EVENT - Arizona Electric Festival - Feb 2017

Thursday, January 19th, 2017

I am thinking of going to this, so I decide I would share.  Below is the information about the event, and I included a picture of their flyer.

13th Annual Arizona Electric Festival

Dates:
February 17, 18 & 19, 2017

Hours:
Friday: 8 AM to 5 PM
Saturday: 8 AM to 4 PM and Night Fly 6:00 PM-9:00 PM
Sunday: 8 AM to 2 PM

Location:
Arizona Model Aviators Superstition Air Park-See attached map

Spectators:
Free limited bleacher seating
Food & drinks available on site
Vendors on site

Admission:
$6.00 per carload (includes parking)

Pilots:
$40 entry fee includes parking and pizza party Saturday evening.
Current AMA Membership Required of All Participating Pilots.

Register on website, or at event
https://www.rcflightdeck.com/event.cfm?id=6023

Limited number of camping spaces on site for participants: contact CD.

Helicopter and Multirotor time each day
Air Show at Noon on Saturday

Back after a long Hiatus, where I stand now with my Hobbys

Thursday, January 19th, 2017

WOW, its been almost 2 1/2 years since my last post, where has the time gone.  Well, a lot has happened in the Arizona, Valley of the Sun area.  Almost ALL of the RC off-road tracks in the valley and in Tuscon are now closed.  I think there may be 1 in Tuscon, and SRS/Hobbytown in Phoenix/Glendale I believe are still open.  For the only on-road track in the Valley Hobbytown Gilbert, they are closed as well.  So as you can see, my RC On-Road and Off-Road racing is done, I am no longer motivated to continue in that area with almost no place to race, unless I drive a long ways.

So, to update everyone on what I have been doing lately,  My brother has been tinkering with RC Airplane, and I did buy a Super Cub DSM back in 2013 that I did fly several times.  You can find posts about that by using the Archive on the right, and going down to April 2013 for posts about that plane.  You can also go to my YouTube channel and see videos of me flying as well.

So, where do I stand now.

Well, I am planning on getting in RC Flying, both planes and Quadcopter/Drones.  Along with this, I want to get into some aerial photography with both, and then we will see where things go.  I also would like to jump into the 5th Scale market of racing, starting with Off-Road and possibly going on-road as there is a Track in Tuscon area.  But for now its just going to be the RC Flying.

Some of the features of the blogs will be changing, over the next week or so I plan on changing the menu, adding some features for the RC Flying hobby, etc.

Until next time, keep dreaming, and don't loose hope on your hobbies.

RC Racing at Cal Raceway for the King of Cal, Best of the West for GT Racers event

Sunday, April 13th, 2014

Got in a great weekend of racing down at Cal Raceway in Orange, CA.  I would like to thank my friend Mike Sheehan for inviting me to come along, it was a blast.  The first time I raced at this track was back in August of 2013 with my friend Dean, see that post here.  I really loved racing that track back then, and this time it did not disappoint.  This past weekend was the King of Cal, Best of the West for GT Racers, it was a great event.  I would like to give a big thanks to Todd U. from HobbyTown, Gilbert for loaning me his Mini for I could race in the GT12F class.

For this race I signed up for 3 classes, VTA, GT10, and GT12F. Below is the race flyer, and click this link for the result:  KING OF CAL RACE RESULTS.

Below is a picture of the group of us that came over from Arizona:

From left to right: Mike Sheehan, Brad Muther, Joe Myers, Bryan Myers and myself kneeling down.

Saturday RC Racing down at HobbyTown Gilbert

Saturday, April 5th, 2014

It was a great day for racing at HobbyTown Gilbert, the temperature was great, and I think it was about 75-80 degrees, the wind picked up now and again, but that felt nice.  I missed last Saturday racing, and was pleasantly surprised to see the new layout tot he track, the back stretch was setup North to South instead of the East to West, and the layout looked very cool.  Below is a picture I took of the new layout, not the best, but it gives you an idea of the layout.  I got there early enough that I was able to practice a little with both of my cars, and the feel of the track was very nice.

Not the best picture, but the new layout was fast.

I want to thank Mike S. for saving me a nice spot under one of his Canopy's.  It was very nice to pit under the shade.  It was also nice to see Gary McAllister from McAllister Racing down from Flagstaff, he was pitting with me an Mike S.  After getting all setup in the pits it was on to practice and racing.

All setup, and ready for some action.

I had Gary McAllister setup to my right, and Mike S, to the right of him.

On to the racing, today, I would do my normal Sportsman Road-Course, and also VTA oval.  I was going to VTA Road-Course, but I just don;t have the car setup right for that yet.  Currently I have a borrowed, 25.5 in the car (thanks Mike), but would like to convert this car to Spec GT, and get a 21.5 in it.  Then pick up a Associated TC4 and setup that car for VTA.  Now on to the results:

Vintage Road Course

Round 1

Since I missed last Saturday's racing on the new layout, I was unaware of the change for VTA Oval, it now a 34 lap break-out class, rather than the usual 32 laps.  They did this now, because the new layout is shorter.  So round 1 when I finished I thought I had the round with a 32, 4:01 run, but soon realized, Opps, I'm way to slow, lol :)

Driver  Laps   Time  
Jeff     33   4:00.25
Debra    33   4:00.66
Mike J   33   4:07.01
Carl     33   4:07.75
Frank    32   4:01.76
Norm     30   4:06.69
Don      15   1:52.48

Round 2

After making some adjustment to the car, round 2 was much better.  I was able to stay with the leaders, and the car was a little faster.  And this time I was able to finish with 34 laps improving my 5th place finish in round 1 with a 3rd place finish in round 2, so I ended up qualifying 3rd and would be starting on 2nd row for the A-Main.

Driver  Laps   Time  
Don      34   4:01.65
Debra    34   4:02.26
Frank    34   4:02.79
Jeff     34   4:03.40
Mike J   33   4:00.27
Carl     33   4:00.88
Norm     31   4:03.71

A-Main

In the A-Main, the traction seemed to be great, and some of the leaders looked to be flying.  I tried to stay with them, but they were hauling.  And in the end, better for me I didn't stay with them as the top three broke out, and I took home the A-Main win with an almost perfect 34, 4:00, although, some would say I squeaked by and almost broke out myself :)

Driver  Laps   Time  
Don      35   4:04.62
Carl     35   4:06.13
Debra    35   4:06.51
Frank    34   4:00.35
Mike J   34   4:02.54
Jeff     34   4:05.69
Norm     32   4:01.03

TC Sportsman Road Course - 17.5

I felt with the 13.5 TC Road Course Point Series starting today, there would be less of a turn out for Sportsman Road Course, but I was amazed to see 2 full heats of racers today, it was great to see the turn-out for today.

Round 1

The new layout was fun, the car was handling okay, and I feel overall I did well.  With a few laps to go, the car was not handling at all, and come to find out, I broke one of the battery braces, and the battery was swing from side to side in car.

Heat 1                  Heat 2               

Driver  Laps   Time     Driver  Laps   Time  
Gary M   22   4:09.27   Chris    21   4:06.77
Mike S   20   4:04.81   Frank    20   4:04.34
Carl     19   4:06.16   Bill     19   4:03.36
T J      19   4:12.02   Colby    19   4:07.93
Bryan     7   2:23.35   Dustin   18   4:08.67

Round 2

Round 2 felt better, and I was able to pick up another lap, and if it wasn't for a bad crash at the end I might have picked up 2 laps, as my 21 was a slow 4:16.

Heat 1                  Heat 2               

Driver  Laps   Time     Driver  Laps   Time  
Gary M   21   4:09.48   Chris    22   4:09.75
T J      20   4:10.95   Frank    21   4:16.56
Bryan    19   4:13.95   Bill     20   4:11.46
Carl     17   4:09.80   Dustin   18   4:06.02
Mike S    7   1:27.48   Colby     4   2:31.31

B-Main

Driver  Laps   Time  
Dustin   20   4:07.01
Bill     20   4:10.78
Carl     19   4:04.37
Bryan    19   4:07.56
Colby    19   4:09.22

A-Main

The A-Main was rough, the car was all over the place.  Besides me pushing too hard, the car just would not handle.  And I apologize to those I accidentally took out a few times.  I finished where I started the day off, and pulled 20 laps, finishing in 4th place, one spot off the podium.

Driver  Laps   Time  
Chris    21   4:00.72
Gary M   21   4:03.05
T J      21   4:11.83
Frank    20   4:06.81
Mike S   19   4:04.71

Final Thoughts

It was a great day of racing, and the company was fantastic.  It was great to see Gary McAllister (McAllister Racing) down for some racing action at HobbyTown Gilbert.  As always thanks to Mike S. for allowing me to pit under his large canopy with him and Gary M.  I won't be racing at HobbyTown next week, looking forward to a little break from Arizona, I will be heading to California with Mike S, as he so graciously invited me to come along with him to race at CalRaceway, as they are having their "King of Cal - Best in West for GT Racers" event.  Below is a flyer for that event, it should be a blast.

.

RC Racing at HobbyTown, Gilbert

Saturday, March 22nd, 2014

Got in another round of racing down at HobbyTown in Gilbert AZ.  It was a great day, slight breeze for most of the day and a great group of people.  It was another good turnout, and I believe there was about 24 heats of racing.  For this day, I did VTA Oval and Sportsman Road Course.  I had my new VTA body mounted and ready for today's racing.  I still have not painted the new body for the Touring Car, I've had that new body since December, and its been sitting on the shelf daring me to paint it, lol.  Maybe next weekend I break out the paint and whip up a new paint scheme for the touring car.

Pits setup and ready for racing.

New VTA body, don;t have the stickers on it yet, but will for the next outing.

Vintage Road Course

Round 1
After round 1 is was very close racing, I was inline for the A-Main being shown 3rd overall after round 1.

Heat 1                    Heat 2
Driver   Laps   Time      Driver   Laps   Time  
Tony      32   4:03.25    Frank     31   4:05.19
Joe A     32   4:04.36    Freddie   31   4:06.49
Debra     31   4:05.84    Derek     31   4:06.73
Jeff      30   4:00.84    Dhavil    31   4:06.93
Mike J    30   4:01.06    R L       27   4:02.26
Norm      30   4:04.85                          

Round 2
Round 2 had a lot of racers in Heat 1 of round 2 breaking out, but with two other drivers hitting the 32 lap mark, and me only doing another 31 laps, it pushed me back to starting 1st in the B-Main.

Heat 1                    Heat 2
Driver   Laps   Time      Driver   Laps   Time  
Joe A     33   4:01.68    Derek     32   4:07.63
Mike J    33   4:05.13    Dhavil    32   4:07.64
Tony      33   4:05.41    Freddie   31   4:01.67
Jeff      33   4:06.01    Frank     31   4:02.24
Debra     32   4:00.11    R L       27   4:00.97
Norm      29   4:06.39                          

UPDATE! - 03/24/2014
Found the prints outs for the Mains

B-Main
Driver   Laps   Time  
Mike J    33   4:05.40
Jeff      33   4:06.06
Frank     33   4:06.58
Norm      30   4:00.38 - Norm gets the win
R L       27   4:00.99

A-Main
Driver   Laps   Time  
Dehavil   32   4:01.17
Joe A     32   4:01.90
Debra     32   4:02.70
Tony      32   4:03.34
Freddie   31   4:00.28
Derek      0   DNS

TC Sportsman - 17.5

Heat 1
Heat 1 was a blast, it was a very close race.  Once again it was Bill and I battling it out for the lead the entire race.  In the end Bill got me.

Driver   Laps   Time  
Bill      21   4:01.46
Frank     21   4:05.24
Bryan     19   4:06.86
Matt      18   4:01.08
Jerry     14   4:08.02
Riley     13   4:15.26
Mike S     0   DNS    
T J        0   DNS     

Heat 2
This heat, I did not do very good at all, but still managed to pull out a second place finish.

Driver   Laps   Time   
T J       21   4:11.35
Frank     20   4:03.29
Bill      20   4:07.13
Bryan     19   4:08.28
Matt      18   4:09.47
Jerry     15   4:11.22
Riley     13   4:14.22
Mike S     1   0:09.72

A-Main and Cancelled B-Main

The B-Main was cancelled because 3 out of the 4 drivers for the B-Main broke, and could not start the race, so they moved the one driver into the A-Main so there was 5 of us.

UPDATE! - 03/24/2014
Found the prints outs for the Mains

A-Main Results
Driver   Laps   Time   
Bill      21   4:04.14
T J       21   4:10.67
Frank     20   4:01.76
Bryan     19   4:06.43
Matt      19   4:08.12

Final Thoughts

Thanks for all the advice I received from Mike S. and Todd.  Overall it was a great day of racing, and really looking forward to my next outing.  Not sure if it will be next Saturday the 29th but will definitely be there on the 5th of April.

On-Road RC Racing down at HobbyTown, Gilbert, Az

Saturday, March 8th, 2014

It's been awhile since I posted any of my racing results, and I need to get back into the swing of things, lol.  Saturday, March 8th, I got in some racing down at HobbyTown, in Gilbert, Az.  I finally got my second car setup for VTA racing.  I was going to race VTA oval with this car, but my friend Mike S. convinced me to try Vintage Road Course with this car.  Since I had a 17.5 motor in the car, Mike loaned my one of his extra 25.5 motors for I could race in this class.  After getting the car setup with the new motor, it was on to racing.  My other car, I did my normal Sportsman 17.5 Road Course.

All setup in the pits, and ready to race.

It was a good turn out for Saturday Racing, and there I think over 20 heats of racing, great turn-out.  My Vintage Road Course was heat #19, and my Sportsman 17.5 Road Course was heat #21.

On to the results:

Vintage Road Course

Heat 1
My car was wicked loose, and the rear-end was coming around on almost every corner.  The car was setup for more oval, so I figured it wouldn't do very well on the road course, but didn't think it would have been that bad, lol :)

Driver   Laps   Time   
Todd      20   4:03.92 
Mike S.   20   4:04.54 
Bill      19   4:03.20 
Jeff      18   4:00.61
Frank     18   4:07.47

Heat 2
For this round I made a few adjustments, and the car started out a lot better.  But it just shut off on me after about the 12th lap.  My puffy battery finally died, but at least it didn't damage the car any.

Driver   Laps   Time   
Bill      19   4:06.76 
Todd      19   4:07.34 
Jeff      19   4:11.55 
Frank     12   2:51.51 
Mike S     3   0:31.88 

A-Main
For the Main, the car was handling a lot better.  But Todd was too much for me, I think I need to adjust my timing on the motor, and possibly make sore gear changes to match his speed.  Over all I enjoyed racing this class.  I think the next time I go out, I will stick with the VTA Oval until I get my TC4.

Driver   Laps   Time   
Todd      21   4:07.16 
Frank     19   4:06.50 
Bill      18   4:05.32 
Jeff       2   0:23.06 
Mike S         DNS     

TC Sportsman - 17.5

Heat 1
Heat 1 was a blast, it was a very close race.  Me and Bill were battling for the lead the entire race.  I think we both lead about 10 laps each, and Bill on the last lap got me.  Everyone was on the same lap at the end of the race.  Nathan started late about 2 minutes into the heat, or he would have been right up there with us.

Driver   Laps   Time   
Bill      20   4:01.91 
Frank     20   4:03.22 
T J       20   4:11.25 
Jerry     20   4:16.37 
Nathan     8   4:03.97 

Heat 2
Heat 2 did not disappoint, it was a hard battle just like heat 1.  We were all very close to each other. and all finished with seconds of each other.  With a great pass at the second to last lap, I was able to get around Bill and take the lead and TQ for the round.

Driver   Laps   Time   
Frank     21   4:07.72 
Bill      21   4:09.16 
Nathan    21   4:10.39 
Jerry     21   4:12.99 
T J       20   4:04.56 

A-Main
For the A-Main I started out a little rough, and crashed a few times, and I was at the back of the field after about the first 3 laps.  But It was a blast working my way through the field.  I want to apologize to Bill for taking him out, otherwise he would have had 20 laps.  But in the end, I just could not catch Nathan, and finished about 1/2 lap behind him with 21 laps also.

Driver   Laps   Time   
Nathan    21   4:07.93 
Frank     21   4:15.64 
T J       20   4:03.20 
Jerry     20   4:05.63 
Bill      19   4:03.62 

Final Thoughts

Overall it was a great day of racing, and looking forward to my next outing.  I will try to get pictures of the new bodies up this week, and will be racing the weekend of the 22nd at HobbyTown, Gilbert.  I will try and update the blog each week from now on.

Thinking about the blog.....

Well, I have been seriously slacking when it comes to my blog.

For the past month or so, I was even thinking of just removing the blog, and not posting anymore.  But after some more thought, I will keep this blog, and try to post more about my racing hobby.

I have a few posts I will be making this week about the last couple of months racing, then I will try to post at least once a week on current stuff.

Round 2 of the Gen-6 NASCAR Series Rained out

Saturday, November 23rd, 2013

With the heavy rain that has been going on over the last day or so and today, racing was cancelled.  Hopefully things can be rescheduled to make up the round of racing.

Team Associated TC6.2

Tuesday, November 12th, 2013

The new TC6.2 was announced this week, looks very cool.  There will be one in my RC garage after the beginning of the year.

Here are the specs from the Team Associated website:

Vehicle Specifications
Power Source:         Electric
Terrain:              On-Road
Body Style:           Touring Car
Scale Size:           1:10 Scale
Assembly Level:       Kit*
Length:               Varies
Width:                Varies
Wheelbase:            255mm (10.04in)
Weight:               Varies
Internal Gear Ratio:  2.0:1
Drive: 4WD
* This vehicle comes as a kit and must be fully assembled by the user. Electronics and/or an engine/motor may be required.

Required to Complete
1:10 scale electric motor
1:10 scale electronic speed control
7.4V LiPo, 6.0V LiFe battery
Battery charger (suited for, and particular to, one of the batteries mentioned above)
2-channel surface transmitter, and its batteries
2-channel receiver
Steering servo
1:10 scale (190mm) polycarbonate touring car body
Polycarbonate-specific spray paint for body
1:10 scale rubber or foam touring car tires

Round 1 of the Gen 6 Point series at HobbyTown Gilbert

Saturday, November 9th, 2013

Round 1 of the Gen 6 point series is in the books.  It was a great day of racing, and I had a blast.  It was a great turn-out for round 1, for the Gen-6 Pancar division there was 13 entries and in the Gen-6 Sedan class (my class) there was 17 entries.  I wanted to do a full write up of each qualifier and the mains, but I lost my notebook with all the laps times, etc.  I will try to do better for the next 5 rounds.  My car for this round really started coming around, and I was able to do a personal best with 40 laps in the first qualifier.  I ended up qualifying for the B-Main, which with this series, the winner of the B gets to move into the A-Main.  I ended up finishing in 3rd in the B, which for round 1 has put in 9th in the points.

All setup in the pits, one of these days I need to
get a Canopy/Tent for some shade..

Like I said earlier, I lost my notebook pages with all the qualifiers, laps etc, so for this post I will just post the point standing.

Gen-6 - Cup Series RWD Pan Car
Points after Round 1

Gen-6 - Cup Series AWD Sedan
Points after Round 1

On-Road RC Racing at HobbyTown USA - Gilbert

Saturday, October 2nd, 2013

It has been awhile since I got in any racing.  Had a lot of things going on personally, the biggest being my Mom having to go into Hospice care has been a large part why I have been off the grid for the past month and a half.  With the new Point series coming up, I decided this would be a good opportunity to get back into the game, and get my mind off things.  The first round of the point series is November 9th, and after getting my car ready, I wanted to get in a couple Saturdays of racing to try to get the setup close to race ready.  With the body all trimmed up and painted, I was itching to get it on the track.

Gen 6 - Ford Fusion - By McAllister Racing

There was a good group of that showed up on Saturday to get in some test and tuning.  Of the Gen 6 2WD Class, there was enough that showed up that they needed two heats for them.  For the Gen-6 4WD Class there was 6 of us.

I was not complexity done with my body when I showed up for racing on Saturday, I still had to mount the back spoiler and finish the final race trimming, so I missed the first heat of racing, the leaders were averaging 42-43 laps.  I was also racing in my usual Sportsman Road Course class, and i was able to make both heats for that class.  I forgot to grab the print outs for the heats so I don;t have laps times for everyone except mine, but I was able to grab the A-Mains.

Qualifying Round 1:
Sportsman Road Course:
For round One I had a really good round of 22 laps and took 2nd place in my heat.  I think first place had 23 laps.

Gen 6 Sedan - 4WD:
Missed this round, and the the leaders were about 42-43 laps.

Qualifying Round 2:
Sportsman Road Course:
For this round, I was able to improve my first round and finished with 23 laps and again took 2nd place in my heat.

Gen 6 Sedan - 4WD:
Being this is the first time with this body style on the track, I did not do as well as I thought i would, I think I finished in the low 30's for number of laps in 6th place.  After this round, I wanted to thank Mike S. for helping me with my setup, and getting the body mounted correctly.

Group Pictures:
After the heats and before the Mains started, everyone got together to do a group photo of all the Gen-6 cars and the drivers.

The cars looked good all lines up.

Good group of guys, looking forward to racing with them for the full series.

The Mains:

Sportsman Sedan - Road Course:

Driver  Laps   Time  
Craig    24   4:10.82
Dustin   23   4:02.44
Nathan   23   4:03.55
Frank    23   4:08.64
Rudy     21   4:10.15

Gen-6 Sedan - 4WD:

Driver  Laps   Time  
Mike S.  43   4.05.03
Richard  42   4:03.60
Gary     41   4:00.07
Mike J.  40   4:03.14
Frank    38   4:02.70
Rich     34   4:00.50

Overall it was a good day of testing and tuning.  I was able to walk away with some good ideas for changing my setup for next Saturday.  My goal for next Saturday is to break into the 40's for the Gen-6 class.

HobbyTown, Gilbert - 2013/2014 Stock Car Cup Series

Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013

Its been over a month since I last raced, and I'm going a little stir crazy.  Looking forward to the new point series that is starting in November at the HobbyTown - Gilbert track.   This will be a 6 race series, starting in November and ending in January 2014, and of the 6 races, there will be 1 throw out for the points.  This series main sponsor is McAllister Racing, and there will be awards and recognition for the top 10 in each class.  Below if the flyer for the series, and it goes over the dates and the classes.  You can also check-out more about the series by going to the following link: Gen 6 Winter Point Series.

Today I purchased my new body for the series, It's a Gen 6 Ford fusion (Part #293), from McAllister racing.  I love the look of the ford bodies, and can't wait to get the body painted.  I will post next when I have the body painted and all mounted up.  I'm not going crazy on the paint scheme, maybe 2 colors, something similar to Ford Penske 22 Car.

Since there are only two Saturday races left before the start of the series, I will be testing the car this Saturday, October 26th.  Hopefully enough of us that will be racing in the series show up for we can make a class of it.

Looks like it will be a good fit on my TC6.1

Saturday, August 24th, 2013

Day two in California, and Dean and myself hit Cal Raceway, located in Orange, CA.  They have been running their Super Saturday Series, so we decided to hit that race.  It was a light crowd this night, because there were several large events going on this weekend.  But there was enough to run two classes.  Intermediate Sedan 17.5, which was a mix from Novice up to Expert.  The second class they ran was VTA, which eventually I plan on getting a car for.

Here is the series flyer:

Once we arrived, we met some of the local racers, and it was a great group of guys.  Once we got setup in the pits, it was time for some practice.  Below is a picture of the track layout.

Since it was a small crowd, and they were only running two classes this night, it was decided to run 3 rounds of qualifying, then the mains.

On to the racing:

Qualifying Round 1:
Intermediate Sedan 17.5:

Qualifying Round 2:
Intermediate Sedan 17.5:

Qualifying Round 3:
Intermediate Sedan 17.5:

A-Main:
Intermediate Sedan 17.5:

This was a great track, and it was a blast racing with this group.  I would love to visit this track again in the future.  Although I did not do as good as I would have liked, the traction was amazing and I was fighting with the roll-center all night, in some of the turns I would roll onto two wheels, and sometimes roll all the way over onto my lid.  Going to be working on this over the next couple of races down at HobbyTown Gilbert, will be playing with the setup.

Getting is some Carpet Practice at TQ Raceway in Chino, CA

Friday, August 23rd, 2013

This weekend I am in California for a small vacation, getting in some racing at some of the California tracks.  I am here with my Wife Rhonda and Daughter Laura, while they do Disney and California Adventures, I am hitting some of the local on-road tracks.  My friend Dean from WolfPak Racing and his family are also here is California.  His wife and kids are also hitting Disney and California Adventures with my family, and he is joining me in the racing fun.  The first night here in California we decided to hit TQ Racing in Chino, CA.  This is nice little indoor track, and the carpet was amazing, a lot of grip.  I have a feeling this is how the carpet will feel when Dean and myself go to Vegas is October for the IIC (International Indoor Championships).

Here is a picture of the track, I wish i would have taken a better angle from the drivers stand.  But you can always check out the track by going to their website (www.tqrcracing.com).

Tomorrow I will post about Saturday's RC fun.

Thursday Night Club Racing @ Hobbytown Gilbert

Thursday, August 15th, 2013

Got in another fun night of club racing down at HobbyTown Gilbert.  Its been a couple of weeks since I have raced here, and since I missed the 4th round of the Carpet Points Series down at Competition Hobbies in Tucson, I wanted to make sure I got in a Thursday night.  It was another small crowd, but it was a good group of people that showed up.  This night I decided to not only do my normal Sportsman Sedan Road Course, but also break out the Short Course truck for the Slash II class.

All setup in the pits, and ready for some action

Since it was a small crowd, it was decided we would run 2 qualifying round and then the Mains.  Normally on Thursday they only run 1 round of qualifying.  For my Sportsman Sedan class, we would be racing together this night with the Spec GT and Expert Sedan.  Now on to the racing:

Qualifying: Round 1:

Round Course - Mixed classes:

Driver   Laps   Time  
Mike D.   21   4:07.24
Frank L.  21   4:07.91
Mikey     18   4:03.78
Mike S.    7   1:26.67
Rudy     DNS   0:00.00

Qualifying: Round 2:

Round Course - Mixed classes:

Driver   Laps   Time  
Mike D.   21   4:06.12
Frank L.  21   4:09.64
Mikey     19   4:07.13
Rudy      16   4:10.22
Kyle      11   1:53.22
Mike S.  DNS   0:00.00

A-Main:

Round Course - Mixed classes:

Driver   Laps   Time  
Kyle      23   4:08.81
Mike D.   21   4:01.42
Frank L.  21   4:01.94
Mike S.   19   4:00.80
Mikey     19   4:09.48
Rudy      15   4:11.35

Over all the car felt really good, and I was able to stay very consistent with it all night.  I was still have some minor driver mistakes but clipping the corners too tight.  But with each time I go out, i feel the car coming around and my times are slowly improving.  Tonight was again a personal best of 21 all rounds.  A few more outing and I hope to get that up into the 22 and 23 laps range.

New TLR 22 2.0 Buggy - Time for an upgrade

Here is a preview video for the TLR 22 2.0:

Link for Team Losi Racing:

Club Racing at HobbyTown Gilbert

Thursday, August 1st, 2013

Got in another fun night of club racing at HobbyTown in Gilbert.  My friends Dean and Dragi (WolfPak Racing Blog) also make the trek down for some racing fun.  It was a real small crowd tonight, I think it might have been because last Thursday the racing was rained out part was through.  Tonight some storm clouds were lingering on the edge of the valley, so that might have scared some of them away.

It was a fun night of relaxed racing, I didn't write down any of the numbers or get copies of the sheets so I don't have any number for anyone.  But I did average 19 laps for each of the heat races, and finished 2nd in the A-Main for my class, 3rd overall.

I will be racing again this coming Thursday evening at HobbyTown Gilbert, and then on Sunday the 11th, I will be at Competition Hobbies down in Tucson for the 4th round of the On-road Point Series.

Round 3 of the On-Road Point Series at Competition Hobbies in Tucson

Sunday, July 21st, 2013

It was time again to head down to Competition Hobbies in Tucson for round 3 of the On-Road Carpet Point Series.  I made the trek down with my friends Dean and Dragi from Wolfpak Racing, and I'd like to thank Dean for driving his vehicle down for each of these trips and allowing me to tag along.  We headed down a little earlier than last time, they were nice enough to open the track about an 1-1/2 hours earlier then normal, and the extra practice was nice.  We got down there about 11 am, which gave us an extra hour of practice before racing started a 2 pm.

After getting setup in the pits, it was on to some practice.

I love the pit table at Competition Hobbies

I really wanted to test my car because I was running a completely different setup that the standard/stock setup I was running.  You can click on the "Setup Sheets" tab at the top of the blog to view my current setup.  The car felt amazing compared to the last time I raced down here.  I feel I picked up a whole second on my average lap times.

Seems like the 3 of us was the only ones that made the trek down from the Phoenix area, so there was only 2 heats of us for the 17.5 rubber Tire Sedan class.

On to the racing:

Qualifying Round 1:

Heat 1:


Heat 2:
This was possible the best round of racing I have did yet on this carpet track, the car felt amazing.  Compared to the last racing for this point series I on did 22 and 23 laps in the first two heats for round 2 of the point series.  This time I was able to pull a 24, it was a slow 24, but I will take it.

Dean and Dragi, working hard in the pits

Qualifying Round 2:

Heat 1:

Heat 2:
For some reason the car did not feel as well as in Heat 2, but I was consistent, and was able to pull off another 24 laps run with about the same time.

Myself, getting ready for the next round of racing.

The Mains:

B-Main:
For the B-Main, I started off pretty good, the car felt good again.  Dean was quick, and I stayed in 2nd for the whole race.  About lap 15, I had a bad turn in the sweeper, and tagged the wall hard, after that the car would not turn as well, and on lap 19, another bad mistake in the sweeper, and off came the right rear wheel.  I think when I hit the wall the first time,  it broke, and when I hit the wall on lap 19 the pin finally let loose fully.  Luckily I found the pin for the rear arm before they started the next main.

A-Main:
Here is the A-Main, although I have been progressing each week, I feel it may be another round of racing or two before I can get myself into the A-Main.  Right now the leaders are doing 27 to 30 laps, so I need to somehow pick up 3-4 laps.  On to some more practice time.