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.