“In every aspect of life, have a game plan, and then do your best to achieve it.” – Alan Kulwicki
Round 2 was going to be a challenge I new that. Conveniently parent/teacher night for my son’s kindergarten class was on race night! Fortunately with the meeting only lasting an hour and ending right when racing started there was hope to make it to the track with 1 round of qualifying left. So the plan was to leave work right on time, make it to the track and get both vehicles ready to qualify. Then go to the meeting and come straight back.
Of course it never works out like you want it too. I left work 30 minutes later than I wanted, and then was held up by the train. I finally made it to the track with only enough time to rebuild the shocks on the 22T 3.0 and get a battery charged for both vehicles. Didn’t even get to turn a lap.
Lucky for me I have great friends. As I left the school I checked in on LiveRC and texted with my friend Ben Warner. I saw I was in heats 3 and 5. Heat 1 was rolling and I was about 12 minutes from the track. Ben prepped the tires on my truck and I literally parked and sprinted to the doors of the track. I did miss the first few minutes of the truck qualifier but it was enough to feel out the new setup.
The sound of the tone
- Track surface was very similar to the past few weeks, but did seem to pick up grip in the later rounds
- Nice field of Mod Stadium Trucks and Stock Buggies
- When the Boss is in town the show moves FAST!
- Max Flurer still present but not racing. Having fun helping people and representing sponsors.
Q & A
Q. How many amps do you charge your batteries at?
A. 40 amps
Q. Who paints your bodies?
A. Chris Rupp. CR Graphics on Facebook and Instagram.
Practice
2wd Stock Buggy (22 4.0 SR) – NONE
2wd Mod Stadium Truck (22T 3.0) – NONE
Qualifying R1
2wd Mod Stadium Truck (22T 3.0) – Just missed the start of the round! Truck felt really good compared to last week, but still had a wicked push on throttle.
Tire – JCONCEPTS Gold Dirtwebs (Fronts: Med pin / Rears: Med pin)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Post Run Changes – None
2wd Stock Buggy (22 4.0 SR) – With the order being Race/Marshall/Race I and just arriving to the track I did not get to prep my tires. The car was very edgy and slick. I was left wondering if it was the lack of prep or did I just need more tread on the rear tires? I decided to get this run out of my head and reset on the same tires but this time with prep for the next round.
Tire – Pro-Line MC Positron (Fronts: Low pin / Rears: Low pin, slicked center)
Prep – None!
Post Run Changes – Prep Tires!
Qualifying R2
2wd Mod Stadium Truck (22T 3.0) – Now that I was settled in at the track and my nerves were calm from I was able to put in a clean run and TQ for the second consecutive week. The truck was still not setup to race well though, still too bound up under throttle.
To help this I decided to flip the rear camber block insert so it was arrow up +1mm. This is equivalent to raising the camber link 1mm.
Tire – JCONCEPTS Gold Dirtwebs (Fronts: Med pin / Rears: Med pin)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Post Run Changes – Raise inner camber link 1mm
2wd Stock Buggy (22 4.0 SR) – Car was much better with prep but did notice some things that I needed to work on to be able to drive the car harder in the main.
- Track had more grip than past weeks – making the car steer to quickly in high speed section
- I seemed to be loosing traction at times when I really wanted to mash the gas. The rear would snap quick and I would have to back out and correct.
This run was good enough to set a new TQ but would fall to second overall. To prepare for the main I decided to rebuild my shocks to make the car more consistent and help the snappy loose condition. To numb the steering as I knew traction would continue to get better I raised both inner and outer positions of the front camber link. To help break the 15 sec lap mark I wanted to try going up one tooth on pinion.
Tire – Pro-Line MC Positron (Fronts: Low pin / Rears: Low pin, slicked center)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Post Run Changes – +1mm on both inner and outer front camber links / +1 tooth on pinion / rebuild shocks
Mains
2wd Mod Stadium Truck (22T 3.0) – Got a clean start and out to an early lead. The adjustment I made really seem to help the truck rotate on throttle. The race was panning out much like last week early lead and decent gap to second place when I made another mistake on the step down putting me in a bad marshal spot. Another costly mistake would drop me to 7th or 8th at the halfway point. I had to hustle the truck back to a disappointing third.
Tire – JCONCEPTS Gold Dirtwebs (Fronts: Med pin / Rears: Med pin)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Setup – PDF IMAGE
2wd Stock Buggy (22 4.0 SR) – Got a terrific start and stayed on John’s bumper for 3 or 4 laps applying heavy pressure. The adjustments I made were spot one. The car was not as edgy and showed no signs of breaking traction.
It was clear to me I had the faster car but not by much. I decided to ride and wait for him to make a mistake. It happened and I capitalized. Ran fast clean laps and brought home my second consecutive win in the points series.
Tire – Pro-Line MC Positron (Fronts: Low pin / Rears: Low pin, slicked center)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Setup – PDF IMAGE
