Fall Series Race II

Today was the second (technically 3rd but we had a rain out) race for the Fall Series at 106 Race Park. It was a great day for racing, the only downside was the state the poor track was in after the previous weeks Fall Classic trophy race. We had a great turnout for that race, read about that in my post, but the amount of cars, and the number of larger scale beasts tore the track up. We tried to get some good work done early in the morning, but it didn’t stick past a few rounds of practice.

I never realized how much it really takes to keep that track in decent shape until I started helping out with the maintenance on it. The 1/8th Buggies, and in my opinion the big brushless monsters too, tear pretty deep into the track, and throw it all over the place. This results in little bumps, turning into medium bumps, which in the end turn into major deep pits in the track. You bounce over one spot, the tires rev up a little (or a lot for some drivers) in the air, and when the thing touches down, it digs in. Multiply that by 5 or 6 buggies, 4 or 5 Monsters, and then multiply again by 3 heats and a main each, and you have an issue. We’ve managed to dig this up enough that we have hit the hard pack clay underneath the track, along with some nasty rocks. The clay doesn’t worry me, and even the pits can be handled after a lap or two, but the rocks worry me. I am worried about my truck catching one of these miniature mountains and breaking a suspension arm, again. The big trucks and buggies can take some pretty nasty hits, but the smaller ones, Gas and Mod truck, don’t fare as well from what I see. Hopefully we’ll be able to get out there and clean the track up for next week. If Wednesday is good weather wise, I am planning on heading out there after work to do what I can.

As for the racing, it all seemed to go pretty well. Most the racers in our club can get their vehicles going for their heats, or majority of them, and the main. The nitros are always iffy from what I see. No offense nitro fans, but electric is the way to go. Electric is not without it’s own issues, and the rest of the car or truck can also break, stick or whatever as well, but it seems to be easier to work with. I also like not having to worry about running to lean or rich, and determining if the the outside temp means I need to mess with the settings there. Just charge, plug in, turn on, and crash

I had a great race day, I’ve been getting much better every week, and the tuning help from everyone, especially Mike B. has really gotten me where I want to be. Heat 1 I had a lot of mistakes, and didn’t do too well the first heat, not even sure what the time was. Heat 2 I ran into a little issue, found my rear skid plate wore down and broke the back part off, common with the E-Revo from what I have seen. It may not sound like a huge issue, but the damn thing hold in the hinge pins for the rear suspension arms. I sat that heat out, and went to the store to buy a replacement. I went with plastic for now, but I am planning on getting an aluminum one to keep that from happening again. Heat 3 I did great and got a 10/5:20, which put me in position 3 for the main.

The main was awesome this week. I started in 3rd, a small hang up at the start kept Jay and Mat behind so I moved into second behind Herb. I kept that spot for a lap or two, I think, and then Jay overtook me, pushing me to 3rd. I kept up though, I was on Jay for a while, maybe another lap or so, and then a mistake got me, pushing me farther behind. Somewhere around that time a second mistake was enough for Mat to move ahead of me too. I stayed on him though, and around the table top in one of the last laps he ran into some trouble, which let me get around him and back into 3rd. I stayed there for the remainder of the race and finished in 3rd. The final was a 9/5:13. I checked my times and for the day I did better than I have before. Heat 1 was a disaster for me, but heat 2, I managed to keep all my laps under 40 seconds, the highest was a 37s lap, or something like that. In the main I managed to get a new lap record for myself, 29.4 seconds. If I can get into doing that consistently, I’ll be happy. That’s only 1 or 2 seconds behind the guys who have been racing for much longer than I have, so I am really happy with how much progress I have made in such a short time.

Next week I am going to take second place in the main, hopefully not by someone running into trouble with their truck, but I’ll take whatever I can get,

Photos are posted in the gallery as always, I managed to get a few awesome shots this week. One really sweet one of Mike F’s buggy in mid air over the table top, and another of Dan’s truggy going through a turn. A lot of the others were kind of blurry and messy, but I am still experimenting with settings. I think I finally figured out how to get the shot I have been after. Maybe next week I’ll sit out a heat of electric monster, or let someone else drive the thing, so I can get some shots of those. I also think I might try to get into a couple of new spots next week if everyone is cool with that. The banked turn is a nice spot, and maybe around the back jumps and drop off. It’s tough because of marshaling. If anyone has a problem let me know, and I’ll come up with another idea, maybe going outside the fence and shooting through it.