Sunday March, 7th.

    Wow what a crazy, psycho, long, sad, happy, tired, all over the place week. That is what the Psycho Nitro blast turned out to be in 2010!

    To start off with my 801X buggy and 801Xt truggy came to play this weekend! On a track that I have always shown well but never finished well it was my time to try to shine.

   Qualifying went decent for the first two rounds. I was able to put top 3 runs in both vehicles whilst setting the fastest lap times. In my round 3's at 3am my luck wasn't there and I bowed out of both. Overall I qualified 3rd in both classes. A good starting position for the Hour long A-mains.

   Truggy main was up first and after warmups I decided to do a tire change. My choice to run AKA S Gridirons paid off and on the first lap I powered my way past Truhe and Drake to take the lead and never look back! My 801Xt was dialed and just floating over all the bumps! My 801Xt consistently laid down the fastest lap times and I ended up taking the win by about 30 seconds over the Drake.

   Buggy main was up last and by this time everyone was whooped. I had a good start and moved up to battle with Drake for the first 8 minutes. I took the lead before my first pitstop but Drake was on a longer pit strategy. It ended up working out for him as he extended a bit of a lead. I would stay right with him for the first 30 minutes or so but eventually with a few mistakes he pulled away a bit and with less pitstops I just couldn't catch up to him. My 801X laid down the fastest laptimes but it was only good enough for 2nd. Overall though after my last 2 weekends it felt good to get some decent finishes and have my Tamiya Vehicles working good!

   Next up Silver State!

March 1, 2010

    Heading back today from racing at the Icebreaker event at Indy R/C World just outside Dallas Texas. I'd like to give huge thanks to Carlton with R/C Pro and Steve with Indy R/C World for helping me to attend this event.

    I had a great time, it was an indoor track in an old bowling alley. The track was consistent the entire week and grooved up at the end adding traction as we went along.

   In qualifying my Tamiya vehicles were on Fire! I TQ'd both classes by good margins and broke the track records for lap times throughout the weekend.

   Unfortunately the mains were not to be mine. It started with the truggy main. Warmup went fine but when the tone went off I went around the first couple corners and the wheel and hub fell off. I must have messed up and not tightened the pin enough. When I went to fix it I got a new set screw and put it in and tightened it down. Not thinking that the other set-screw was still in there! So needless to say I got put down and 2 corners later the wheel came off again! I realized my mistake. Fixed it up and proceeded to get back on the track to put on a show for the people. My 801Xt was absolutely dialed on the track and once I got out there I was throwing down track record lap after lap. Eventually driving balls to the wall my tires went bald and I just started having fun and doing my best to at least show the true durability of my 801Xt and the power of my Alpha Plus engine and how hard a car can be pushed on a track! I hope that people appreciated the show! :-)

    Buggy main was up next....Before the race I went outside to bench tune my engine. I started to lower the idle and it turned out to be a mistake. My Buggy was handling pretty good all week. At the start of the tone I got to the first corner and I got on the brakes and flamed. Got back out there 1 lap down and went to first corner and flamed again. I told them to raise the idle a couple of hours and then viola. I ran the remaining 43 minutes without issue. I started the main 2 laps down and finished 1 1/2 laps down in 3rd place. All in all not bad all things considered. Just wish I could have put up the results my 801X deserved.

   Anyways this upcoming week I get another chance at redemption. Heading out to Atlanta for the Psycho Nitro Blast on Wednesday. Also as part of this race I get to participate in a World Record Long jump competition! We are shooting for over 200 ft this year! I have a semi-purpose built buggy to do this attempt with. I have huge thanks to give to Dennis Branecky, TT Motorsports, and Tex for all of there help in making this a possibility! I hope it goes well and can't wait to pilot a Buggy going 90+ mph! :-D

It's Monday morning February 15th and final preparations are underway for the true annual kickoff to the R/C Season. The Dirt Nitro Challenge is upon us! Rumors are circulating that this track is going to be technical. My local spies say there are something like 35 jumps on the track and there is no flat straight away! :-0 My personal hopes are that it is a little more 'race worthy' than last years rendition, which just had to many jumps to really be able to 'race'!

I will be in my garage all day today putting finishing touches on my Tamiya 801X and 80Xt. I've worked long hours on the rebuilding of them for the next 4 weeks of traveling and I'm confident that this is going to be a great week upcoming! :-D I've also had the pressure put on me by Neo-Buggy and Meen V.  Meen V just won the Worlds warmup with the Alpha Plus engines that I have begun to race this year. So now it is my turn to put up the results on American Soil to prove that not only can a top of the line engine be had for under $210, but also that it can win races all over the world! I am excited by the challenge and I know my results will be watched closely! I'm just ready to prove to everyone that Alpha Plus engines are the real deal and also that my Tamiya vehicles are ready to kick some serious butt in 2010! Check back all week for updates from the 2010 Dirt Nitro Challenge!

Tuesday Feb 16th,

     Today I arrived at the track.......This might be the most amazing track I have ever seen! ;-)

Thursday Feb 18th,

     Well Truggy qualifying is over and unfortunately I'm walking away a bit disappointed. The track, as amazing as it is, also has it's challenges. Namely the 12 pack or (dirty dozen as it is affectionately known) on the first lane.  I struggled all day in my 3 qualifiers with finding a good set-up to put me through the 12 pack smoother. I was able to get the set-up to feel better everywhere on the track round after round but still just haven't nailed that perfect set-up for the jumping section. So unfortunately i've qualified 16th or 4th in the B. But B4 I get too down I realize that this will be the best thing for me. Because It will allow me to get more comfortable on this track and get my timing down on the 12 pack and get me ready for the A-main after I bump up! So all is not lost and I am vowing to put my 801Xt in the top 5 at least when all is said and done. (It's fast enough right now on 90% of the track, just have to figure out that last 10%). Friday is Buggy qualifying. Looking forward to some better qualifying results!

Friday February 19th

     Buggy qualifying is in the books and regretfully results are much the same as the truck for me. I have just struggled on this track to get a good set-up and drive clean. It's a demanding track and I just haven't put forth my best performances. On a bright note my final round the car felt much better and I think I am going to dominate the B-mains. I have all the confidence in the world that the B-mains are going to make me that much stronger in the A-mains! :-D

Sunday February 20th (early A.M.)

     Well yesterday was Truggy mains. We fought off an onslaught of rain and Joey and his family did a great job getting the track back race-able again. I was in the B-main and hoping to make the bump into the A-main. Unfortunately it wasn't to be. I had a good start and took the lead a lap into the B-main but quickly relinquished it on a crash on an easy jump. I was in second just inches in front of third when in a corner I was taken out and fell back to fourth. I made a couple mistake laps through the Dirty dozen and soon found myself in 5th. The race was half over and it was do or die. I started running some cleaner laps and caught up to 4th and took back the position. Now my sights were set on 3rd. I was about 10 seconds back with 5 minutes to go. I started to lay down my most consistent laps of the race and with 1 minute to go was withing 10 feet of 2nd and 3rd. While 3rd was straddling a pipe and had the marshals attention I rolled over in the deep whoops with the marshal looking the other way. The window of opportunity closed just like that and my hopes were dashed. I had to settle for 4th and the disappointment that went along with it.  The thing is there were some positive things to take out of the weekend and we learned a lot more about the 801Xt and I feel like it's just going to help as the year progresses!

     Today is the buggy mains and again I'm qualified 6th in the b-main. Hopefully we are able to get to race. It rained hard last night and now the sun is coming out but there is a 30% chance of rain from 2pm - the rest of the evening so hopefully someone can do a rain dance and they are able to get the track ready and we can race!

Sunday PM:

     Just not my weekend...Went out for the B-main in buggy. Right off the start I had my pressure line break! I was basically out of contention right away. It was an unfortunate situation. I spent my remaining time helping out Live R/C and controlling camera two during the  Pro A-main. I'm ready for my next race now. Need some redemption! I'm off to Texas for the IceBreaker at Indy R/C on Thursday! Looking forward to it.

Thurs Jan 21 8:45am EST,

      Well 2010 is upon us and it looks like the stars are aligning for an awesome 2010 campaign!!

Over the off season I made a couple of changes to my support product line. I have switched to run Alpha Plus engines and Byrons Fuel! I am fully excited about both changes and feel they will benefit me greatly in my Tamiya Vehicles this 2010 season! On to the first big one of 2010:

I am currently in route to the track to take in some practice today. Friday will also be a full day of practice so I plan on getting my cars dialed in and ready to rock! I have the new AKA Wishbone tires in SS compound to try out this weekend and they look great! Competition should be very good this weekend with Tebo, King, Maifield, Robbers and more attending this event! This year Podium is what I will accept but winners circle is what I expect! I'm giving it my all this year! I expect the utmost best from myself and I'm striving to achieve it! Check back as the weekend progresses for updates on how things are going for me and my Tamiya 801 vehicles!

Saturday January 23rd, 10:15pm

Well Qualifications are over and the small goal of making the A-main was accomplished. I struggled out of the gate with many bobbles and crashes but with rocket round qualifications it only took one run! So in round three I was able to settle down and smooth out and get into the 4th qualification position in both classes. I'm still constantly trying new things with set-up hoping to find that EASY Button and I feel I'm getting close. Hoping to nail down the set-up for the main when it matters! Check back tomorrow to see how it all shakes down!

Sunday January 24th, 8:30pm

Darn! Darn! Darn! Well it wasn't the outcome I was hoping for. I worked hard on my set-up all weekend and got closer and closer as it went along just wasn't able to nail it down for this very technical tight track.  In the main my 801X and Xt were at their best they had been all weekend but it just wasn't enough this time around. I had trouble with a little chicane/ripple section and a little 'double' before the straight away.  I fought hard but just came up a bit short this time. In Buggy I battled with Cody King off and on for nearly the entire race. He ended up eeking me out for 4th place by .3 of a second.  In Truggy I was up to 3rd for a while and doing decent until I made a couple very costly mistakes in the wrong areas of the track. I fell back a bit and it all culminated with me loosing a serrated wheel nut with 8min to go! What are the odds! Anyways I learned a lot about my cars this weekend and about set-up! I'm excited to begin to apply it over the course of the 2010 season!

Time to get outside and do some big track racing! I'm excited to take my Tamiya 801 vehicles out to the Nitro Pit and lay it down! Check back next month for some much better results! :-)

-Lutzinator

Hello Tamiya Family!

    I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for  helping to make 2009 a great race year for me. It wasn’t without its challenges but I feel we made great strides and I know I am greatly looking forward to 2010!!

I want to thank Tamiya and everyone who is a part of Tamiya and or owns a Tamiya for making it all possible!!

The biggest racing accomplishments of the year were:

-Made every buggy A-main for the entire year

-1^st place in Truggy at Pro-Line Gas Championships

-2^nd in Truck and 3^rd in Buggy for entire R/C Pro International Championships

-Golden State Nitro Champion in both Buggy and Truggy

-3^rd in Truggy at  NitroCross world Championships

-3^rd in Buggy at NeoBuggy in England

-And Many Many more podiums!!

Again, Thank you Tamiya Family and all Tamiya and Lutzinator Supporters!

Merry Christmas to you all!!

-Lutzinator

December 5, 2009

Great race, Great cause, Tons of Fun!!

We headed out to Beaumont California for the Toys 4 Tots event. Entry fee required a toy that the Local Marines took to donate to Toys 4 Tots! I'm all for a great cause and all for a great race!

It was a one day event with 2 qualifiers and the mains. A-mains were 15 minutes as we had 160 entries for this one day event. The entrants had to brave the sub freezing (below 50* in so-cal terms) temperatures for much of the evening and some people were taking propane heaters onto the driver-stand to keep warm during their race! haha.

My day ended better than in started. My engine in my buggy didn't want to cooperate during the day and would change tune multiple times during a run. I think it was probably passing a piece of dirt or something as it would go rich then lean then rich again lap after lap. I wasn't able to put down a good qualifier and with getting no practice with my buggy I qualified in the C-main. We ran a 7 minute C in which I lapped the field for the win. In the 10 minute B-main I took the lead about 4 minutes in an put a half-lap on the field. So in bumping up to the A-main I secured an entire season of making Every A-main with my 801X Buggy! In the A-main i struggled at the start and was dead last for the first 3 minutes or so. I found my groove however and began making a charge moving all the way up to 3rd place with 2 minutes to go and holding on to the Final podium position.

In Truggy there were only enough for an A-main. I qualified 3rd and at the start of the main a half lap in caught a pipe and flipped over going to last. I quickly moved back up to 3rd but about 15 seconds behind the battle for the lead. I was able to hold steady and catch up gradually but there just wasn't enough time, so for the last 2 minutes of the race I had fun and did some drift and stunt jump action! I finished 3rd to round out the podium.

So all in all my presumed final Nitro event for 2009 went well and best of all we racers did a great thing for a great cause! I encourage everyone to donate to charity this Christmas season if you are able! There are many people who can use your help!

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to everyone!

-Lutzinator

11-8-09

Hey Yall, Just got back from Texas after attending the R/C Pro International Finals. I like this series in that you must qualify out of your division to attend the Finals and your Division points carry over to the finals. So there is purpose to all of the races that you do in the series!

I went in with a tie for 1st place points in Truggy and a tie for 3rd place points in Buggy. Lets run down how the weekend shook out.

Tamiya 801Xt - My truck was really good all weekend. The track got super blown out and many of the jump faces did as well. The track was a huge challenge for everyone but my Tamiya 801Xt was essentially making it look easy, basically leaving my driving as the catalyst as to weather or not I would walk away victorious. In Qualifying I started out good in the first round but made a couple mistakes, I ended up 2nd for the round. Drake ended up TQ in the first 3 rounds so he was guaranteed the overall TQ but he was running the 4th round so I knew he was going for a clean sweep. My 801Xt wasn't having any of that and I layed it down in rd 4 and took the last TQ and securing a 2nd place qualifying position.

The hour long main came and at the start I felt quick but I botched a corner on the 2nd lap and fell to 4th. I ended up taking a couple sections to cautiously for the next 15 minutes as I didn't want to hit the wrong part of the jump and crash. By that time however I was over 20 seconds behind and I knew I needed to pick it up. I did just that and took that section more agressively and it payed off. I began laying down the fastest lap times of the race with my 801Xt. By the last 5 minutes of the race I had narrowed down drakes lead to a mere 5 seconds and had him in my sights! It was on, but unfortunately I crashed. My battery started to dump and everything began to get slow and I made many mistakes in those  final wayning moments. I had to settle for 2nd place! The truck was amazing and I received a ton of comments as to how it was performing on the track! I know with a little more time on this truck that we may be able to make it unbeatable! It really is getting that good!

In Buggy qualifying with my 801X I struggled mightely. I must have had truggy finger all weekend as I just kept making mistakes as I overdrove the buggy. I constantly put down the fastest laps each round but I just couldn't keep it clean. I also took 2 terrible crashes in the final 2 qualifiers and only managed to qualify 2nd in the B.

I knew bumping up wasn't going to be an issue. It was a 30min B-main and I just took the lead quickly and checked out. The car was really working good and I believe I really needed that B-main just to show me how I needed to drive the Buggy on this rough demanding track surface! I got out to a 20 second lead with 10 minutes to go when the bottom of the shock came loose and I lost all the oil in my rear shock. (my bad, not enough loctite!) Anyways I had to slow up but I had a very nice cushion and although I lost my lead I held onto 2nd and got the bump into the A-main.

Starting in the back of this 15car A-main was a struggle. There were many cars to get around and the top 3 just checked out at the start. By the time I had moved up to 4th I was about 20 seconds behind the top 3. My engine was rich and I was struggling to make some of the jumps when I wanted to but I did my best to drive through it. I eventually moved up into 3rd and then caught up to Drake in 2nd. I would catch him and battle with him for a few laps then I would crash a bunch. I would real him in again and pass him and then crash a bunch again. The second you thought you had this track figured out you would find another pothole you didn't know was there and it would take you out! With about 5 minutes to go my battery did the same thing as in truck and things got slow so I had to settle for my 3rd position. My Buggy was so good and I know if I hadn't told my pit guy to richen it before the race that I would have been in much better shape to vie for the victory! Live and learn!

At the end of the night they also tallied up the points for the entire series. I was able to get podium with both vehicles. My 801Xt finishing in 2nd overall for the entire series and my 801X finishing in 3rd!

Overall the cars were handling great and I feel I had a really good very rough track set-up that I will share on the Tamiya site in the Set-up section!

Next up is the JBRL Finals where i will be fighting for the final podium position for the entire series!

Happy Tamiyaing Y'all!

Wednesday October 14, 2009

10K, 10Grand, However you say it, that's what up for grabs in the Invite class this weekend at the NitroCross World Championships!!! 5k per class for the winner of Invite Buggy and Invite Truggy! National Media outlets on scene for the Lucas Oil Truck race will hopefully come on over and get some good coverage of our awesome R/C Hobby!

We are currently in route to the Nitro Pit in Wittmann, AZ. Format for the Invite class is different than the other classes and will showcase some close racing action as we battle for the top cash purse! I'm going to do my best to put my Tamiya on the Winners Podium and prove to the World that Tamiya makes World class competition 1/8th scale vehicles!! Check back throughout the rest of the week and weekend to see how we progress at this Amazing Event!!

Saturday October 17, 2009

Well qualifying is over. The invite field has been narrowed down from 26 to 16. Those 16 drivers get the chance on Sunday to vie for that 5k top prize! I was able to get my Tamiya vehicles into that top 16! In Truggy my truck handled awesome, I've been fighting engine issues recently but for the most part my truck worked well and I made it to the A on the first try. I will be 7th on the grid to start the A-main! In prime position to take over that top spot! :-D

In Buggy I crashed to many times in our first qualifier and wasn't able to make it on my first attempt. Our second attempt however they took the top 3 in each race and I ran away with victory. My time and with how they are doing the format will put me in 11th on the starting grid. I had good luck in all of my qualifiers starting from the back of the pack so hopefully that luck will continue and I can get some good starts.

The Invite main will consist of 30 laps. Should be about 19-20 minutes long! Should be some fast fun and exciting action!

Sunday October 18, 2009

Wow! What an amazing event! Props go out to the entire Nitro Pit crew for an AMAZING Event! People and facilities like that are what it takes to get this hobby to that next level!

Well my weekend was a roller coaster ride. I had big ups and big downs but in the end I'm pretty satisfied with the results. My 801Xt came out of the gate strong and handled brilliantly. I made a mistake early and was in last for a brief second but quickly picked off driver after driver until I was in a battle for 3rd with Adam Drake. We battled for a while and I was able to get buy and hold on to the Podium 3rd position for the remainder of the race. The leaders CAvalieri and Tessman were gone and I wasn't able to catch them, but in a field of the best drivers on the planet I was excited to get the 801Xt on the podium and take home the 1k check!

Buggy was a bit of a different story. I cased a jump in warmup and my rear center driveshaft popped out! I scrambled to get it back in and we got to start the main on time but I chose the wrong tires and my car was loose. I ended up making many mistakes and the rear driveshaft ended up coming off again! The one screw I didn't check! But to make the A-main was great and I had a great time and look forward to my next race with the buggy for some revenge!!

I also made a TRF pumpkin that breathed fire! It was awesome! Check out the Buggy dash for cash video where they let me start the race with a breath of TRF Fire!!!

Well next we have a JBRL, followed by R/C Pro Finals in Texas! Going to do my best to defend my international titles!

-Lutzinator

Oct 4, 2009 -

   This past weekend headed out to Thunder Alley to attend the inagural Pro-Line Gas Champs. The turnout was a bit light but the competition was fierce and the new format proved to provide exciting racing action throughout qualifying and the mains!

Every Qualifier was heads up and even practice seated you for qualifying as to where you would start on the grid! It was exciting racing action every race and made it a good show for spectators throughout the weekend! I heard a rumor of the Gate start being reintroduced at this race next year! :-)

 As for how the Tamiya vehicles fared!? I had a decent weekend. My 801X Buggy started off strong but as the track got a little rough I started to struggle. Extreme temperature changes throughout the weekend kept me off balance and I never did gain full comfort. I was able to Qualify 4th for the main event and that's where I would finish as well. I felt my 801X buggy was pretty dialed at the very start of the main, but my diffs heated up and went to water it seemed by the end of the main making the car a handful. I was able to hold onto 4th behind Cavalieri, King, and Amezcua. All in all it wasn't to bad considering and I was also able to do 2 of my 10 min qualifiers without stopping for fuel!

As for the Tamiya 801XT, it fared a little better. It wanted it's weekend to shine and that's what it got. Throughout the weekend my 801Xt was throwing down the fastest laptimes and it was the only vehicle to break below the 31 second lap time with a 30.9 for the whole weekend! In the first round of qualifying I started 4th from the seeding from practice, but quickly took the lead and never looked back, taking a comanding victory. In round 2 I again pulled away to a nice lead when my rear shock screw broke! I ran 5 minutes with my rear shock not working and faught for the lead on the last 2 corners but spun it out. Relinquishing the lead to Cav and Bradley at the very end! So I would need to win the 3rd round for TQ. I tried different tires for rd. 3 but they weren't as good because I couldn't slide the car the way I wanted to. So I settled for 3rd in the round and 2nd qualifier behind Cavalieri overall. 

In the main event my 801Xt was on rails. For about the first 12 minutes Cavalieri and I put in an epic battle swapping positions and having a great race. Then he made a couple mistakes and I was gone! I already was doing 10 min pitstops to his 8 min so he would have to do one more stop than me. I started to stretch my lead over him and when he came in for his second stop, on exit he flamed out! This put me a lap ahead of him as he fell to 4th. My goal now was to lap the field. With about 4 minutes to go I came up on Amezcua and Wheeler as they were battling for 2nd. As I got close and the race was winding down I decided to just let them race for it. Cavalieri had also caught up to them after his flameout so it was going to be a 3 way battle for 2nd. I let Cavalieri go to try and catch them and I just cruised with my 801Xt behind as I watched the battle unfold in front of me! It was cool to have a front row seat to the battle whilst leading! :-D

So in the End my 801Xt shown bright and won the inagural Pro-Line Gas Champs with AKA Gridiron kicks! It was a fun event and I can't wait until next year!

Next up off to the Nitrocross World Championships where I will be veiing for my share of the $25,000 purse! Let's Go Tamiya Power!!

-Lutzinator

Saturday September 19, 2009

   Well just finished up with R/C Pro West Rd #3. The 3rd round didn't go quite as planned. I had engine gremlins all weekend hampering my results. I already had the division locked up in Truggy with my 801Xt after winning both the first two rounds so I was able to just work on set-ups and try to get stuff figured out for the next event. I had engine issues this day and thus took 3rd behind Cavalieri and King. 

   As for the Buggy main I was a bit more dissapointed. In rd #1 I got 8th after a premature exit. In Rd #2 I TQ'd and won so I just really needed a podium finish to possibly win the West Division. I held my own for the first 1/2 a lap after qualifying 4th. I made it to the back straight and the car just flamed out. Ended up a lap behind the field in 13th. I caught back up to 9th place when after my first pitstop it flamed out again nearly 3/4 of a lap later. So I had lost in total about 3 laps. I continued to trudge on knowing that I needed to improve upon my 8th place finish to secure at least a podium possibility in the series. My 801X got better and better as the race went on and I was passing people left and right. I ended up working my way up to 6th position by the end of the race. 

   So while my results were a bit dissapointing for this round of the R/C Pro Series I was able to take some positive out of it. Overall for the West Division I got:

3rd place Pro Buggy with my 801X

1st place Pro Truggy with my 801Xt

Next for this series is the R/C Pro Internationals Finals in early November. My finishes in my division mean that I will carry 3rd place points into the finals in Buggy and 1st place points with Truggy. Both of those totals will give me a very good shot at repeating as International Champion again this year! I'm excited to defend my titles and it seems like I will have a bit more competition to contend with this year! To them I say "Bring it on! My Tamiya's are waiting!"