Enough cannot be said about this prestigious race. I would compare it to the famous Nitro Challenge race taking place in Arizona in a couple of weeks. Having such an important race at the beginning of the year is a great way to kick off the season. 

When it comes 1/10th scale buggies, I can say I have only been driving these for 7 or 8 months; the Tamiya for only a couple months. So the expectations were not that high, I went to the race with the mindset to just do as best as I can and learn and much as I can. 

The 201 was pretty good to start with. Looking for a little bit more rear traction and numbing of the steering, I opted to run a softer spring set-up with slightly heavier oils up front than what I have been use to. These changes gave me the handling I was looking for. I ended up qualifying for the G main and bumping into the F main finishing fourth. I had an eureka moment during my last race. After being lapped by the leaders, mainly because my head was not in the game, I decided to push the car more than my normal driving style. Now I find myself hanging with the leaders and actually checking up in some spots of the track ensuring to not wreck the leaders. Lesson learned, something I will definitely be working on in the future. 

With only a couple of days with the 502 on the track I definitely didn't expect to do that well. I made similar changes to the 502 as I did the 201, softer springs and heavier oils up front. The car was good as I qualified for the G main. One of my qualifiers and the main were DNF's due to the steering rack breaking. There is an aluminum hop-up that is almost a necessity. 

Living in Florida is a huge advantage for those of us that race R/C. We race indoor and outdoor all year round. Our 2012 SuperCup season kicked off with a race @ my local indoor track, Bashers R/C. The SuperCup is the premium series in Florida, and it brings the best races in the state to compete on multiple tracks in the area. Bashers while on the smaller side, is one of the nicest tracks I have ever raced at. Brian Buckley puts a lot of effort into his facility and it shows.



The race weekend kicked off with a 300 lap SC enduro on Saturday night, and finished the last main at 8pm on Sunday. The race had 170+ entries, so races were run on a tight schedule.  I raced a couple of classes, but my focus was on Buggy Stock. Stock for the series this year, has followed ROAR rules, and as such it was the first time for me to run Blinky. My TRF 201 was great from the first lap. Since Bashers is my home off road track, my setup was close. The first qualifier, I had a decent run, the car was planted, almost too much so. As the race went on, I kept on bumping my fast lap . As the tone went off, I was sitting in TQ. We have a bunch of fast kids in the area, so I did not think it would hold. I know my car had at least another lap in it.. maybe two.

I started to wrench on the car, rebuilt my shocks with a little heavier shock oil, as I thought that was the best option for a little more speed. With so many entries, there was  lot of time between rounds, so there was no hectic wrenching. When I put the car on the track for the second qualifier, it seemed like my change was good. However I had only one warm up lap .. and then we started. I made it 3 laps and the idler gear failed one me.  I have not had too many issues with the gear , so I had not put the updated one in the tranny. I did not have enough laps on the car to determine if I wanted to swap the changes out.

It turns out that my first run stood as TQ. I started tearing apart the tranny, and decided to stick with the changes on the shocks. I ran the same type of tires for both of the heats, and decided to keep the HB Beams in the rear and Barcodes in the front. We had a long wait until the mains, and unfortunately the track lost some grip. When I put my car on the track in the main I knew I was in trouble.

The tone went off, and I got away for a decent lead. The cars behind me were fighting for position, and it let me get away. The car was so hard to drive though, and it was only a matter of time. I kept it together for 4 or 5 laps, and then finally succumbed to my own mistake, casing a double. I dropped down to 5th, and just kept on fighting the car for the rest of the 6 minutes. I finally got a handle of the changes, but it was too little too late... I ended up in 5th place, but cracked off the fast lap.

Looking forward to racing in the South Florida series that starts in March...  Lesson learned, probably should have played it a little more safe... The car was dialed, I dialed it out. I was the only racer running the TRF, this area is very Losi and Associated loyal. Every time I run the car, people notice how good it looks, and I think we are starting to get some more believers. Looking forward to building up the newest 201.

This weekend has definitely been not as good as I was hoping in touring car. I had signed up for "stock" 17.5 blinky class. This class had Jaco blue tires as the handout spec tire. My 417 had been handling great at home but had way to much traction here as the bite was high. I have ended up not doing so well and qualified in the E main. I am currently waiting on running my main because even though I didn't do well I think it is still important to run the main I qualified for.

On the other hand, my second class of "stock" 17.5 blinky 12th scale went really well. I qualified 16th and finished 2nd in the B main.  I was reeling the leader in for the A main bump position, but I was my own worst enemy and hit a board and fell way back.  There is always next year for this class and I will be sure to be ready to make the top nine!

Something that isn't spelled out in the manual for the 201 is the anti squat settings. The list below shows "J" parts which come in the 201 kit and are part of the plastic "J" parts tree. The 54XXX numbers are aluminum Hop Ups that can be purchased separately. 

Here is a short guide to help you tune for better performance.

J5 and 54243 (upside down)      2.0*
J5 and J1            (no Shim)              2.5*
J5 and J1            (1mm Shim)         3.0*  (kit stock)
J5 and J1            (2mm shims)       3.5*
etc.

J1 can be replaced with 54243
J5 can be replaced with 54242 (no shims needed as they have 1mm built in)

J5 can also be replaced with 54291 or 54292 for added toe in. (no shims needed as they also have 1mm built in)

January 26-29, 2012 West Coast R/C Raceway, La Mirada California

         One of the most prestigious r/c races is the Reedy Off Road Race of Champions held every year around the birthday of Mike Reedy as most all of you know is of Reedy Modifieds motor fame. This year held a special place in our hearts as Mike lost his long battle with Parkinson's and past late last year.  Brent Thielke from Associated Electrics now holds the daunting task of organizing this great event and what an event it was!

      For myself this year was not only a chance to gauge myself against some of the fastest 1/10 off road racers in the country, but also a time to reflect and remember who and how I got to where I am today in our industry. In 1986 I graduated high school and spent my summer racing all over southern California and met Mike while running at RCH (Radio Controlled Hobbies) in Costa Mesa. Later I again ran across Mike at Hot Trax where we had a long conversation about motors and it wasn't but a week later when I saw him next that he asked me to come to work for him. I spent the next year and a half working with Mike sharing some great times on and off of the track. 

     Fast forwarding to this past weekend seeing the short video that was made to commemorate Mike and the great drivers that he helped along the way was both moving and inspiring. After which I headed back to my pit for a little more reflection and amped myself up grabbing my 201 and headed out for the first call to practice. Having worked diligently on my 201 for the last couple of months I thought that I definitely had a fast, well handling enough car capable of winning. Now the driver has to do the rest. First practice my 201 was as good as it ever had been. Wanting a little less initial steering and more corner speed I opted to move the front upper shock mounts one hole out. The next practice was stellar! My 201 was doing everything I wanted it to. 

   Now switching to the 502x of which I have had little time with (again, which is my own fault) I set out and found that it was pretty good actually. I didn't feel ballistic but felt that it was fast yet still needed some changes. I made the shock spring and diff changes to it that I thought were needed and set out for the next practice. The 502 was really good! Much better than before. After practice was over I was sitting 21st quick in 2wd and 27th quick in 4wd. Which may sound funny but our last two practice sessions seeded us into our qualifiers.

   Day one of qualifying went really well. The only change I made to both cars was the addition of the new LMR "Electra" wing. After all four rounds of qualifying I was sitting 31st in 2wd and 37th in 4wd. That equates into 1st in the D and 7th in the D as they only took 8 in each main with two bumps. My first main was 2wd. At the tone I lead the way for the first lap and was relegated back to 2nd after going wide off of the straight. I held on to second til the end but not without a very close battle with Derek Furutani which was one of the best I have ever had racing r/c! (Thanks for not "motor homing" me Derek :)

   The very next main was 4wd. My 502 seemed very ill handling. I later found that I had a loose upper left king pin which ejected itself and broke the bearing carrier ending my race. Right after which was yet again my "C' main for 2wd. Starting from the back I had my work cut out for me and drove my way into a dog fight amongst the rest of the field. A lot of beating and banging went on allowing the top 3 to drive away. I settled in and did my best to pass some drivers that were seeing red at anyone trying to get by. I made my way up to sixth by the 7 minute mark and slowly reeled in 5th who was in a battle with 3rd and 4th. They all wrecked in the triple jump with roughly 2 minutes to go. I tried to take advantage of this but to my dismay the corner marshal ran into the triple as I rounded the berm and gassed it. I hit him square in the shoulder with the right front and broke the suspension arm off of my 201..... 

   My weekend overall was great. I was able to see some of my overseas friends that I hardly get to see and some of my local friends that I never see as well. My finishing results in my opinion were good for me given that the top 17 drivers were only 5 seconds apart and the top 50 were 17 seconds apart. Finishing with broken cars was not the ideal situation but none the less 9th in the "C" for 2wd out of 109 entries and 7th in the "D" for 4wd out of 90 entries at the Reedy Race of Champions were acceptable finishes.

Well, I'm back and getting ready for 2012. Building new cars for the new nitro season that kicks off this weekend with the Airtronics Winternationals. I've been flying the TRF flag since 09, and it just keeps getting better. I would like to thank Fred and David for the support. I will still be running AKA tires, KO Propo electronics and TKO bearings. New for this year is Fusion Motorsports, VP Powermaster and 818 Graphic Designs. R2 Paintworks will still be spraying my bodys and SpeedtechRC.com is still the best pro shop on the planet.

Looking forward to 2012, see you at the races.

   I have been racig off r0ad 5 weeks straight due to work schedule. Gave me time to work on my setup some more, the car works well, but to me it has a small push on power and slow rotation in the middle of the turn. Note: only in the stock class 17.5 non timing, in mod the car works fine I think because of the speed and momentum. I have tried all the the different set up angles and positions the car allows without extending the chassis. I believe that modifing the car structure and making  parts fit from other manufactures other then springs  is not in the best interest for  Tamiya and their customers. Small modifications using Tamiya parts are fine, because a customer may not buy a kit due to all the modification they see done and believe they need to do so the car works, in the other hand, small modifications using Tamiya parts can be seen as hop-ups or as replacement part when their original parts wear out. They do not need special tools or pay to get them done.
   Sorry, (off track for a minute) back to the CVD mod. I came to this conclusion  after looking at a B4 and noticing that their CVD had a retainer over the pin and no set screw. I know the TRF714 and TRF801 have the same design, on the 417 not having set screw in the CVD makes a big and noticeable difference in steering, with the set screw the car pushes going in chaters in the middle and pushes out the turn, with out the set screw chattering is eliminated car rotates free and no more push, I belive it has the same effect on the TRF201.
  You will need Tamiya parts  51444 TRF cross joint set, 54016 DB01 assembly universal shaft (rear), drill and a dremmil with a cutting wheel.





  Step 1:  Chuck the axle on the drill, spining it slowly, take the dremmil and scare a straight line across the pin holes of the axle as shown in the picture. Note: you do not need to cut, just scare the metal to hold the retainer.



  Step 2:   Test fit retainer, make sure it does not move left or right from the pin holes.



  Step 3:   Assemble the universal.



  Step 4:   Install on TRF 201 






    I have practiced and raced with this CVD five times, twice in mod and three times in stock with no problems. In stock my lap times improved by two tenths and 90% of my push is gone.

   
  

Ready for 2012 Reedy Race at West Coast RC in La Mirada, California. Looking forward to a great weekend of racing, meeting the Team, and watching the true pros go at it. I have been running the 201 for a few months and have found it much to my liking. The 502 has several practice days and works very well. Some tweaks here-and-there and the cars should do me well. 

1/21/12 TQ R/C Raceway Chino Calif.

    The week previous I decided to get my feet wet in a class that I haven't run in over 15 years; Formula 1. I took the plunge and ran my F104 at the ROAR Region 12 Indoor Champs and had a blast with it and wanted to race it again soon.

    This past Saturday I had that very opportunity and decided to run against Southern California's best drivers in this class at the UF1 series. UF1 is the brain-child of local racer Charles Lightfoot who has a passion for R/C and the realism that this class brings. So why not put the two together and create a similar format as to the 1:1 F1 cars which goes like this.

    There is one class and the rules are simple. Any F1 kit with F1 rubber tires, 21.5 motor on 2S lipo, "blinky" (no turbo or ramp timing) esc and make it look as real as possible either with replica graphics or your own. The format is set into heats of 5-6 drivers for 2 minutes. Within those 2 minutes you run the best single lap you can to seed you in the "mains" or groups with the same speed of driver. Then each group runs three, 10minute races. Each ten minute race there is 2 mandatory pit stops. One in the first 5 minutes and one in the last 5 minutes. Each pit stop is on a timer for 8 seconds. There is a "pit marshal" that runs the timer and puts a sticker on your car showing that you made your stop an when your timer is done he releases you out.

    What makes this format unique is that even if you ended up in a "slower" group for your 3 "mains" you can still win the over all by running the fastest time with the most laps just like in conventional "rocket round" qualifying. It's a nail biter right down to the last main to see who will win the over all for the day. So with that explained lets report.

     I started out the day with the same set up that I had from the Regionals.  Practice proved that I was roughly .6 avg slower than the fast guys. During practice I heard "12.9 & 13.0" where I was running 13.7 and my hero lap was a 13.5. Changes needed to be made. The new layout was a bit more technical than the Regionals and my F104 just wouldn't transfer through the chicane nor would it stay rotating when I got on the throttle. My first change was to loosen the pod so I dug into my off road pit box for some of our (Track Star RC's) silicone orings for the SC10 4x4. This along with changing the side damper to 375cst fluid made the car transfer through the chicane. My next challenge was to get the car to stay rotated under throttle. For this I changed the center shock spring from red to yellow. This was a major improvement! My lap times were now down in the 12.8 range. 

    We set out for qualifying and I ended up starting P4 in Group A for the mains. My rivals had sped up as well. The P1 car had posted a 12.4!! I again have to find .4 seconds. The practice between qualifying and the mains was a test and tune session. I tried different saucing techniques, battery placement, radio settings, ride height etc What I ended up doing was taking camber out (going from 2 to 1 degree) and added more physical steering back into the car with a little more sauce on the fronts and more dual rate on the radio. I found .2 seconds here.

   The mains started and were pretty straight forward. I ran the best I could making a few mistakes in Main 1. I ran a flawless run in Main 2 and made one mistake in Main 3 trying to get past a back marker that wouldn't move over even under direction from the race director. :-/ My Main #2 run was good enough to secure me a 3rd position on the podium. These guys are fast at the UF1 series. With only a couple of rounds more to go it will be interesting to see how I come out in points after missing the first 4 rounds. Stay tuned for more!