Finally, the long awaited 416X kits have arrived at Tamiya USA.  I'm really excited to start running this kit.  The changes are subtle, but should make for a car that drives completely different than the 416WC.  My WC has always been competitive on outdoor tracks, and even on carpet with rubber tires.  However, with the opening of the high bite indoor asphalt track WCRCR, I just haven't been able to find the steering I need without sacrificing traction or driveability.

I still have a couple of practice/race days left in my WC kit, and I'm going to focus on doing as much suspension testing as I can so that I can apply the knowledge to the build of my X kit.

I'll be back soon to report on how the new car is doing!

 

Randy Caster

Well the long weekend for the KO race is over.  I spent full days at the WCRCR track from Thursday through Sunday.  Going into the race, my previous setup was far too aggressive for the new track layout, so Thursday and Friday were spent searching for a new setup.  By the last round of controlled practice on Saturday morning I landed on a setup that felt really good.

Qualifying on Saturday went fairly well.  With all clean runs in both my 13.5 and Mod classes, I was able to secure a 2'nd place start in the 13.5 main, and a mid pack start in Mod.  On Sunday, we started with our 4'th and final round of qualifying, and since I was already guaranteed starts in both A-Mains I made setup changes to my car to try and improve my starting position, unfortunately they only slowed me down.

For the Modified AAA mains, I was starting in 6'th position, went out for my practice laps and the car felt great.  Did a couple practice starts, the car went perfectly straight, so I went to the line.  At the tone, I hit the throttle and my car jerks left and smacks the wall.  Finally got it back in line but it was tweaked.  At that point I was last but worked up to a 5'th place finish.  2'nd main, I went out and wanted to make sure the car would go straight from a stop, so on my warm-up lap I did several stop and go's and the car went perfectly straight every time.  Went to the grid and at the tone hit the throttle and the car jerks left again and smacks the wall.  Same outcome, I think I was able to work up to 6'th or so after another start sending me to the back of the pack.  3'rd main I went to the 6'th place grid in my warm up, hit the throttle and the car goes left.  Did a few other stop and starts and the car goes perfectly straight anywhere besides that part of the grid.  I asked to be lined up outside of the box, but because it is a large race they require me to start in the box, so at the tone I baby the throttle hoping to end up anywhere besides dead last at that start.  Sure enough the car behind me smacks me at that start, and another dead last beginning.  I finished 8'th in that class.

For the 13.5 mains I was starting 2'nd.  Got off to a great start in the 1'st main, but on the straightaway I was extremely under powered for some reason.  I had both Keven Hebert and Rick Hohward knocking at my rear bumper as I drove the closest lines I possibly could trying to hold them behind me.  It wasn't long before they were able to sneak inside me at the end of the straight and move me back.  Unfortunately for myself one of the passes had contact and spun me out.  I worked back up in a 3 person battle for 3'rd place, but without enough motor to make a move on anyone, I ended up at the back of that train for a 5'th place finish in A1.  For A2 I switched to an LRP SPX ESC, never having run the ESC before, it just felt weird compared to the KO I am used to.  Got the gearing a bit off, and had the same power issues but less luck with people making their aggressive end of the straightaway passes and finished towards the back.  For A3, we got the gearing down really well and the power was there.  Barry Baker had already wrapped up the title by this point, so I started first on the grid.  First corner I bobbled and went wide allowing both Keven and Rick to pass on the inside, and the positions didn't change much after that, finished 3'rd right behind Keven.  I ended up 4'th overall in 13.5.

This race was a huge learning experience.  I really don't run spec classes all that often, and I found that in order to run them alongside modified, you really need 2 cars because of the different ESC's needed for each class.

I'd like to thank Barry Baker for all of his help the past weekend, I was using motors and batteries that he supplied me from Team Checkpoint.  The motors felt great, and once I got the right ESC in there for 13.5 they had all the speed needed.  Also, congrats Barry on your 13.5 and Mod wins, and welcome to the RCRevealed race team!

I can't wait for the next big race at WCRCR, the race was run on schedule the entire time with excellent announcing from Charlie Suangka and Jeremy Felles.  This is also the first race I've ever seen with paid turnmarshals, none of the racers had to turnmarshal a single time.  Even better than that was the effort that the marshals put into their job, any bobble and they were right there to help, I didn't see a single one of them watching the race and missing an opportunity to help, truly a great job!  Robert from KO and Danny from WCRCR really put on a top notch race, thanks for all your efforts, they made it a great weekend for everyone.

The KO Race is just around the corner at WCRC Raceway in La Mirada, CA.  The competition is going to be excellent at this event, so I decided to build a new car for the event.  This is the last large event that I will be running the 416WC, I will be switching over to the new 416X platform soon after this race.

I'm very excited to say that my 801x will be arriving tomorrow.  Touring car racing has slowed down a bit out here so I've decided to pick up 1/8 buggy as another racing class.  I have run the 801xt in the past and really enjoyed it, so I am looking forward to receiving my buggy.  I'll post pics as soon as I get it completed.

Well I have to appologize for not updating my blog in a while, but life has kept me busy lately!  I was checking the site out to see the new TRF goodies, and when I saw the date of my last blog entry I felt embarrased, lol.

 I've been racing and practicing at a few different tracks since my last blog, Pound It Raceway, West Coast R/C Raceway, Bending Cornerz, and the Tamiya USA track, so I've been getting my fill of different track conditions.  Through it all I have kept very competitive, and my car has stayed excellent for the most part, I haven't had to make too many setup changes to suit the different track surfaces.

 I am planning on heading down to San Diego next weekend for some more racing at Pound It Raceway, which is a high traction, smooth parking lot track that is home to some fast local drivers.

 This is somewhat a spur of the moment entry so I don't have a whole lot on my mind.  But as always, if anyone is seeking help with the TRF products I'm easy to find on RCTech with username Randy Caster and am always open to questions.

 Hope everyone is enjoying the 416WC as much as I am!

 Randy Caster

  When I started racing sedans years ago, all there was to run on nearby were parking lot tracks.  Now I live in an awesome location between a handful of permanent tracks, so it's rare that I run on parking lot tracks anymore.  When I heard about the Dash For Cash race at Pound It Raceway in San Diego, I thought it would be a great excuse to go back to the old school and run on a parking lot again.

  I am honestly used to running on pretty blown-out parking lots, bumpy and torn up with a major lack of traction.  When I first drove on the Pound It Raceway track, it was nothing like this.  It was a smooth track with consistent traction, and a fun, technical layout that was very challenging.

 I made a few minor changes to my 416WC, started with the Hupo '08 Reedy Race setup listed on thard.co.uk and went from there.  I added .5 mm front anti-dive, 3 mm under the inner ball stud on the rear camber link, put 550 wt shock oil in, and stood the shocks up on the rear shock tower to hole 5.  My car was dialed.

 The modified class was competitive, heads up qualifying that made for some really fun racing.  I was 2'nd after the first qualifier, and managed to TQ the 2'nd after starting on the back row.  In the main I got a good jump on the start and ended up lapping the field, and taking home the 1'st place cash prize!  The car was good, but I wish I had switched to 3.5 mm under the inner rear camber link ball stud to free the car up a little more and get through the tight sections a little quicker.

  On a completely separate note, I have run 3 times at WCRC now since they opened a week ago, and my 416WC is doing great there as well.  My setup is getting close, but not good enough to post online yet.  I can group about 10 laps together within about .3 seconds of each other, but still have yet to go out and have a crash-free run.  I need to find the trick to getting my car a little easier to drive, while still maintaining the fast lap times so that I can go out and have rollover-free runs on the curbed track. 

Yesterday was the first day of practice at the brand new West Coast R/C Raceway facility in La Mirada, CA.  With a huge high-bite clay offroad, and huge asphalt track with curbing, this is one of the top facilities in the world.  The construction crew was still hard at work for the better part of the day doing the finishing touches to the tracks, mounting LCD tv's on the walls, and stocking the hobby shop.  Even with all of that going on, the doors were still open to anyone who wanted to come by and run all day, at no charge.

 The asphalt track is the size of the Tamiya USA outdoor facility, with grip levels that I've only seen at Seattle Indoor Raceway, an awesome combination that will make for some awesome racing in all classes.

 The biggest struggle of the day was getting enough steering to get through the tight areas of the infield with a mod motor.  Really the only way I managed to accomplish this was to take out nearly all of my rear traction which made the car extremely hard to drive, but fast, and consistant if driven very easily.  I tried a ton of setup variations over my 12 hour practice day, but as always, I think of the best changes I should have made once I got home and looked the car over.

 I'm going to get the 2.5mm 416 chassis, which is thicker than the standard 416WC chassis, but more importantly moves the batteries back on the chassis.  The combination of these 2 things should result in less side bite which should increase cornerspeed, and less weight transfer to the front tires, which will result in more off-power steering though the tight areas on the track.

 With a few more days of practice I should have a really competitive setup.  I'll post a sheet as soon as I land a setup that is fast but easier to drive and can be driven a bit harder if needed.

After some time on the new carpet track, I am feeling like I finally have a clue.  Up until now, I would go to the IIC or Snowbirds, and basically hit the track without any kind of practice, and when something went wrong, I was clueless on how to make it right.  Now that I've been going to the OCRC carpet track and burning through packs I'm finding carpet really isn't as bad as I had thought.

 One thing that is worth trying for anyone running the 416WC kit would be picking up the old 416 upper deck pieces.  The WC deck allows for a lot more rear end flex and when the bite comes up, the car really has a hard time rotating through the tight corners.  The older 416 pieces stiffen the back end up, and help a lot with getting the car through the tighter turns.

 Some more good news for SoCal is that we are getting an indoor asphalt track in the next couple weeks as well.  The track is going to be 136' x 55' which is pretty huge for an indoor track.  The owner has also decided to go with curbing to help be a little more forgiving on the cars, and give the track a really professional look.

 With all the extra practice I'm going to be able to get now, '09 should be a good year for racing!

After years of waiting, there is finally a permanent carpet track nearby.  OCRC took the plunge and has rented out another warehouse space right next to their current off-road facility, put a doorway through the wall, and now they have a carpet track put together that can be completely sealed off from the dirt and dust that the off-road track creates.

 I was there to be one of the first people on the track with my 416WC.  I used the Jilles Groskamp rubber tire setup for the '09 DHI Cup (available at thard.co.uk) and from the first run on the track, my 416 was dialed!

I ended up making 2 switches from the original setup sheet.  First, I chose to run the Jaco Green compound tires.  These are a fairly soft compound, and since the track was brand new and had no groove at all, they seemed like the right choice.  Another popular tire is the Jaco Blue, quite a bit harder and also the contact patch of the tire is about 2mm narrower than the Green's I received.  Once the traction comes up enough to cause traction rolling, I will switch over to the Blue compound.  The other change I made is drilling a 1mm vent hole in the plastic shock cap.  I drilled the hole as close to the center of the cap as I could, and angled it at 45 degrees so that on the inside of the cap it is right in the center.  On an asphalt car, rebound is normally a good thing, but on carpet, an over-aggressive car will just traction roll, and taking rebound out is a necessity.  Without the vent hole, the air stays trapped inside the cap when the shock compresses, and then pushes the bladder back out.  With the vent hole, you are now only relying on the shape of the bladder itself to expand back out, which in turn creates a lot less rebound.

 I'm heading to the track again today for another full day of testing.  There are a lot of bumpy areas on the track that were upsetting my BMI 1/12 car, so I have put an entirely new setup on it to try out today, mainly a higher ride height and more droop to absorb the bumps better.  Hopefully today goes as well as the last, I have a few more things I want to try out on the 416 to see if I can get it even better than it already is.

  

Randy Caster

Tamiya USA - Team Orion 

I am back from the SoCal Reedy Race Warm-Up, held in Camarillo by the Road Runners Club.  The track was fairly large in size, but with a tight layout.  The track was flat for the most part, only had a couple of bumps in the back of the track.  

 This had to be one of the most challenging races I have ever been to, the competition was good, but what really made it interesting was that high winds blew dust onto the track and absolutely killed the traction.  It was a struggle to find grip for everyone, and racing was sloppy, but I was able to finish every round on day 1 in the top 3 qualifying positions.  Day 2, they blew the track off in the morning, and grip was significantly higher in my first practice run, however by qualifying, the wind and dust had taken over and the track was loose again.  I was able to run the fastest time for the 4'th qualifier, which was good enough to seat me 2'nd on the grid for the main.

 The start of the main was rough as everyone was basically sliding into the first corner, after it was sorted it out I ended up in the back of the pack.  My car was good, but I made the wrong tire choice for the main, and was only able to come back through the pack well enough to finish 3'rd.

 On a side note, there have been questions about using overdrive with the 416.  I tried it out (by using a 36 tooth front pulley from the 415) but was really unable to get it really dialed in because of the low traction conditions.  On this track it made the car extremely twitchy and loose.  I was able to dial it in fairly well by putting negative expo in my radio, and dialing in more rear traction on the car.  I will continue testing with it once I get onto a high grip track (where overdrive usually works best) and give an updated report of how it works in the near future. 

 

 Randy Caster

Tamiya USA - Team Orion