“If someone has those four things — work ethic, taste, integrity, and curiosity — I believe that you can learn anything in the world.” – Matt Mullenweg
I think it is appropriate I start my first blog post out with one of my favorite quotes which happens to be from WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg. I am very passionate about racing. The sport has been a huge part of my life since my existence. Over the last couple years I have renewed my passion for RC racing and am loving every minute of it. I would love for the hobby to keep growing, specifically in our area which I believe is the perfect place to race! For anything to grow you most have a steady influx of new people. To keep new people involved in racing there are many factors but some form of success, accomplishment, or steady progression must happen early to keep them hooked.
We are in the heart of racing and draw some of the most competitive and talented racers making it difficult to have early success. But this is exactly what if your goal is to be the best you can be! We are fortunate to have very talented top level drivers competing at Speed RC: Max Flurer, Chris Pace, Brandon Melton, Evan Vail, Blake Pickett, Rob Meyer, Jon Noon, and Christian PaHud. Max, Rob and Jon have been a tremendous resource for my racing over the years. Racing people better than you makes you better.
We are all still learning. It never ends. But there are fundamentals, general truths and flat out wrong ways to do things. I will use this blog to share my thoughts, failures and experiences in hopes that someone else could use the information to improve their racing as others have done for me.
The sound of the tone
- Christian PaHud continues to be a huge asset to Speed RC. This is his second consecutive layout that is novice friendly and will promote great racing for the points series. He seems to have an art of getting grip into the surface fast, avoiding that wet, no traction feel that most new layouts have.
- Point series races continue to bring higher turnouts. Everyone is excited to go the length of the series and try their best to add there name to the wall of fame.
- Racing was excellent in all classes. The layout is fast and wide.
- Nick Johnston is the second best announcer at Speed RC
- Brett Suggs Continues to show that you do not need the latest chassis to run upfront. Finished P2 with a 22 3.0
- Busy night for me as I ran two classes and prepared a buggy for a coworker. I really enjoyed listening to his feedback, making changes, and watching him finish P2 in his first Novice buggy race!
Q & A
I want to use this section to list the questions I was asked by racers throughout the night.
Q. Why doesn’t the back end of your car come around like mine on throttle?
A. This person was running the same brand car as me. The first thing I asked was what tire they were on. To me it looked like a very worn slick. While some drivers can make these work (most notable Rob Meyer) its probably not the best tire for most people. I recommended something with more pin like I was running. Next I asked what anti-squat and rear toe they were running. Their reply was 0 deg anti-squat and 3 deg toe. No anti-squat could also be causing an issue. I rarely venture away from the kit anti-squat. If I do, its not more than 1 deg. In my experience It creates a loose condition bot on and off throttle.
Q. Do you always storage charge your batteries?
A. YES. For the best performance and life of my lipo batteries I have found the following to be good practices:
-Buy good batteries – I am using Protek 4900 LiHV (Intellect Based) and Trinity White Carbon 4000 HiV
-When I am done racing for the night I put each battery on the charger and bring it to storage voltage
-I always store my batteries inside where the ambient temperature does not vary
Q. What is your driving line like?
A. See image below. Green = 90-100% throttle, White = off throttle, Yellow = easing into throttle, Red = Hard braking
Practice
2wd Stock Buggy (22 4.0 SR) – My 22 4.0 continued to be fast and easy to drive. The car felt comfortable in practice and I decided to make only one run. No changes were made.
Tire – Pro-Line MC Positron (Fronts: Low pin / Rears: Low pin, slicked center)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
2wd Mod Stadium Truck (22T 3.0) – I have hardly any time on my 22T 3.0. So I am using this point series to learn more about the truck for future events. It continued to have a significant push rolling mid corner and under throttle. I tried reducing rear toe and pinion angle anti-squat without any significant changes if anything I lost stability. throughout the corner. As a crutch I settled on #1 Ackerman arms and did not tune anymore from there. This setting allowed me to get the truck pitched on entry and use throttle to square it up.
Tire – JCONCEPTS Gold Dirtwebs (Fronts: Med pin / Rears: Med pin)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Novice (2wd Stock Buggy 22 3.0 SR) – Most of the practice was spent getting my friend Phil up to speed. Phil has racing experience in karts, simulation games and is a notable driver. He has raced a SCT in novice before but this was his first experience with a buggy. I knew the setup in the car was good from when I previously raced it but you always have to adjust setup based on driver. His biggest complaint was that the car was loose on throttle. Below are the changes that helped him the most.
- Moved shocks out one hole on top of the tower
- Went from middle wheelbase to long
Tire – JCONCEPTS Gold Space Bars (Fronts: Low pin / Rears: Low pin, slicked center)
Prep – Liquid Wrench yellow top, blue label
Qualifying R1
2wd Stock Buggy (22 4.0 SR) – Starting in the rear of the heat i had to be cautious coming through the field. This is a skill I have been working on. A couple mistakes were made but put in a run good enough to TQ the round and it held for the night.
Tire – Pro-Line M3 Positron (Fronts: Low pin / Rears: Low pin, slicked center)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Post Run Changes – Switch tires to a 3 run old pair of JCONCEPTS Gold Dirt Webs for Q2
2wd Mod Stadium Truck (22T 3.0) – Speed was there but very hard to drive consistently. Lost entry turn that I had in practice. Truck would not corner without heavy braking. Too many mistakes and ended P3 for the round.
Tire – JCONCEPTS Gold Dirtwebs (Fronts: Med pin / Rears: Med pin)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Post Run Changes – Move lower front shock in on arm
Novice (2wd Stock Buggy 22 3.0 SR) – Phil started out on a clean run until colliding with a SCT early. Somehow he managed to shear off one of the composite outdrives. *Note if you are running the Spec Racer Diff, these are a maintenance item and worth carrying in your box. TLR232057 I have never had one shear off but as they wear the car will become free on throttle.
Tire – JCONCEPTS Gold Space Bars (Fronts: Low pin / Rears: Low pin, slicked center)
Prep – Liquid Wrench yellow top, blue label
Post Run Changes – New outdrives on both sides
Qualifying R2
2wd Stock Buggy (22 4.0 SR) – Resort helped me have clean track but going out on 3 run old tires was a poor choice. The car had to much rear grip and overall made the car push on entry and exit. My first round qualifying effort held for TQ.
Tire – JCONCEPTS Gold Dirt Webs (3 runs old)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Post Run Changes – Back to Pro-Line MC Positrons
2wd Mod Stadium Truck (22T 3.0) – The front shock location adjust brought back the entry steering I needed to get the truck pointed but I still needed to stab the breaks to get it to finish the corner and then fought a tremendous push on throttle. Hard to drive but fast enough for TQ.
Tire – JCONCEPTS Gold Dirtwebs (Fronts: Med pin / Rears: Med pin)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Post Run Changes – Shorter front camber link
Novice (2wd Stock Buggy 22 3.0 SR) – Phil was able to put down a decent run to qualify 3rd. He was very happy with the car and felt he had a car good enough to win!
Tire – JCONCEPTS Gold Space Bars (Fronts: Low pin / Rears: Low pin, slicked center)
Prep – Liquid Wrench yellow top, blue label
Post Run Changes – None
Main
2wd Stock Buggy (22 4.0 SR) – Got a terrific start and never looked back! Jay and Brett battled for second and let me stretch the lead while cruising at a comfortable pace. Was never pressured to drive the car hard. These are the nights you dream having!
Tire – Pro-Line MC Positron (Fronts: Low pin / Rears: Low pin, slicked center)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Setup – PDF IMAGE
2wd Mod Stadium Truck (22T 3.0) – Was most concerned with this race as the truck was a handful to drive. The shorter front camber lI actually had a very comfortable lead that I through away by two very costly mistakes. Battling with Luis in the past I knew he could lay down consistent laps and I flat out gave him an opportunity with mistakes and he capitalized. Early in the run I thought the shorter camber link was a good change but the truck progressively got harder to drive as if the track was getting slicker. I really need to evaluate my current setup and keep chipping away at this thing to get it to rotate and steer consistently.
Tire – JCONCEPTS Gold Dirtwebs (Fronts: Med pin / Rears: Med pin)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Setup – PDF IMAGE
Video by RC Vitals
Tire – JCONCEPTS Gold Space Bars (Fronts: Low pin / Rears: Low pin, slicked center)
Prep – Liquid Wrench yellow top, blue label
Question 1: When you change your pinion angle what does this achieve?
Question 2: Where can I find M3 Positrons?
Mr. John, pinion angle is the wrong term here my apologies. Sorry for any confusion that may have caused. The correct word is ant-squat. And to be honest I am still feeling this adjustment out. My hopes in taking away anti-squat and toe at the same time was to help the truck rotate under power. But this did not help.
M3 positrons was another typo that should have been MC (clay compound) Thank you for catching that.
Great blog. A nice way to keep up with the local races.
Thanks Brad. I plan on covering much more topics in RC and not so much all the local races. I will focus more on learning than race coverage, Ill leave that to Vitals.