First Night of Friday Night Off-Road

Well it was the first night of Friday night off road racing and what a great night of racing. I got off of work and headed right to the track. I got to the track around 4:30 and was surprised to see a lot of people already there. I wanted to set up my pit by Dave Jacko but there was too many people already set up there and there was not enough room. So I had to set up at the other end of the track. As I set my pit I noticed either I have too much stuff or you need a lot of stuff for racing. As I started charging my Li-po's for my qualifiers I remember reading in a magazine about using your sub trim for adjusting the straightness of the car while driving. I was having problems with this the last time I was running. First off lets start with the buggy.

On my buggy I had to have the main steering setting on my radio at 70 in order for my buggy to go straight. So as soon as my first Li-po was done charging I installed it into my buggy and set the main steering control to zero. When I looked at my sub trim for I had it to the right at 65. No wonder why it was never going straight. Well I put it on the track and drove down the straight away and WOW it was dead on I didn't need any adjustments. I ran some laps and man was the car dialed. But I noticed there was a lot of noise coming from the diff. And do I mean a lot of noise. Well no time now to rebuild the diff before the race so I will have to deal with it until it blows up.

Now on to the truck, again I was having problems with my steering. So I went back changed all steering setting on my radio to zero. Took the truck to the track and and drove it down the straight away. It almost did complete 90 degree turns while going down the straight. I adjusted, drove, and adjusted, and drove, and adjusted, some more. Finally got it straight took me about 10 times down the straight to get it to go the way I wanted. Then it hit me Scotty saying Race one your up everyone was on the track and ready to go. No practice for me with my truck Bummer.

Qualifying:

I was up in race 4 and 6. Race 4 was stock truck but I was the only one running stock buggy so I was placed in that class. First qualifier was good 15 laps, man do I need to get to the track more often and get practice. Then it was marshall for about 2 min's into the next race then I asked Trevor Boakes to cover for me so I can get my truck ready. Ran back to my pit (walked as fast as I can due to my legs hurting me again and that's another story). Put my battery in and body on and back to the track. This time I remembered to set my radio from buggy to truck. Went out for 10.5 brushless truck, and man did I stink up the place. I think I did 15 laps. Man I really need to get here and do some practicing. The biggest problem I was having was when I let off the throttle my truck would go about 15-20 feet before it would slow down. In the second qualifier I broke the wing off so now my truck handles even worse. I talked with Paul Harding and he said throw some drag brake into the truck. This will slow my truck down when I am off the throttle. It is kinda like pumping the brakes on your truck when you are driving it slows you down just enough for you to keep control of your truck. My second qualifier was ok in stock buggy and stunk in brushless truck.

Mains:

I was able to qualify in the A-main in stock truck/buggy. As the race started I was in 6th place. Starting horn goes off and I hit the gas pile up in the first corner drove around it and I moved up to 3rd I was excited I was doing great. Then it hit me the dreaded pipe. I got stuck into the pipe and the marshall had to wait to get to my truck until it was safe for him to get to my buggy with out getting in the way of the other cars. Now I am in 8th place so nowhere to go but up from there. So I pushed and pushed and the more I pushed the more I hit the pipes. But I ended up 7th overall with a 15/5:12. not bad in my eyes a little more wheel time and I might be up the front. Mind you I am running a brushed stock motor in a brushless world. Now for the truck I was in the next race. I qualified 6th out of 6. While waiting for the race to start Scotty announces the brushless truck main is 10 mins long so I was like cool I might have a chance. Wrong, as the horn goes off it felt like I was being lapped before I made it to the first corner. After about 6 mins I said ok now I am just getting in the way of everyone, so I parked my truck and sat back and watched the race. The best part of the race was watching Sarah and Josh Stoug (I think that's how you spell his name sorry if it is wrong).
They were driving as a tag team Sarah was throttle and Josh was steering. All I have to say is WOW they were battling for the lead for a bit. Then Sarah hit the throttle while going down the straight and Josh turned the wheel and into the wall and then people started to pass. They did really good though they did a 32 in a 10:03. I have to say what a team and maybe if there is a season ending fun race that can be an event. All in all what a night lot of learning and a lot of fun.

On a side note:

There was one other good thing that was going on. There was a guy by the name of Bob Burlingame who was a 65 year old kid, he was pitting across from me. He had a RTR Associated T-4. This was his first time racing and his 3rd time playing with his truck. He was having problems in the beginning. He broke the front bulk head and shock tower twice in one hour. The first time I looked over at him and he had a puzzled look on his face, as he was looking at all the parts in bags and then his broken truck. I asked him and asked if he could use some help and he said yes he doesn't even know where to begin. I told him to bring his truck over and all his parts and I got to work. After about 20 minutes we had him up and running. He told me he really appreciated the help and he owes me one, he then told me it would have taken him 4 hours to do what I did in 20 minutes. That made me feel like I actually learned something in all the years I have been racing. He waited for a battery to charge and then he went out and then I heard Bang. I see him come walking back to the pits and he did it again broken bulk head and shock tower. So Sarah gave him a hand this time as I was tyring to get my Truck ready for the race. Then in the first qualifier I heard it again Bang he hit the wall again. Came back to the pits front bulk head broken for a third time. Scotty had Sarah run to the Ernst lair to retrieve some secret parts. Bob then told me that the problem he was having was he would turn the wheel but the car would just go straight. That's when someone noticed the 2 little spacers that are on the servo were missing and the servo would not move the wheels when you turn the truck. After that was fixed he then went out and managed to finish 2 in the B-main of sportsman with a 10/4:05. Not bad for his first time racing. All I have to say is way to go Bob. Keep up the good work and have fun.

Long story short what a night of racing.