I haven't raced since Toys for Tots race in Dec. due to the crazy holidays but I was glad to be back out at the track again racing my Tamiya 801x buggy. Practice didn't go so well for me at all. I had some motor issues before I even got on the track...like it wouldn't start. So that took me a while to figure out so I missed half of practice. I eventually got out there and learned the new layout pretty quick which was a giant relief. 

First heat I was pretty sure I was going to be mid pack because of my time off. After the first minute or so I was right I was in fourth or fifth but I hadn't crashed yet. So I kept just cruising around and making sure I hit all the back sides, scrubbed the correct jumps and hit my braking points. At minute four I took over the lead and took the victory to my surprise. Not crashing and keeping a smooth pace did it and got me the early TQ spot by 10 seconds!

Second heat I tried some different tires and the car didn't have the steering I had in the first heat. I had a good run in the books so I tried to push a little harder and made a couple of dumb mistakes in the process. I did learn a few things in one of the tricky sections that I could use for the main (more on that later). 

So I ended up staying in the TQ spot and starting on pole. At the tone I got a good start and got away from all the madness and got a few second lead built up. I led for a few laps and by this time the ruts were developing everywhere. I eventually made my first mistake and second place had caught me. I came in for my first pit now in third or four and had some work to do. I tried to make as little mistakes as possible in hopes that the front three guys would be fighting each other causing some mishaps. Three quarter way though the 30 minute main I found myself in second now and lapping faster than the first place car. I eventually caught him and made I think the best pass of my R/C life....and it was something that I learned in heat two and it worked like a charm. The only problem with my miracle pass is now I had way more speed coming into the next turn and I clipped a pipe and rolled over. So I got back at it and with one lap to go I caught first place again and followed until the last two turns and tried the hail marry and couldn't pull it off. 

I ended up only one second behind at the finish getting second overall. I was pretty happy with how the hole weekend panned out considering I hadn't touched my 801x for a month. Now I'm off to a great start for the year and the buggy gets better and better every time we go out together and I won't be taking that much time off again....until next Christmas.

Thanks for reading this I hope you enjoy it.....because my wife doesn't get as excited as I do...haha!

Brian Givens