I had a moment, so I decided to reach back into my memory and post a recap of my weekend at the 8th Annual Big Foot Off Road Xtravaganza. The 2009 installment of this race we had 149 entries. This year, in 2010, the entry count soared to 214. The race once again was taking place at Enid RC Raceway in Enid, Oklahoma.
The weekend started with a Friday practice. About all I can remember about it was no one saved us pit spots, due to the large entry amount. This worked in our favor, as we pitted at the very back of the track away from everyone. We could joke and play music back there without bothering anyone. I did have an unusual practice, in that I didn't just totally saw off all my cars. Qualifying started the next morning at 10am. Qualifying consisted of 4 rounds of qual points. I ran stock truck and mod 4wd. I normally run more classes but I was trying to not over do it and have a good time.
I will start with truck qualifying. In truck I broke q1. I do not recall what I broke, but I bet it was a rear hub. Sometimes the ball stud can pull out of the rear hubs real easily. Q2, I knew I was already behind the 8 ball and needed a solid finish. Well, I did not get that. I set my truck down for Q2 and the truck would not move. I discovered that the motor had locked up due to the rotor shattering in my 13.5. After the resort I was in the D qualifier and knew it was time to get it done if I was going to move up to a higher main. I went out an won my last two qualifiers to qualify 9th in the B.
In 4wd it is a bit of a shorter story. In 4wd I put down an ok run in Q1 and then broke a front arm in Q2. I got a case of the stupids and tried to quad a section when I should have just double doubled it. I do not recall what happened in Q3. By the time Q4 came around it was nearly 3am. I completely blew out. I qualified about 5th I think in the C.
The mains were the next day, and morning came way too early. In truck I finished 6th, but do not recall much else. The 4wd C main was my last race of the weekend. I battled for the lead and had the lead until I tanked it on the tabletop and 6 more cars piled in. In usual fashion, I was the last car picked up. I worked back to 3rd and tanked it on the last lap to get 4th. The car was great in the main, and I was told it looked like it could have easily been in the A at that point.
It was one of the funnest Big Foots I have been to. I only broke 1 part on the 4wd. I ran HB pink full fronts and pink beams. The tires wore great and got better as the weekend went on. I have been using the HB tires since October of last year and they have really impressed me. It was cool to be the fastest D4 there that weekend, but being in the C I guess that is not saying much. Since the Bigfoot, my driving has been a ton better. I feel like I have made a turn in how I approach races, and get a lot less worked up about things. I am also, much better at recovering from mistakes.
Next update will be about the Race Against Cancer that occurred last weekend in Dallas and talk of The Taylor Park RC Raceway in Yukon, Oklahoma.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
So much for that update huh?
It has been since August of last year that I have really even though about this blog. It really hit me today just how awful it looked. So, I switched themes and took down the old banner. I will try to work on a banner that is more pleasing, but no promises on when that will happen. I will give a small update of some of the last few months racing and projects. To start with I will give a recap of the 2009 Pizza Race at Enid R/C Speedway.
2009 Godfather's Winter Nationals - Enid, Oklahoma
I believe this is the third year that the Godfather's Winter Nationals has been held at Enid R/C Speedway. This is a yearly fall event that gets racers in the region primed for the winter indoor season. The race is sponsored by Godfather's Pizza and free pizza is provided to all racers. I ran Mod 4wd Buggy and qualified 8th in the A main. I just never had a good pace all day, and lucked into a 4th place finish. There were some sections of the track that I just could not get through consistently.
I also ran stock truck. I qualified 8th and finished 4th. I did not have a good handle on the truck, nor the right tires. I did not feel myself at all that weekend, and really did not have many of my close racing friends there with me. There were some cool people there, but it is always more fun when your good buds that understand you messed up jokes are there.
Grand Opening Night at Thunder Valley Raceway - Beebe, Arkansas
I had ran at Thunder Valley Raceway in Beebe, Arkansas previously on their huge outdoor track. Since last summer, they put in an indoor track. Heath joined me for the 5 hours trek to the track. I have made the trip alone a few times, and appreciated having someone join me. I love road trips, the topics of conversation to pass the time are always interesting. Also, just going deep into another state always lends some comedy along the way.
After I setup my pits I readied my RT5, and D4 I hit the track for some practice. I promptly started by breaking a front arm on the wheeler and a pivot plate on the RT5. The track was fun, with a large wall ride and a beautifully prepared triple. Qualifiers started and I broke another pivot plate on the truck and another front arm on the wheeler. Thank goodness for rocket round and 3 qualifiers.
We start round two and I am running second in stock truck. As I round the sweeper to head towards the stand I hear a snap. The drivers stand to the left of me collapses. I had one person in between me and busting tail. For the most part everyone was alright, but some had some scrapes. The video of the aftermath is below.
We had about an hour wait to repair the drivers stand. It was then decided to only run two rounds of qualifying. So, it become more important for me to put in good runs. We ran my truck race over and I ran good enough to qualify 6th in the A. 4wd I think I ran good enough for 8th. I really don't remember since it was last November.
First up was the truck main. I had a rough start and worked up to 4th. Ross and I went back and forth between 4th and 5th, and he ended up with the 4th position, and I in 5th.
The final main of the night was 4wd. I had an ok start and worked up to 4th place. On the double before the front straight I got too close to the wall, and found a small gap. I was stuck inside the wall for a few minutes. Not much else to say about that. See the videos below.
That pretty well gets me caught up with the end of 2009 stuff. The next post will be the 2010 Bigfoot at Enid recap and some other early 2010 stuff.
2009 Godfather's Winter Nationals - Enid, Oklahoma
I believe this is the third year that the Godfather's Winter Nationals has been held at Enid R/C Speedway. This is a yearly fall event that gets racers in the region primed for the winter indoor season. The race is sponsored by Godfather's Pizza and free pizza is provided to all racers. I ran Mod 4wd Buggy and qualified 8th in the A main. I just never had a good pace all day, and lucked into a 4th place finish. There were some sections of the track that I just could not get through consistently.
I also ran stock truck. I qualified 8th and finished 4th. I did not have a good handle on the truck, nor the right tires. I did not feel myself at all that weekend, and really did not have many of my close racing friends there with me. There were some cool people there, but it is always more fun when your good buds that understand you messed up jokes are there.
Grand Opening Night at Thunder Valley Raceway - Beebe, Arkansas
I had ran at Thunder Valley Raceway in Beebe, Arkansas previously on their huge outdoor track. Since last summer, they put in an indoor track. Heath joined me for the 5 hours trek to the track. I have made the trip alone a few times, and appreciated having someone join me. I love road trips, the topics of conversation to pass the time are always interesting. Also, just going deep into another state always lends some comedy along the way.
After I setup my pits I readied my RT5, and D4 I hit the track for some practice. I promptly started by breaking a front arm on the wheeler and a pivot plate on the RT5. The track was fun, with a large wall ride and a beautifully prepared triple. Qualifiers started and I broke another pivot plate on the truck and another front arm on the wheeler. Thank goodness for rocket round and 3 qualifiers.
We start round two and I am running second in stock truck. As I round the sweeper to head towards the stand I hear a snap. The drivers stand to the left of me collapses. I had one person in between me and busting tail. For the most part everyone was alright, but some had some scrapes. The video of the aftermath is below.
We had about an hour wait to repair the drivers stand. It was then decided to only run two rounds of qualifying. So, it become more important for me to put in good runs. We ran my truck race over and I ran good enough to qualify 6th in the A. 4wd I think I ran good enough for 8th. I really don't remember since it was last November.
First up was the truck main. I had a rough start and worked up to 4th. Ross and I went back and forth between 4th and 5th, and he ended up with the 4th position, and I in 5th.
The final main of the night was 4wd. I had an ok start and worked up to 4th place. On the double before the front straight I got too close to the wall, and found a small gap. I was stuck inside the wall for a few minutes. Not much else to say about that. See the videos below.
That pretty well gets me caught up with the end of 2009 stuff. The next post will be the 2010 Bigfoot at Enid recap and some other early 2010 stuff.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Updates on the way
I have not taken the time to really work on the look or layout of my blog. I spend entirely too much time already in front of screens, so when it comes time to work on it at home, it usually does not appeal to me. But, the fact it looks like butt makes me what to do something about it. So, hopefully in the next few weeks I can make some time.
Unrelated, ARCORR race 4 is this weekend. The weather looks clear but hot, but should not be too bad since we will be running another evening show.
I also hope to make a return to sedan racing this fall. I have a car ready and painted minus electronics. It is a moorespeed cyclone with a few extras. I think it will be a pretty solid ride. I have a surikarn edition cyclone back a few years ago, and liked it pretty well.
Unrelated, ARCORR race 4 is this weekend. The weather looks clear but hot, but should not be too bad since we will be running another evening show.
I also hope to make a return to sedan racing this fall. I have a car ready and painted minus electronics. It is a moorespeed cyclone with a few extras. I think it will be a pretty solid ride. I have a surikarn edition cyclone back a few years ago, and liked it pretty well.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
ARCORR Race 3, Thunder Valley
We have now hit the midpoint of the ARCORR 2009 campaign. Race 3 was finally held after over a month delay due to weather and scheduling. Oddly enough, it ended up being held on my birthday. Luckily, my sister was nice enough to come along for the trip this go around. This was good for more than just the company. She is a former sportsman racer and knows how to wrench on the car as well.
So the morning of the 18th, we hop in the crewcab and headed on down I40 about 8:30, well within my target departure time. The trip took about 5 hours or so not counting a stop for lunch. We took our break at a Ruby Tuesdays. The food was ok, but not worth what we spent on it. Never-the-less a break from driving was nice. Upon arrival in Beebe we got our room and headed to the track. It was about 3:30pm when we got there, and the races were to kickoff at 6pm. The track was pretty dry and slick in spots, but I knew not to go making changes. The track would be watered and alot better for the qualifiers. The track is mainly built for 8th scale and can be rough on 1/10th electrics if you get stupid. I broke a rear hub on the D4, which would be a theme continued throughout the evening. I broke a pivot plate on my truck, big surprise there. I have been plagued with that kind of breakage lately. The truck is fast but I cannot pust it as hard as I would like due to how fragile the pivot plates have been. If I can find a way the Losi will find a new home and a shiny new RT5 will replace it. I also broke a rear hub on the Rb5. My sister as I mentioned can still wrench, and repaired the RB5 for me. After a long delay between watering and the start of racing, we were ready to wheel.
Qualifying was ok for me, but not my best performance. In 2wd I had one decent run that I feel the scoring docked me a lap. About a minute into the race it started saying we were done. I started last in my heat, passed all the cars ahead of me and even caught a few of them again, yet It scored me an 8 lap run. I believe I got 9 laps and some of the corner marshalls supported me, but I had no hard proof. I did manage to break another hub as well, which my sister promptly repaired while I got the other cars ready.
Truck went a little better. I qualified 6th but should have been faster. I had one really good run that lap traffic ruined for me. That seems to be one of the few things you just cannot control. Jim once again let me borrow some Goosebumps for the truck. These worked alot better than the studs. The studs just did not seem to have enough sidebite for me.
4wd qualifying was nothing spectacular. I consistantly qualify near the front of the A main, however. I had one qualifier that I broke on the pace laps and could not get the car back together in time. I need to learn more about rear wings and how they change handling and flight characteristics. Before I destroyed my car I made a wing change, that made the car not jump worth a crap. I really needed to run better and get a chance at a TQ to make up some points, but this weekend it just was not in the cards.
Ah yes, now for the mains. By now it is about 12:30AM. Yup it is now Sunday. The track is located out in the country, and the bright lights that surround the track were attracting a ton of bugs. Along with large amounts of bugs, were the bats flying around eating them. During one of my mains I felt something on my back. It was rather large and moving! I have no proof it was a bat, but I did have a scene with Chris Farley in a cabin fighting off bats run through my head.
The 2wd main was up first. The car steered well, jumped well, but on the bottom end sucked. I have rebuilt shocks, diffs, everything you can imagine. I think I have narrowed my problems down to a bad sensor wire causing the motor to cog, or even a bad sensor in the motor itself. I am leaning towards the motor being the problem. The problems seem to happen when I swapped the 10.5 from my truck to my 2wd. I finished 6th, and was able to move from 10th in points to 8th. It was not the best run, but with a few good runs and some luck I can move back into the top 5 by the end of the season.
Truck was next up to bat. Keep in mind, my three mains are back to back to back. I had a decent start and moved up through traffic. I got as high as 2nd but could not keep up a quick enough pace to hold off 3rd. Shane was wheeling hard and I did not want to push the truck to much and break a pivot plate. I came home 3rd at the end of the main. This run helped me retain my 3rd in points and gain a few points over 4th place. I am really wanting to get an RT5, but it will not be out till after race 4. I am wondering if it smart to change trucks in the middle of the season. Time will tell I guess.
4wd is the final main of the evening. I took off from my 4th position but just did not have enough drive. Later inspection discovered my slipper was slipping really badly, so I was wasting power and just generating heat. On about lap 2 I broke a rear hub, but not all the way through. I decided to points race and see what I could salvage. for the remaining 5 minutes I drove with about 8 degree toe out on the left rear. I rolled all the jumps to not put any extra stress on it. I kept moving enough I was able to out last a few others that broke and finish 7th. After the races I found that the hub was only holding on by a few mm of material. I also had blown out a front shock and leaked out all the oil. I fell from 2nd in points to 3rd, but only 3 points out of 2nd. I now have a pair of aluminum hubs on the car, and hope that added durability will help.
Race 4 is August 8th, back at Thunder Valley. I hope to have a fix in place for my truck breakage issues, and a solution for my problems in 2wd buggy. The track has been shortened and tightened up to better accommodate 1/10th scale electric cars. The start time is also being moved up an hours to 5pm.
Here is one of the videos of 2wd Qualifying.
So the morning of the 18th, we hop in the crewcab and headed on down I40 about 8:30, well within my target departure time. The trip took about 5 hours or so not counting a stop for lunch. We took our break at a Ruby Tuesdays. The food was ok, but not worth what we spent on it. Never-the-less a break from driving was nice. Upon arrival in Beebe we got our room and headed to the track. It was about 3:30pm when we got there, and the races were to kickoff at 6pm. The track was pretty dry and slick in spots, but I knew not to go making changes. The track would be watered and alot better for the qualifiers. The track is mainly built for 8th scale and can be rough on 1/10th electrics if you get stupid. I broke a rear hub on the D4, which would be a theme continued throughout the evening. I broke a pivot plate on my truck, big surprise there. I have been plagued with that kind of breakage lately. The truck is fast but I cannot pust it as hard as I would like due to how fragile the pivot plates have been. If I can find a way the Losi will find a new home and a shiny new RT5 will replace it. I also broke a rear hub on the Rb5. My sister as I mentioned can still wrench, and repaired the RB5 for me. After a long delay between watering and the start of racing, we were ready to wheel.
Qualifying was ok for me, but not my best performance. In 2wd I had one decent run that I feel the scoring docked me a lap. About a minute into the race it started saying we were done. I started last in my heat, passed all the cars ahead of me and even caught a few of them again, yet It scored me an 8 lap run. I believe I got 9 laps and some of the corner marshalls supported me, but I had no hard proof. I did manage to break another hub as well, which my sister promptly repaired while I got the other cars ready.
Truck went a little better. I qualified 6th but should have been faster. I had one really good run that lap traffic ruined for me. That seems to be one of the few things you just cannot control. Jim once again let me borrow some Goosebumps for the truck. These worked alot better than the studs. The studs just did not seem to have enough sidebite for me.
4wd qualifying was nothing spectacular. I consistantly qualify near the front of the A main, however. I had one qualifier that I broke on the pace laps and could not get the car back together in time. I need to learn more about rear wings and how they change handling and flight characteristics. Before I destroyed my car I made a wing change, that made the car not jump worth a crap. I really needed to run better and get a chance at a TQ to make up some points, but this weekend it just was not in the cards.
Ah yes, now for the mains. By now it is about 12:30AM. Yup it is now Sunday. The track is located out in the country, and the bright lights that surround the track were attracting a ton of bugs. Along with large amounts of bugs, were the bats flying around eating them. During one of my mains I felt something on my back. It was rather large and moving! I have no proof it was a bat, but I did have a scene with Chris Farley in a cabin fighting off bats run through my head.
The 2wd main was up first. The car steered well, jumped well, but on the bottom end sucked. I have rebuilt shocks, diffs, everything you can imagine. I think I have narrowed my problems down to a bad sensor wire causing the motor to cog, or even a bad sensor in the motor itself. I am leaning towards the motor being the problem. The problems seem to happen when I swapped the 10.5 from my truck to my 2wd. I finished 6th, and was able to move from 10th in points to 8th. It was not the best run, but with a few good runs and some luck I can move back into the top 5 by the end of the season.
Truck was next up to bat. Keep in mind, my three mains are back to back to back. I had a decent start and moved up through traffic. I got as high as 2nd but could not keep up a quick enough pace to hold off 3rd. Shane was wheeling hard and I did not want to push the truck to much and break a pivot plate. I came home 3rd at the end of the main. This run helped me retain my 3rd in points and gain a few points over 4th place. I am really wanting to get an RT5, but it will not be out till after race 4. I am wondering if it smart to change trucks in the middle of the season. Time will tell I guess.
4wd is the final main of the evening. I took off from my 4th position but just did not have enough drive. Later inspection discovered my slipper was slipping really badly, so I was wasting power and just generating heat. On about lap 2 I broke a rear hub, but not all the way through. I decided to points race and see what I could salvage. for the remaining 5 minutes I drove with about 8 degree toe out on the left rear. I rolled all the jumps to not put any extra stress on it. I kept moving enough I was able to out last a few others that broke and finish 7th. After the races I found that the hub was only holding on by a few mm of material. I also had blown out a front shock and leaked out all the oil. I fell from 2nd in points to 3rd, but only 3 points out of 2nd. I now have a pair of aluminum hubs on the car, and hope that added durability will help.
Race 4 is August 8th, back at Thunder Valley. I hope to have a fix in place for my truck breakage issues, and a solution for my problems in 2wd buggy. The track has been shortened and tightened up to better accommodate 1/10th scale electric cars. The start time is also being moved up an hours to 5pm.
Here is one of the videos of 2wd Qualifying.
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