My onroad season officially came to a close last weekend as the final leg of the North East Grand Slam series made its way to Fastcats. I ended up just running 13.5 rubber since the turnout for the race was rather disappointing and I didn't feel like rushing to get my 12th scale ready to race with only a handful of guys in the 10.5 12th scale class. I got my 416x working really well at the race and was definately in contention for the win. While on a 2nd or 3rd place run in my 3rd qualifier I had a mishap with a lap car which saw me end up grabbing 4th on the grid for the start of the mains. I wasn't too disappointed because I knew I would be able to put up a fight since my car had been very fast all weekend. From the sound of the tone, my John Force-like reaction times which I have become known for allowed me to leap frog Paul Ciccarello and pull right up behind Martin Crisp. Keven Hebert turned the fastest laps all weekend in his first 5 laps of the race so he had checked out on the field pretty quickly, which put the race on for 2nd. With Joe Glover added to the mix we had a 3 way battle on our hands for 2nd place! After some of the most exciting racing all weekend, I tried a bonzai pass in the last minute of the race to try and improve my position but to no avail, I ended up 4th. However, like our Canadian Ski-Cross athlete who choked at the Olympics this year while running in second said, "who cares if I didn't end up on the podium, I wanted Gold or nothing!"

Speaking of the Olympics, the Gold Medal game is tomorrow between Canada and the USA in men's hockey. If you love hockey, chances are you have cleared your busy Sunday schedule like I have to watch the game. If you don't care about hockey, this would be a great time to start caring because there is a lot of pride on the line for both countries. In my lifetime there has been no bigger rivalry in hockey then the one between Canada and the USA. The Russians like to think they have this rivalry with us but its just been us spanking them as of late. The Americans however, have put up some great competition for us, and there is nothing more exciting to watch then a competitive, hard fought game of hockey.

The upcoming offroad season is looking to be packed with races and is going to contain some great competition. Its hard to explain how much I'm looking forward to this coming offroad season. Last year was my first year running offroad and I found success rather quickly and I really enjoyed it a lot more then I initially thought I was going to! This year is going to be a lot different because now I have some experience, and I am expecting a lot more of myself. I was happy to win the Ontario division of the RC Pro Series (same as winning your state), but this year, with the finals Canadian Finals in Ontario, I want more. The ultimate goal would be to win every race I attend but in reality its just not that easy. This year I want to find myself on every podium and contending for every win, and get more local offroad guys to buy Tamiya products. Hopefully the weather cooperates a little more this year and we don't have as many races shortened due to bad weather!

GO CANADA GO!
Steve

If you have read any of my blogs, you would have probably read of a state-of-the-art facility we have here in Canada called Fastcats. Well, it seems as though this world class facility north of the boarder will be closing at the end of March. They have had a number of big name drivers attend their facility over the last 5 years, who have all been amazed by the facility for everything from its size, cleanliness, and electronic gizmos that made racing there so different from any other facility I have personally ever been too. The hard work the entire Fastcats family had put into the track should not go unnoticed by anyone in the r/c community. Take this chance to check out pictures on their website www.fastcats.ca and possibly even attend one of the last big onroad race(s) that will be held there Feb. 19-22 which is the final leg of the NorthEast Grand Slam series, or the Feb. 28 Tamiya Championship Series race.
The most unfortunate part of this facility in my opinion was defiantely its location. As hard as the entire family worked, it was a very difficult to overcome the handicap they had right from the start: location. The track is located in Oakville, which for those of you who don't know is about 45min west of Toronto, and about the same distance from Niagara on the opposite end. This made getting there during the week very difficult for those coming from the east end of Toronto - which is where a large portion of the r/c population is located here in Canada - and as a result few people would want to travel over an hour on a weeknight to get at the most 1hr of track time. The summers have also been a problem for Fastcats as most of the r/c racing in the summer is 1/8th scale offroad, which they had no control over.

All in all, I had many great memories at Fastcats. The track opened only a year after I started racing, so much of my "development" lets say has come at that track. Some of you have encountered some of Fastcats' creations without even knowing they came from that track! If you have been to the Snowbirds the last few years, or the R.O.A.R. carpet nats in Cleveland last year you would have noticed the "FastLaps" system. You scan a barcode on the bottom of your radio, and the computer will pull up all the laps your transponder has done in the last race, or even month if you care to know! It is pretty neat stuff!!

Fastcats will definately be missed by the many people who have walked through its doors! However they claim they won't be gone for long and have something lurking in the shadows once they are done their much deserved break!
Lastly, if any of you have any snow...please send it to Vancouver for the Olympics!!

Steve Bortolotti

It is no secret that onroad racing is changing a lot and the past few races I have attended have certainly shown me why onroad is dieing a slow death. I feel like todays average sportsman racer has grown tired of the constant speed control war and how certain companies seem to have such a huge gap over their competition when it comes to stock & superstock racing. From a high-level competitors stand point, it has really been the same since I started racing with having to always drop tons of money for the latest, greatest electronic equipment, but now it is much different. 3-4 years ago you were at least still able to compete if you didn't have the "speed control of the month." You may not have been the fastest down the straightaway, but you were usually able to bridge the gap by gearing a little lower for a little more punch in the infield, or something to that effect. Now the situation is much different: if you don't have a speed control that can allow for a timing increase or "turbo" as some have been calling it, you will find yourself way to far off the pace and unable to bridge the gap.
This became a reality for me this past weekend when I attended a leg of the Southwestern Ontario Series at Lou's Speedway in London, Ontario (about a 2h drive from Toronto). I normally race 13.5 rubber, and since I will be attending the Snowbirds in a couple weeks I decided that travelling to a different, high grip track would be great practice. Well the turnout for the 13.5 rubber class was dismal, so that class did not run. Instead the 17.5 rubber class was the big class out that way so I decided that since I had driven 2 hours, I wasn't about to run only my 12th scale and not run the car I intended to go practice with in the first place. So I borrowed a 17.5 and lets just say let the boredom begin! How that class is appealing to so many people I have no idea. Who wants to go out and buy $500+ touring cars to run that slow?!? But wait, if you buy the $400 speed control and run 17.5 its all of a sudden not so slow......and we have our answer!! I see the difference now that these speed controls are making and why people are becoming so frustrated with onroad racing. I ended up finishing second in the 17.5 rubber class even though I was loosing 4-6ft every lap on the straight away to nearly everyone. The only positive thing that came out of running 17.5 this past weekend was that it forced me to drive perfect because being so down on power it is impossible to make up for any mistakes.

On the 25th I will be leaving for the Snowbirds. That race will be very different as I will be running the much faster 13.5 class, and hopefully my LRP speedcontrol will arrive in time for that event so I am able to be competitive with it. I will also be running 10.5 12th scale at the Snowbirds to help fill the massive amounts of time between races! Hope to see some of you there!

Steve Bortolotti

This indoor season I have chosen to run the DB01-R. Although it isn't the top of the line 1/10th scale offering from Tamiya, I have always felt it is a very capable car and definately competitive for the style of indoor offroad racing we do in the winter here in Canada. What style is this you may ask? Its carpet offroad, similar to the way the Europeans do it in some places. Fastcats was originally an onroad racetrack but with the growing interest in offroad they felt the need to cater to both groups. The interest is really only from the guys who run 1/8th offroad to have something to do over the winter so building an entirely new track would not be profitable all year round. Well the result was a carpet that got laid overtop of the onroad track with jumps on it and WALLAAA!! we have our track! I added a picture for you to see what it looks like!



Anyway back to the DB01-R; I chose to run it for a number of reasons. The first being the price: most stores here in the Toronto area are selling the car for just over $300 which is very reasonable since it has about $200 worth of option parts included in the kit. Since most of the racers are just running 10th scale offroad to keep busy/sharp over the winter, they have no reason to go out and buy the really high-end Tamiya 511 at twice the price just to have fun when other manufacturers have vehicles that seem to be just as capable as the 511, around the same price point as the DB01-R. The second reason is that the average Joe wants to run what the "pros" are running. I mean this in the least arrogant way possible but at Fastcats, I am looked at as one of the "pros". I feel that it is WAY more likely for racers to go out and buy the AFFORDABLE car that the Factory Driver is using, rather than going out and purchasing a more expensive car and recieving less help/advice. The third and final reason I chose to run the DB01-R is because the balance of the car is more evenly distributed front-rear than the Tamiya 511. This means that for most racers it will drive and jump in a very neutral manner making it very easy to drive.
The only option parts I am using are the titanium screw kit (I don't have the patience to work with phillips head screws), and the aluminum rear uprights. I have run the car at 2 club races, and at Fastcats' first big trophy race of the season yesterday called the Fall Classic. With over 40 entries in the 4wd open class, and many of the top 8th scale drivers in Ontario in attendence, the competition was very intense. I definaetly turned some heads with the car yesterday at the Fall Classic by qualifying 2nd. However, I wasn't about to be denied a victory with this car - I had something to prove to a lot of people who doubted my decision to run this car. After quickly passing the TQ holder in the first corner, I never looked back and led wire-to-wire to claim victory in the first big race with the new DB01-R! Although my setup is likely useless on all dirt tracks, I have submitted it incase anyone finds themselves running on a carpet offroad track as it will definately be a great starting point!



On another note, I will be attending the Snowbirds in January, hopefully I will see some of you there!


Steve Bortolotti

This past weekend was the Can-Am RC Challenge which was held at the Seaway Mall just 10min away from Niagara Falls, and I must say this event was trully something special. I lost count as to how many people came up to me and commented that they had no idea people raced these "little cars" and that they found them to be pretty cool! Hobby stores had booths setup and moved a number of cars over the course of the 3 day event. The racing went well for the Tamiya Team as we had a 1,2 finish in the 10.5 rubber class! Martin Crisp took the win, and I finished second.
However as important as the race was for all those who competed, it didn't compare to the hundreds, if not thousands of specators that made their way past the track and stopped by to watch. The race was advirtised throughout the mall in the weeks prior, and also made its way onto a local radio station as well as a local news channel! Every race had people snapping pictures of their favourite cars as they went by, and it was awesome to hear the kids cheering and laughing everytime a car crashed.

Looking back at this event it has really made me notice all that is wrong with R/C racing:


NOBODY CAN SEE IT!!


What good is this hobby of ours if we can't bring more people into it? It would be great to see all big races held in high traffic areas because even if 3 people of lets say 1000 that see, join - thats a big deal! I'm not saying they have to be in a mall but even in the parking lot of a car dealership, off in the parking lot at a 1/1 scale racing event, ANYWHERE that people can walk by, take a look and just know that this type of racing exsists. The bonus of this event since it was held in the mall was that it became a much more family friendly event. I saw a number of wives, children, girlfriends and parents make the trip to watch the race because between races they could shop, walk around, and eat without technically ever leaving the track! It was also a great way to intoduce my girlfriend into the hobby aswell as this was the first race she came to watch! Come'on guys, wouldn't you rather your girlfriend's first impressions of the hobby be in a SHOPPING MALL?!? You're in a win-win situation really!

Next year's event will be bigger and better, and I really hope to see some more Tamiya drivers out!

Steve

Hey Guys,

 Now that the outdoor offroad season has come to an end for us Canadians, I would like to take this opportunity to invite anyone interested to our first big onroad race of the season! The Can-Am RC Challenge is held in the center-court of a shopping mall located just minutes from Niagara Falls (Canadian side of the boarder). This race is going to get tons of exposure not only for Tamiya, but also for RC racing in general in Southern Ontario as well as North-Eastern United States. It would be great to see some other Tamiya drivers out to this event! Martin Crisp and I will be there running in the 10.5 rubber class.

For more information on this event please visit www.canamrcchallenge.com

 For those of you wanting to save money, you can stay on the American side of Nigara Falls and just cross the boarder everyday. The mall is only 15minutes from the boarder!

Steve

This past weekend I headed to Legacy Hobby in Strathroy, Ontario which is a little over 2 hours west of Toronto for the 5th round of the GLORCS series. In great Canadian fashion, the weather was very unpredictable all weekend as we saw extremely hot temperatures for practice on Friday, rain off and on all day saturday, and sunny cool temperatures on Sunday for the main.

 Friday practice with my buggy went well, but found my buggy to be a little to tippy for the extremely rough/rutted track conditions we were faced with all weekend. I knew at this point my setup needed to be adjusted drastically, so I went from a y1 piston up front to a y2 still using 40wt shock oil with half rebound, and went from the red spring to the black. This didn't seem to help as everytime I went out the track seemed to be getting progressively worse. I ended up going to yellow springs all around and adjusted my driving for the changing conditions. Sliding the car the least bit through the corners was not an option; the only way I could go fast without crashing was to drive with a very "point and shoot" style. Qualifying on Saturday didn't go according to plan as I had some bad luck with both traffic and ruts on the track. I ended up qualifying in the middle of the B main in the over 50 car field. I wasn't too disappointed because I knew I could easily bump and still have a good finish in the main. When Sunday rolled around, the weather was very cold. My pit man, who also doubles up as my Dad got my Reedy 121VR motor tuned perfectly for the conditions and it was off to the B main without any morning practice. I knew that running the most conservative race possible would be a huge factor in making my car last 2 mains (20min B, 30min A) since the track was very rutted and hard on the buggys especially. I drove an easy race, taking little risks and ended up bumping up to the A Main. Once the A main started I knew it was time to put all I had learned in practice to work. I started 14th on the grid, and began picking my way through the field. When the first pit stops rolled through, I found myself sitting in 7th, and constantly making ground on the cars infront of me. I ran consistant, clean laps and found myself in a battle for 3rd nearing the 15min mark, but that was when I had a tire tear away from the wheel and was stuck limping my buggy home to a 5th place finish. Still not a bad finish after having to bump up from the B.

 My luck in the truggy class was much different throughout the weekend. With a very fast and competitive truggy field, qualifying was very exciting to watch, and I quickly established myself as a front runner for both the TQ and win. My truggy was the best its ever been, as I switched the front knuckles and c-hubs to the ones off the buggy. I had plenty of low-speed steering, and was very happy with the way my truck was running. Going into the final round of qualifying I was sitting 4th, but during the "rocket round" I made a few driver errors which caused me to fall to 6th on the grid. Again I wasn't disappointed because I knew I had one of the fastest trucks in the field - I turned the fastest lap in all but the final round of qualifying. During warm up for the A-Main I felt my truck was the best it had been all weekend, and after 2 false starts, it was off to the races. The first corner was disaster for me as I got tagged and found myself at the back of the pack (14th) after the first 2 corners. I wasn't going to let that spoil my day so I answered by clawing my way all the way back to 4th by the midpoint of the race, but at that point my tires had enough. My decision to run M3 Holeshots on the extremely rough and hard clay track was not the best as I had wore the right side tires to complete slicks by the 20min mark. Accompanied by the fact that my engine flamed out leaving the pits on the final stop of the race, I felt my chances at a podium were fading quickly. I got going again quickly and brought home 5th, just a lap off the leader.

 This past weekend was a great learning experience and made me deal with conditions I had never seen before. Definately turned some heads with the Tamiya cars this season as I see more and more of them popping up at the track!! Off to sunny California this week to help the Canadian TCS winners at the North American Finals. I will be running in the F1 class just for run with my Kimi Raikkonen inspired Ferrari, looking forward to seeing some of you there!

Steve

Last night I headed to Harcore RC Raceway again for some practice to try and prepare myself for the upcoming GLORCS Race, and the RC Pro Canadian National Championships in Edmonton. I only brought my buggy last night just so I could get a little more track time with it on one of the toughest tracks in Canada as I had only ran it on tracks that have fewer and smaller jumps than Harcore. From the get-go my buggy was awesome and very easy to drive, but I wanted to fool around with shock rebound last night. I tried the following all on the front because the sun went down before I got a chance to play with the rear shocks. Here is what I tried and my thoughts on how it worked:

 Associated 45wt oil, Y1 piston

-No Rebound: I drilled a hole in the shock cap to accomplish this. The buggy had a lot of steering and felt very lazy when transitioning from left to right turns. Lots of mid-corner steering and very "numb" off center.

-1/2 Rebound: With the hole still in the shock cap I put a red urethane bushing ontop of the bladder. This made getting 1/2 rebound a lot easier and quicker to accomplish when building the shocks. The buggy felt okay with this setup. I didn't seem to loose any steering, and as expected the car felt less lazy when transitioning, and less numb off center. Harcore is well maintained so there are very few rough sections in the track making this shock package the best for that track. Over the washboard section of the track the buggy felt very stable with this package aswell. The buggy also seemed to land the best with this setup. As soon as the tires hit the ground there was no drama if I immediately turned the wheel, it just landed and stuck.

-Full Rebound: I plugged the hole in the shock cap, and continued to use the red urethane bushing ontop of the bladder. If you don't know what I mean when I say red urethane bushing, it comes in most (if not all) TRF onroad kits. I use this because it seems to keep the rebound more consistant over time. However it does eventually flatten out so be sure to change it after every5 race days or so. This setup was average, and the easiest to drive. The buggy seemed to be the norm with this shock package. It did everything sufficient and will always be the safe bet as far as shock building goes.

On a side note, I'm really beginning to enjoy my first season of offroad racing. Coming from onroad, I didn't know what to expect aside from having to take home a dirty car every week. However I am having a lot more fun, and enjoying it a lot more than I ever expected. Competition in onroad in the Toronto area is very thin right now, which made racing with the same 2 other fast guys really boring as the years went on.  I am loving the new challenge of offroad, and going to races with 15 - 20+ heats, in the surrounding area is very refreshing. Wednesday practice nights have also been a blast because I get to try whatever I want and see the difference in affect from how a car would react in onroad to how my buggy reacts in offroad. Big races are great, and we have done a number of them so far this season with success but I am a firm believer that practice nights are as/if not more important than big race weekends. Getting to the track in low pressure situations just to try things and make notes has been a huge key in getting me comfortable in knowing what to do at big races when the track conditions change over the course of the weekend with limited track time to go out and try the car. My advice for new people and experienced drivers in both onroad and offroad has always been to go to the track and just practice. Learn something about the car, learn something about the setup and go drive it to see how it works. It will only make you a better driver in more diverse situations.

 Thanks for reading my blog,

Steve

Last night I headed to Hardcore R/C Raceway in Flamborough, Ontario for some practice with my 801x-t. I didn't bring the buggy because I am very happy with the way the buggy has been running, and feel like my truggy still needs more work to get it to where I feel it needs to be. Hardcore is probably one of the best, if not the best 1/8th offroad track in Canada, and is a fun place to go spend a Wednesday evening in a relaxed environment to try any setup you please.

 I have been trying to find more low speed, off power steering with the truggy but just haven't been able to obtain the amount that I would like. On power steering is great, off power steering at high speeds is great, but I am just lacking that ability to get the truck to turn in enough initially for me to be able to pick the throttle back up and steer out of the corner. Last night I played alot with roll centers and improved the car, but not in the way I was hoping. My car is really fast in all the high speed sections of the track and still jumps/lands with little drama. I have set my brake bias to about 70% in the rear and 30% in the front to help the car rotate under braking but that is of little use to me on low speed corners when I don't have enough speed entering the corner to warrant using the brakes. I need to do some major research as to what suspension parts are working at high speeds that give the car a perfect amount of steering at high speed, that are not working at lower speeds to give my truck such a push.

 I will check in again next week after I try some more things. Thanks for reading my blog.

 Steve

Hey everyone and welcome to my blog. I will write after each time I hit the track to fill everyone in on what I have been trying with my buggy and truggy, and the progress I have been making. I will write up race reports aswell from the major races I attend up here in Canada, and any that I may be attending in the U.S. 

 I will be in California at the end of August with the Canadian drivers that will be attending the TCS finals in Aliso Viejo, so I may get the chance to meet some of you then. Good luck racing!

Steve