After a long weekend of 100+ degrees weather, another TCS Nationals was in the books.  As with every year, we saw great competition in all the classes, and this year especially in the trip to Japan class of GT-2 and Mini.  Congrats to the winners:  Lee, Timmy, Michael, and good luck in Japan.  Is it me or the winner of each year's TCS gets younger and younger??

TCS National was also my first ever F1 race and it was definitely a huge learning experience.  I had a great car during Friday practice and was easily able to put the car anywhere I wanted on the track and ran with competitive speeds as other F103 and F104 on the track.  However, came Saturday it seems like I had a completely different car.  I knew something was wrong with the car, but I just can't seem to find it.  I struggled through 3 rounds of dismal qualifying with a car that hooks going left and pushes going right.  Needless to say I was baffled all day through qualifying until after the final round I saw the problem that was causing this mysterious tweak in my car:  The capacitor that I installed for the 32T motor was hanging up on the F1 body thus allowing the T-plate to twist only to one side (which explained the hooking left pushing right problem).  Now I've checked the T-plate during the day along with other components of the car, but that was all done with the body off.  The problem only occurs with the body installed.  Quickly I took a pair of pliers to snip off the capacitor and took a few more laps before the track was closed.  Instantly the car felt more balanced (even with the slightly dirty tires).  Saturday night I tore down the entire car down to the nuts and bolts and rebuilt it over night in preparation for final round of qualifying on Sunday.  Lesson learned:  Make sure you check for tweaks on your F1 car with the body on at some point as well. Final round of qualifying Sunday the car was back to its old self like Friday practice, and I was able to put in a good mid-field pack time.  Lining up 8th on the grid with the likes of past Champion Rod Canare, TRF Driver Dave Jun is certainly intimidating, but I knew I had a car that was working much better.  I actually got off to a good start for the 8 minute main and found myself up a few positions after lap 1, but a brain fade mistake on lap 2 at turn 1 dropped me down to near last place (and unfortunately taking out past champion Mark Dawson in the process).  But it's a long race, and I knew I had a good car underneath me, I just need to drive it.

Top 5 from the Expert A-main goes into the F1 grudge match at the end of the day (where top 5 sportsman F1 go head to head with Top 5 expert F1).  Towards the end of the 8 minute main, I was in 6th place with one more place to go to make it to the grudge match.  With two laps to go I see the 5th place car in sight, and as he exit the sweeper, he spun loose and I was able to squeez by underneath.  On the final lap, the only thing I have to worry about was the hard charging past TCS GT-1 Champion Mark Dawson, who looks to be about a straight away and a half behind, so as long as I don't make a huge mistake, I should make the grudge match.  Crossing the line for the final time I was relieved when Fred Medel read off the top 5 finish and I squeezed in for the final 5th position.  The grudge match was definitely owned by the top Sportsman F1 driver Austin Brumbley (this kid is amazing!).  He destroyed the field putting all expert driver almost 1 lap down.  In fact, the top 5 from sportsman F1 can definitely give all the expert F1 guys a run for their money as there was definitely no shortage of talent in the sportsman class.  I made a good start in the grudge match, but before competition of lap 1 I made a big mistake before going into the esses and flip my F1.  The tires got dirty with the off-line dust and it took a few good laps in the groove to clean off the tires.  With a fast group like this, they pull away quickly.  I also realize I was no match for some of these veteran F1 racers and finished 8th overall in the grudge match.  All in all, not too shabby for my first F1 race, and just making into the grudge match with all the fast F1 guys felt like an achievement all in itself.

A big thank you to the Tamiya staff for yet another well ran and enjoyable TCS National. special thanks to Fred Medel for coming through with the much needed foam tire combination.  I'm definitely looking forward to the next F1 race!

Steve W.