Flashback Friday: A Race Weekend in 2011

Cavalieri sweeps Kyosho Fall Classic - Team Associated Race Report
 

 

 

Revelation Raceway in Montclair, CA played host to the annual Kyosho Fall Classic. With the track being just down the 91 freeway from many top Southern California racers and manufacturers, competition is always guaranteed. This year, Ryan Cavalieri took his dual ROAR National Champion vehicles, the Team Associated RC8.2 and RC8T, to the event and met up with teammates Richard Saxton and Chad Nevin.

Congratulations goes out to Expert Buggy A-Main finalist for Team Associated, Chad Nevin (eighth), and Richard Saxton (thirteenth), proving once again that the RC8.2 buggy is a worthy competitor.

 
 

 

 

Winter BTCC - Schumacher Report 
 

 

This last weekend saw the first running of Schumacher's new Winter BTCC at Ardent Raceway. The entry was quite low with about 50 drivers however the competition was seriously hot!

Schumacher were saddened to hear of the death of Dez Chand recently, a fantastic guy with a great enthusiasm for R/C so Kris Kennedy paid a tribute to Dez and a minutes clapping as a mark of respect was held.

The UK's top drivers Andy Moore, Elliott Harper and Schumacher's Chris Grainger all battled it out hard in the 10.5 class with Elliott and Andy putting on a great show and these two being a few seconds clear of the chasing pack on the Sorex 28JB control tyres.

Andy took the TQ from Elliott with Stefan Chodzynski in third and Chris 4th. A huge battle in both finals entertained the crowd with the top 2 places changing at various points in the races. Eventually after a great battle Andy came out on top from Elliott with Stefan 3rd and Chris Grainger 4th.

In the slightly slower 13.5T class track owner John Dawson was the man to beat (he gets some practice) ;) however Hinckley legend Dean Gibbs was close around with Schumacher Matt Lax showing strongly too with his Mi4CX. John finished up the clear winner from Dean and Matt.

Different from normal Schumacher BTCC rounds, rather than having trophies vouchers were given to redeem at MB Models who were the host shop at the track. These seamed to go down great with the drivers who battled hard for them. £10 for 1st, £7 for second and £5 for third.

Thanks for everyone that took part...and went home with some nice Schumacher Prizes!

 

 

 
Lutz Texas Trifecta! - Lutzinator Report
 

 

 

Ryan Lutz reports on a perfect weekend in Texas, where he snatched TQ & Wins in all three classes entered.

Saturday November 19th, 2011
Once again I find myself in the South, this time just outside of Dallas, TX at the other large awesome Mikes Hobby Shop in the state. Wow what a facility. Indoor Electric offroad and onroad track and an outdoor offroad track along with a rock crawling course and a slot car track! Not to mention a huge hobby shop! This weekend i’m attending the Texas Offroad Shootout and running my usual as of late Pro Nitro Buggy, E-buggy, and SC. Here’s how qualifications went for me:

Short Course – On my DESC410R I decided to add a little more weight to the rear. I already had the side weights and the rear skid weight but I also added another 1 oz under the rear diff. This is the best my truck has ever felt on a large outdoor track. It really helped with stability and my truck was just excellent all day. I was able to TQ Q1 by about 6 seconds over Wheeler. In Q2 I was on another TQ run when my battery connecter melted ending my run. In Q3 I was able to beat my rd 1 TQ by a few seconds and thus take the overall. This event utilized Rocket Round which I hadn’t done in a while but either way I managed the TQ.

Electric-Buggy – This was again the fastest vehicle of the weekend on this track. I got down to a 26.2 while my nitro was 26.3 and Wheelers truggy was also 26.3. So my DEX410 was dialed once again! I went out and TQ’d the first two rounds by over a lap each one. In Q3 I made a few mistakes trying to drive it harder and drift it a bit and thus didn’t contend to beat one of my TQ’s but I already had it wrapped up and came away with the TQ!

Nitro-Buggy – My DNX408 feels awesome this weekend. My Alpha A852 is screaming and yesterday in practice I was getting over 11min on this track – Woo hoo for fuel mileage! In Q1 I found a line on the top right of the track where I jumped over this section and it shaved maybe .2ths a lap off my lap time. One lap however I ended up over the berm loosing 10 seconds and thus qualifying 2nd for the round. In Q2 I came out and ran much cleaner and was 6seconds ahead of TQ and made a small mistake. I came back though and still took the TQ from Wheeler by 2 seconds. In Q3 we ran in the dark and it was a bit hard to see. However I was managing to keep it clean and I know I was nearly on a TQ run but I don’t know how it ended up. Either way I took the Win and thus the TQ.

So a trifecta of TQ’s which hopefully tomorrow I can convert into 3 W’s!

Sunday November 20th, 2011
Main day rolled around and the goal of the day for the race was to avoid the chance of rain! Luckily we got it all in about 30 minutes before the rain started! For me as robotically mentioned above it was a success. Here’s how it went down.

Short Course – Going into the main I thought to myself that this was going to be my toughest 10 minute main to finish that i’ve had yet in this class. Reason being is that usually they have been triple A’s and thus if I screw up the first one and dump (a la R/C Pro Finals) then I still have 2 more to readjust my driving. At this event there was only 1, 10min A-main and so I really needed to drive cautious. Out of the gate Josh Wheeler and myself got out ahead and built a little lead and put on a show for the crowd for the entire race. For the first 9 minutes we were never more than say 1 second apart. I could tell he was using more battery than me and so I hoped that if it came down to it he would dump. I stayed conservative for the most part but about 4 minutes in a made a small bobble and let him by but when we got to the straight where I had been taking it very conservative I decided I wanted the lead back and so I pulled trigger just that one time and flew by him on the straight. I would again give up the lead say 7 minutes in and then I decided to just push him to hopefully make him dump. With about 1 minute to go I knew I had conserved a good amount of battery so I decided to start to push it. I got really close behind him but he tubed it and got stuck but I was right behind and I bumped him off the pipe and instead switched places with him and I got stuck. He then got about a 5 second lead because I had to get marshaled. Then the next lap was the last lap and over the double in the middle he dumped! So I was able to take the win on that account and when recharging my batteries I only used 4400 MaH in the 10 minutes! I tell you what, conserving batteries is no fun to me but it’s cool to be able to use it as a strategy to help when it works as well!

Electric-Buggy – I realized after the race that I used the wrong set of used tires in my E-buggy race. I had 2 sets of used impacts in my bags and I grabbed the ones with black foams instead of red foams. This explained to me why my car was a bit more edgy and catchy in the little ruts that had developed. Either way though I guess I just wanted to make the race that much more of a challenge for myself. Starting from the pole was actually a bad spot for me personally because it didn’t allow me to do my line through the section directly thereafter. So I crashed basically right away and had to work back through the pack. I did so quickly and made it up to the lead pair where we would swap places for quite a few minutes. I haven’t made so many boneheaded mistakes in a race in quite some time but I was just crashing more than usual. In the end though with about 2 minutes to go I got by David Joor for the lead and just cleaned it up to finish out front and take the victory.

Nitro-Buggy – My DNX408 was solid for me once again. I am really happy with my buggy right now and it doesn’t matter where I race it I feel I have a good grasp on the car and that inspires confidence! In this 25 minute main I got tagged at the very start but did a 360 and didn’t loose position. I then gapped out a bit as 2nd made a mistake. I quickly got a 6 second lead and knew I wasn’t going to look back. I worked on running clean lines and not goofing up my inverse berm jumping section and it paid off as at the end of the 25min main I had a 1 lap victory.

Overall it was a great event. A little light on turnout unfortunately but I was told there has been a lot of racing in Texas and the surrounding area lately so that may have been a big reason for it. ( I should know, i’ve been living in this region lately it seems!
The facility of Mike’s Hobby Shop is quite amazing and the locals really do have something special that they shouldn’t take for granted. I appreciate the hospitality of those that worked there and all the great people I met either for the first time this weekend or got to see again! This hobby really does have a great group of people!

Next up is the Fall Brawl in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I’ve heard some names like Maifield and maybe Drake might be there? I’m sure plenty more along with the always fast locals in that area, Looking forward to it!

-Lutzinator

Hebert wins Timezone Gran Prix - AE Race Report
 

 

 

Keven Hébert provided the following race report:

Thanks to Timezone Raceway for another fun and successful event!
 

 

 

Root and TLR at the Thanksgiving Throwdown - TLR Race Report
 

 

TLR and Losi's Frank Root, Cody Turner, and Matt Castellano were on hand at the second round of the Thanksgiving Throwdown Series Saturday at West Coast R/C Raceway (WCRC). The track had fantastic traction, and a really fun and technical layout. The entry count was very strong with 19 full heats and a great day of racing was had by all.

2wd Modified Buggy - There were 4 full heats of modified buggy and the qualifying action was intense. Frank Root had a quick run in the first round to take the early TQ. The second round Frank run nearly an identical time to he first round, beating his TQ narrowly. When the dust had settled, Root was TQ with Turner 6th and Castellano 9th on the grid. When the tone went off, Root got off to a great start and put in clean lap while being chased by a 3 car freight train. Eventually, Frank was left with only one challenger still in close pursuit. The racing was close, but Frank managed to get the win with his 22 to take a strong hold of the points lead in the series. Turner and Castellano both had had a great run also moving up from their starting spots to finish 4th and 5th respective giving the TLR 22 the TQ, win and 3 of the top 5 spots for the night!
 

 
Pro2 (Modified SC) - Frank's Losi XXX-SCT equipped with the TLR Tuned Kit was untouchable all day. Cody would take the TQ in the first round with a strong run. The second round saw Frank and Cody battle for the lead early with both on a TQ run, but Frank would eventually pull away a little and take the TQ, with teammate Cody Turner in 2nd. Frank started
on form at the sound of the tone and quickly pulled out from the field, leaving the battle for 2nd place. Turner finished 2nd with his Losi XXX-SCT giving the XXX-SCT the top 2 steps of the podium!

 

 

 
Wernimont wins 4wd Buggy Thanksgiving Throwdown - Reedy Race Report

 

 

West Coast R/C Raceway is playing host to the four-part AKA Thanksgiving Throwdown Series throughout the month of November. With over 150 entries each week, the series is drawing racers from all over Southern California.

With just over two months until the Reedy International Off-Road Race of Champions, drivers are sure to continue to battle it out at the premier West Coast facility. Look for Wernimont and Reedy power in the prestigious Invitational class after his A-Main finish at the ROAR Nationals and going forward in the 2012 season.
 

 

 

Winter Midwest Nitro Series - MNS Race Report
 

 

 

The inaugural start of the midwest nitro “winter” series occurred this past weekend and  hot racing was to be had. The kickoff was at Leisure Hours with racers attending not just from Illinois, but Wisconsin, Indiana, and Iowa as well. The event did not disappoint despite the lighter than expected turnout. 

 

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