Ryan Lutz's ROAR 1/8-Scale and 4x4 short course Electric Off-Road Nationals race report

0 July 15, 2015, 3:11 p.m.

By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Race report from Ryan Lutz:
www.lutzinator.com

ROAR 1/8th Electric and 1/10th 4×4 SC Nationals @ LCRC Raceway, PA

This past weekend I ventured across the country to Pennsylvania for the Electric 1/8th ROAR Offroad Nationals. It was once again held at LCRC Raceway, same location as 2013. This was a good decision in my opinion as they put on a great show and we had a record of over 200 entires for this event, including over 100 E-buggies alone. The track was very fast and a big challenge for most was battery and motor temps. For instance at 95% of tracks I go to in E-buggy I use around 4200 mAh during a 10 minute race with warmups. However this weekend I was using 5300 mAh during that same timeframe. Much of this was due to a long front straight into a full speed 90* right, into another straight and a banked ‘Daytona’ 180* back to another straight. It was a lot of fun but for sure used a lot of battery. Fortunately for me my ProTek batteries were rated at 5000 mAh but in fact would take over 5400 mAh when recharged. While I heard through the pits that other companies batteries rated at 6500 mAh were dying and only taking around 5600 mAh. A little bit of over inflating the numbers there! Anyways most got it all figured out and were able to complete their runs.

The track from the bleachers

During qualifying I was kept busy making multiple changes to really try to dial into the track. Tires were an important piece of the equation as the track seemed to always be in a different state each run. They watered during the nights and thus morning runs the track was looser and had a fine layer of dirt in the line. During afternoon runs with the sun baking down the track started to form a groove. On Friday the groove was one of the deepest they have ever had with the track starting to blacken. However having watered Friday night the Saturday groove never quite materialized like many of us though and it stayed a bit looser for the Q4 round in the afternoon. Friday for me wasn’t the best of results as I was struggling a bit with set-up. Trying to dial in more steering on my truggy and get a more consistent feel out of my buggy. In Truggy I was also being plagued by my last lap not counting in each of the first 2 rounds. So overall nothing great to write home about on Friday. On Saturday though I came out strong with a TQ in both Truggy and Buggy in a couple of hard fought qualifying rounds. In Q4 I had an opportunity to get the overall TQ in buggy with a win and Maifield and I battled the entire run staying less than a second apart. I gave it my all but came up about .8 tenths short. Overall I would qualify 2nd in buggy and 3rd in both truck classes.

Tekno EB48.3

Tekno ET48

Sunday came around and it was main day. Triple A-mains on tap in all 3 classes meant 9 mains to keep us all busy. In 4wd SC I never quite kept it clean enough to be a serious threat for the win. Always making a mistake or two that set me back. It became a battle between myself and teammate Joe Bornhorst for the final podium position. We swapped positions in A1 and A2 each getting a 3rd and a 4th. So it came down to an A3 battle, and that battle didn’t disappoint. I led Joe for the first 4 laps until a mistake on my end let him by. I followed close behind for the next 3 laps as we paced each other around the track. Both knowing full well the implications of this race. He would make a mistake on lap 7 and we swapped back to him tailing me through the final lap. I knew he was going to give it his all around the end of the straight and try to hold it wide open but his truck didn’t quite handle it and flipped at the end of the straight giving me a cushion to breath and take the final Podium position.

4wd SC Podium

In E-truggy I was in the thick of things each run. Again bobbles just costing me precious seconds. In both A1 and in A2 I would be tailing Phend and Maifield, each of them making mistakes in one round or the other and I would take 2nd in each of those mains. So going in to A3 all three of us had a shot at the title. It was an 8 minute race and for the first 7 minutes it was a tight three way battle with all of us staying within 1 second of each other. They swapped the lead once or twice and I got into 2nd at one point but tagged the pipe falling back to third. I would eventually make another mistake at the 7 minute mark or so and fall further back ending my chances. So with two 2nd place results I would finish again 3rd on the Podium.

3rd place E-truggy

E-buggy was the final set of A-mains and there proved to be a bit of drama in A2. Starting out in A1 though I just didn’t get the runs I wanted. I battled for a bit with Phend and Maifield but mistakes were made again and I took another 3rd. In A2 I had a rough start but moved back into 2nd. Soon as I did though they stopped the race as the internet connection had gone down and the race results were basically lost beyond the 1 minute mark. So the were to rerun A2 at the end of the mains. So next was A3 which was moved up a bit. I had a rough start trying to make a pass for the lead but feeling like I got knocked out of the line and into the tube. So I fell back to 5th. I got caught in more traffic and was down in 9th or 10th. I fought back though working my way through the field. By the time the last lap was complete I found myself in 3rd. The reran A2 was a bit disappointing as I got out to a good lead the first 2 laps but I was a bonehead and put in the wrong battery and dumped. Overall though I took another 3rd place Podium.

3rd place E-buggy

Overall I had a great time at the event. The weather was great over the weekend after the Thursday night rains. The turnout was solid and the crew put on a great show. Also after the event some people hung out and we played some corn hole and rode 4-wheelers and got to check out a bit more of the grounds. Also we found lost Creek which was neat as well.

Found Lost Creek