“When today’s race is over, its over. The only race that matters is the one coming up.” – Harry Gant
The Sound of the Tone
- Track was damp again causing slower lap times
- Great having Brad and Ben back at the track
- Attendance down a bit, maybe because the Pumpkin Dash coming up?
- Nick continuing to do a great job. Keeping the night moving while giving racers and fans the info they need.
Q & A
Q. Who paints your bodies?
A. I get this one alot! Chris Rupp @ CR Graphics. He is on facebook.
Practice
2wd Mod Stadium Truck (22T 3.0) – If you read the blog I have really been struggling with the handle on the truck. This week I decided to do a fresh rebuild on all maintenance items, this includes:
- Front and rear arms
- Shock O-rings
- Diff
- 4.0 rear camber block
- New style ballcups
I also started over on setup, deciding to use JP Richards setup from the TLR website. Arriving at the track I built my shocks with fresh oil, finished setting my diff, then checked ride height and camber. The truck still had a mid corner push but I noticed it was much more predictable. I could also drive it harder without it being inconsistent. I decided for Q1 I would shorten the rear camber link by moving it from the inner most position 1 to position 2 (laydown).
2wd Stock Buggy (22 4.0 SR) – Eating up alot of practice time on getting my truck ready I didn’t have a whole lot of time to focus on my buggy. I made one run and felt like it was good enough for the first qualifier.
Qualifying R1
2wd Mod Stadium Truck (22T 3.0) – Put in a good qualifying effort that would allow me to TQ the round. Didn’t have huge speed but the truck was very consistent preventing me from making any big mistakes. Looking for a little more aggressive steering I decided to move the trail from 4 (most rearward position) to 2 most forward position for the next round.
Tire – Pro-Line MC Positrons (Fronts: Med Pin / Rears: Med Pin)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Post Run Changes – Trail from 4mm to 2mm
2wd Stock Buggy (22 4.0 SR) – Fortunate enough to TQ this round. My car just did not have speed. From the stand it seemed I was just scrubbing too much momentum off in the corners. Ever since the wet layout I have lost turning. I made two mistakes which at this moment cant recall what they were but I knew it wasn’t a run to be proud of. Millington and Pahud would have eaten that up, you typically need a 20 lap run to start up front. For the second round of qualifying I went to a softer front spring.
Tire – Pro-Line MC Positrons (Fronts: Med Pin / Rears: Low Pin)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Post Run Changes – Down on front spring Kyosho Gold to Kyosho White
Qualifying R2
2wd Mod Stadium Truck (22T 3.0) – That trail adjustment was huge. Just what I needed. It really freed the truck up entry to mid corner then I could feed it throttle to tighten it up. I had a mistake free run and was able to retain and improve on my TQ.
Tire – Pro-Line MC Positrons (Fronts: Med Pin / Rears: Med Pin)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Post Run Changes – NONE
2wd Stock Buggy (22 4.0 SR) – The softer front spring didn’t really give me any added steering. If anything it actually hurt. I had a decent run but never really got into a rhythm of laying down fast laps. The track felt like it picked up a tad bit which naturally brought my lap times down but my car still wasn’t that great. I put in a 20 lap run but missed TQ just barely to David Carmendy. For the main I went back up on spring which brought me back to my standard setup. I noticed Carmendy was on slicks but I felt like the track was too slick for that and was uneasy about trying them in the main.
Tire – Pro-Line MC Positron (Fronts: Med Pin / Rears: Med Pin)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Post Run Changes – Stiffer spring (Kyosho Gold)
Mains
2wd Mod Stadium Truck (22T 3.0) – Great start and great truck. So relieved to finally have this thing dialed in. Was able to break away and lap the field. Great night! And a great confidence boost heading into this weekends Pumpkin Dash Trophy race. Staying up late the night before and rebuilding this thing was worth it!
Tire – Pro-line Positrons (Fronts: Med Pin / Rears: Med Pin)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Setup (NEW) – PDF IMAGE
2wd Stock Buggy (22 4.0 SR) – Starting behind Carmendy is always a challenge. He’s probably the best blocker I have ever seen, knows how to make his car nice and wide and take up the line.
I followed behind him for a while and he eventually made a mistake and I was there to capitalize. Unfortunately it was short lived as I made a mistake just cutting a pipe to close on the right hand side of the track. This let David back by and I dropped to 3rd.
This put me behind Jay Kennedy and we got together a couple times. Slowing my progress. I finally made my way by and tried my hardest to catch David. I kept seeing him in the corner of my eye as I was shrinking the gap but I ran out of time and would have to settle for second! You just cant make any mistakes in stock racing!
My car was OK but its still lacking the speed it had on slicks. With the trophy race coming up this weekend I am going to get a fresh diff, arms and ball cups on her and try some things.
Tire – Pro-Line MC Positron (Fronts: Low pin / Rears: Low pin)
Prep – FDJ Pineapple
Setup – PDF IMAGE