Well, due to popular demand (popular demand=one person asking :) I have decided to put up an R/C journal of what I do with my R/C stuff. Hope you like it!
Friday, July 30, 1999, 3:08 PM
Well, my first entry. I just finished charging up 4 of my Sanyo SCRC1700 saddle packs for the race at Hobbytown tonight. Last week, we got rained out - but it doesn't look like that will happen
tonight. Hopefully my car will hook up (it's really a hit-or-miss thing sometimes) and I'll be able to do well...more after the race.
Saturday, July 31, 1999, 8:20 AM
A pretty good race last night. Roadcourse was first, so I didn't practice (though I prolly should have!). In the first race, I did about 2 or 3 laps. Then I took a mild jolt and the car started
making a heap of noise. Pulled it in, ran back to my pit, tightened up the pinion and the axle. But just when I finished, so did the race. Oh well...since I only had a few laps, I didn't even
change batteries or re-apply the sauce to the back tires. Next race, however, my 2 opponents were having problems! I got to go out and run 18 laps all by myself. In the main, the other two guys
got their cars back together, and ran like 20 laps, while I ran 18 again. 3rd place - an improvement over the 4th place rainout last week!
Saturday, August 7, 1999, 5:23 PM
A GREAT night last night, though it will be an expensive one. I'm in a points series right now, and the status going into it was 16, 16, some others, and then me with 10 points. First heat, I
was loose at the beginning. 17 laps, 5th of 5. Also ended up chewing up a spur gear. Second heat, it stuck better, I just couldn't drive it too well :) Also, my car started to glitch sorta bad at
one end of the track. 20 laps, 4th of 5. (Top three had 21, my younger brother included) So here comes the main. First row, is - surprise! - the two points leaders. Second row - inside is my
brother, who qualified 3rd. I'm oustide of him. Alone in row 3 is an RS4 with a Viper body driven by some 10 or 12 year old (prolly one of a very few kids not in novice that were younger than
me). Before the tone, however, I notice my car is noisier than before. Well, too late now to fix it. Tone goes off, the polesitter gets of REAL slow, and I manage to get around him. I sort of
notice the mini-pileup behind me, but miraculously, I not only avoid the pileup - I take the lead!!! I ran away with the early lead, but then 2nd place finally started driving (or I stopped :)
and came up and passed me. However, not even a lap later, he flips his car, but it comes to a dead stop when he tries to go. He's gone. (The polesitter was out immediately with a stripped spur
gear). So I'm left in first with a half-lap lead over my brother and almost a lap on the lone RS4. It was just practice from then on out. I won my first A-Main!! (At the expense of worn tires and
ANOTHER stripped spur.)
Friday, August 13 (!), 1999, 10:01 PM
I had a very good night tonight racing. During the week, I bought a Kimbrough 78 tooth spur (48p), Robinson Racing 17 tooth aluminum pinion, and AE drive rings, 1/8 diff balls (the cheap ones)
and silicone diff lube (6636, 'not for stealth trannies'). My differential is now smoother than it's EVER been! So, anyway, with very worn tires, I wasn't exactly expecting the best performance
(my car handles better with more ride height because of the rough parkinglot). I placed 3rd in the first qualifier with 18 laps, and 3rd in the second qualifier with 21 laps. Since it is Friday
the 13th, though, special rules apply to the main. Almost all classes (mine included) ran a main of the following format: The laps of the TQ'er, in our case, 23, are taken and 13 is added, for
36. The main is that many laps long. The only class different was 540 oval. They took the TQ, added half of it, then added 13. They had 38 laps, added 19, and then 13 more for a total of an
unprecedented 70 laps!! Amazingly, it was one of the few classes with nobody dropping out. Most other classes had dead batteries or busted cars. So anyway, I line up 3rd for the main. I get off
to a good start as usual, with my younger brother (4th) having problems. (3 laps later it was diagnosed as a detached motor lead. DNF) I wasted the RS4 Viper (who is a bad driver - he either runs
too wide or cuts the track, I'm sure whatever motor he has is too much) and started off on the first of 36 laps. Well, to make a long story short, the Viper eventually caught back up to me, but
his battery died and he never could drive well afterwards. However, there was an 8-minute time limit imposed on the race. We ended a mere 3 laps short of 36, and amazingly, after 8 minutes, I was
only one lap down (to a mod 4wd sedan!), 2nd place, still had traction on the tires, and still full of juice on the batteries (VERY good SCRC1700s on stock motors makes for long runtimes :). And
best of all, my spur is not really any worse for the wear! So now, I'm only 2 points down of winning the class. If I finish two places or more ahead of him, I will win the class outright. Of
course, since he is at worst a driver as good as I am, and at best a very good driver, it will take mechanical problems or a very ill-handling car to get him 2 or more spots behind me. Either
that, or my best-ever R/C drive. I also made it into the invitational race (though I may not be able to race, since it's on a Sunday), and luckily, there is actually a Direct Drive Roadcouse
class!! I no longer have to compete against mod 4wd sedans that weigh more than my car, only at most 1/10 pan cars!
Saturday, August 21, 1999, 10:41 AM
Last night was another good night of racing. The first heat was interesting to say the least - it had been sprinkling for the past hour and the track was VERY loose. Everyone was slipping and
sliding all over, but the track did eventually dry out. That, and one of my new foam tires took a huge chunk (which I had to rip off since it didn't come clean - though I was able to reglue it
with CA) during the race. I also swung my car into the pits once to tighten the diff a little. The winner - a BUGGY, which wasn't even set up completely for onroad - did 19 laps, and I was 5th
with 15 laps. Second heat came and I did better - my car stayed together and the track had grip. I got a 4th with 19 laps. First was the buggy again with 22 laps. Then the main came, and the
track had no signs that it even had been rained on! In fact, my car was gripping like crazy! However, I only managed a 4th in a close finish, thanks to a mid-race flip on the backstraight that
cost me at least one lap. First was the buggy again with 23 laps, second was the polesitter from August 7 with 22, third was the points leader (who took the class) with 21, and I was fourth with
21. Hey, I'll take a second in points!!! Now, to get that Paradox Pro... :)
Monday, August 30, 1999, 4:34 PM
OK, so I'm late. Well, so was my racing. Since it got rained out at Hobbytown Ahwatukee on Friday, I decided to try my luck at the Gilbert location. It was definitely a new experience. The track
there is larger, and roadcourse is actually POPULAR (2 sedan stock, 2 sedan mod, 1 direct drive heat). The track was somewhat dirty, but once it cleaned up (not until the mains though, even with
13 races!) it was good traction. Differential setup was key here for direct-drive - just a tick too stiff and you'll spin the tires off of the turns, spin out, and lose your traction compound
with a minute to go. Just a little too loose and it's slipping in a straight line. I ended up in 3rd in the main (half lap behind my brother) against an RC10L3 touring and a RC10L3. The regular
L3 fell out whining about our 12th scales (*whine* You guys made my battery fall out *whine*), but even though the guy in the L3T couldn't drive too well, his 36 degree motor opened up a can of
whoop-youknowwhat on our old Green Machine 2's. One time coming through the last turn (a very tight hairpin) he came back inside too far and ran into the other lane of traffic, where I was. He
ramped off my car and said 'Get out of my way!' I retorted with a simple 'Get on the right side of the track!' and he shut up. Oh well, I guess some Reedy Conquest motors are on order (7.50
apiece!!!!!!)...
Monday, September 6, 1999, 8:35 PM
Not much happened - I didn't race cause I was in La Jolla, California. BTW, my Conquests came Friday - can't wait to test them! However, about three hours ago, on the way back from La Jolla, the
4L60E overdrive automatic transmission in my mom's 1997 Suburban (44K miles) announced it's demise with a large puff of white smoke and a lot of vibrating. We limped it home and it's off to the
dealer tomorrow. Oh well...
Saturday, September 11, 1999, 9:11 AM
A so-so night of racing last night. I got out there a little late, and I had a lot to do. I had to take my new Conquest into the shop to have it wired up (I'm not that great with a soldering
iron, and it was free!) and that took a while. I came in late to the first heat (roadcourse was first off, but there were 2 heats of roadcourse!) and got only 8 laps with a poor handling car (no
tire sauce) and an early exit (not worth it!). However, the new motor is FAST. I bought a new 18 tooth pinion to use the power better. The second heat went better, and I made 15 laps. TQ was only
19 laps - the track was slow last night. And I think that for once the touring cars REALLY have an upper hand on the 12th scales. My friend, Matt, who just bought a 12L3 used, was also racing it,
and neither of us got more than 16 laps in a heat. The track drove like it was filthy and just never cleaned up. It turned out that the B-Main was composed of my LW, Matt's L3, the A-Main winning
buggy from August 21st (with foams on now), and some new guy driving a RC10DS. The DS took the main, the buggy got 2nd, Matt got 3rd with 14 laps, and I got 4th with a lost pinion (though I was
ahead of Matt at the time). Luckily, we swung back by the track later - and they had found it! Oh well, I know this new motor is powerful now, and I also finally got the Tekin BC112C that one of
my friends (who is out of RC at the time) is letting me borrow. 5 years old and it's STILL top of the line! Oh, and the Suburban still hasn't been in the shop...waiting for an extended
warranty
Saturday, September 26, 1999, 8:00 AM
OK, so I didn't have time to update this last week. Well, last week, I just ran another average night - at the expense of my FP-R2H micro reciever. It's finally given up the ghost. Looked at the
warranty - 'Futaba warrants this product for 180 days...warranty does not include units damaged in crash'. There were seven roadcourse cars, but since the last was a last-minute entry, we started
each heat with 7 racers. That's wild. Wrecks everywhere. Well, for the mains, the three of us 12th scales convinced Dennis to let us run our own main (called the B-Main for stock roadcourse, but
it was all 12th scales). Matt (the L3) ran off to an early lead, with me right behind him. Chris (my brother, in an LW) ran slow that race, only got a 18. Matt ∓mp; I diced around the track,
but he won by a lap (got in just before the buzzer) when he had about a half lap on me. He got 21, I got 20. For last night, I slapped on some new tires - handles like its on rails now! Ran 18's
in the qualifiers (TQ was 20) and made 2nd in the B-Main. (9 total stock roadcourse racers - there were 4 or 5 mods too). However, in the 2nd qualifier, my battery started to die! So I was barely
managing to hang on to 3rd with a TC dicing at my back (I was holding a better line, and catching him since he had to really slow down for the turns, but he'd BURN me on the straights). After the
qualifiers, I swapped spurs to a 72, and down to a 16 tooth pinion. I'm thinking that maybe the reason I blow through spurs is because I bottom out on the track, and even a 78 hangs out kinda
far. With the new tires, though, the rollout is a lot different than it was last week. (I ran it in practice with a 72/18, but the battery seemed to go soft early, and I don't want to risk
dumping...) Lined up on the front row for the main, took off, and was dicing with a TC for the lead. After about a minute, though, he crashed and screwed his car up. I just ran off and took the
win with 19 laps - only 1.1 seconds shy of getting 20.
Friday, October 1, 1999, 9:48 PM
Good night tonight. Two heats of roadcourse - mine was first with 3 racers, Matt's was 2nd with 4 racers. (Matt and I were the only 12th scales.) I really like the new track - a VERY tight
infield (perfect for handles-on-rails 12th scales!) that was too narrow for 2 touring cars to really get thru side-by-side (but just maybe enough for a TC and a 12th, or a pair of 12ths). My car
was handling great. Ran 20 laps heat one (Matt 19), 21 laps heat two (Matt 19 again). I was highest in B-Main (TQ was 23 laps), but finished 2nd - though only a second back. Matt was a few laps
down. Now, to go mount some tires...
Saturday, October 16, 1999, 4:11 PM
I have news. The new on-road track at Scottsdale R/C Speedway OWNS!!! I haven't raced on a track so good (or with AMB transponders!!! :) in years!!! They said over the phone that foams wouldn't
grip too well. I guess they must have meant TCs, though my handling wasn't exactly perfect either. It PUSHED. That's right, it PUSHED. 12th scale cars have a great natural tendency to be very
very loose unless the setup is just right. But on this freshly done, VERY smooth ashphalt racetrack, the rear just gripped and gripped - and my hard-compound fronts were trying to turn the car as
best they could. It's just too much for hards to do when the rear is quite literally GLUED to the track. I bet that on TCs, which have a natural tendency to push like a dog until set up right,
they push just straight on ahead. However, until the main, my luck wasn't the greatest. Before the first qualifier, I all of a sudden discovered my motor wouldn't run!!! Pulled the brushes, put
them back in - by this time the race was over - and then it worked!!! Must have been a hung brush...arg... Second one, my motor screws loosen and it disengages. Didn't get many laps in. In the
main, though, I turned 14 or 15 laps and took 3rd. I have to say it again - SRS Onroad OWNS!!
Monday, November 1, 1999, 6:05 PM
A somewhat somber note today...this weekend I was at The 500 at California Speedway. Ten laps into the race, Greg Moore was in the accident that took his life. He will be missed.
Monday, November 8, 1999, 9:24 PM
OK, so I'm late. Well, I mounted some new tires - MUCH bigger than what I've been using - and it hooks like MAD!!! Only problem is, for whatever reason, this week, my batteries didn't seem to
agree. Dumped twice - first qual and A main. However, in the second qualifier, I ran 21 laps for 2nd place. TQ was a VERY short 21 - 4:01. I had like a 4:15 or 4:20, but 3rd was only a fraction
of a second behind me (he was in a different qual heat). Oh well...this time, lots of repeaking :P
Saturday, November 13, 1999, 2:24 PM
I figured out why my batteries have been 'dumping' - my brushes are hanging. I guess an average of 4 runs/week since September 11 with comm drops takes its toll on soft copper brushes. I fixed
it with some super-stiff springs, but I need to go into the shop and buy new brushes, diff rings, and diff balls. My car is still hooking like mad, but the fronts are starting to rip up - the
rear has so much grip the car pushes (most of the time....up until it spins). But then again, I've got lots of fronts in the box...so anyway, first heat I ran a 21 (which would earn me 3rd in the
main). In that heat, I accidentally tapped a TC3 and spun him around. He got sorta pissed, but drove on... Second, however, my battery 'died' - or more accurately, my brushes hung - and I think I
got something like seven laps. I put on some ultra stiff brush springs and dropped a tooth on the pinion. The main came around (there were only 5 heats, and we were first!!) and I got off to a
pretty good start. Well, since the TCs are better out of the turns, they do good on the start of the backstraight, but by the time we get to the next turn, 12th scales are back with them. So, one
lap, coming onto the backstraight, the TC3 rearends me hard!!! Flipped me over!!!! Not even so much as a sorry...and he also rearended Matt, got hung up, and refused to get off the gas. Well,
next week, if he shows up, us 12th scales will have to show him how its done on the last Friday Night Race of the '90s at Ahwatukee...followed by a race on the 24th, and then nothing until
January...2000! Watch your back, TC drivers...there's another advantage to the wedge-shaped GTP body 12th scales (and I'm not talking aerodynamics here)...
Saturday, November 20, 1999, 7:39 AM
Well, before this race, I got new drive rings, diff balls, and those polarized Trinity brushes...they work! The track was recently 'repaved' - not completely, a relatively light coat, but it
makes a world of difference. Lots of grip, but it tends to eat tire sauce rather quickly. Again only 5 heats, this time we were last, and there were four cars - Matt, me, William (RS4 Sport) and
Brian (TC3, tho not the same as last week). Well, in the first heat, Matt broke, so I got third with an 18 (first was 20, second was 19). Second heat, I got a 17 with batteries going soft, but I
was on the same lap as 2nd. In the main, I got second with 19 I think. The car hooked up very well! One more race this wednesday and then no Ahwatukee races until January...
Thursday, December 23, 1999, 1:37 PM
Ok, so it's been over a month. Well, I haven't raced since November...but I did add a new pic of my car to the site, thanks to the new digital camera we got for Christmas (early)!!
Saturday, January 22, 2000, 9:04 AM
I know, it's been way too long, another month without updates. I finally started racing again last night. What a difference it was!!! The place was packed - two full roadcourse heats, five other
races, a lot of spectators - and two very cool and welcome things - an Indian Frybread stand and some Oscar's Catering!!! Free breadsticks and hot chocolate and lots of free food, along with the
Hobbytown Bucks to the winners. Anyway, the first heat was, well, a mess. Everyone was having car troubles or just driving droubles - I hadn't sauced my rear tires anywhere near enough, so even
half throttle and around we go, - Matt's car was handling weird (diagnosed later as a broken T-bar - out for the night) and everyone else in the race was also having problems. I squeaked out with
12 laps. Second heat was better. I was very fast, but made a few driving mistakes and came in third, with 18, two laps behind. So I qualified 2nd in the B-Main. There was a guy in a mod TC - a
Traxxas at that!!! - lined up first in the B-main. The others were all somewhat slower. Well, the two of us just took off, me taking the early lead then dicing it up in one of the best races I
have had in a long time, but dropping back as the traction on my rear tires wore off. 2nd in the B-Main, $4 for Hobbytown, and $5 for Oscars - not bad, not bad!!! Two weeks until the BIG race -
$3000 in prizes!!!! I'm going to have Matt paint me up a good body on my old Protoform P35 - silver on the sides, metallic green in the middle, with gold pinstriping. Going to Gilbert next week,
hopefully, to practice for that big race.
Saturday, January 29, 2000, 6:23 PM
I was at Gilbert today - the race was empty by Gilbert standards, but double Ahwatukee's size, around 15 races. Today was a so-so day;
my car didn't really hook up until the main (turns out at Gilbert, at least with my old tires, you need sauce on all four, full) but then
my reciever started spazzing out after a few nasty hits (crystals maybe?) At any rate, I need go get some paint and tape and get ready for
the big race next week...my car was FAST when it hooked up though!!
Saturday, February 5, 2000, 10:01 PM
I am so tired...I got up at 5:15 AM and left at 6:00 AM - still dark out - to go
to the Oval (and roadcourse :) Challenge. It was fun, though. Total number of prizes: About
180. Total number of participants: Somewhere between 205-225. So not everybody won a prize
(I won a pack of zip ties!!! Whopee!!!) but I'm sure almost everyone had fun. It was crystals;
switching to another set fixed the problem. The track today was a very tight and twisty track;
aside fron the lengthy-as-usual backstraight, you were hardly going straight. It was really just
the backstraight, a sweeper that ends in a hairpin, another hairpin that lets you out at about 45
degrees, leading into a right-left-right-left section of hairpins leading into another sweeper towards
the backstraight. To get the best grip I dialed out almost all of the toe-in, full steering, everything.
First heat I managed an 18, then a 15. I was 2nd for the B-main. When I started, I absolutely flew
off of the line and ended up in the lead by a good margin. I held it for most of the race, and my car
was handling flawlessly. The problem was, in the last two or three laps, my batteries started to go
soft. I ended up losing by a mere 8 seconds, and I'm pretty sure if I had some decent 2000s, I could have
held him off in a nail-biter. It came out to a 19/4.03 for the leader, and a 19/4.11 for me.
Saturday, February 26, 2000, 6:42 PM
I didn't race last week, so to make up for it, I raced twice this week! First to Ahwatukee. The roadcourse track was BRUTALLY tight!!!
I was the only pancar, there were 4 tourers, 3 of which were TC3s!! First heat, my car pushed like a dog and I ran 14, last of the running
cars. Second heat it wasn't pushing, but the speed just wasn't there, another 14 (tho there was one car behind me, but he never raced
roadcourse before :) Main was yet more of the same, 14 laps (BTW, fastest all night was 18) and I beat the guy who'd never raced before...
So now on to today. Went to Gilbert. First off, put in a new t-bar - old one was WAAY worn out. Car was very much dialed in after that, but
the speed was still just a little lower than normal. First heat was a 17. Running in Direct Drive/TC Mod - there were only 4 D-Ds.
Second heat my car was even more dialed after a little tweaking, but the battery seemed to go flat after just a few laps. About 8 laps into
the race, everybody on the stand began to notice that there was the smell of a motor going away. Since I wasn't doing too well and my
car seemed too slow for so early, I swung it in, flipped it over - ouch, hot motor - uh oh - looked at the endbell, it was smoking.
The bushing in the endbell ate something and melted the plastic around it. That motor's a goner - a shame, I just put some new silver brushes
in it before I raced at Ahwatukee. The brushes got roasted pretty bad too. Luckily, Matt, being the benevolent person that he is (he also
painted my body) had an extra motor, a Reedy 10-triple, and a spare 4-cell pack of 2000s, his practice pack. So I bolted those in and ran
the main for the first time as a 4-cell mod. Straightline speed was greatly improved and the car seemingly more stable, except for one thing.
It PUSHED. I guess without the extra two cells, not only is there less weight, but the center of gravity is shifted way back too. I don't know
what I ran - I had it geared a tad high (never really have run mod much) and dumped 20 sec to go. Time to go get some new polarized brushes and
get Conquest #2 soldered up!!!
Tuesday, March 14, 2000 (pi day!) 10:14 AM
OK, so I'm kinda late with this update. BTW, if you noticed on the front page, I added some ideas for a better spur gear... Anyway, went down
to Ahwatukee Friday night, got my brand new Conquest hooked up, popped it in the car...amazing how fast a brand new
stock motor is!! First heat I had 17 laps, not too far off the pace. Second heat, however, I was doing pretty good,
but then the motor screws came loose and the pinion completely disengaged. Out with a minute to go. Went back to the pits,
cleaned the car up a little, fixed (or so I thought) my motor screw problem, and lined up for the main. Good start, but about one
minute into it the car starts making some noise, a sort of grinding noise. As the sound gets louder, I noticed the car starting
to lose acceleration. I finished out the run, but it turned out that my motor screws had come loose AGAIN and the motor had only
partially disengaged this time, grinding each and every tooth in half on the spur. Oh well, there's always this week...hopefully
lots of racing since it's SPRING BREAK!!!!
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