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!

Happy New Year to everyone near and far! I hope 2012 will be a great. I have some great races coming up this year. 2wd buggy is a growing class a my home track and we are putting in a new separate 1/10th off-road track. Things are looking great for this upcoming year for Tamiya!

Since I've had a few weeks off from my dog training, I was happy to actually be able to participate in our Thursday night on-road series.  From the past Sunday, I made a body change from a lightweight Protoform Mazda Speed 6 to a regular weight Protoform LTC. It was definitely the right change. It seemed to smooth out the car in the corners and not pivot so much on the front end.  I was able to TQ and did my best run yet this season.  I ping ponged off a few walls in the main and the car felt like it had a slight tweak.  I have a little work to do for next week. I hope my 417 keeps getting better since big races are around the corner.

I started off my carpet season running two touring car classes. As usual I always participate in the RCGT spec class since it's a class I brought into our track.  It's definitely the biggest and most competitive class right now. Since it  can be a durability challenge which it has been the last month, I run my 415 which holds up pretty well in its fourth season!

I have also been running my 417 in rubber tire open class. Open class meaning 17.5T boosted or 13.5T non-boosted. I've been having some trouble with rear traction, but I would rather not go to running 28s since if I do attend Snowbirds this year I won't be running as soft of a tire.

I hope to finish up my 12th scale and my F1 car this weekend so I can start running both classes! Four classes on a race day will make it exciting! At least I know my RCGT car is very little maintenance other than charging the battery. I also know the F1 will be very easy too!

Well, I'm finally getting into the F1 class! I thought Snowbirds had an F1 class this year so I ordered one up! But after some research I believe they may not be offering the class this year, but this F104X1 won't go to waste.

I started to build it up yesterday and I can't believe how easy it goes together.  I do recommend that you have your electronics ready while you are build this car since installing the electronics are thru several steps in the build process.  I have if about 75% built, but I did not have any spare electronics with me at the track so I had to cut it short on the build.  

This car is great for any level of racer looking to build a kit! Pics coming soon!!

The winter season is coming up fast and I'm torn what to run for the indoor season. I love running touring and 1/12th pan, but the carpet off-road scene is drawing a ton of people.  A lot of people are getting 2wd buggies and 4wd buggies. I may run a little off-road, but definitely I know for sure I'm going to run touring! I have not been to many big, big races this year again due to not having the adequate supervision for the pup.  My husband is looking to travel to off-road races this season and it may be a good idea to go to carpet races for myself.  This will at least have someone at home to take care of the four legged kid!

So for off-road possibilities, 2wd or 4wd? I'm not sure which way to go. Our 2wd buggy look awesome as well as some of the new versions of the 4wd buggy.  I love seeing the buggy class coming back to racing! Reminds me of the good ol' days in racing!

The weather has started to finally to co-operate with us for September. This past weekend we had the Race of Champions at RCM.  The turnout was OK, but not as large as with some of our other trophy events. It was a two day race with three qualifiers on Saturday and three qualifiers on Sunday. The track had been changed up for this weekend so it took just one run for me to get used to the new layout.  I had some motor tuning issues the first two qualifiers. I came to find out the I had a leak in my fuel tank on my 801XT right in the seam.  This must have just happened with the last few weeks.  I think I may have damaged the motor from the air leak, but I didn't have time this past Sunday to do further investigation.  So I changed the tank and put in my old, old backup motor.  This motor runs OK, but I don't get the great run times like with my newer motor.  I used the third qualifier to tune in the engine. I ended up starting for the main in the sixth position.  Off the start of the 20 minute main, I worked my way up to fourth.  The two front runners crashed and I was up to second place.  I went into the corner a little too hot and flipped over first place.  As a good sportsman, I waited til the marshal flipped him back over and let him go.  By this time, we were back to third and fourth place.  First and second were running close and tangled up in the far left corner of the track giving me the opportunity to take over the lead position.  I was able to retain the lead for the win!!

Well, we were hit by Hurricane Irene pretty good.  The last few weeks at the track everyone was preparing for the 3rd annual Short Course Nationals.  Hurricane Irene took care of our race weekend.  I was given a rental ride from RC Driver magazine to participate in the event, but mother nature was sure to intervene! We got in one round of qualifiers and the rest of the weekend was a wash.  I ended up in the B-main in 2wd Open class. Not bad for only having a few weeks to get the truck ready for the race.

Unfortunately, I lost power on sunday both at home and at work. Power is back on in most places now and I'm back to my routine. So let's see how the weather plays out for Sunday to resume my nitro racing itch!

Well, we've been pretty lucky with the weather here for racing until this past Sunday. The skies finally opened up on us!  But, overall racing has been going well.  I can't express enough how much I love running my 801XT. At our annual BBQ blast, the 801XT was running great!  I had plenty of steering and the truck was fast! I ran consistent all day and qualified for the 2nd position on the grid.  I have a superstition about TQ. Usually the TQ doesn't win, so I was glad not to be in the pole position! Since entries were pretty heavy for the one day event, the main was only 20 minutes since the night was creeping up on us.  I held the lead for most of the main.  Towards the end of the race 2nd place crept up on me and it was a good race to the end! I ended up taking the win for Team Tamiya!

I finally got the weekend off from work and the pup to go racing!  The weather outlook was borderline, but we decided to make the trip up to Rome, NY for the Pro Series race anyways. The track was hard packed clay and I found that Pro-line Holeshots or AKA Gridirons were working best on the 801XT.  During practice, I was having a tough time getting the 801XT to turn thru a really tight section of the track.  I made several camber and wheelbase adjustments.  I rebuilt my shocks and modified the caps to be able to use shock bladder foams.  Practice got cut short do to a nasty thunderstorm that came thru so I wasn’t able to make and try any further changes to my suspension.

The qualifiers started early Saturday morning.  We only had a few passing showers to contend with.  The program was four qualifiers using qual points.  I qualified twelve overall. I really think that the tight center section was where I was losing time.  I know when we ran the last qualifier at night, the 801XT steered much better, but it was only due to the amount of traction that comes up at night there.

The start of the main went off well.  I was able to get to mid pack, but fell pack after a few mistakes.  The main was 45 minutes long and with the modification I did to the shock caps the suspension remained much more consistent thru out the main.  I finished in 10^th.  Not where I would have like to have been, but at least it was higher than my starting position!