Thank God Thanksgiving is Over

For me, the dirt oval season really starts cranking up just after Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately, that's also when the endless holiday events on Saturday nights starting inexplicably showing up on my Google Calendar (put their by my wife).  As the weather gets crappier, I'm starting to wonder about some of the RC racers that I've seen in years past that just aren't around this year.  I'm not sure if they got out or their wives got to their calendars before they could.

As I look at my schedule for the next few weeks, I'll be luck to make it out more than a couple of times in December.  That's just how it rolls I guess.  Wish there were places to race during the week, but we're lucky to find a good race program on the weekends in these parts without driving 5 hours.   I plan to make up for it in January when I head down to the Big O at Monee and I'm trying to find a wingman for a trip to Teas in February to take on the Midwest Outlaw Nationals.

Made it out to race Saturday night for the "Turkey Day Classic".  I didn't know it was a special night, but the track had some free food and an all day race program going on.  I'm a dirt oval guy so there's not much point in the other stuff for me, but there were a few late models there and a handfull of Sprint cars to race.

Only a couple of sprint cars were there.  Managed to do ok with the GTB still in that one.  It feels like I might be ready for a little more motor in that one.  The best run I could muster was 49 laps.  The track record is 50, so I need a little something  :O  Might wait until the track comes in a little more before I get to crazy.

Late model action was a little rough again to say the least for me.  In the first heat, my car just wasn't hooked up.  In the other heats, my car was crazy fast, just couldn't keep it away from the carnage.  In one heat, I came up on lap traffic and tried to thread the needle through two cars in front of me getting into it.  That didn't work out so well.  Knocked the motor mount loose and ended a promising run.  In the main, I had a good showing for myself put together, when a marshalled car rolled out right in front of me at the end of the straight.  Broke a shock shaft on that one.  Oddly enough, I managed to break shock shafts in my late model and sprint cars for the first times ever.  I had never broken that part before last night.

Anyway, no sense crying over a four minute race with toy cars.  I was the beneficiary of some others having unfortunate luck the week before.  I was out of the race, but I think I heard Curt Garret get called out as the winner.  That guy can flat out drive!  It's not luck that he manages to miss just about every accident on the track.

Some of the newer dirt oval racers might not know Curt Garret, although they probably should.  Curt might be one of the best RC drivers I have ever seen.  I still remember the first time I ever went to a dirt oval race, I sat there watching in amazement as Curt handled the field with ease.  When he came off the track, he was gracious enough to talk to me a little about the hobby and when I asked him about dirt oval he said "I like because you don't need the best stuff to run good".   Even though I feed my addiction by buying any gadget I think will make me go faster, I still try to keep that in mind.

Curt was running a hand made car and showed me one that he had converted from an old gas truck.  Looked cool, tranny was flipped like a CW car.  That guy is always fabricating something.  I think he gets a kick out of creating something that you just can't buy.  I have no doubt that he will get it set up to run up front before too long.

The Intimidator SE is just about ready to go now.   Kind of wish I hadn't given up on it over the summer.  I put a 17.5 in it and hope to have some laps on it the next time I go racing.  I think it's going to be the ticket when we head down to Monee, maybe even at BFG if I can get the balance right on it.  Just got to make the leap.

Hoping to get out at least one more time before the points race if I can figure out how to get out of some of these holiday appointments :)

A Little Lucky

Well, the first night of the points series is in the books.  Not as many racers as I was hoping for, but an extremely competitive field for both Sprint and Late Models.  Still not a fan of the new 5pm start time, but I think it works better for others, so I'll head up there when I can.

Also saw a few of those Slash Late Models.  Some guys from Battle Creek came up to run.  A couple years ago, there were at least eight regulars from BC coming up to run mini late models.  Hopefully, a few more will start turning out.  I've got a couple of mini's ready to bring out if they ever do show up.  The current BFG layout is perfect for them.  Larry, Matt Rugg, and Curt Garret can make those things fly.

Slapped the Sprint car together and it worked pretty good.  Not rocket ship fast, but it handled well.  My front tires were just about worn out so I pulled out the Dremmel and grooved my Street Tracs so that they could make it through the night.  Seemed to work out ok.  Managed to get TQ and win the main, but a lot of that had to do with others having bad luck than having a super fast ride.

I'm planning to swap out the chasis to stand the battery up and pick up a seven inch wing as well as swap out the old GTB I've been running in my sprint.  I've always run the sprint as a second class, so I never really worried too much about what I had in it.  The competition is pretty stout so I think I'm going to step it up and upgrade the speedo as well.

My Late Model picked up where it left off last week.  My crazy ass setup seems to give me all kinds of turn in and I was able to power off the corners with a lot of juice.  The only problem I see with the setup is that the chasis still kind of flops, which makes it a little unpredictable at times right in the apex of the corner.  I haven't turned track record number of laps, but my car has been as fast as anybody out there.  I'm going to stick with it.

The Late Model racing was a little rough on Saturday.  The heat races left a couple of the fast guys on the outside looking in because they couldn't get a clean run in.  I didn't have any steller runs, but got one good one in to make the A.

It was unfortunate that we had to drop to 5 with a bump for the main, but you can't argue with how great the bump up is.  RC legend Butch Beebe laid down a track record in the B to bump to the A in a clean feature where the second place car would have won the A main.

The A main was rougher than our normal racing.  Maybe it was the points, maybe it was just that everyone was trying to get that last little bit out of their car (you don't know where the line is until you cross it sometimes).  I had a fast car and managed to win, however, that was probably more a product of hitting one less car than the other guys.   There definitely was some contact out there:

If anyone knows where Rich is, I need a new body painted stat

John said that he was dragging the track today which will set everything back to zero as far as setups go. I'm planning to stick with mine for right now until the track comes back in.   Should be good.

On the other side of racing, my carpet car is finally just about done.  Probably take a few weeks off from dirt racing to give that a go.  I keep hearing about how fun it is and how much it's going to help me in dirt car racing.  We'll see about that.  Looking forward to the change of pace. 

Points Racing

I'm not much for points racing.  The whole idea clearly exceeds my four minute attention span and forces me to keep track of stuff that I have no desire to keep track of.  It also forces me to do math, which in general, I am against for a number of reasons.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm against points racing for me, but there's something about points racing that makes it a little more exciting for folks.  It usually brings in a few more racers and the racing seems that much more intense.  As much as I am against keeping track of points for myself personally, that's why I'm excited about the start of the indoor points season this weekend.

After spending much of last weekend figuring out my new Rocket chasis, I feel like my car is handling pretty good and has enough speed to be competitive as it sits, but you know how it goes.  I am looking for that extra tenth and I've got some ideas.

Some things I noticed on my late model that I didn't like was the tire wear on the right front.  I know I'm hard on right fronts, my car is set up to dive into the corner so that I can enter hard.  My theory being that's where I typically set up any passing that I do.  I want to be able to hug the inside and carry speed through the corner whenever possible.  One thing that I did to combat the severe interior tire wear was that I put positive camber on the tire.  The idea is that the car pitches into the corner when the weight transfers.  If I can set it up so that the contact patch is larger at that point, it should turn better.  Looks friggin weird though.

Another thing that I bailed on last week was the extreme offset battery placement.  Just didn't seem to work with my setup very well.   I could get it into the corner, but it would spin out on exit from the corner.  I had some other issues going so that might not have been the problem.  Anyway, I'm going to try it out there early and if it works, it could be the way to go.

Didn't even try my Sprint car last week other than a few hot laps with foams.  Skated like Ice out there.  Not sure what the deal is.  Foams just don't hook up on this surface for some reason.  The grand experiment might have to take a week off.  I'm heading back to street tracs for this weekend.  Would not be surprised if I motor up a little with that thing.  Sprints run open and if I can get some side bite, that might be the ticket.  Also looking to pick up a seven inch wing if anyone knows where one is available.

Looking forward to this weekend at BFG even if I will be getting there a little later than I would like to.  The racing has been very tight and there are probably half a dozen cars with enough speed to win the mains if they can get a good run in.   The rest are just looking for consistency.

Dirt Oval Farming

I just ran across a thread on Hobbytalk talking about "Why Dirt Oval Isn't More Popular" and felt the need to reflect on that thought for a minute.

One thing that I think all of RC suffers from is the lack of new racers getting into the hobby.  Dirt oval racing, while perceived to be "easier" than offroad or onroad racing is actually quite difficult when you're starting out.  They say anybody can go in circles, but not anybody can go fast.  The learning curve, when you're getting passed every other lap and trying desperately to move out of the way the entire race isn't all that much fun.

Sticking with it can be tough for a culture addicted to fast food and video games that you can restart infinitely until you get a particular move down.  This is, of course, true for all RC as I'm sure it's not all that easy for the beginner to fly helicopters or run onroad carpet tracks.

I'm lucky.  When I started out in the hobby, there were a few really instrumental people that helped me get my feet underneath me.  They took the time to explain why I needed to worry about this or that and helped me fix my vehicle (which was quite frequently) when I really didn't know how to do it myself.   There were a few times when I would have sold all my stuff and gotten out if it hadn't have been for them.

I'm still not an expert on setups or equipment, but I can hold my own now so I want to make sure that I pay it forward as much as I can to others because I know now what those guys that helped me knew.  This hobby is going to die out if it doesn't have a constant infusion of new blood.

People are going to get out of the hobby (although it seems most come back after a few years) for a number of reasons.  Boredom, frustration, and financial reasons are just a few.  That and the average age of many RC racers puts them in the bracket of well, retirement.

This periodic outflux of racers necessitates the recruitment of new souls to compete with.  The question that needs to be answered is, how are you going to bring them in and keep them interested long enough to get hooked like you are?

I feel like it is therefore incumbent upon the existing racers to seek new racers out, mentor and encourage them so that the hobby can grow and it's future can be sustained.  I've thought about how that might be formalized in a number of ways.

One idea is to have a pit area dedicated to novice racers.  Anyone pitting in the novice area is saying "please come help me", so heading over there to lend a hand or provide advice is not inappropriate.  It would be up to some of the more patient fast guys to mentor them.  In our area, there is virtually no factory support for RC products, but if there was, I would think it would be a team drivers responsibility to hover close to that area to make sure that the new initiate had the guidance they needed to be successful.

It also seems like it would be a good idea to have RC setup seminars early on a race day.  Whether the topic was setting the diff, adjusting castor, or what the effect of wing placement on a sprint car does, developing a better understanding of how RC cars work (and by work I mean go fast), it sets the hook because once you understand a little, you're going to want to understand more.

Another issue that I think Dirt oval suffers from is exposure.   Most of the tracks that I visit are off the beaten path.  Beautiful indoor tracks like Monee sit in the middle of nowhere with little signage and curb appeal.  My home track sits in the back half of a roller hockey rink building with a small, hand crafted sign that isn't visible from the main thoroughfare.

I'm told that back in the day, parking lot racing sparked interest in the hobby by holding races, albiet not dirt oval races in places where there were more people to race and spectate.  I'm not sure what happened to that but I'm sorry that I missed out on it.

I think if people at full scale dirt tracks like Crystal, Hartford, and I-96 were ever exposed to dirt oval RC, they would go crazy to get involved with this hobby.  If it were ever possible to set up a loose dirt track in the parking lot on race day, I would bet my next paycheck that a couple of them would start RC racing the next week.  Once you get the bug, you can't stop.

See, for me it's all about cultivating the hobby.  Making it grow, not so that I or anyone else can make money, but because more racers equals more fun in my book.  The harvest would be more opportunities to share experiences, swap lexan paint, and talk about what I could have done, if only.......  

Sometimes the B aint that Bad

On the short end of three cars that all qualified within 4 tenths of a second of each other, I found myself in B main after what I thought was a pretty good run for me.  That's how close the racing was Saturday night at BFG this weekend.  3 heats of late models made for some very competitive racing for everyone.

As usual, I got to the track late and had little opportunity to test and tune before the heats.  My late model felt good, but had a little loose snap coming out of the corners if I wasn't careful.  I felt like it was as fast as all but one of the cars, but it was a handful trying to rip off 4 minutes of perfect corners with it. I played around a little with the handling through the heats and got it to come out of the corners a little faster, but I still wasn't really happy with it.  It didn't help that I was inconsistent in hitting my entry points and had a little contact with some of the other racers.

Anyway, I ended up in the B, but I was fortunate enough to earn a bump up into the A main, where I was able to finish second.  Honestly, it was much better than I thought I was running, especially with how well some of the other cars were performing.


Had some great racing with Brian Dougherty in his Dirtovalcars.com custom car.  He let me drive his car after the race and it it was really easy to drive.  I think I'm going to try to emulate that feel if not that setup directly.

The cars that were faster than me all had left side battery trays.  This makes me think that I will be transitioning to my new Rocket chasis sometime this week to try it out.  We'll see if it makes a difference.

On a side note, the turnout was decent.  I think someone said that there were 28 entries.  Hopefully that picks up as the weather continues to get colder and nastier.

In a few weeks, I'd like to make it down to Monee to do some foam tire racing.  Always have a very good time when I go there.

Foam Tire Test

Took my Outlaw Sprint car over to BFG last night to do a little tire testing and see if I could pick up a tenth or two on my best times.

The track was in great condition, so it was really a perfect opportunity to try out some foam tires, which I think will be faster there by a longshot once we get the right combination and setup together.

How did I do?  Not that great really, but I think I learned a little about my setup that may help in the long run.

I tried a set of fresh set of Custom Works Gold tires (super soft), 25's, and V2's in the rear with BSR pinks and 25's in the front.  None seemed to be remarkably different than the others in performance, although the V2's felt the most consistent for me.

What I experienced was a lack of side bite in almost all of them.  4.9's and an occasional 4.8 was about as good as I could do with most laps right around the 5.0 5.1 range.  That is definitely not going to get it done if I can't get into the 4's consistently with it.

I tried a few things, but really think in hindsight that I might try moving the wing back to put more downforce and weight on the rear of the car and hopefully a little better turn radius. 

I'm committed to foam tires now, so it's either going to get really good or get really ugly with them. 

The plan for this next week is to swap out the old Outlaw chasis for the new one that allows for the battery to stand up on the left-hand side of the chasis.  At this point, it can't hurt.......