KBRL 2011 Finals at Fear Farm

Saturday, February 11th, 2012

This Saturday was the final round of the KBRL series, and it did not disappoint. I would like to thank Dean from Wolfpak Racing for allowing me to share a ride to the event and for sharing pit space together. This was the first large scale series that I have raced, and the experience that I gained has been outstanding.  I am looking forward for KBRL 2012.  The day started early, and we pretty much pitted in the same spot we did for round 2 of the series, which was nice because we had a good view of the entire setup, and could see out pit space from the drivers stand.  Below is a picture I snapped of the pit space.

Dragi from Wolfpak Racing getting ready.

For the KBRL finals, they made a new track layout, I took a panoramic shot of the layout:

New layout looked great.

The day started out with some practice time.  I was racing my HPI Blitz in the Pro-Lite class for this series, and I was also going to be entering my new TLR 22 into the 13.5 Buggy class.  BUT!!!!! OUCH!!! During practice with the TLR 22 I took a bad bounce in the middle section and came down hard on the pipe breaking the rear camber blockTLR2051.  Unfortunately, I did not have a replacement with me, so the day ended early for my TLR 22, sigh.  But on a positive note, my truck seemed to be handling the new track layout okay.

For the series I ended up finishing in 28th place out of 78 Pro-Lite drivers that had raced in the series at one time or another.  About 40 drivers raced in 2 or more of the series events.  This being my first time entering such a series I feel that I did alright, and my goal for the 2012 KBRL would be to try and crack into the top 20, or possibly the top 10.  For a full breakdown of the 2011 KBRL you can go too: http://www.racekbrl.com/ or click the logo below:

Now onto the final results for Saturdays racing:

Round 1 Qualifying:
The first round of qualifying went okay, I ended up pulling 9 laps, and finishing off in 7th place.  I had a few bad jumps off the double after the start/finish line that I just could not get a handle on all night.


Driver Laps RaceTime

Frank Lilly         9    5:16.840

Here is a video Dragi from Wolfpak Racing took of me while I was running my HPI Blitz in Round 1 of qualifying:

Round 2 Qualifying:
The second round seemed to be a little smoother, but the result was about the same, and I ended up losing about 4 secs.  These results would place me into the D-Main.


Driver Laps RaceTime
Frank Lilly 9 5:22.909


D-Main:
I finished 4th in the D-Main, and would not make the bump. I did include all the mains for the pro-lite finals below. There was a lot of good drivers out there that day.

C-Main:

B-Main:

Triple A-Mains:

A-1

A-2

A-3

This was a fun series, and I got to meet a lot of very cool people in the process.  I am looking forward to the next KBRL, and also looking forward to entering some of the other point series here in Arizona.

Friday night racing at Warehouse 3

Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Got in another Friday night of great racing at Warehouse 3 in Phoenix. This was round 3 of the Friday night point series, and the crowd was awesome , in fact it was a record night for the amount of racers that showed up.  My friends Dean and Dragi from Wolfpak Racing made the trip up to Phoenix to join in the racing fun, you can follow them on their blog at http://www.wolfpakracing.com/. I had just finished my new TLR 22 buggy on that Wednesday, and was itching to get it on the track for some racing.

All setup in the pits, and ready to race.

This Friday night I decided not to run my truck, and concentrate on just racing my new buggy.  I had entered into the 2WD 13.5 Buggy class, both Dean and Dragi had also entered into this class.

Qualifier Round 1 - (5 min - 5 racers):

Name:  Laps  Time  Place

Frank   19   5:20   5th

================================

Qualifier Round 2 - (5 min - 5 racers):

Name:  Laps  Time  Place

Frank   20   5:06   4th

================================

C-Main - (5 min - 4 racers):

Name:  Laps  Time  Place
Frank   20   5:08   1st
================================

B-Main - (5 min - 6 racers):

Name:  Laps  Time  Place
Frank   19   5:00   4th
================================

A-Main - (5 min):

Name:  Laps  Time  Place
Frank  Hopefully next week

For my first time out racing my buggy I feel I did pretty good, and I am looking forward to next Friday and Saturday, as it will be a busy weekend of racing.  Friday night point series racing at Warehouse 3, and then on Saturday the final round of the KBRL series.  I plan on racing both the truck and the buggy both days.

Below is some pictures I took when I was finishing my buggy off Wednesday night.

Working on the finishing touches.

 

TLR 22 Buggy Build - Finished

Monday, January 30th, 2012

Well, its been a long week of waiting, but my TLR 22 Buggy is now in its finishing stages.  My 22 will be making it debut race this Friday night at Warehouse 3 in Phoenix.

The build went very well for being my first time ever building a complete RC vehicle from a kit.  I had a blast, and learned a lot with building each component.  I would like to thank my friends Dean from Wolfpak Racing and Ed for helping me mount the electronics into the buggy, that is still my weak spot, I suck at soldering.

So here is the final result of the build:

Motor:       Novak Ballistic 13.5
ESC:         GTB 2 Sportsman
Receiver:    Spektrum SR3520
Servo:       Spektrum S6040
Transmitter: Spektrum DX3C


The reason I went with the GTB 2 sportsman for my ESC was that I run in stock 13.5 classes, which most all the tracks in the Phoenix area run with no boost/timing in the speed control.  This system will be a great way for me to start in these classes and not worry about not making tech.  Once I get more comfortable with my driving skills, and want to switch to a mod class, I will upgrade then at that time.  Until then, I am still on the learning curve.

Here are some more photos I took when finishing up the buggy:

Our cat Sassy decided to try and lend a paw.

Motor and trans in, ESC all connected to the motor thanks to Dean

Body all trimmed, rest of electronics placed and shocks and tires done.

Body painted, decals will come tomorrow.

Friday night racing at Warehouse 3

Friday, January 27, 2012

Got in a great night of fun racing at Warehouse 3 in Phoenix.  Last week they started their point series for both Wednesday and Friday nights.  I can not race on Wednesday nights, so I am racing in their Friday night point series  This is a 7 round race series with 2 throw out rounds.  I already missed round 1, so that will obviously be my first throw-out.  I was hoping to get my TLR 22 Buggy finished for I could start racing that night, but my motor and ESC came in on Friday, and I did not have time to finish the build.  I am really looking forward to getting my 22 on the track.

All setup in the pits ready to race.

On to the racing, tonight I decided to switch and run in the novice class with my friend Dragi from Wolfpak Racing.  He just recently started racing in the short course class, and will be running novice for the point series, so I decided to go ahead and run the point series with him.

Qualifying Round 1 (5 min):

Heat 1 placed Dragi and myself in the same heat together, and although I did not place were I wanted too, Dragi edged me out and I place 4th in the heat, with a personal best of 20 laps.

Heat 1:                  Heat 2:
Name:      Laps  Time    Name:      Laps  Time
Carlos      20   5:05    Frank D.    22   5:25
Jeremy M.   20   5:06    Chauncy     21   5:18
Schreck     20   5:13    Dragi       20   5:16
Dee         18   5:01    Frank L.    20   5:20
Al          18   5:11    Buzz Kill    6   1:36

Qualifying Round 2 (5 min):

For the second heat, both myself and Dean did not get a chance to take a picture of finishing order for heat two the Dragi and myself were in, so we are not sure of the finishing order for round 2/heat 2, sigh.

Heat 1:                  Heat 2:
Name:      Laps  Time    Name:      Laps  Time
Dee         23   5:24    Frank D.    xx   x:xx
Carlos      22   5:26    Chauncy     xx   x:xx
Al          19   5:14    Dragi       xx   x:xx
Schreck     11   3:12    Frank L.    xx   x:xx
Jeremy M.   10   2:38    Buzz Kill   xx   x:xx

Novice B-Main (5 min):

Dragi did amazing in the B-Main leading most of the main, but a late mishap dropped him back, and he ended up placing 3rd in the main.  As for me, I must have decided to close my eyes for part of this race because I could not get the truck to hook up right, and I finished with only 18 laps.

        B-Main
Name:      Laps  Time
Schreck     20   5:07
Buzz Kill   19   5:00
Dragi       19   5:01
Al          19   5:04
Jeremy      19   5:11
Frank L.    18   5:10


Novice A-Main (5 min):

        A-Main
Name:      Laps  Time
Dee         20   5:00
Frank D.    20   5:01
Chauncy     20   5:04
Carlos      19   5:00
Schreck     19   5:02
Buzz Kill   19   5:08

This was a fun night of racing and I am looking forward to racing next week, with the debut of my TLR 22, which I will be racing with Dean and Ernest in the 13.5 Buggy class.

TLR 22 Buggy Build

Thursday, January 26th, 2012

I started my build for my TLR 22 Buggy, and so far it has been fun.  This is the first kit that I have assembled, my other RC's have all been RTR's.

So far for this build I have ordered the servo, which is a Spektrum S6040, and I have also ordered and received the Spektrum SR3520 3-Channel Receiver.  Friday I should be getting my my motor and ESC, and I will post pics of that update when they come in.  In building my first kit, so far I have not hit any snags, and the build has gone pretty smooth.  For the setup I am building it stock per the instruction manual, and will make setup changes after i get this on the track.  I have only raced 1/10th scale trucks so far in my short RC career, so transferring into the buggy will be a blast.

Here are some of the pictures I took during my build:

As you can see, building my buggy at work in the conference room.

The Aluminum chassis is very sweet.  

Front end done, minus the servo.

Rear almost complete, waiting on motor and ESC to come in to complete the rest.

Once the motor and ESC arrive, i will complete the build.  I was hoping to get the buggy complete for racing on Friday night, but it depends on how late the shipment arrives.  I will post a followup when its complete, and hopefully a video of me testing my buggy for the first time.