Euro Truck Racing! RCRSD Club Race, DHW San Marcos, 6/28/20

Radio Control Racers of San Diego (RCRSD) held their monthly race at Discount Hobby Warehouse in San Marcos.  The turnout was good this time with 2 full heats of Euro Truck!

For this race I tried applying super glue to my front tires, which made the truck push really bad until the glue wore off.  While this did take away steering, I'd need to apply fresh glue to the tires before every run to keep the handling consistent and this wasn't very practical.

I also tried saucing my tires, drying them, then heating the tires with warmers.  The tires did get softer, but I was still having snap over-steer issues mid-corner and sliding on power.

The last change I tried was to add some thick silicone chunks to the rear diff to act like a limited slip diff.  This was supposed to get me more on-power grip, but I don't think it helped much.  I may clean the diff out for the next race.

Heat 1: I finish 2nd. 

Heat 2: I finish 2nd again.  I make the A main at least.  

A main event: I qualified 4th and finish in 4th after leading for a few laps.  I fall back to 4th after spinning out or sliding a few times.  I need to get this thing stable if I'm going to win some races! 

Pit area for the day

Tires warming up!

Racing for position!

A Main start!

Racer group photo

Thanks Sean of EgytSean Productions for the photos!

Saturday Club Racing, SDRC Raceway, 6/27/20

In Heat 1, I finished 4th with a 15:00, fast lap of 18.812, average lap of 20.013, and consistency of 91.63%!.  I made 2 driving mistakes and had 1 crash.  My car felt like it was topping out on the straight early so I decided to gear my car back up, as I installed a smaller pinion during the week.  It turns out I installed a pinion which was 3 teeth smaller instead of 1 tooth by mistake!  No wonder my car felt slow!  I installed the correct pinion gear (24) for the next race.

In Heat 2, I finished 3rd with a 16:17, fast lap of 19.199, average lap of 19.827, and consistency of 94.79%.  I made 0 driving mistakes and had 1 crash on the wall.  

I qualified 5th (last) for the A main and some early crashes allowed me to finish 3rd with a 15:00, fast lap of 18.951, average lap of 19.816, and consistency of  96.43%.  I made 2 driving mistakes and crashed 0 times.  

Improved social distancing pitting.

Front tires starting to go bald.  I think they also slowed down my lap times.

Saturday Club Racing, SDRC Raceway, 6/20/20

In Heat 1, I finished 4th with a 16:17, fast lap of 19.163, average lap of 19.865, and consistency of 98.19%!.  I made 2 driving mistakes, but had 0 crashes.  

In Heat 2, I finished 3rd with a 16:12, fast lap of 18.663, average lap of 19.539, and consistency of 97.00%.  I made 3 driving mistakes, but had 0 crashes.  

I qualified 3rd for the A main and finished 5th with a 15:18, fast lap of 18.775, average lap of 21.354, and consistency of  93.73%.  I made 7 driving mistakes and crashed 9 times, effectively blowing out.  Since I was in last place I decided to try clearing the center table top for fun.  I cleared it 3 times and crashed 4 times, for a 43% success rate.  Way too low to do when racing for position!  

Busy today!

Thinking of pitting alone in this corner for "social distancing".

Euro Truck Racing! RCRSD Club Race, DHW Kearny Mesa, 6/14/20

Radio Control Racers of San Diego (RCRSD) held a make-up race at Discount Hobby Warehouse in Kearny Mesa.  The turnout was low and the track layout smaller and tighter than at San Marcos, but the fun was the same.

Heat 1: I make 5 mistakes and finish in 3rd.  

Heat 2: I make 10 mistakes and finish 2nd.  

Heat 3: I make 4 mistakes and finish 2nd again.  

Pit setup for the day

Track layout

Heat 3 starting grid.  I start in the back to give the others a chance. LOL!

New Layout, Saturday Club Racing, SDRC Raceway, 6/6/20

The new layout at SDRC featured a wall ride, straight in front of the driver's stand, and another triple!  Two layouts in a row with a triple :)

Wall ride transition

In Heat 1, I finished 3rd with a 15:00, fast lap of 18.994, average lap of 20.030, and consistency of 93.26%.  I crashed 4 times.  

In Heat 2, I finished 2nd with a 15:06, fast lap of 19.726, average lap of 20.941, and consistency of 95.46%.  I crashed 2 times. 

I qualified 3rd for the A main and finished 6th with a 15:20, fast lap of 19.459, average lap of 21.456, and consistency of  90.20%.  I crashed 8 times. 

Hitting the curbing in the chicane after the triple

Tinted Windows

I finally got around to tinting the windows on my buggy bodies after buying a can of Tamiya Smoke paint (PS-31) years ago! LOL!

Ready for painting!

Over spray protection!

2wd buggy window tint.

4wd buggy window tint

Window tint completed!  I think I'll use 1 more coat next time to make it a little darker.  This was 3 light coats of smoke paint.

Euro Truck Racing! RCRSD Club Race, DHW San Marcos, 5/31/20

Radio Control Racers of San Diego (RCRSD) Club racing finally resumed on 5/31/20!  I was finally able to race my Tamyia Euro Truck that I built while RC racing was on pause.  Since there really no results for this parking lot club racing (we are hand counted like back in the 1980's!)

Heat 1: I make 7 mistakes and finish in 2nd.  

Heat 2: I make 5 mistakes and win the heat as my radio battery dies! 

A Main Event: I qualify 2nd and take the win with 2 driving mistakes! 

Out pit setup for the day

Track view from my marshal spot.

Saturday Club Race, SDRC Raceway, 5/30/20

In Heat 1, I finished 2nd with a 15:12, fast lap of 19.652, average lap of 20.831, and consistency of 93.17%.  I crashed 1 times during the race.  This video was shot using my new GoPro Hero 8!  I got this camera so I could shoot video at 60 FPS, 2.7k resolution, with a narrow FOV.  With my GoPro Session 5, I could only shoot video at 60 FPS, 1080P resolution, with a linear FOV, making my car look smaller and farther away than with the GoPro Hero 8. 

In Heat 2, I finished 2nd with a 15:06, fast lap of 18.888, average lap of 20.418, and consistency of 94.58%.  I crashed 2 times.  I have no video of this race as I forgot to start my GoPro.

I qualified 2nd for the A main and finished 2nd with a 15:12, fast lap of 19.459, average lap of 20.674, and consistency of  95.30%.  I crashed 1 time which need a marshal.  

New GoPro Hero 8 for shooting race video!  I also switched to a disposable mask, as the cloth one was always rubbing my lips when I talked and was super annoying.

Welcome Back Saturday Club Race, SDRC, 5/23/20

In Heat 1, I finished 4th with a 14:15, fast lap of 19.691, average lap of 22.551, and consistency of 89.44%.  I crashed 2 times during the race.  

In Heat 2, I finished 2nd with a 15:15, fast lap of 19.299, average lap of 21.056, and consistency of 91.90%.  I crashed 2 times.  

I qualified 2nd for the A main and finished 2nd with a 15:16, fast lap of 18.687, average lap of 21.196, and consistency of 88.24%.  I crashed 4 times.  

Ready for racing!  Those fronts I've been using since 2015!  I should probably toss them!

I was planning to race 4wd until I stripped my spur gear on my last practice run right before racing was going to start.

Club Race, SDRC, 5/16/20

In Heat 1, I finished 3rd with a 16:08, fast lap of 18.449, average lap of 19.300, and consistency of 93.78%.  I crashed 2 time during the race.  

In Heat 2, I finished 3rd again with a 16:09, fast lap of 18.027, average lap of 19.327, and consistency of 92.19%.  I crashed 4 times during the race.  

In the main, I forgot to start my GoPro, so I have no video of the race.  I started 4th, then went wide in the 1st turn and got passed by a few cars, then got hit from behind going over the 1st jump.  I was near the back, but drove hard and chased down 3rd place.  He crashed coming onto the straight and I passed him to take 3rd in the closing minute of the race.  I crossed the line in 3rd and took my first podium of 2020!

New Covid-19 racing mask!

Social distancing pitting!

New bodies and paint!

I picked up some new Pro-Line Axis bodies for my TLR 22 5.0 SR and 22X-4 buggies.  Finally I will have matching paint for my primary race cars again!

They came out great and bright!  I'll post pics of them on my cars once I get some matching fluorescent yellow wings!