Vintage Trans Am - September 23, 2009

This week is sort of the oddball week as it finds itself squarely wedged between the Anniversary race and the first week of the Fall points series. As an incentive, Marc has set up a track that will be also used for the first two weeks of the points series, and it's a technical track with a little bit of everything thrown in. It's like the Suzuka of RC car track layouts with esses, hairpins, and we even have a sort of 130R...

This week's track layout

This wound up being a mostly uneventful night - there were a couple new faces in VTA, Curt and Matt K. and they both made the A main. James TQed, then Barry, Tim, myself, Curt, Mark & Matt K. In the main, James started at the very back of the pack, Barry got off to a bit of a jump with Tim right on his bumper. Me, well, I got punted by the new guy Curt in turn 2, taking me from third to a distant seventh. Not being terribly happy about that, I set off to re-take as many positions as I could - it was an eight minute race after all. I clawed past Matt K. & past Curt, who had his luck go the other way when we got together a couple laps later in the short straight between 12 & 13, and finally past Mark. It would be the last pass I make in the race, but the last couple minutes were intense as I was right behind Tim in third, pushing him on even though I was a lap down. We had clear track and James and Barry were duking it out up front, slowing them up all the while we closed in on them. Tim actually had Barry passed for second with about 35 seconds to go, and I was on Barry's bumper (still a lap down, but I found out after the race Barry didn't realize I was a lap down), and Barry took the fight back to Tim, passing him in turn 11 on the final lap, and they ran side by side through the final turns with Barry pipping out Tim for second spot by just about a car length!

Mad props to one of the new guys, Jeff K, for taking the time to video tape and post the video of the main for us!

http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showpost.php?p=2996484&postcount=1223

MSI Anniversary Race - Vintage Trans Am!

I was a bit late to the game at MSI, having opened in Fall of 2008 - I wasn't even back into RC until 4 months after, and I started racing at Larry's. It seems like it was so long ago now. I'm sure for Marc and his family and friends who help run MSI, the time has flown by - it's already been a year for him! Congrats, and thank all of you for all your hard work and love of the hobby!

Onto the big race though! It's a four day trophy race - your entry gets you a T-shirt, practice all day Thursday and Friday, three qualifiiers and practice on Saturday, a qualifier and a main on Sunday, and trophies for TQ, BQ, 1st-3rd in the A and 1st in the B in each class.

The track layout for the big race

I showed up Thursday, squatted a pit spot, and started wrenching for a bit and scrubbing in some new VTA tires. I was in the corner, and cound up with Dave next to me, Jeff next to him and John straight across from me. Jeff and I wound up spending a lot of time working setups and taking practice laps and working setups some more on Thursday and Friday. I switched strategies on my car setup, figuring I would give a test to James' setup ideas - tall & soft. By the end of Friday night, I had an easy 100 laps of testing on the new setup, and had tweaked it quite a bit - feeling very comfortable with the setup, and turning decent laps. I think I strung three consecutive 12.0's together, but was hitting a fast lap of 11.8 and one miracle 11.7.

On Saturday qualifying, Barry and Jame were both fastest, turning in 26 & 27 lap performances and looking racey. Mike showed us all how fast he was by managing a 25/5:14 and Jeff and I were both staring at fast 24 lappers. I knew that if we could crack 25 we would likely beat the 5:14 time, but it was not to happen by the end of Saturday night - I left for the evening sittingt in third, but on a 24 lap pace.

Sunday morning came to wrap up the long weekend. Trophies were all out on display, people were pretty happy to be there with the opportunity to improve in one final qualifier before the main. I'm not a morning person, so I wasn't truly peppy even though it was clsoing in on 11 am. Jeff, two pits down, always lively, regardless of morning, noon or night was my contrast this morning. We chatted about the qualifier, both eager to eclipse the 25 lap barrier - the question was not whether we would do it, but who would set the faster 25 lap run. Barry was fast, James was fast - both qualifying in a league unto their own on 27 laps. Jeff and I were both fast ourselves, cars flying round our little slice of carpet churning out a pair of 25 lappers - a 25/5:12 for me, a 25/5:10 for Jeff, bumping me down to fourth. It was actually great - we had both put in a bunch of time this weekend, and it showed. We had helped each other to get better, and it, too, showed. Mike D rounded out the qualifiers who made the A main.

It turns out that our main would be an 8 minute main, and that the starting order would be inverted, putting me starting up in second. I certainly can't complain about that, but I now had a challenge I wasn't sure I was happy about - Getting past Mike D. Mike is fast and tough to pass, I'm planning to just stick behind him and see what happens. The tone goes off and we have a stellar first lap, totally clean, until we get around to turn 9 when Mike D rolls his car while out in front! I'm not far behind him and sneak past his overturned car to come around and lead the first lap of the race! Usually, this is where I would psych myself out and board it, but I managed to lead the first 4 laps before the Barry-James train caught up to me. I bobbled in turn 9, just touching the inside board - I decide to just let them both by as it was inevitible, and resume my race in third. It turned out there was a little shenanigans up front involving James and Mike D, but Barry and James wound up having a fast & furious battle up front for the final five minutes of the race. I cruised home in third, two laps down from the leaders, and one lap up on Jeff in fourth place. Mike D wound up out of the race with car problems.

All in all a great, fun weekend event, and I hope to see it grow larger each and every year!

Vintage Trans Am - September 2nd

It's the final week of the points series, and I'm sitting in third place, behind James (who has a perfect score) and Kevin, who I am 10 points behind. I had theorized that if I were to TQ and win the last two weeks of the series I could take over second place, and I managed to do that last week - just one more time for the glory! :)

The track layout is essentially the same as last week - though I think the track gnomes changed out some pieces which slightly altered the flow of the track. VTA is pretty full tonight as there are three guys in the class who weren't in it last week : James (doh!), Mike D (who raced well in VTA in the last points series) and Tim (who brought his fully loaded TC3 off the shelf to join VTA). The class is packed - Most likely because MSI is having a huge anniversary race on September 17th-20th and VTA is one of the classes being run at it. Throw myself, Kevin, Bob and Matt in there and we had a pretty decent class for the night.

First round of qualifying, I run decent, but not perfect, and wind up on a 23 lap run, which slots me into the fourth grid position for the second qualifier.

The second qualifier is quite a bit better and I find myself besting my own best time on this layout, hitting a 24/5:03, which puts me in third behind James and Mike, just ahead of Tim and Kevin. We're all about a lap down to James, and I did NOT TQ, and a victory definitely looks to be a slim chance - but anything can happen! I try to do some math, and think that I need to finish ahead of Kevin, but no lower than third to jump ahead in the points - remind me not to become a theoretical mathematician! I'll spoil the ending - Third still put me 5 points behind Kevin, second would have tied him and I would have lost on tie-breakers. Looking back at it, I think I may have been farther behind him than 10 points, but because I had one zero, it was tough to compare the two scores against each other.

In the main - I get tangled up early, and have my head out of it for a few laps, but get on my horse and try catching Tim, who just seems to be getting faster as the main goes on don't have too much luck, and wind up finishing in fourth in the race, and third in the points series overall.

Vintage Trans Am - August 26th Recap

And the story goes - we're on the 7th week of the current points series. Dominant victor and undefeated VTA guru James can not improve his score, so he is no longer racing in our class! Late night Monday, early morning Tuesday, my IM dings and it's Mr. Big Head "Are you racing weds?". I'm thinking "duh?" but respond with the affirmative. DING. "It will be fun to see if you can TQ with me and Big K running in VTA today". WTF is he doing running VTA? Should be interesting as he's usually fast and has good gear to go with it! I marked it down as being odd that someone would come into VTA with only 2 weeks left in the points. Of course my mind wandered on the reasoning...

This week's track layout

We've got a new track layout this week, and it's challenging, but for the life of me I can't recall the last half of the track to draw it out - I've got pics though and will get the layout up this week. I managed to get there a bit early and had time to drive the layout a bit before qualifying began - I struggled a bit with hitting inside boards as most have a bit of a stretch of divider along the inside boards before the track opens back up.

In the first qualifier, I wasn't quite over that "hitting things" stage of learning the track. I was leading the qualifying early on, and had a bit of a gap, but I'd hit a corner here, pop the car up there, and generally just wasn't on yet. I was listening the the times and Willy was ahead of me on the track, but behind me in pace for most of the race. We managed to make it through five minutes with a 23/5:03.4 - Willy finished with a 23/5:03.7! After round one, I was TQ, but I knew that times could definitely be improved by either one of us. Kevin was close behind in third, then Bob, then Matt, and Jeff was out early with that same silly ballcup problem. I got on him about it after the race pointing out that he's dropped out of every race in the last two weeks because of it, and he did wind up changing it before the main.

Going into the second qualifier, I was fat and happy having made a run for the WC (no, not the water closet for you brits!) - the White Castle! Whether it was the calming effect of having eaten, or just how slippery those sliders made me, but the second qualifier was a breeze! I had half an eye on Willy as we get into the qualifier, and I watch him wreck pretty good mid-track and he drops a ways back. I'm on a 23/5:00 pace early on, and just keep driving well, and wound up improving my time to 24/5:08, which is good enough for TQ and 5 bonus points!

Lining up for the main is nice - It's the first time I've TQed all year in any class. Lurking out on the track is another, familiar red and black Camaro. James is putting in a guest appearance in the main! He's starting way at the back, well behind the last qualifier. The tone goes off, and it's a good start, and I'm running well for a few laps, when a bobble has me lose the lead to Kevin. I'm running right on his bumper and James is right on mine looking for any way past. I try to execute a pass on Kevin poorly - I still don't know what I was thinking, but I take him out. I wait up for hima nd I figure we're both going to be left behind, but James waits up too, and we resume our previous order for another couple laps. Kevin bobbles in turn 7, winding up turned around 180 degrees directly in my line - with nowhere to go, I drive right into him, not being slowed up too much, but just enough that James is able to squeak past. Kevin resumed pursuit of me, and I resumed pursuit of James, but nobody managed to catch their pursuee, and we finish in that order. Turns out James didn't count for the points, so I got 105 for the evening, but it still wasn't a win to me.

Next week is the final week - I told Kevin I had to TQ and win both of the last two weeks to take the second spot on the podium from him, and I'm 50% of the way there...

The Tigermoth flies and then flies the coop...

So, the other "alternative" car that I was looking at before settling on the Photon was the Tigermoth LCG V10. I liked the layout with everything straight down the middle like the Losi, and the laydown shocks were an interesting feature. I didn't get a real warm and fuzzy from their presence on rctech.net - I had asked if they had an electronic version of the manual available and got nothing but silence. I'm very happy with my choice, and think I would have regretted very much choosing the Tigermoth over the Photon.

Without further ado :




So Dave had brought it out for one night of testing - he had some problems with the car mostly related to fit and finish and having the "Oreo cookie" (carbon fiber) de-laminate on the steering bellcrank. Nothing too major or unfixable, but he couldn't get anyone from Tigermoth on the phone or to respond to his e-mails for a few days, and when they did finally respond the answer was "figure it out yourself", which really did not sit well with him - so he very politely let them know he would not be racing for them at this time and proceeded to send the cars back!

However - he did manage to marshal this night!

Nevermind that all the other cars are lined up like they would before a race even starts...

Vintage Trans Am - Early August Edition

It's been a couple weeks since I've updated, sorry folks! I was on vacation at Gen Con last week, and hadn't had time to post anything about the racing from August 5th before I left. Sadly my memory isn't as sharp on that night as it would have been two weeks ago, but what I do remember.

A - The track was unchanged from the previous week
B - My first qualifier was faster than my second
C - I qualified 2nd
D - Fast lap was again a 13.0 - no 12.9 for me :(
E - I missed 23 laps again
F - There were 7 VTA guys - all in one heat, and paces varied between 18 and 23 laps

However, in the main, I was running in second a ways back from James, but Kevin and I were racing close for second and ran together for a good three minutes with the gap staying between .7 and 1.6 seconds until with about 30 seconds to go, Kevin boarded it giving me the easy second place. It was the first time in a long time I can remember that I was racing that closely for position and didn't get a shaky hand. I finished with a time almost as good as my qualifying, and very much recall how I had avoided any major incidents even with seven guys out there running around. After the race, Matt told me how he felt like a ping-pong ball out there - he had his fastest laps of the night but finished a number of laps below his qualifying pace due to the number of incidents he got tangled up in. It sounded like my story for three months and it took a lot of changes to get me past that (new car, new radio, more practice)

Gen Con was awesome - as always! It's like an extended family that I only see one week each year, but we get a years worth of socializing in during that time! I did wish I was able to race that Wednesday, because when I got home and showed up at the track on Monday for practice, it felt like I hadn't been there in forever. Racing night I heard Jeff talking to Matt and he asked "Where's Joe been?" - apparently I was hiding behind Matt or a pillar or something as he was only two pit tables down from me ;)

This week's track layout

Oh - Monday practice - what a good day that was! While I was gone, the track had changed slightly, and I had thought it was the same track until I looked up last weeks layout. The first 6 turns were the same, but the last 5 were changed, and this made the track quite a bit faster. In the first couple lap out, I turn a 12.2. I played with the car over the course of a few hours, changing roll centers, camber links, and rear toe, and am still hitting 12.2's for a fast lap. The last thing I do is clean the front tires off as they were getting a bit of buildup, and reduce the negative camber by about .25 of a degree. On the five laps I turned after that, my last four were 12.3, 12.1, 12.0 and 11.8. I pulled the car off the track and packed up on that string of laps! :D

Wednesday came, and I felt really good about it thanks to my practice session on Monday. James had even told me that Marc had said I was running fast (rumor mill of speed? - w00t!). I checked my car for loose screws, loose CVA joints, loose spool cups and anything else that could go wrong, and found nothing. I had found out on Monday that the short side of my spool is completely rounded out - it's only through sheer screw tension that it's not slipping. So, after finding no gremlins lurking, I went out for the first qualifier without changing a thing. There were only five of us tonight in VTA, but it was a large turnout overall with two heats of 1/12 scale as a bunch of Grand Rapids guys showed up. I'm in the fourth qualifying spot, ahead of everyone but Jeff - well, rather, Jeffs car being driven by Will... James jumps out and is on a great pace, and I have a slight bobble as turn 2 has next to no grip and I'm battling with the car through there. Both Kevin and I are on a 24/5:08 pace , but I close up on him and he lets me by and I finish with a 24/5:03 - fast lap 12.0.

Second qualifier - same ritual of looking for any gremlins, and find nothing, which is such a nice thing! The grip had definitely come up since qualifier #1, and the car is noticeably more stuck through turn 2. A minute or two in, and I stuff it against the board at turn ten, but get my own way out, losing about 3 seconds, which puts me just a bit ahead of Kevin. A lap or two later, and I turn the car hard into turn 2, and find it rolling on me - Luckily right back onto its wheels, and only losing a couple seconds. Now I'm behind Kevin, and pull up on him and we run nose to tail for a bit, with me getting the advantage in some corners, and he in some others - we're turning 12.4's, which is slower than my pace. Kevin lets me by and says "I'd rather let you by than see us both wreck" - well, thank you Kevin :) I proceed to string out a 12.1, 12.0, 11.9, etc. and put quite a bit of distance on him. I finish with a 24/5:06 - slower than qualifier #1, but turn an 11.995 - it's still an 11, and James and I are the only one who dipped into the 11's all night. Without those two incidents that could have been a 25 lap run - 25 is a goal then!

It's time for the main, and we're the last race of the night. I think I'm finally in the habit of checking everything I need to on the car now - I still find nothing loose or missing, which is still a welcome thing. It's then I realize I haven't changed a spur or a pinion in almost a month - I'm still running 100/45, which was what I put on back in July! The order is James, Me, Kevin, Matt and Jeff (who didn't compete well in either qualifier because he has a bad ball cup on the front of his car - change that out man!), and when the tone goes off, James is gone from me, and I am gone from Kevin, which is fortunate as my car is a little loose around turns 3 and 7. The race is fairly uneventful, however I notice that every time I'm getting close to passing Matt, he wrecks sepctacularly. He wrecked once just after turn seven, landing on his lid, I was right behind him, and give him a tap as he's right in front of me, which slows me just a bit but also rights his car. Four minutes in, Marc announces that I'm up to a 25/5:12 pace! I turn a couple more laps, and am closing in on Matt, who slows and pulls over on the inside of turn 6. I pass him, and about to thank him when he floors it and spears me as I hit the apex of turn 7, not such a huge wreck, but it's a couple second delay. With only 20 seconds left, there's not much time to make up the lost time, and I wind up finishing with a 24/5:00.32. James won, but was almost a full lap up on me, finishing with a 25/5:01 and sweeping the VTA points series, garnering a perfect score TQing and winning each of the first six weeks. I congratulated him, and knew he didn't plan to run the last two weeks because there was no need, but I told him I would be happy to finish in second behind him the last two weeks as I am enjoying chasing him down. Everyone I had set out to race with and pass I have. There are a few guys who were fast in VTA that don't show anymore or race VTA - Mike D, John, and Greg come to mind. I'm hoping they all want to race VTA again come the fall season.

I've got some pictures of Dave and his Tigermoth to post soon - he was tearing up the track on foams last night in between qualifiers in his new car... And like the sasquatch, Dave Johnson marshaling is a difficult thing to photograph...

Futaba 3pk - Before and After!

Well, thanks to Matt I snagged a couple shots of the new radio after I did my cleanup and instilled a little love into it.

Here's the before :


And the After :


Gone is the franken-grip handle. Gone is the stock wheel and foam. Time-wise, it had 3:36 on it when I got it, and after finishing practice today, it's already at 5:30.

I do still need to work on the foam from the new wheel - it was rubbing when I pulled it out of the bag this morning.