Kzoolou Wins Late Model A Main!

Be careful what you ask for :)

There are plenty of things to be thankful for this holiday season.  Racing toys on dirt is one of them for me.  Surprisingly, I've gotten out 3 weeks this December to do some racing even with the myriad of holiday events that accompany this season.  

I'm no track schil, but the racing at BFG just keeps getting better and better every time I go.  After the online drama last week, I wasn't sure if I was even going because I enjoy racing, not high drama.  There's a reason that I don't stay home on Saturday nights and watch Real Housewives on DVR.  I was pleasantly surprised that the entire subject was a non-issue.

There were 45ish entries last night and again, that includes several regulars that were not in attendance.  It was the most courteous racing that I've seen from top to bottom in every class all night long. With the exception of the Mod Sprint A Main, none of the heats were a hack fest (I'll get to that one later).

It's nice when guys aren't driving out of their asses trying to push a car harder than it's set up to go and moving over when they can to let faster cars go by.  Part of it, I think is awareness.  When the race director lets drivers know that they aren't racing for position, it makes it easier for racers to move up a little to let them by.  I would never want to hold a guy up that's laps ahead of me.  This ain't NASCAR and there isn't a lucky dog so if you're more than a lap down and slower than the fast guys, you're probably not getting that back in four minutes anyway, so why not let them by?  Anyway, to everyone that showed up last night, thanks for the clean racing.

Ionia was in the house again last night.  Those guys travel nearly as far as I do and probably make it out to race more than I do.  Great bunch of guys and good clean racers too.

My Late Model was hooked up pretty good last night.  Jody and Steve have gone faster in the past, but the car just felt very planted last night. Consistent 3.8-3.9 second laps with none really dipping down too much below that.   With Steve Bahr and Chris Holiday only running Sprint cars, it wasn't an "I beat everybody night", but it was fun to win a Late Model main where I actually won instead of just survived.  I led with this story even though it wasn't really the big news of the night because, what the hell, it's my blog right?

This thing was a rocket ship.

The big story in my mind last night was the track record run that Steve Bahr had in the second heat of  Mod Sprint.  That was the first, truly fast run I've seen at BFG this year.  64 laps and at least one dipping down to 3.345 is pretty impressive.  I heard the lap counter announcing 65 laps, 4.0 at one point in the race.

My Sprint was ok, but not nearly as stable as Bahr's.  I could rip off a couple of 3.7 second laps and might have dipped into the 3.6's, just couldn't hang on to it for a bunch of laps.  The car just dives and hooks somewhere in the corners.   I think I might be spring a little light up front, might have to mess with the wing, just not sure.  I wish I could make it out for practice nights more often.  It's tough to get a good read on your car working through the heats.  Just not enough laps to feel the car, make a change, then re-test.

I might lie, but numbers don't lie

The downside to the new found speed in Sprints was the hack fest of a main that we had.  Six cars started, only 3 or 4 finished.  It was wreck after wreck for the entire race.  Leonard was out front for a good chunk of the race and had a speedy car until his luck ran out and he joined in the wreck fest.  As much as it pains me to admit it, six is probably too many for a mod-sprint main if we're not all within two laps of each other.  There's just no time to react if something goes wrong.  Everyone was a pretty good sport about it.  No one threw a temper tantrum  and if there ever was a run where someone was going to lose it, that was probably it.   I broke my first part in ages, busted my nerf bar on the side of the sprint and I think Len lost a shock shaft.  A combined $3 fix.  Other than that, no harm, no foul really.   I had the fourth or fifth fastest car and managed second somehow.  I'm not really sure what happened with some of the others.  I know I both delivered and received several hard whacks during the race.   It was ugly.  It happens.  The two Battlefront bucks for second were well worth it :)

No room on the drivers stand for Street Stock mayhem,

The EDM truck class is growing in GR.  There were three full heats of them last night and what has been a pretty hard scrabble class at times was some really clean racing last night.  I don't know and can't speak for everybody, it just seemed like everyone was low key and enjoying themselves even if they weren't having the night on the track that they would have liked.

A full heat of Street Stocks

There are a couple of offroad racers that have started running this class and as predicted, they are running very competitively right from the start.  I think running offroad gives you an advantage driving wise because you are constantly adjusting to the track conditions, which helps when you're trying to dodge traffic on the oval.  If I wasn't already running two classes, I would consider putting one of those things together just to join in the fun.

Street Stocks ran with nine in their heat again.  Not as much carnage as you would expect.  A result of the five second break out no doubt.

I think I saw that Butch Beebe set a new track record in Short Course Late Model.  Someone else will need to confirm that because I was trying to replace my dog bones when that was announced.  If bodies weren't so expensive, that would be a great class for people to run.  Those things are indestructable, and believe me, it looks like they're trying some nights.

The newly minted 21.5 class did not run last night.  I want to hedge my bets and say that I'm both for and against it.  I'm not a fan of having more classes in general, I think it increases the likelyhood that the top and bottom of a heat are going to be running at completely different speeds.  In general, less classes=better racing because the heats sort themselves to have similar speeds run together.  In a class with 3 cars, one will be fast, one ok, and one out to lunch.  As a consequence, they aren't really racing.  They're just running together.

There does seem to be some interest in 21.5 though and the speeds may be more to some racers liking so I hope it gives them what they were looking for.  If they are expecting it to be more competitive, I'm a little skeptical.  One thing I have learned in the years that I've been doing this is that the fast guys are going to be the fast guys.  If Jody Flipse puts a 21.5 in his Late Model, there's a good chance he's going to be 3 laps up on the field regardless.  If it takes off, great.  If it doesn't, I just hope that it doesn't cost racers more money having to go out and buy a new motor to run the class (see Mini Sprint class) and then have it not run week in and week out.

Offroad racer Isaak took some awesome action shots of the racing last night.  I can't get those kind of pics from my phone. I don't know if he reads this blog.  If you do Isaak, thanks a million for sending me the picture of the number 70 Kzoolou Late Model pulling through turn three at BFG.  It's going to be my new background on my computer.

From here, I turn my attention to getting my cars ready for the Big O in January.  I'm not expecting it to be a huge race, just a change of pace from the regular grind of racing at the same place every week.  I love the track so I'm really looking forward to it.  Not expecting an A main appearance, just hoping for a good run to put me wherever my speed dictates.

I may be out for one to two more weekends of racing at BFG before then.  I hope so.  I am definitely going to try to make some practice dates to get my stuff ready.  I don't want to get down there and have to rebuild my diffs and replace outdrives as I have had to do in the past.

Later, and oh yeah, have a Happy New Year!!!

Saturday Night's Alright For Fightin'

You Yanks and your Dirt Oval Racing.  Can I race one of those Short Course Late Models?

Another Saturday night in the books at BFG.  Good crowd for Dirt Oval and a surprisingly good crowd for Offroad practice so it seemed a lot more crowded than it was.  I'm speculating that the turnout was around 35, which is not bad with the holiday right around the corner.  Three heats of Lates, EDM trucks, street stock, sprints and SC Late Models ran.

I used to work Mark.  Now I just race.

Butch Beebe was back in the house as were Mark, Charlie, and even oval newcomer Mike Flipse.  Every week there seems to be a new face showing up.  If a few of them stick, we will continue to have the excellent racing we've had so far this season.  There was the noted absence of Chris Holiday.  I don't think I've been there in the last two years where he wasn't there.  Must have gotten all the points he needed at the last race :)

Once again, Jody Flipse had the fast car in Late Model.  That thing is on rails.  I was able to hang with him in the first heat.  After that, I just didn't have much for him.  My car went from tight to wrecking loose as the night went on.  I managed second in the A, was even leading for a bit, but I had the third fastest car in race.  Late model is getting really competitive top to bottom.  Outside of a little beating and banging in one of the heats, the racing was fast, furious, and pretty forgiving.  

I'm going to try to get out Wednesday night and get some more practice in.  I can't figure out what went south with my ride.  It was so good in the first heat.  I turned 60 4min3sec, some 3.8 laps, which is about as fast as I've ever gone in LM. 

In Sprints, I just felt lucky to finish the main.  I didn't finish any of the heat races.   The first heat, I sheared the pin in my CVD.  In the second heat the switch on my car turned off when it got jarred going over the rumble strips.  I managed second, but only because the others had trouble.  I'm probably over-motored, but it felt so good on Wednesday.  I trued some tires so maybe I got something off.  I'll figure it out by next time.  I need to rebuild the diff too.  That might help.  It's probably as simple as "Big motors eat parts".  

The new Turn 1 Grandstands

The guy who really had it going on in Sprint was Leonard.  In only his second time out, he was dipping regularly below the 4 second plateau and had a car that looked like it could contend for the win if he could have kept it in the racing groove.  I don't know if he's hooked or not, but I would be if I ran that good.

I don't know how it happened.  I hit the wall and stuff just came flying off.

A couple of cars managed to launch themselves off of the track.  One was John Hoard's Late Model.  His throttle must have stuck or something as he flew off the end of the straight like he was trying to get there.  The other was a short course LM. That thing was spectacular.  Someone had video going I think. I'd be interested to see if it actually looked as cool as I thought it did.  

I think the thing that really helped me out this week was practice on Wednesday.  Three hours seems like a lot of time on Saturday.  It's not really though.  Once you get set up and going, you only cycle a few packs through before the heats.  I felt like I really had some decent cars to start the day, which is unusual for me.  I"m typically chasing both cars and throwing parts around trying to get them to work well. 

Street Stocks look fun with 7 on the track at the same time.

We got out of there by 10pm.  That's really nice.  It's Saturday night, so I really don't care, but it sure makes Sunday mornings feel a lot less like they did in college.  It didn't feel rushed and it didn't feel like we were just sitting around.  I would say it was the perfect pace.  A little time between rounds, not so much that you're sitting there thinking "let's race already". Just enough time to turn a few laps to check changes and test fixes.

There was also some fired up moments where a couple drivers and John got a little heated.  It's all good though.  If weren't there, you didn't miss any real drama.  Just a few tempers boiling over for a minute.  Needed a spectacular headline to get you to read the blog, so there you have it.

There are probably several good reasons besides math why I'm not an engineer.  This is one of them.

A couple guys have asked, so here's the deal for Monee (for me anyway).  Heading down Friday morning (January 18th), planning to get there by 10am.  Practice all day until 6pm because they are doing a 1/8th scale nitro race that night.  Back at the track by 8am on Saturday. Racing until whenever it's done, then driving home Saturday night.  This trip could easily be done in one day if your car is close on set up.  They say CW Silvers, 25's, and maybe Oranges work.  Setup shouldn't be too different from what we run but you'll probably need a taller gear. 220ish foot run line maybe?  I would also consider rebuilding your diff and checking your out drives.  Monee has a ton of bite.  Running mod is very hard on your transmission.

It's a fun track and and has been a good race in the past.  It's not a big national event, but it's a good race and a very cool track.  There's two hotels within 4 minutes of the track that are moderately priced.  I think the one we usually stay at is about $80 with taxes.  If you've got any questions about track prep, that would be the place to do it. Monee has been running for over 20 years.  They should know what they're doing by now.

That might be it for race days for me before the holiday.  I always try to get out, but last minute gift buying and holiday events that I probably should have known about come out of the woodwork this time of year.  I do plan to make it out on Wednesday or Thursday to practice as I have a couple of ideas to get my cars back into the mix.

Until next time....

Blah Blah Blah....

Let me tell you, it's not easy being the king.

Managed to make it out to BFG on Saturday night.  It was the first night of the winter points series and the turnout was solid.  Three full heats of Late Models and three also for the EDM trucks along with Sprints, Street Stocks, and Short Course Late Models.  I'm guessing that the total entries was around 40, maybe a few extras.  A bunch of regulars were missing that would have driven the total into the sixties if they had made it.  Butch, Gary, Doug, Larry and a few others whose names escape me right now just to name a few.  Could have been 60 if everyone would have shown.  Dirt oval on the rise in West Michigan?  Yeah, it's about time.

I didn't grab any pictures of the track.  Kind of wish that I would have because it's quite a bit different from the last time I was out.  Gone are the inside walls and the infield.  John installed some rumble strips and painted a narrow "out of bounds" area of about 2 feet all the way around the track.   I didn't think it needed any of that stuff but I have to admit, it has made the racing much nicer.  Guys cutting the corner, pay the price, but their stuff doesn't get torn up.  The only remaining thing is the pole in the middle and someone was telling me that there is a plan to put some foam around it.  That's probably going to save a chasis or two.

"Yeah Duane, I guess you could say I'm kind of a big deal around here"

John also installed blue carpeting in the infield which is kind of nice because there's no loose dirt around the track.  There are also two new marshalling towers in turns 2 and 3.  They worked pretty well I would say.  A lot easier to marshall from down there.  John also did a new pit table down on the end with an upper shelf.  I'd like to see upper shelves installed everywhere.  If we had those, guys could pack in a little tighter because it gives you all that extra room to set your other car etc.  Overall, John has put a bunch of effort into building a top notch track and I think the results are starting to show.

The racing has been very competitive in Late Model and EDM primarily because there's three heats of each showing up weekly.  With that many vehicles, you're going to end up running with someone that's your speed.  I like that the rules have been stabilized and that there's not a bunch of new classes to trick new racers into coming out only to find out that they have to buy something else to race later. This hobby has people take off for awhile for various reasons.  They always come back if they can.  If the motor/tire/body rules don't change every year, it makes it easier for them to pick up right where they left off.  If a guy has to buy a whole new setup to get back in, that makes it a lot harder.  I get that technology changes, but the more continuity you have, the more racers you'll get back into the fold.

I started the night intending to run just Sprint cars and ended up running just late model by the end of the night.  

Sprint car was ok, but not hooked up like the fast cars.  I was definitely a tenth or two off of the pace. By the end of the night I motored up and I think I could have turned some decent sub four lap times, but it was sorted into three car mains so I opted not to run.  It was fun nonetheless.  Love the foam tires.  They hook up great.  If I can ever get some practice in, I should be in good shape.

I raced the SE3 for the first time.  Literally, just soldered in the electronics, puts some tires on it and dropped it on the track.  It was junk as predicted out of the gates, but a few suggestions from Bahr and Jodi Flipse along with some wrenching and scaling got the car drivable through the heats, enough to get it into the B.

I managed to win the B, bumped to the A and was on a 60 lap pace before the oil can on top of a 5 year old GTB decided to short and glitch.  I pulled out of the race rather than risk ruining someone else's run.  I think Jodi Flipse ended up with 60 laps in that run.  It's too bad it didn't all play out.  Bahr was out early and some other cars had trouble so it wasn't really a good test.  I think the car itself was capable of staying on the lead lap, not sure about winning.  It was right up there though.

Jodi Flipse won the A.  He, Steve Bahr, and Chris Holiday have been running up front lately in Late Model.   After that, there's a pack of about seven racers that are all pretty close, but not quite there.

In Sprints,  I didn't watch the main.  Chris Holidays sprint looked the most hooked up all night.  Bahrs clearly had the most motor. Foams running up front in Sprints.   Bahr might have set the new record at 61.  Could have easily been 62 in the heat I watched.  I will be showing up with more motor next time.

So that's it?  You just turn left?  Cool

Old timers, new kids on the block.  Ok, they're not old, but between them, they've been in RC as long as I've been alive.  Lenard and Roy Dallier, two very accomplished offroad RC racers finally succumbed to sirens call of dirt oval racing.  Lenny went whole hog piloting a GBX3 running mod sprint and Roy was immediately running up front in EDM.  It's always hard to say if someone will get hooked after just one go.  Like any addiction, it takes time for it to consume folks completely.  I hope they do stick with it.  Once you get too far in as we all know, it's harder than the mob to get out of :)

Focus, Determination, and even a smile now and then

One of the tenet's I believe in strongly is to race others as you would like to be raced.  Unfortunately, that doesn't always mean they are going to do the same.  I remember back a few years in the NASCAR All Star race, Bobby Labonte was in position to win the race for a million bucks or whatever it was.  He hadn't won a race in awhile and could have really used the win.  He clearly had the opportunity to win but he would have had to take out Jimmy Johnson.  He didn't, and Johnson won the race.  In the interview afterwards, Bobby said something to the effect of "that's not how I race".  If you aren't a fan of Bobby's, you should be.  He's the real deal even if he is past his prime now.

I may not be the real deal, but I can adhere to those principles.  If someone's faster in the heats, give ground.  If someone's holding you up, don't wreck them, pass them if you can.  It's not worth wrecking someone to win a toy car race.  Marshal quickly.  Help somebody out.  Don't be a dick.  For the most part, that's what I saw out there in my heats last night.  That's kind of cool and I think it leads to more people joining us every week, and makes the racing better if you ask me.  If you're not doing these things, why not?

I should be out next week, not sure after that through the holiday.  I'm going to try to get out on a Wednesday night too.  With only three hours before racing, it's tough to get a new project up and running fast before race time on Saturdays.  If I had a wish, it would be that we could start a little earlier than two, but it's all good.  You can't make everybody happy.

Anyone that likes to travel should consider going to Monee in January for their Big O race.  Last year, it wasn't as big as in years past, but it was still fun.  Probably 75-80 entries.  And it's close.  Y'all aren't that much farther away than beautiful Kalamazoo Michigan.  Butch got us there in less than three hours and didn't even have to break any laws to do it.  I think the dates are January 18th (practice), 19th (electric), 20th (nitro).  For more info or answers to your questions, ask them on dirtoval.com.

The other race to keep in mind is the Midwest Championships in Milwaukee during the first weekend in March.  Awesome track, great race, really frigging fast guys there along with regular schmucks like me.

Anyway, until next time.  Later........

When it comes to Speedos, 

Boosted or Blinky?

That one's for you Chris! 

Late Model Track Record Goes Down!

I'm not sure how to describe last night's racing at BFG.  It was both great and lacking at the same time.  Attendance was good.  We were 21 cars deep in Late Model with multiple heats of trucks, Street Stocks and an overfull heat of Sprint cars.  A quick look at the heat boards looks like there were just over 40 cars in the field which is friggin' awesome for Dirt Oval racing in West Michigan.  

Before, the race, John had a drivers meeting to clear the air and clarify the discussion surrounding some proposed rule changes that have been circling around the Hobbytalk thread over the last week.  It was decided that 13.5 will remain open as will the truck class.  No tire rule will be implemented for the time being so we're on foams and rubbers, depending on driver preference.  So far, rubber tire has been the preference for most drivers, but fast lap times have been run on foam tires equal to those of rubber for the most part.  

Street Stocks are going to a breakout of five seconds right now to allow anyone to run whatever they have without having to buy a different motor.  That wouldn't have been my choice, but I don't run the class and I do see the logic.

Personally, I would have liked to have seen us go to blinky for Late Model because I think that would have led to the best racing in the long run.  The main reason to keep it open was the lack of desire to start worrying about tech for cars, which I completely understand.   I wouldn't want that job.  So for now, just about anything goes in 13.5 LM.  DODC body, ROAR approved 13.5 and that's about it.  I like less rules.  It lets me focus on getting faster and not worry about what everyone else is doing to go fast.

The quality of the racing improved to some degree.  There was less hacking and aggressive driving which was nice to see.  It wasn't bad before, but there were definitely a few racers running a little aggressively.  The drivers meeting beforehand reiterated the need for drivers to give courtesy wherever possible, whether it's moving over for someone in the heats or not running someone over in the mains.  For the most part, it was heeded.  I didn't see any instances of someone running someone else over and very few instances of racers holding others up in the heats. 

My Sprint car wasn't feeling too bad.   It just seemed that I couldn't catch a break in the heat races.  The front bulkhead screws came out in the first heat.  Sheared a screw off inside of the bell crank steering in another.  The mains were a lot of fun.  Somehow, I got out front with Jodi coming and just as he got to me with about 30 seconds remaining, he ended up with contact with lap traffic hitting him.  I thought I was in the clear when I did the exact same thing 20 seconds later.  Jodi ended up winning the race with Butch Beebe coming in second.  Close racing to be sure.  We probably could have split up the Sprints for the heats.  Seven is an awful lot of vehicles.  Then again, guys need to start racing the cars and not the track and get used to racing in big heats.  The mains are always fun.

John decided to run the heat races full so that led to some unavoidable contact in some of the heats.  I was on the losing end of some of that contact, which happens.  My Late Model went from wrecking loose to tight to just about ok by the time we got to the third heat.  I also smoked a speedo after the first heat, which made for an expensive night on the town.  Oh well, it lived a good life.  If anyone is unloading a Tekin speedo cheap, I'm interested.  I had a good run going until the last 10 seconds of the third heat, when the screw holding my bellcrank steering screw sheared off.  Yes, a second frigging bellcrank in a different car!!!!  I overcame the first one by canibalizing an Outlaw 2.0 chasis I had with me as a project car.  Unfortunately, I didn't have extras of that part since they're kind of pricey.

Jodi Flipse set the new track record in 13.5 Late Model at 61 laps on rubber tires.  That doesn't mean I'm switching.  I still think that foam can get it done.  Maybe not with all of the rubber tires running on it, then again, maybe it can.  I'm only a tenth off of the fastest times on rubber and my car is what I would describe as junk.  With a good setup, I think I can hang.

I suppose the death of the Rocket steering is the kick in the ass I needed to assemble the SE3 and get that on the track.  I've been working on it this morning.  I need to get some electronics soldered and get a body painted.  Then I should be good to go.  I'm hoping to have it ready for our next night of racing.

I don't have much else to report from racing.  I did want to throw out the idea of travelling to some big races this winter.  On January 19th, the Big O at Monee is going to be a good show.  I'm planning  to hit that one. If anyone ever wants to see the world outside of the Shire and race another track, Monee is a good one.    The first weekend in February, Teas is having the Outlaw Nationals.  It's a long ways away, but I hear that it's a great place to race so I'm anxious to see it.  Finally, the first weekend in March, is the big race at Trackside in Milwaukee.  There will be some heavy hitters there to be sure.  That track is very similar to BFG except that it has about another foot and a half of banking and is crazy fast.

Missed It By That Much!!!

You win some, you lose some in dirt oval RC racing.  For me, the excitement in the sport is not as much about making our cars an extra tenth of a second quicker, but about racing and finishing ahead of the next guy that's in front of you.  This week at BFG had some great (and not so great) examples of how even losing a race can be exciting.

The track was fast this week, fast enough for Steve Bahr to set the Late Model record and fast enough for me to break into the 3.9 second range in both Sprint and Late Model.  Attendance was good, but not great.  I'm guessing somewhere in the 30 entry range.  There were a bunch of regulars missing which could have pushed us from four to five or six heats of Late Models.  The Truck and Street Stock classes were also well represented.  Two heats of Truck and a full heat (really full heat) of Street Stocks.  Those Street Stockers look like a hoot if you could get the speeds down to where guys could drive them in traffic.  If everyone local came out, we would be pushing 60-70 entries.  That would be kinda fun.

It was also very refreshing to see Rich turn some laps on the oval in his Custom Works Rocket.  If he keeps coming, he will be up in the front of the pack racing for TQ in no time.  For anyone that knows  Rich, they know he's a really meticulous set up man and a pretty darn good driver.  I hope he keeps it up, he's fun to race with.

Some of the offroad guys are starting to show up now and doing pretty well I might add.   Charlie was right up there in his Team C conversion for Late Model and Rich was pretty dialed for his first night back turning left on the dirt.

My Night:

I had a pretty good night in Sprint.  I am committed to foam tires as I think they hook up way better and more consistently then rubber.  Steve Bahr on the other hand, tried foams, went back to rubber, then set the track record.   I was finally able to turn some 3.9 second laps, which as refreshing even though I felt like I still had a pretty good push coming out of the turn.  It's probably the most stable and happy the car has been since we started racing indoors.

Late Model was the usual for me.  The car was too erratic, pretty loose and hopping coming out of the corners.  I ran Silvers all the way around and I don't think they helped much.  I finally bailed on running blinky as I was tired of getting pulled down the straights and I picked up a ton of power and at least a couple tenths on the track.  I'm not sure if 13.5 open is the way to go, but as long as it's legal, I'm going to run it if it makes me faster.

Somehow I got shuffled into the B main even though I qualified fourth overall.  The B was pretty fun even if the computer failed to catch a lap of mine.  Jodi Flipse had a bit of a rough start (must have gotten tangled up somewhere, not really sure) but I could see him coming for the last 60 seconds of the race.  I kept losing a little ground focussing on the car behind me instead of the track in front of me, and when we got down to the last lap, I was in the lead coming out of turn four, but Jodi put the hammer down and caught me at the line.  It was a total photo finish and even though I lost, it was what racing is all about.  Racing a clock is just that, racing a clock.  A lot less exciting.

After getting the lucky bump to the A, I was doing ok out there until I got spun about 30 seconds into the race.  It was unintentional and all, but it does deflate you a bit.  I kept digging because you never know lately and sure enough, there was some action out in front of me.  The two, three, and four cars all tangled somehow with only Chris Holiday within striking range of me (Bahr had checked out by then) after that.  Chris was hunting me down and I could see his car coming up on me out of the corner of my eye.  He would close, close, close, then blow a corner and I would get a little breathing room.  Then I would bobble and he would be right back there.  I'm pretty sure he had a faster car than I did and probably would have figured out a way to get by me if the race would have went five minutes.

All in all, a great race day as I had no expectations again of being competitive in Late Model.  Next time out, I'm running the same compounds I ran on my sprint as I felt those tires had all kinds of traction out there.

Which brings me to my next point:

I'm all for having small heat races when you've got lots of cars because qualifying is all about getting your best four minutes of racing in to see how fast your car actually is.  We also run 3 qualifiers and resort after the second to give everyone an opportunity to get that best run in.  It doesn't always work out, but it's about as fair as you get in racing.   My only complaint locally would be to run the mains the same way every week so we knew at the beginning of the night how it was going to play out.  My vote would be for at least six in the main with a bump from the B making number 6 for 13.5, more for slower classes like Street Stock.

By the way, for the record, racing is inherently unfair.  The fast guys are fast for a lot of reasons.  Having good equipment in Dirt Oval is a lot less important than in some other RC disciplines, but it doesn't hurt to have good stuff to work on.  One of the reasons the fast guys are fast is because they put the time in at the track.  It is said that it takes 10,000 hours to master any skill which has been documented on gifted people from Michael Jordan to Mozart.  http://www.squidoo.com/10000-hour-rule

Some of us older guys might not have 10,000 hours left in us, but that doesn't mean that putting time in is any less important.  Steve Bahr has been in the hobby for a long time and is out every week, two to three nights a week practicing.  Is that cheating?  Maybe :)  What it really is, is putting the time in to dial in your car and work on your driving technique.  Combine that with having some talent and you're likely to be running up front.   There's a reason that the Chuck Lonnergans of the world can show up anywhere and be competitive in just about anything.  Ask him sometime how long he's been in the hobby and that should tell you it ain't luck.

Steering back from my tangent to racing, qualifying is qualifying.  Racing is racing.  The mains should have stacked heats with bump ups.  For me, that's where the fun is at.  Once you are into the mains, it's no longer about running 60 laps or whatever the most laps you've ever run is, it's about finishing ahead of the guy in  front of you.  When you run out of people to pass, you win.   That's how it works.  It forces you to drive in lines that you might not have chosen and it also forces you to be patient when someone is in front of you.  I spent a good portion of the B behind Rich, who was holding his line very steady.  I wasn't fast enough to blow by him on the outside and I wasn't about to run him over because it's his right to hold his position and my job to pass him if I can.  Now if he were multiple laps down, drivers etiquette says that he should move up and out of the way to let the front cars by, but even then, it's his option.

There is no doubt that it can get a little ugly with a lot of cars on the track at the same time.  There's always someone that's out to lunch.  And unfortunately, that means that you are going to end up in someone else's mess to take you out of the race.  If you've ever watched any form of motor sports, it happens all the time.  Very rarely do you see someone make a huge deal about it.  It seems like every time they interviewed the King, Richard Petty, he would refer to it as "one of them racin' deals".  There's a lot of fun out there in the chaos if you let it happen.

Getting wrecked also doesn't give you the right to go out and wreck other cars just because your run is in the tank.  I don't know how many times I've seen drivers get wrecked, get marshalled, and immediately launch right back wildly into traffic causing another wreck.  It's not how it's done.  I take my queues from watching the fast guys.  Guys like Randy Erb and Butch Beebe have put their 10,000 hours in so they know how to make the best of a bad deal. They get spun, they get their car turned in the right direction, wait for their opportunity, then get back under way.  Low and behold, a minute later, they are right back where they were in line because they were patient.  Don't believe me, watch Randy Erb sometime when he gets wrecked.  He rarely loses his patience and I don't remember seeing him turn his bad run into someone else's.  Good drivers also realize that you can't grab the throttle when your tires are covered in crap from being out in the marbles.

Set Up Tips (From Custom Works Seminar)

Sifting through my notes, here's another one that I didn't really understand very well.  

Castor is the angle on the suspension of the car and it helps determine how the suspension reacts under load. Blah, blah, blah.  

Here's the deal:

In general, the higher the degree of castor, the better off power steering the car will have.  The lower the degree of castor, the better the car will turn on power.

You'll notice that when you look at the front of your RC car, the front shock tower is some percentage more than perpendicular.  That's called the kick up.  This is one component of your castor.  On Custom Works short shock cars, that's usually a low number like 20 degrees.  On the long cars, it's either 25 or 35 degrees depending on which generation vehicle you own.

The other component of castor is the castor blocks located near the wheels.  It's the part that the king pin slides through to hold the axle carrier and axle in place.  These come in varying degrees and are specific to right and left parts on your vehicle because they impart either a positive or negative value on the overall castor of the vehicle.  Typically, they add to the overall castor, but sometimes you want to reduce the overall castor so you would reverse the right and left sides to get the negative value.

Ok, that might not have made a ton of sense, but this should.  More castor is valuable in loose dirt/low bite situations because you are typically going to be off the throttle going into the corner.  The increased castor allows the car to turn better when you're off the throttle.  On high bite tracks, you may want a lower overall castor because you are more likely to be turning on power into the corners. 

My notes indicate that these adjustments were more subtle and will not take your car from being a 5 and make it a 10, but it might get you from a 7 to an 8 or 9 in the right circumstances.

Well, that's all for this week.  Good thing I don't pay by the word here.   

Don't know if I'll be racing next week, maybe some practice.   I could sure use it.  

See ya....

Mr. T is the Man!!!

After coming back from Omaha and skipping a week of racing afterwards to catch up on projects that the Department of Homeland Security (aka Mrs. KzooLou) had waiting for me, I finally made it back to BFG to race.   It felt good to let go of all of the other stuff going on in my life and concentrate on 1/10th scale race cars for a change.

I ended up not getting there until around 4pm, which didn't give me a lot of time to test anything out so I rolled out with pretty much the same setups I had used in Omaha.  The Sprint car was working ok for the most part out of the gates and I wasn't really planning on running Late Models, but Bahr and Holiday talked me into it.  I hate being rushed and snapping a pin on the dog bone and breaking a shock tower in practice didn't help.  Luckily, Bahr had a spare of each and I was back in business at least to start.

The Late Model was out to lunch for the most part all night.  Free in, pushing off, it was really a handful all night.  It didn't seem to have nearly as much smoke as the others even after I tried a few different gearing combinations.  I'm running blinky, so that might have been some of it, but some of the guys ahead of me were running blinky too, so I'm not sure what the deal is with the Rocket.

Late models ran four heats deep and I qualified in the B which is about where the speed of the car was at.  There were at least two other cars in the B that were as fast or faster than me and I can say honestly, that it was maybe the most fun four minutes I've had in RC racing for a long time.

At the start of the race, Doug French and I were going toe to toe for the lead, running pretty clean for the most part for about the first minute. My memory is a little foggy on what happened there, but something happened to Doug and he dropped off a little just in time for a surging Mr. T to come right up on me.

I could see him coming.  There wasn't much I could do about it.  My car just didn't have the pull coming out of the corners and his was rotating nicely.  He came right up to my bumper and looked for an opportunity.  I held the line (it was the main or I would have ceded the position) and he waited until he could get his car in underneath me.  I went a little high on one end and he was right there.  We swapped positions back and forth for what seemed like an hour (it was probably something like 45 seconds).  I can't even remember at this point what happened, but George made a mistake and I finally got away from him. 

Mr. T. had a faster car and clearly could have punted me if he chose to do so.  I have a lot of respect for him for not doing that to me.  After the race, he said that he would rather lose clean than win dirty.  Now that's something we all need to keep in mind out there.  If you really want to have fun, then you need to have some respect for the other drivers.  Just because you're faster doesn't mean you have to run the other guy off the road.  A clean pass is a great feeling.

Once I bumped to the A, I felt I was the slowest car in the bunch, which turned out to be true for the most part.  During the race, I was probably lapped a few times by the leader (Steve Bahr) and for the most part was not competitive for the first three and a half minutes.  At the 3:30 mark, chaos must have broken loose because guys were wrecking all over the place.  Steve Bahr has his Late Model dialed pretty good.  He was turning plenty of 3.9 second laps during the first heat of the night.

After the race, Geoff asked me how I did and I told him last or second to last, but John came up and paid me out for second place.  Good to be lucky I guess.  I'm going to need a better setup before I run Late Model again.  It might be time for the SE3 to make it's debut.  If I get some time, I'm going to get it put together this week.

Man, the track surface is really pretty nice, if not a little abrasive for some reason.  It seemed to eat my tires last night pretty good so I'm dedicating my setups to foam from here on out.  Mark had his BMS car turning 3.9's  on foams.  I drove it and it felt really good so I'm inclined to say that they will work.  I can't see buying HB's every two weeks to run up front, so I'm hoping that I'm right.

There were four heats of late models, a heat of Sprints, two of trucks, and one of street stock with a LOT of regulars not there.  Guys are coming from Battle Creek, Ionia, Reed City, Holland, and of course Kalamazoo.  Things could get pretty packed in there very soon.  I hope John is working on a plan to finish the pit space around the track.  We were starting to get a little claustrophobic  with the offroad racers practicing at the same time.   Honestly, it's got to be a good problem to have.  With the new banked oval track, things are really taking off there.  I hope it keeps up through the winter.

I can't wait to get back up there.   I'm hoping to get some tire testing in one night this week.  Maybe Wednesday or Thursday, just depends on work.  Somewhere I've got to pick up about two tenths of a second.

A couple of guys were asking me for my notes that I took at the Custom Works chasis seminar.  I'm going to put it all together at some point in a single article that I'll have vetted by someone who actually knows what they're talking about.  For now, here's a few snippets:

Ride Height

In both seminars that I've attended so far, Arnie talks about starting with the ride height equalized on the cars before you start.  We all tend to go for shock collar adjustments because they're easy and they have a noticeable impact on the behavior of the car.  If you go too far, you can have a really negative impact on the attitude of your car.  The example that he gave was that if you had a ton of rake in your car (back higher than front) and you make another adjustment on your vehicle to get it to turn or whatever, you might find that you don't see the desired effect in your car because the rake is keeping the other change from giving a predictable result.

The place to measure chasis height is to take your calipers or other measuring tool and measure to the top of the chasis in the four corners of your chasis.  He kept coming back to the fact that moving to far away from this is a bad idea.  Once you've tried turning your shock collar more than 5 turns in one direction, it's time to do something different like change a spring to get the desired effect.

Trade Offs

Everything you do to the car has an equal and opposite effect in some other way.  In order to add grip in one area of your car, you typically need to give up grip somewhere else.  It makes sense and seems pretty obvious when you think about it.  Good stuff to keep in mind while you're making changes.   

Hub Spacers

If you built your Custom Works car, you know what a pain in the ass it is to thread the pin through the little white spacers and in between the arms and the hubs.  I always figured it was just bad design, something left over from it's origins as a B3 that you had to live with.  As it turns out, it's a pretty good way to tune your car.   Rather than keeping the spacers on each side of the hub carriers, you can load one side or the other to change the geometry of your car.  Example:  If you move the spacers forward (ahead of the hub carrier), it has the effect of lengthening your car. If you move them to the back, you shorten the wheel base of your vehicle.  It also puts more weight of the car behind the wheels.  I don't have it written down, although I think moving the hub carriers forward (spacers in the back) would have the effect of giving the car more forward bite.   I'll try to get this confirmed.

Well, that's all you're getting from me today.  I'll try to do a follow up later in the week.

Until then.....

Farewell Omaha

Well, I'm just waking up after rolling into Michigan with the sun coming up this morning.  If my grammar is off or I end any sentences with a half finished thought, that's going to be par for the course I'm afraid.

I'll skip most of the stuff I covered in other entries here and just do the stuff that I thought was interesting.

The track was a very similar surface to ours and looked a lot like our old track at BFG with a little more banking.  They kept the track wet, which Arnie indicated was the way that Street Tracs like to run without wear.  Arnie did a good little piece on track prep during his seminar later in the evening.  Wet track is great for rubber tires like Street Tracs and keeps the wear down.  As a track dries out, it becomes more abrasive and starts to put down rubber.  This leads to the Blue/Black groove conditions where foam tires are really the preference.  The way I relate that back to our racing is that if we want to move towards foams, we might have to change our watering strategy a little at BFG.  It's not my track or my call, just saying that's what the CW guys were saying.  For purposes of this race, they intentionally kept the water on it, which was good for me because that's the way I've always run better.

The chasis seminar from Nathan Dean and Arnie Fie was very informational.  They covered a lot more ground than the previous session that I attended out at Dukes.  Everything from hub carrier adjustments to why you do just about every adjustment on the car was covered.  I have several pages of notes that I'm going to distill and put together in a series of blog entries that, hopefully, will spread that knowledge out a little more to all of the racers that read this blog.

Butch had a pretty good Late Model, much better than mine and he managed to qualify for the B main.  Not bad when you consider they were running an E main and the A was populated by Team drivers and National Champions.  I had horrible qualifying efforts and ended up in the D main for LM.  I won the D, but was taken out a few times in the C and could only manage 3rd of 8 so my run ended there.  In the end, I just couldn't get the looseness out of my car without tightening it up too much on entry.

On the ride home,  I think I got something figured out.   Earlier in the day, I had moved the hub spacers forward in the front of my Rocket to get more turn in before I went back to a stock setup. After listening to the chasis seminar, it makes me think that that's where my problem was. A day late and a dollar short on that one.

In Mod Sprint, both Butch and I were WAY underpowered, but I think that actually resulted in better finishes for both of us because a lot of racers just couldn't get a handle on their bigger motors.  I went to a 10.5 and Butch stayed with 13.5 so we were really better off rolling the corners than the guys running 5.5's and 7.5's.  Butch qualified for the C and transferred to the B with a solid run.  I made the B, qualifying 9th of 30 or so Sprint cars so I thought that was pretty solid.  I think I had a car capable of transferring to the A if I didn't get taken out three times in the B.  Like I said, there were guys out there with a lot more motor then skill.  It might be a lesson for all of us back at BFG.

In the end, it's probably a good thing that I didn't make the A because there were a few guys that could in fact, put the power down as it were.  The top guys were in the 50-51 lap range where I was running a 48 lap pace at times and ending with 47's for the most part.  My fast laps were somewhere around four tenths off of TQ pace, so it wouldn't have been very much fun moving over every lap for the fast guys.

Street Stocks were a riot to watch.  They use buggies with 21.5 motors so the speeds were a little slower, but the racing was side by side all the way around the track.  Very cool class for guys that don't want to spend a ton of money or time on their rides.   The PA Nitro tour in Pennsylvania gets 20-30 a night from what I hear because it's very accessible for the average RC person.  I would be very interested if something like that took off at BFG.  13.5 is too much motor IMO for the track.

13.5 seems to be blinky every where we go now.  It keeps the playing field a little more level, although the fast guys are always running up front no matter what you do.  As much as it pains me to say this (since I love my boost), it wouldn't be a bad idea to consider going that route at BFG to keep things simple.

The tech table was very nice.  It was basically a box with the diameter of the car measured to spec.  If it rolled through and met the length requirements, it was good.  If not, it wasn't.   These are done out of plexiglass with a laser cutter. The guy that does them, charges $250, which is probably a decent enough deal (as long as it wasn't my money).  If we wanted to start doing some self tech, we would just need someone that's good measuring and cutting to put some template jigs together out of whatever material we could find.

The way they ran tech is that they only teched the top three from every round.  If you failed tech, you lost that round of qualifying.  During the mains, everyone had their batteries checked for voltage, then the two transfers went to tech before they could advance.  One local racer got DQ'd for not having his speedo in blinky mode.  He was pretty salty about it, but the tech guy and the tech table were up there all weekend for people to check their stuff.  I had to trim my wing  on my sprint car because I hadn't cut it right to the inside of the little lines when I cut it out of the kit.  It wasn't really an advantage having an extra 1/32nd of an inch of lexan out there.  Butch had to move a wing brace position which also gave him no real advantage.  Rules is rules thought I guess.  The downside is something to think about before considering getting serious about DODC rules.  Personally, I'm a fan since I'm not the one who's going to have to deal with the disgruntled racer when he gets popped for unintentionally missing the spec on something.  The tech guy is not going to be a very popular person.  The one we had was really nice and very anal, which is probably what you want.  He made no bones about what the rules were and had a copy of them right there if you wanted to dispute them.

Speaking of rules, there were some changes to DODC implemented recently that are worth noting. The spoiler in the back of Late Models was reduced to 2.5 inches.  I never did have mine to 2.75 since I thought it looked dorky so it really didn't effect me.  The EDM cars have different templates too.  Basically the same without the crazy billboard side panels.  There was also talk that ROAR might un-approve the new D3.5 motors that everyone is using.  They were allowed for this race because there was no notification of the change before the race.  Butch pulled his out because he didn't like it, borrowed an older Thunder Power motor from Rob Mulvaney and his car took off.  It's a crazy world and like the song goes "all that is gold does not glitter" (I'm aware that the Led Zeppelin variant is different).  It's dirt where turning and handling are typcially more important that horsepower.

The secondary class out there besides Street Stock is the BMod class.  It's basically a spec body from stalker that actually looks like an EDM like we see in the midwest draped over a buggy chasis.  Pretty cool looking, although I'm not sure what purpose it serves in the classes since Street Stock is about the same thing with bumpers.  I guess it's a matter of whether or not you're more of an open wheel fan.

All in all, a great trip.  I would definitely go back to Omaha.  As soon as I can get my setup notes put together from the chasis seminar, I'm going to start posting them here.  Probably sometime next week.

Hope to see you all at the track soon......

Round One Update

I didn't have a great first heat in Late Model, but my Rocket was only a tenth or so off of the team drivers fast times so I count that as a win.  I qualified 11th out of thirty or so 13.5's.  If you discount the pros running SE3's, I'm in the hunt.  I'm going check with Armies to see if there's a plaque for that :)

My Sprint was woefully underpowered running a 13.5.  I'm guessing that it will still be the case running 10.5.  Most are running 7.5's.

Butch is doing alright.  His LM looks great.  He swapped out his new motor for an older one with more smoke.

Custom Works Team drivers

Practice Day

Well, we won the race to get to the track this morning.  Central time really makes it a lot easier to get up in the morning :)

The track is a lot like the old flat track at BFG.  Perfect track for street tracs.

I think just about every CW driver is here including the DODC national champion so I'm hoping to pick some brains and learn some stuff this weekend.  The main thing I'm trying to figure out is how to get the slop out of the bell crank steering.

So far, I've only had the LM out there and it was pretty good but not super fast.  The CW team guys are on 7.5's.

Learned a lot at the seminar. DODC national champ Nathan Dean explained a ton about car physics, kickups, wheelbase, and

Arrival at the Hobbyplex

Butch and I just rolled into Omaha for the Custom Works Rubber Tire Challenge this weekend at a place called the Hobbyplex.  CW is giving away a free set of tires (front and back) with every entry.  It would be like making money if it wasn't 650 miles away :)

This place is Friggin huge!!   Hobby shop is the size of a grocery store.  They have a carpet inroad/oval and a separate purpose built dirt building for offroad and oval that must have cost 500k to build.  This place is a palace.  Biggest I've ever seen.

Practice starts tomorrow morning.  Expecting to see a lot of heavy hitters from all over.  Texas, iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and North Carolina.  Hoping to learn some stuff.

I'll be posting pictures and news all weekend so check back if you want to check them out.

First Indoor Race On The New BFG Dirt Oval

Ok, for anyone that didn't make it out to the first race on the new track, here's the report from my perspective (aka my version of the truth) :

The track is officially ready to race on.   It's not perfectly smooth, but it's pretty good and it is really fast and I mean really fast, maybe too fast.  The banking and the fresh track surface put the fastest laps of the night in the sub four second range.  I'm certain that the numbers are going to get down around the mid threes as soon as we get the track dialed in.  

It was great to see a nice crowd out for the first race of the year.  In years past, the first race is usually pretty sparse until the weather really turns sour.  There was a heat of street stocks, a full heat of mod sprints and three heats of late models.   

The other thing that was sort of cool and different was the spectators.  There were probably more spectators last night than I've ever seen at BFG.  The new layout is very conducive to watching, so it was kind of nice.  Most were offroad guys checking out some oval action.  There were also a couple of folks just plain interested too.  A few are talking like they might pick up a Sprint car or convert a buggy into a Late Model to get in on the action.  That would be awesome for sure.  

Be on the lookout for new racers.  Go out of your way if you can to: A) give them some help getting set up and B) Cut them some slack on the race track.  We are known for courteous driving, but I know that sometimes we get locked into getting that last tenth out of every lap.  I know that I personally would be better off most of the time if I exercised a little more patience.  It should be easier to get out of the way on this track, although the closing speeds and speed in general is really fast right now.  It's not always easy to see someone coming and get out of the way in time.

The racing was a little rough, mostly due to people figuring out the new track and I think the inside wall had something to do with some of the carnage that happened in the earlier heats.  It seemed like any time someone caught the inside wall, it would collect at least one other car coming through the turn.  There were a few that ended up like Talladega where everyone pretty much got collected.  

The other thing that I think happened was that everyone was trying out new stuff and no one was really sure how far they could push the traction on this new surface.  I know I went over the line a few times and found myself turned around.  Then again, how do you know where the line is if you never cross it?   By the main, Sprint cars were playing pretty nicely and at least Mike Renniger got off a solid run.

Wish I would have stuck around for the late model mains.  The B main was looking like it was pretty action packed when I was walking out :)

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe my Sprint car might have been the first one launched off of the track into the grandstands when bahr punted me (inadvertently I think) at the end of the front stretch.  It was a good thing we had all of those spectators to catch it or I probably would have been building a new wing this afternoon.

Overall, I had a good time and it's clear that we all have a lot to learn about the new track conditions.  I'm pouring over my notes from my flat track set up to figure out what to do to really get flying around this new banked high bite track.  Without giving away too many secrets (not that I have any secrets, anyone can grab my car and check out my setup any time they want), I'm thinking that I need to do some additional testing on foam tires, possibly lighten up my shock oil and stiffen my springs in my setup.  I'm pretty sure we could jack more of the weight to the left side of our vehicles as well, but that's going to take some time to find the right balance on that.

My plan is to hit the new and improved practice hours on Sundays, Thursdays, and Friday nights to try and get a handle on things.  I'm willing to bet I'm going to see a few others there doing the same for the next few weeks anyway.

If you haven't gotten out to BFG, you should give it a try.  Plenty of practice nights now to get your stuff ready and I was back in Kalamazoo last night by 10pm which might be a record for me getting back from any RC racing.  

Until next week, later.....