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!
