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.