Recap: NorCal Hobbies, Nov 26 - Indoor Carpet Racing

The indoor carpet racing at Norcal Hobbies ROCKED! It was sooo fun! b-dog crossed the line a hair in front of me at the end! if it was an RC18-only class we would have had a fun battle ;)

The night was awesome, b-dog and pigiron - it was awesome hanging and racing with you. fabulous, it was awesome just seeing your crazy collection of rc's - that optima is the stuff! great racing guys, i am totally hooked on carpet racing, i hate to say it, but it is way fun! you had me saucin' up tires and worrying about my line - man, i might just turn into an on-road junkie yet... 18th scale first though!



we had a really good turn out and lots of racers recognize the baprc t-shirts (we need a banner for our pit area!). there were 4 rc18s (mine, pigiron's, and b-dog's with one exotek r18 that was sweet) and then 3 tamiya minis that easily had 3 laps on us all and were sort of tanks on the track. no matter though, we let them finish 1,2,3 and we all fought over the rest of the spots. hopefully more minis show up so they can move them to there own class as they have a little more heft to them and really do take you out in their desire to pass you. near the end we were finally getting a little more aggressive and the minis were laying off a little, but it was getting brutal for a while - like slash class without the slash's! over the course of the night i think each of the baprcc RC18s took fourth place once and all 4 of the rc18s had 22 laps at the finish, so it was really close racing (see the race results).

the coolest cars of the night were the world gt cars - man, these things FLEW. i mean they really flew! they were easily faster than the TCs (13.5 tcs were getting 35 laps, world GTs around 44, 12th scales were getting in the 50s). man, they were riding on rails, definitely a sight to see.



we started racing a little after 7pm and i didnt get home until about 12:30am... nice long night of racing! but we were all pooped at the end.

it was great finally dusting off that rc18 and i am so happy i converted to 18r from 18t. it was fast and stuck on the track and just felt awesome. thanks b-dog for letting me borrow your nightline body, when i get back from my trip, i'll have to spend the rainy days dialing in that little car ;)

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Recap: Mini-Z Shopping Mall Race - Inside Line Racing

Our friends over at Inside Line Racing have provided us with a re-cap of their recent Mini-Z Shopping Mall Enduro Race that took place on Sept. 20, 2008. Here is what Binh from ILR had to say:

"Second time back to the mall was an experience. All aspects of the set-up went pretty well. I even had time to get the lap timing system going early to test and see if it was working properly. And the timing worked perfect during practice. Twelve o’clock rolled around and time for racing. All the cars were on grid, horn went off and we were racing. Only one small problem, one of the teams was not counting. I had to then re-boot the system and try again. I tired everything I could think of to get the system back up. I finally figured out that somehow the tile floor was interfering with the RF loop. I then placed the loop on the track and we were back racing. The only problem now was that there was a little bump before the timing system, which made is more exciting for the fans. As the cars went by they jumped a little. It was fun to watch. We ran five one hour mains to determine the winner.

The first main went down to the wire with Team 2 (Perez, Jaime, Fraz) winning by just four laps. Hernandez kept his team in the hunt with consistent fast laps. He was running a mod AWD and was certainly the fastest car on the track all day. The first race came down to who was more consistent on the track. At this point most teams did not really have a strategy yet. Teams 1 through 7 were separated by 101 laps. Winning team had 376 laps.

First main results.

In the second main, Team 2 had problems early on and was fighting from the back of the pack most of the race. Team 3 (Tony, Stephen, Randy) knew that if they did not win the second main it would be very hard to win the last three to finish on top. With that in mind they took over lead from Team 4 (Hernandez, Art B, Hello Moto) once Hernandez had to go in for a battery change. The AWD was faster but it required more battery stops. From lap 85 to the end of the main, Team 3 did not look back and easily won by 14 laps. Team 4 once again came in third. Team 5 (Steven, Oscar, Art M) showed improvement in the second main but could not run down Team 4. Winning team had 383 laps.

Second main results

Team 2 restored the order in the third main. It was not easy though. There was a very close race between Teams 2, 3, and 4 with many lead changes. Hernandez put down the fastest lap so far in the day, 7.80. This was the closes race so far with Team 2 winning by just 9.70 seconds. Team 2 at this point put up the most number of laps, 388. Every team by now has stepped up their lap count and the racing was getting very close. Teams 1 though 7 were now only separated by 64 laps.

Third main results

In the fourth main Team 3 evened things up at two a piece with Team 2. They were now knotted and the final main would decide the champion. Early on in this main, Team 4 looked to be the clear winner. Hernandez put them out in front early and his team put up consistent laps to keep the lead late into the race. Team 4 had the lead until lap 346. The modified AWD needed a battery change and a new driver. At this point they had a 7 lap lead and it was going to be up to his team to hold on for the victory. However with Steve Perez and Stephen chasing you down, it would be a hard task for anyone. Perez and Stephen eventually ran down Team 4 and Team 3 won by 13.98 seconds. Team 3 now had the highest lap count with 389 laps.

Forth main results

In the last main, Hernandez was determined to get his team a main victory and he left it all on the track. He put down some the fastest lap of the day in the last main. Team 3 came out fast and lead every lap except for 20 laps. The last main was the best main of the day. Every team got faster on the track in faster with their pit/driver changes. At lap 269 Stephen came in for Team 3’s last driver change. That driver change put him into second place with 18 minutes to race. Perez was on the track for Team 2 and his team decided to let him just come in for a battery change and do a back to back driving stint to finish the race. Now imagine 15 minutes left and you, in this case Stephen, have a small two lap lead over Perez with an eternity to drive (15 minutes). We had a good sized crowd gathered now and the pressure was on. Which ever team won this last main was going to be the mall champion. The gap was bouncing around at 1 or 2 laps the whole time. There was complete concentration and the crowd was getting into it. In the end Stephen’s youth might have played a role in the victory. Team 3 now put up the most laps of the day with 395 laps.

Fifth main results

Thank you to all the racers that came out and raced. You all deserved to win. I would also like to thank Joel Johnson won sent a great raffle prize, and ASF car. The winner was a seven year old boy. I would like to thank PN for send raffle prizes. Iron man of the race was Mike aka GoFast. He teamed up with his 7 year old son and his son’s 7 year old friend. This meant that Mike did most of the driving. Good job Mike, rest your arm. I will get the lap times up soon."

Official Results:

1^st Place: Team 3 Stephen Bui, Randy Luu, Tony Truong 48 pts

2^nd Place: Team 2 Steve Perez, John Frazier, Jaime M 47 pts

3^rd Place: Team 4 Jonanthan Hernandez, Art B, Hello Moto 40 pts

4^th Place: Team 5 Steven Huynh, Oscar Y, Art M 32 pts

5^th Place: Team 7 Binh Do, Alan A, Layman Reid 26 pts

5^th Place: Team 6 Mike Ma, Adrian, Matthew 26 pts

5^th Place: Team 1 Eric Vasutin, Ken Brumblay, Hung Nguyen 26 pts

For more information about Mini-Z's and Inside Line Racing, check out their site:

http://www.insidelineracing.com/

Recap: West Coast Touring Car King's Race @ Marin R/C 9/27-28

The Marin R/C West Coast Touring Car King's Race turned out to be an awesome 2-day event and thanks go out to all who set it up, and a big congratulations to those who placed in all classes!!

Recap provided by club member Justin "Catalyst" Bowden (Who placed 2nd in a stacked 17.5 class!! Congrats!):

"Thanks again to Jesse and crew who put on a really unique race format that was the most fun and best competition for any race I've personally been involved with! Those that missed the race really missed out. Competition was thick in all classes and even with money on the line, and talent in the entire field - there were no problems whatsoever. It was well organized, and everyone in attendance appeared to be having a great time!

Time Trials were a great idea and hopefully this becomes something done on the club level more often. It raised the bar for events to come and despite the competitive spirit of the racers, it actually seemed to build some comraderie between racers as we all stood and cheered each driver on.

Cash prizes were thought by some to possibly bring out the worst in racers but this wasn't even an issue. All those in attendance were serious but there were no issues in tech, no problems with attitudes on the track, clean racing, and even with a couple early computer glitches - people just rolled with it and kept in the spirit of having a good time!

Track records were shattered - and for me personally, I broke into laptimes I've never ran. Track conditions were excellent on Sunday and Jesse is a master of knowing how to get the right balance for fast lap times. Even in practice - seeing some of California's best put in insanely fast laps was quite the spectacle!

The apple crisp changed lives! It was great to see the racers being shown appreciation for supporting the local venue.

Congratulations to all those who made the podium! Jeremy was the man to beat all weekend in 17.5 and never fell of his pace. Lex had a seriously hooked up car and his line amazes me. He showed up with the crown and is a local King! EJ - wow what a main in 10.5...seeing you KJ and Jesse start with inches between you all for a few laps blew my mind! MiniMod ran strong all weekend and gave everyone serious competition and placed in both 10.5 and 13.5 to back up his TQ from the Time Trials.

Thanks again for offering such a great event with Special thanks to Jesse Stark, Christian and Marin R/C, Joe Nolasco with live webcam, sound, organization and all, Blake and 707paint.net for donating the awesome bodies, ABR for hooking up the baker to serve us up apple crisp, and a quick shout to Mendoza for being cool and watching his significant other fill in for the no show trophy girl!"

Videos of the A-Mains (courtesy of "ZoomZoomer" - www.rcracing.com boards):

10.5 Qualifier featuring KevinJ, EJ Evan and Lex Tyler

10.5 A-Main

17.5 A-Main

For more photos, check out this thread on the RCRacing message boards.

Off-Road Racing Report: NorCal Hobbies 09/13/08

Hey there all, we had a great time at norcal Saturday! I pitted with Pigiron (thanks for letting me have a table PI!) and Fabrc brought his air compressor by (totally useful, thanks man!) Darksoul was also there (great chatting with you and frank!). There were A LOT of people there yesterday, I left a little after 5pm and they still had mains to run!



The new addition to the track, called the "rythm section", is a series of 6 mini jumps right after the hairpin that leads into the step down jump. This was pretty painful in every class. Things got really shaken up and we saw what usually are the fastest cars on the track (4wd mods) lose out to the 2wd 13.5 drivers - I think those bumps really changed everyone's game.

The slashes actually handled it well since they had some good ground clearance. The 4wd mod class had it pretty bad since you could get stuck on the apex of the mini jump and be stuck there spinning your wheels! The jumps were hard to master but at some point everyone KNEW what to do, doing it consistently was the difficult part.

Double-double-double was the easiest way to tackle it, but if you missed that first double, you were either on your lid or singling the next 4 or 5 little jumps. It was pretty brutal. some of the pros were triple-tripling it, but even they could not do it every lap so a lot of time was lost there.

Slash
Darksoul, Pigiron and I all raced slash. This was fun as usual! They combined the mains into one big 10-car main, which I think is still too many slashes on the track at once. With a handful of really good pro-level drivers and so much traffic to contend with, it's just a lot of big trucks to have to deal with. I am not sure how the other guys placed, but I managed to come from dead last and finish 5th.

The guy to beat in slash was James Arluck. He's definitely a seasoned expert on the track, but his slash was really fast! he was running the 23t pinion, but the power was there to really take him over the jumps, and far! I actually had a 19t pinion (from the 23t) for the added torque and Arluck's looked like it had even more! This seems to substantiate the claims I have read in other forums that the quality of the titan motors can vary greatly. This was only my 4th outing with the slash and my motor is feeling way sluggish.

Work had me super slammed all week so I didn't get to do the overhaul I wanted on my cars (again!) but i burned the midnight oil to completely clean out out the slash, re-lube the transmission and rebuild all the shocks with new o-rings. I made some minor tweaks to the front suspension (heavier oil) and I loved the way it handled. I just need more speed out of that titan motor!

My suggestion for the slash: break in a few motors (use the water break in) and test which is faster. I'm going to break in my spare motor and maybe get another, break that in and test before I race slash again - I dont have a lot of runs on my current motor, I broke it in and i clean and lube it before every race, but it's feeling slow - hopefully the other motor works better.

Rookie
PigIron rocked it in rookie with his Losi XXX-CR - he did great! He didn't get much practice time because he broke a caster block. Super prepared with some spares, he made the fix and did fairly well in the qualifiers. He really turned up the heat in the main with some solid and steady driving that sealed him a 2nd place finish! Congrats PigIron!

We had been discussing earlier in the day about how rookie is actually pretty difficult as there are some seasoned rookies in there as well as the really novice drivers. some on road folks start out in rookie even though they have excellent driving skills and some rookies have been in there for a while. The difficult thing is there isn't an easy graduation point from rookie. For example, any rookie with a 4wd automatically goes to 4wd mod, one of the more competitive classes at the track (hence me being thrown into the fray ) - it would be great if there was a middle stage, some sort of sportsman level for 2wd and 4wd, where you are better than rookie, but not having to battle it out with the pro level drivers right from the start.

PigIron also took a few laps with the Golden Fox (his TC4) on the on-road course in preparation for the Sunday Marin event, his setup looked solid!

4WD Mod
4WD Mod was fun, but hard! I hadn't had any practice time from my rookie race a few weekends ago and I was anticipating being pretty slow - and I was! I started to feel a bit battered by the time the mains came as I just couldn't break out of rookie driving habits. slow-n-steady doesn't win races in 4wd mod

I ended up in the C-Main and had decided that I would just drive as aggressively as possible (for me) - not try and fly off the track or anything, but really push harder than I have in past races. this mental shift really paid off! I was clearing the front triples consistently and I was finally going full throttle on the back straight. I ended up in a battle for first with Brice Arnold- lot's of lead changes and really aggressive driving by both of us. It was really fun and totally exhilarating. I actually felt some freedom to push it once I started to clear the triples and not worry about breaking. I managed to hang on to the lead and it really made my day - I had thoughts in qualifying that I didnt belong in 4wd mod but this race really was fun! I wish I had driven as hard during qualifying, and certainly will push it harder now that I've broken through that mental barrier.

Another great day at the track. Thanks again Pigiron for the awesome pit area, we had a few guys out there representing the club (Fabrc, Darksoul, Pigiron)! I cant wait for the next one!
-Michelangelo "Hopbot"

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Racing Report: GroundPounders Club Event - September 7th, 2008

The GroundPounders event on September 7th was a blast! I headed out very, very early on Sunday morning and met fellow club member Justin (aka: Catalyst) at his place to carpool up to Windsor CA, where the GP Club holds their monthly races. They put on quite a good event. Apparently, the turnout was one of the best in recent times with 118 entries! There were 21 different races with various on-road electric and nitro cars including: oval, touring cars and pan cars just to name a few - and of course, the featured Traxxas Slash race. There were three different jumps and roughly 16 slashes bumbling around the track! It made for fantastic entertainment for the crowd of people that had gathered throughout the day to watch the racing. The winner received an enormous trophy!The BAPRC Club had a strong showing. Marco (PigIron) took the win in Novice Oval, while I (Bryan aka "B-Dog") and Catalyst won the Novice Electric Touring Car and Slash B-Main (which bumped him into the A-Main) respectively. Everyone at the event was very friendly and helpful, which provided a great atmoshpere. All in all it was an awesome day of racing and we are all looking forward to the next one! Thanks again to everyone involved.

While there aren't a ton, you can check out the rest of the pictures here.

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.

Spec Class Races BEGIN!!

At about 6:30 PM last night, we began setup on the Spec Racing Class track at Mother's Raceway - shortly after, practice began. As guys made their way around the track and began to get a feel for it and how to take the jumps, the anticipation and excitement began to grow.

In our previous meeting, the track felt a tad tight, so this time around we added a bit of width to each lane, and it felt pretty much spot on. There was just enough room to past, while still feeling snug and technical.

Please excuse the poor video quality (below), as my digital camera doesn't do that well at night. The visibility for the drivers is MUCH better than the camera makes it look (We also added a second set of lights this week, so the entire track is flooded with light)





It didn't take long for everyone to decide we were ready to get the competition going, and our first Spec Class races began!! The competition was awesome, and the laughs were constant as club members made their way around the track, battling for position (and to stay upright!).












In my opinion, this is by far the most fun I've had at an outing with the club thus far. As anyone can tell you, it's one thing to drive around in practice and bashing, but it's entirely different when you feel the "heat" of competition breathing down your neck and are concentrating intensly to drive your best and not make mistakes - all while trying to pass or keep pace with the guy in front of you! It's also important to note that the competition is strcictly about fun, with no pressure at all; whether you have the fastest or slowest time for the night.Before packing up for the night, we were able to get three racing heats in, each at 5 minute durations. While we have yet to purchase a transponder setup for lap counting/timing, Amir (aka: Digitalflyer) brought out his laptop and lap timing software and has all the results saved. Special thanks to Tasia (aka: Lady Vengeance) for helping keep track of the cars amongst the chaos!! We will be uploading all that information ASAP, so check back soon for more details.

You can check out more pics from last night here.

Thanks for all who came out, and see you all at the next one!

B-Dog

Footgage of practice before the racing began:

2008 Cactus Classic

For those of us itching to hit the dirt but have to wait until the weekend, these videos from the 2008 Cactus Classic (Held at Scottsdale RC Speedway, AZ) may keep you happy until then ;) It's awesome to watch world-champion drivers battling it out! I've deciphered the results from the source thread so let me know if I've made any mistakes. Enjoy!

- Michelangelo

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Mod 2WD

Mod 2WD A1

Mod 2WD A2

Mod 2WD A3

1. Jared Tebo (B4)
2. Jesse Robbers (B4)
3. Masami Hirosaka (B4)
4. Ryan Cavalieri (B4)
5. Matt Chambers (Losi XXX CR)
6. Hayato Matsuzaki (B4)
7. Mike Truhe (Losi XXX CR)
8. Neil Cragg (B4)
9. Mark Pavidas (Kyosho RB5)
10. Ryan Maifield (B4)

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Mod Truck

Mod Truck A1

Mod Truck A2

Mod Truck A3

1. Ryan Cavalieri (T4)
2. Ryan Maifield (T4)
3. Mike Truhe (Losi XXXT-CR)
4. Masami Hirosaka (T4)
5. Billy Fischer (T4)
6. Steve Hartson (T4)
7. Jesse Robbers (T4)
8. Chad Due (T4)
9. Brian Kinwald (X Factory X60)
10. Matt Chambers (Losi XXXT-CR)

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Mod 4WD

Mod 4WD A1

Mod 4WD A2

Mod 4WD A3

1. Jared Tebo (B44)
2. Ryan Cavalieri (B44)
3. Masami Hirosaka (Yokomo)
4. Lee Martin (B44)
5. Travis Amezcua (Hot Bodies D4)
6. Hayato Matsuzaki (Hot Bodies D4)
7. Mark Pavidas (Kyosho ZX-5 SP)
8. Ronnie Gardner (Kyosho ZX-5 SP)
9. Mike Truhe (Losi XXX-4)
10. Ryan Maifield (B44)

RC Madness 2008 Indoor Off-road 1/18th Nationals Results

The results are in for the 2008 1/18th Off-road Nationals!! The event looked to be a big success, and I can only look on with envy at the fun that took place at RC Madness in Connecticut.

For details on the results, check out one18th.com

Open Truck A main Video:

Open Buggy A main