race your way in!  You needed to finish 1st or 2nd in your heat to transfer directly to the A.  If in round 2 the 1st or 2nd place cars were already in the main, the next 2 cars would transfer in. Thus, the top 8 in the A were made up of people that placed 1st or 2nd or placed behind someone who already transferred. I was able to win both my heats and transfer to the A. I would end up qualifying in 3rd. 

I had a good start moving up to 2nd within the 1st minute. But I shorted the last double before the straight and dropped to 4th. In the closing laps the 3rd place car tangled with traffic and I moved up to 3rd where I finished. 

RC10T5M!

I was able to grab a T5M while they were in stock for a short time at Tower Hobbies!

Dry Track Main :(

We headed out for another weekend of Saturday club racing at SDRC. This time the track was nice and damp as I was In heat 2.  We did heads up starts though and I was screwed both rounds and had to start mid pack. I finished 3rd in round 1 and 2nd in round 2, but the winner had already won a heat, so myself and 3rd place got the automatic transfer into the A Main. My time was also fast enough to qualify 2nd.

For the mains they only blew off the track and put down a light mist. This combined with a later heat for my main, race 5 instead of 2, I ended up on a dry track again. I knew this ahead of time so I made a change to my rear link hoping that it would give me more side bite on the drier track. It didn't. I spun out in the first turn and dropped to last. I recovered to finish 6th, but really should've been in the top 3.

  

During racing I picked up a set of Proline MC Electrons, which is supposed to be the hot tire on a dry track. I tried a set after racing and my car felt pretty good!  I guess I'll mounting these up for racing on a dry track. 

Futaba 4px!

I was able to sell my 4pk and SC10 which allowed me to buy the new 4px radio!  The major differences between this radio and my old 4pk are faster response, telemetry, and a cool new color screen!  There is also no traditional antenna mast like on the 4pk. Instead the antenna is built into the end of the radio.

I bought a 2s LiFe battery for it, but it worked fine on 4 NiMh cells in the 4 cell battery box. These cells actually have more capacity than the LiFe battery I got (2400mah vs 1900mah), so I'll test both out and see which one lasts longer. 

Back to regular club racing

It was time to get back to some regular club racing at SDRC!  I raced stock buggy Saturday night. It was really hot again and the dirt was drying out fast and I was loose just like last weekend. I made a few setup changes but my car didn't improve much. I really need some new rear tires. Below are my race results. 

TNS 2015, SDRC Round

The track was a lot drier compared to club racing, due to higher temperatures. They misted the track every 9 heats, but it was still dry compared to club racing. My tires were ok for the conditions, but when I drove harder my B5m was loose. No side bite. I still managed to make the A main in 40+ Buggy and win Vintage Buggy. 

I also won some new body scissors from the raffle :)

Old guy buggy testing

To get ready for the TNS race the next weekend, I raced my B5m with a boosted 17.5 in 13.5 buggy. I completely dominated the class!  Below are all my race wins. 

TNS Race Prep

This was the last race I would run before the SDRC TNS round next Saturday. I took advantage of a promotion to run a 2nd class Friday night in order to test my setup for TNS.   I would race my RC10 in mod with an 8.5 to test for the Vintage class and race my B5m in the 13.5 with a boosted 17.5 to test for the 40+ buggy class. 

Below are my race results.