RC Pro Series - Back in the Saddle
After not having raced for a 1 month plus (busy will family stuff) I was able to go out and get my RC fix at the RC Pro Series in Rescue, CA.
The race was a 3-Day event with practice on Friday, 4- Rounds of Qualifying on Saturday & Main Events on Sunday.
Friday - Practice
I arrived at the track early and met teammates Ryan & Eric and setup our pit locations. Not having raced for a while I decided to focus on Buggy this race. I dusted the cob webs off my buggy and got on the track. After the first tank it was obvious that I needed to change my diff oils. first starting with the rear I did a quick change and added 6000wt. Out for another tank the buggy felt good. I was running worn cityblock tires the whole day so I could get a feel for every setup change. I then returned to the pits and refreshed my front shock oils with 550wt at half rebound. After several tanks of run time my car was ready. I returned to the pits to do a complete diff rebuild in anticipation for the next day of Qualifying.
Saturday - Qualifying
After the drivers meeting we settled in to start the day of Qual runs. Run 1 - I tried some fresh City Block tires and the car was good but was bottoming out on jumps and wasn't clearing some of the larger gap jumps like it should. Back to the pits where Ryan helped me with some setup changes. He suggested changing my rear springs to Blue/Black and dong some shock piston mods. With his guidance I did the mods, refreshed the oil to 375 w/half rebound and changed the springs. We also found my droop settings were way out. I corrected this, reset my ride height and changed to I-Beam tires and was ready for Qual run 2. Prepped for Qual run 2 I was on the drivers stand when my pit guy started up the car and I noticed my right front tire wasn't spinning... broken drive shaft. I headed back to the pits missing the start of my qaul run. Ryan quickly jumped on my car and replaced my drive shaft and had me back on the track 1 minute in to the run... after a lap or two I adjusted to the setup changes and settled in I was still able to make 6 laps. For Qual run 3 I didn't change a thing. I set out to put down a good run and it was good but not good enough. I finished 2nd in the line up. For the final Qaul run of the day Ryan suggested I change shock position on the rear, I also switched to some fresh Cross Brace tires. I was able to put down some good lap times and pulled of with 8 laps my best run of the day and the best overall for my class.
Sunday - Mains
With my 1st and 2nd place finishes in the Qualifying I was able to Qualify 2nd overall.. (qualifying points system). My main was the second to the last race of the day. I was prepped and ready early in the day so I was able to shoot some video of Ryan's & and Eric's mains.
After a rough start in the main I was able to re-gain the 2nd place position and had 1st place in my sights when .... Flame out... at the the end of the straight away.... after re-firing I pushed hard to re-gain my lap and was starting to pick off the competition when... another flame out occurred. And that seemed to be my struggle for the rest of the race... engine problems. At the end I was able to finish in 6th out of I believe 11 cars.
Even with my unfortunate problems in the main it was still a great weekend. I always enjoy racing with my teammates, and I was able to shoot some pretty good video this race! I'd like to thank Tamiya, Ryan, Eric, and my pit guy Kerk.
Videos:
Ryan Lutz Buggy Qualifying Run:
Ryan Lutz Truggy Qualifying Run:
