Well, I wish I could write what Ryan Lutz wrote about his results. It was an amazing event. The event never lets you down to test your stamina, will power and dedication to competing in RC. As one of the people that help the event in certain aspects, I always look forward to it. Unfortunately, for each PNB event that has passed, I have always struggled since the very first one in 2008 . It takes an immense amount of concentration to do a qualifier at 1Am in morning after being up since 6AM then do a main at 9AM, not to mention the sights and sounds of all the action going on. I arrived with my 801x buggy, 801xt truggy and Slash. I ended up not running truggy due to time constraints. My buggy was rock solid all weekend. After the first heat I made a few adjustments and felt like I was driving just ok though. Not sure why but I was just feeling off. I ended up qualifying 8th in the D-main. I wasn't too happy about that, but I am an optimist. I was calm and assertive coming into the early morning (9am ish) D-main on Sunday. I just felt very mentally clear about my mission...as I was walking onto the stand my pit guy was signaling to me...something had gone wrong on the buggy during warmup on the box. A CVD pin come out...sigh. Well we ran back to the trailer and tried to fix it. I ran up on the driver's stand with 3 mins to go in the main, I wanted to at least do something. Never give up I say. As I made the first lap, spin spin spin. The fix didn't work. Walked off the stand totally disappointed, but not beaten. As a consolation prize, I did end up in the A main in 2WD Stock SCT and finished 7th. I look forward to warmer weather ahead and good spring racing. Good news is, I have a new track being built 15 minutes from my house versus the 1 hour now. Needless to say, I will be there every chance I get during the week to continue to test, tune and hone my skills. See you at the next race guys.

P.S. Very enjoyable to watch Lutz take a commanding lead in Pro Truggy...it was as if he was saying get out of my way, I am taking this thing! Loved every minute of it. I did get some video of the beginning, I will post it soon.

-Alex Pilson

84 racers attended this past Saturday's race which 100% of the proceeds went to a fellow racer whose wife has been diagnosed with Leukemia. It was not the best racing conditions, very wet and muddy.  But we were there to support our comrade and still make the best of it. It was so muddy, 4 minutes into a heat, your car would start to bog from the mud build-up inside the flywheel area, nevertheless my 801X buggy performed flawlessly. I missed TQ  by .484 of a sec! What?! LOL. The start of the A-main I got the hole shot, lead for a bit then dropped to 4th after tangling with some lapped cars, from then on out I charged back up to 2nd with the eye on the prize. The conditions were worsening and I felt like I had to *push* the car to get it to go because of the mud build-up..it was an adjustment we all had to make but it caused me to traction roll a few times. For the last 5 minutes of the race I battled for 2nd, in the end I ended up 3rd. This was my first race out because last weekend we got rained on then half the Pros left early including me. I am very proud of how the car handled in such difficult conditions. My second heat of qualifying was probably the best driving I had done since November. I am so looking forward to warmer weather and better track conditions. My next race is February 6th.

As the 2009 Season is behind us, I can only reflect where I came from and what I would like to do in 2010. The Tamiya 801 cars did really well for me. I have consistently been in the A-mains and hope to continue my stride towards finally winning one. Our first race is fast approaching here in my area. January 15th/16th...The Colonel's Winter Classic, RC Signup Information

with over 120 entries so far, it looks to be stacked with talent. I spent the majority of my December getting all my equipment ready for 2010. I can only hope that what I have learned on the Tamiya Team from 2009 with only propel me in 2010. Here's to a great 2010. I will report my results after this event is held.

regards,

Alex Pilson

After racing the buggy for 4 straight months, I finally replaced my front arms and steering pieces. Mainly to reduce the slop. Nothing has broke in that area accept a front bulkhead while running the lightened chassis at SIC in Alabama. (cased a jump several times and flexed in half)

I raced this past Sunday at a relaxed club race. It was time to really focus on my driving. I am still running 15/5/7. Been running that for the last 5 races. Now it is getting cooler, will try bumping down a bit to see how it goes. Maybe 10/5/7. I do feel the 15/5/7 has been the best overall setup for most tracks I have been to. I ended up finishing 2nd in Pro Buggy. I qualified 3rd, but had a rough start in the main...over-driving, so I talked myself into settling down and worked my way up through the pack with a couple of drivers having mechanical issues, I was able to stay in the running. The whole weekend, the car didn't break anything, it just ran flawlessly. I do think it has very aggressive turning capabilities and that sometimes gets me into trouble. But I am settling into the car quite nicely.

The next few weeks, going to start playing around with swaybars. Oh and i was running 40f/35r Losi oil.

Hello all... getting a late start here to my blog so, I am going to recap the last several weeks with my new 801X.

First off, let me say I am very excited to be a part of this company and team. When first opening my new kit box,  it is very nicely packaged. The instruction manual very easy to follow, especially with the actual size screw pics. I took 2 days to put it together as I wanted to take my time understanding every aspect of the car's parts. The plastics are amazing, almost too tight if there is a such a thing. Tolerances are tight.

1st time out with new build:

The Farm for the Summer Nitro Fest in Charlotte, NC. I arrived late Friday night to sneak in 2 tanks of fuel on the new buggy. Needless to say, running on that track is a challenge, combined with being dark, running the track backwards and not driving for several weeks. It was bit awkward trying to "feel" how the car felt. First impression was wow, turning is insane. Coming in and out of corners was effortless. I am not sure this was the best event to acclimate myself to the car. I struggled with navigating the track which was run in full scale mode and backwards from the standard configuration. I ended up in the B-main, but I wasn't surprised given the circumstances. I did feel confident going into the main and felt good through warm-up. Once the race started I felt confident about moving up through the field...well until my car started acting erratic. My steering was not right causing me to over run turns, etc..at first I thought i was having radio interference and I struggled for several laps even brought it into the pits they could see nothing wrong, again wacky laps and decided to pull it in for the day. Turned out my steering servo was blown. Having about 5 tanks on the car I was not satisfied with getting to know my car, so I looked forward to the next race at once of my home town tracks...

Following week, Brooks, GA VRP:

I replaced my faulty servo with the new Orion servos and was off to practice most of the day before the race which started at 5PM. I was giddy with excitement. I got to the track and met Jamey Powell there. I ran almost a half gallon! I was loving the car. Every time I came in from practice I could not wait to hit the track again, the car was so dialed. I was using the stock setup all around. Everything just started feeling very comfortable and predictable. I did have two weird mishaps: 1) my aluminum steering knuckle, the screw stripped on the bottom due to coming loose and I presume wiggling in there stripping the threads, not having a backup, I locktited it again and superglued it for the 30 min main. It held the whole time. 2) One of my rear shocks came apart near the last 10mins of the A-main. My summation is, the red lock that came with the kit did not hold as well as what I usually use or did not apply enough. I ended placing 3rd in that event. I really enjoyed that day with car.

<went on vacation for a week>

Coming back from vacation I was looking froward to getting back to my buggy for this past Saturday at the Dalton RC track in Dalton GA.

I decided to setup my buggy exactly as Ryan's nats setup. The car felt pretty decent though not completely sure. I went back to the trailer to use my buddy's Hudy setup tools and we re-measured my camber, and it was reading -5 just about all around...wow. So, my gauge was a quite a bit off. We reset to -2 for comparison on handling. I believe the -5 actually handled better on the track. We adjusted this after the 1st qual. After the 2nd qual rain was threatening and they decided to cut to the mains, when mains arrived they decided on 10 mins to try to get it in before the storm came. With the time short, we had no time to make changes to the car. I had a terrible start and decided to just use my time to drive the track for this upcoming weekend which is a two day series race. I think I ended up in 2nd to last or last, not sure. I had a real bad start and could never recover. Especially for a 10 min main. I look forward to this upcoming weekend. I believe I will try-4 camber this time around and see how it performs. I will also be trying to forward battery position next time out.

All in all I am VERY pleased with the drivability of this buggy, how durable it is and easy it is to setup. If you are reading this and made it this far, thanks for reading :)