Thursday Night Racing @ HobbyTown in Gilbert, AZ

Thursday; July 18th, 2013

Missed racing last week, but didn't want to miss this week, so I headed on down to HobbyTown Gilbert, for the weekly Thursday night racing.  My friend Dean could not make it, so I picked up his son Dragi (Wolfpak Racing blog), and the two of us headed down for some RC action.  I love racing on Thursdays because its a smaller crowd, and a lot less hectic then Saturday night racing.  I had made some major changes to the car, almost completely changed the setup from when I bought the car.  I will attach the current setup to the setup tab of the blog tonight.

All setup in the pits, ready to race.

Tonight was going to be a quick racing night with only 11 heats of racing for all the classes.  Once again, I was racing my Associated TC6.1 in the Sportsman Sedan - Road Course class.  And I was dying to get my car out on the track to test the new setup.

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Qualifying: Round 1:

Sportsman Sedan - Road Course

There was only 4 of us tonight, usually we have a crowd of 6-7, this would be a good night for testing my cars new setup.

Driver:  Laps   Time   
 Dustin   20   4:03.41
 Frank    20   4:07.97
 Dylan    18   4:06.77
 Dragi    17   4:01.42

The car felt great, and it wasn't for my bad driving and hitting the corners wrong a few times, I feel I would have been able to pull home the win in this round.

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Mains:

Sportsman Sedan - Road Course

So, after the round of qualifying, I would be starting second on the A-Main.  I decided not to make any adjustments to the car, just to see if it would be consistent from the first round of action.

A-Main:

Driver:  Laps   Time   
 Frank    21   4:09.20
 Dustin   21   4:11.94
 Dylan    19   4:13.01
 Dragi    18   4:05.37

The care felt great again, and was really hooking up.  We started the first couple of laps right how we qualifying, but after the 3rd lap, I was able to get around Dustin, and there was no looking back.  After a mid-race crash with some lap traffic, Dustin was right on my bumper, but I was able to hold him off until the end to put myself on top of the podium, with a personal best of 21 laps.

All-in-All, the car felt great, and the new setup was matching my driving skills perfectly.  I will be racing this Sunday for the third round of the Carpet Point series at Competition Hobbies in Tuscon, and I will post the results of that race probably on Monday or Tuesday of next week.

Dragi in the pits, ready for some racing.

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Round 2 of the Point Series at Competition Hobbies in Tucson

Sunday, June 30th, 2013

Went down to Competition Hobbies in Tucson for round 2 of the On-Road Point Series.  I made the trip down with my friends Dean and Dragi from WolfPak Racing.  As last time, we headed down a little early to get there when they opened at noon, that way we could get a little bit of practice in before racing started at 2 pm.

After getting all setup in the pits and getting some practice in, we were set for racing.  We had a lot more drivers for round 2 of the series, and ended up with 3 heats for Touring Car.

Qualifying Round 1:

17.5 Touring Car - Rubber Tire
Round one I was seeing some improvements, and I finished round one of heats with a personal best of 22 laps.  The car felt better, and I was learning more with each round.

Heat 1:

Heat 2:

Heat 3:

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I like the layout

Qualifying Round 2:

17.5 Touring Car - Rubber Tire
Round two of heats had seen some further improvements, and i topped my personal best of 22 with 23 laps. This left me qualified 14th overall, and started 6th in the B-Main.

Heat 1:

Heat 2:

Heat 3:

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The Mains:

17.5 Touring Car - Rubber Tire

B-Main:

A-Main:

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The Point Standings:

17.5 Touring Car - Rubber Tire

RC On-Road action at Competition Hobbies in Tucson

Sunday, June 9th, 2013

My friend Dean and Dragi from WolfPak Racing and I decided to go down to Competition Hobbies down in Tucson to get in some carpet racing.  Today was the start of there on-road carpet point series.  We all signed up for the 17.5 Rubber Tire Sedan class.  This would be the first time racing any car on carpet, so I was looking forward to the experience.  To get in some practice, we drove down early, and arrived when track opened at noon.  This gave us about 2 hours of practice time, as racing was scheduled to start at 2 pm.  The car felt pretty good in practice, but I was about 2-3 secs off the pace, but for never racing on carpet before, I didn't think I was doing too bad.

All setup in the pits, ready for some action.

Qualifying Round 1:
17.5 Rubber Tire Sedan
Heat 1
With the first heat things started off really well, the car felt good, but a mid race hit with another driver, and another hit off the wall, something in the front end broke.  I finished with 14 laps, but picked up a second on my laps times over practice.

Heat 2

Broke the steering block on both sides

Qualifying Round 2:
17.5 Rubber Tire Sedan
Heat 1
This heat the car felt a lot looser, not sure if I had the correct alignment on the front, I had barley got it back together before the heat started.  I ended up with 22 laps, but lost a second on my lap times in this heat.

Heat 2
I did not get a picture of the second heat of round 2.

B-Main:
17.5 Rubber Tire Sedan
Since they were not doing any bumps, there was only 3 of us in the B-Main.  I had made some fine tuning adjustments to the car, but it was still very loose and was not turning right.  I think I will have to re-build the front of the car to see what else may have happened when I broke in the first round of qualifying.

A-Main:
17.5 Rubber Tire Sedan
Here is the results from the A-Main.

Overall it was a fun day.  Racing on the carpet for the first time was really fun.  I should have the car all fixed and tuned for round 2.  We will see how it performs this Thursday at HobbyTown Gilbert.

RC On-Road Racing at HobbyTown Gilbert

Thursday, June 5th, 2013

Got in some racing down at HobbyTown in Gilbert, AZ.  This is my first Thursday event here at the HobbyTown Gilbert location, the crowd on Thursdays is smaller.  This day I was met down at the track my my friends Dean and Dragi from WolfPak Racing, and our mutual friend Ernest.  I decided I would race two classes today, Sportsman Sedan (Road-Course) for my Associated TC6,.1, and also for my TLR 22 Short Course Truck, I entered into the Slash 2 class.  Thursday nights are run a little different then on Saturdays, there is only one qualifying heat, and then the Mains.

All Setup in the pits, ready for some action.

On to the racing:

Qualifying Round 1:

Sportsman Sedan (Road Course):
  - the car was a little loose, I ended up with 19 laps
  - this qualified me starting 3rd in the B-Main

Slash 2 (with Ramp):
  - I ended up finishing with 29 laps, which placed me starting 4th in the A-Main.

Mains:

B-Main - Sportsman Sedan (Road Course):
  - Started 3rd on the Grid for the B-Main,
  - ended up finishing where I started in 3rd place, with again 19 laps
  - this time the car felt smoother, but still loose.
    - I think its time to go to 36's for my tires, since the weather has been so hot here in Arizona.

Slash 2 (with Ramp):
  - I started 3rd on the grid since the 3rd place qualifier left early.
  - I ended up with 31 laps, and finished where I started in 3rd.
      - This sounds like a great finish, but there was only three of us in the A-Main.
      - So I don't really count this as a podium finish.

From left to right, Dragi, Ernest and Dean