Off-Road Racing Report: NorCal Hobbies 08/09/08

Last Saturday, a few guys from the club headed out to NorCal Hobbies for some off-road racing action. For 2 of us (myself & Badger), this was the first taste of racing either of us have experienced in many, many years. We both ran in the Slash class, which was so large they had to split it into two heats. For all three of us, this was an absolute blast of a day!! We even had the chance to meet a fellow club member, FabolousRC, who introduced himself to us! Again, it was a pleasure to meet you, Fabolous! Also, Hopbot (Michelangelo) took TQ in the qualifying rounds for the Rookie class, and finished 2nd in the main!!! Congrats!!

Quick video of a Slash qualifying round:

I had a ton of fun, but realized quickly that something wasn't quite right with my setup. After practicing at NorCal in the weeks before, I decided to swap out the standard receiver that came with the Slash and replace it with one that would work with my JRXS3 radio (no need to worry about frequencies at the track). From then on, my Slash seemed sluggish, and definitely didn't have the same power that it had before. After talking to Hopbot about it, he took a look at my radio and figured out the problem for me: My end point adjustments weren't set to the end!! Duhh!! A big thanks to Hopbot for that!!So after that fix, my Slash had nearly 30% more power - a huge difference! I was now able to easily clear the second jump on the triple, instead of landing on top of it and flipping on my lid as well as get up to speed on the straight. Hopbot made the fix for me before we started the Slash Main, which they decided to experiment with by combining the entire Slash class for a ridiculous 16 truck field which was totally fun, but not something they will do again. It proved to be way to chaotic for announcing, and more importantaly, turn marshalling. They simply couldn't keep up with the amount of trucks that needed attention, nor could they always see where a stranded truck was located.

After the races, John -the race director, informed me that they will cap future Slash races at 10 trucks. With that said, my times improved greatly in the Main for me when compared to the qualifying rounds. I was much more confident and my truck handled the track much better as a result of the earlier fix. Unfortunately, there was an issue with the house transponders and they weren't able to get results on all 16 trucks. Apparently, the times were counted, but they will have to do some "digging" to get them. Hopefully that will happen so I can see how I did in the main.

Hopbot's First Qulaifying Race: Rookie Off-Road


Here are a few quotes about the day from the the other guys:

Badger (John): "That was an absolute blast yesterday and that was mostly because B-dog and hopbot was there to battle in the same Slash class and hang out with all day....Thanks again to B-dog and hopbot for hanging out with me and making the day very fun."

Hopbot (Michelangelo): "Hey there all! NorCal really was a blast yesterday! The track is even better than before: much more flow, less treacherous triple in the front (although no lack of carnage in the 4wd mod mains) and incredible traction.....overall it was a great day! it was awesome having other baprcc guys out there and it actually makes you feel a little more confident knowing you have some supporters there. Next race day: August 23rd. I cant wait!"

To read more about the days events, check this thread in the message boards. Click here for pictures.