I'm having a great RC summer so far. I've been out more than I usually get to and I think that I might actually understand more about the hobby than I ever have before.
Running out at Dukes Proscale, I've held my own with some of the best RC drivers in the area for a few minutes which is pretty good for me. It's frustrating when that one mistake costs you the race, but that's how it is with those guys. The really good ones stay focussed through the entire race, start to finish. I just don't know if I have it in me to stay that dialed into what I'm doing and what everyone else is doing at the same time.
Even if I can't win the race, I still enjoy the racing. If I can pull up on Randy Erb or push Chuck Lonergan for part of a race, I get a lot of satisfaction just from that.
Don't get me wrong, I win every now and again, just never when the fast guys are having a good run. My goal is to have everyone get a good clean, fast run in and to come out on top in that race. It's fun to win whenever you can, but it's a lot more enjoyable if it isn't because someone had a part failure or got caught up in a wreck.
Last night saw some killer action in Dominators. I am not a 4wd fan, but I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out. They are so darn competitive in that spec class and run side by side very clean most of the time. It was fun watching Andrew Knapp hound Chuck without resorting to putting the bumper to him. Eventually, they got together and Andrew got bounced out. It seems like there's door to door action in that class every week.
My 2wd late model took a step back this week to be sure. I waited on the track to come in to my setup and it just never did. I probably should have picked up on the fact that it wasn't going to and altered my setup to give it some rear bite. I wasn't the only car that struggled out there, just goes to show, that you can't stand pat on the dirt. Conditions always change and you have got to change with them. Not chasing the track too hard, just trying to figure ut where it's going to be by the end of the night.
One thing I haven't seen recently and that's the new guy. There's not many fresh faces in the hobby right now and that's not goo for its health long term. I've got some ideas on why that's the case.
Too serious. While I spend most of my time trying to figure out how I can pick up a tenth of a second, most people that are considering this hobby are looking for something they can have fun with right away. I don't think they want to hear about the endless hours of track time required to master their car control techniques. They want to get out there in something that looks cool and let it rip.
The cost of entry into the hobby is certainly a concern. Since there aren't too many of us to begin with, creating a production run of anything is tough to justify. The cost of the molds or machining is spread out by a small number of customers, making the product fairly expensive. If there were a few hundred thousand dirt oval fans out there, you an bet that someone in China would be cranking out these things for a hundred bucks. All things factored in, Custom Works is a pretty good price for the most part if you ask me.
Lately, there's been some interest in a street stock class. Essentially, it's a buggy with a street stock body and some kind of motor/tire spec. It's probably not in their best interest, but if Dodc gave some guidance on a class like this aimed at lowering the barrier to entry and keeping costs down, it might have a chance at taking off.
The other thought that I had is that track surface plays a big part in how competitive A new racer can be. High bite, perfectly consistent tracks are what we all hope for, but maybe it's not what we need. Nobody likes the idea of running on a rutted up track. It takes away our ability to predict and tune our vehicles consistently, which is a huge part of the dirt oval experience. Maybe loose dirt would help?
New racers don't have the know how or ability to get their cars working at peak efficiency. To some degree that's a good thing. It gives them something to shoot for. Where it is not advantageous is when they can't get around the track or they are so much slower that they are spending the entire heat moving over for faster vehicles. That's not a whole lot of fun.
I don't know what the answer is here. Maybe our tracks and our classes are fine. I'm having a blast. I just wish more people were out there with us. It's more fun to race with fifty racers than it is with twenty five.
I'm out for a week or two. It might be time to give the Dominator a whirl next time out and see what all the fuss is about.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Sunday, June 10, 2012
I Woke Up With a Dominator in My Trunk!!!!
When I was in my twenties, I may have stayed out a little too late now and then. Sometimes I didn't make it home until the early hours of the morning and I knew the next morning was going to be rough, but it all seemed worth it at the time. On occasion, the details would be a little foggy, like trying to figure out how I ended up with two sombreros and only one shoe, then being thankful that I still had eight dollars in my pocket so I could still grab breakfast.
Last night at Dukes Proscale Raceplex was a little like that without the hangover and foggy memory, and instead of a couple of sombreros, somehow I ended up with a Dominator in my trunk when I woke up. The racing was done at 1:00 am which is respectable for Dukes. The track really doesn't get tacky and good until the sun sets and Andrew does a good job of keeping the show moving without rushing the racers. That still puts me home at close to three o'clock in the morning which is something that gets tougher and tougher every year. I wouldn't do it anymore to go out drinking, but somehow it still seems to be completely worth it to race under the lights at Fruitport.
There was a good turnout at Dukes. I'm guessing it was something 30 some entries in four classes (Dominators, 2WD LM, Sprint, and 10.5 4WD). Dominators and and late models went two full heats deep and were combined for the mains, which is cool to watch. I always think there should be a lot more people out RC racing. I know that there are at least 75 dirt oval RC cars in West Michigan (besides the ones Duke and Randy own). Duke also gets a fairly good sized crowd of spectators which is kind of cool too.
Several RC racers came up out of southern Michigan to race Dominators at the Raceplex. It was kind of nice to see some new faces come out and race up at Dukes and they were great guys. Hopefully, they had a good time and will think about coming back (maybe for the State Championships?).
The racing was good. The weather was great. Duke had dogs on the grill, the whole nine yards. The bite on the track really didn't come up until the second round so the first round was really just a test to see who could feather their throttle the softest to stay on the track. It was still fun, but for sure, no TQ was going to be set in that round.
Not that I have a ton of wisdom, but if I were to share anything about my strategy for Duke's it's that you don't work on your car during the day or even after the first heat. The track is nothing like it's going to be at the end of the night so why chase the track when you know it's going to come to you later? Easier said than done for sure.
After the second heat, I dialed on my LM a little bit to try to get rid of a really loose exit and it came back to bite me. My car was so tight in the third heat when the bite came up that I scrubbed a ton of speed off of my lap times. Just wish I would learn to follow my own advice. I still had a good time battling Steve Bahr as we were pretty close in lap times.
2WD Late Model can be an extremely competitive class, but it's also pretty easy to get into. All different types of equipment are competitive out there. Last night, there was a 20 year old CW car, B4 conversions, CW Rockets, SE3's, Kranzels and whatever you would call that car that Jason (Team Ductape) car put together, all within a lap or so of each other. Dirt is the great equalizer.
My sprint car was fast like it has been at Dukes lately, but problems with my servo kept me from really seeing how competitive I could make it. That will be fixed for my next time out. When there's a good turnout for Sprint cars, there's nothing like racing them.
The mains were crazy. I'm sure a couple of people weren't real happy that there were going to be 8 or 9 cars in the field. Me, I love that stuff. It doesn't always work out. You get caught up in other people's and it's less likely that you're going to be setting your personal best, but hey, that's what racing is all about if you ask me. It's not always about the fastest car or even the most talented driver. There's a good bit of luck involved in that as well. It's just plain fun to get a bunch of cars going around the track really fast to see how it works out. In the main, even though there were a few wrecks, the top three were all within 5 or 6 seconds of each other.
The Dominators looked really fun out there. They ran an 8 car main in 13.5 blinky that looked like a riot. Somehow, I ended up with one. I'm not entirely sure why at this point. I really enjoy 2WD LM and Sprint so I really didn't need another class. Maybe I'll run it down at Stateline since they don't always get as many 2WD LM's there. It seemed like a good idea at the time :)
I'll be travelling next week so I'm not sure that I'll be posting unless I can sneak some racing in. I hear that Muskegon is a great place to camp and my daughter has never been to Michigan Adventure. As long as my wife doesn't read this blog, it might fly.
Last night at Dukes Proscale Raceplex was a little like that without the hangover and foggy memory, and instead of a couple of sombreros, somehow I ended up with a Dominator in my trunk when I woke up. The racing was done at 1:00 am which is respectable for Dukes. The track really doesn't get tacky and good until the sun sets and Andrew does a good job of keeping the show moving without rushing the racers. That still puts me home at close to three o'clock in the morning which is something that gets tougher and tougher every year. I wouldn't do it anymore to go out drinking, but somehow it still seems to be completely worth it to race under the lights at Fruitport.
There was a good turnout at Dukes. I'm guessing it was something 30 some entries in four classes (Dominators, 2WD LM, Sprint, and 10.5 4WD). Dominators and and late models went two full heats deep and were combined for the mains, which is cool to watch. I always think there should be a lot more people out RC racing. I know that there are at least 75 dirt oval RC cars in West Michigan (besides the ones Duke and Randy own). Duke also gets a fairly good sized crowd of spectators which is kind of cool too.Several RC racers came up out of southern Michigan to race Dominators at the Raceplex. It was kind of nice to see some new faces come out and race up at Dukes and they were great guys. Hopefully, they had a good time and will think about coming back (maybe for the State Championships?).
The racing was good. The weather was great. Duke had dogs on the grill, the whole nine yards. The bite on the track really didn't come up until the second round so the first round was really just a test to see who could feather their throttle the softest to stay on the track. It was still fun, but for sure, no TQ was going to be set in that round.
Not that I have a ton of wisdom, but if I were to share anything about my strategy for Duke's it's that you don't work on your car during the day or even after the first heat. The track is nothing like it's going to be at the end of the night so why chase the track when you know it's going to come to you later? Easier said than done for sure.
After the second heat, I dialed on my LM a little bit to try to get rid of a really loose exit and it came back to bite me. My car was so tight in the third heat when the bite came up that I scrubbed a ton of speed off of my lap times. Just wish I would learn to follow my own advice. I still had a good time battling Steve Bahr as we were pretty close in lap times.
2WD Late Model can be an extremely competitive class, but it's also pretty easy to get into. All different types of equipment are competitive out there. Last night, there was a 20 year old CW car, B4 conversions, CW Rockets, SE3's, Kranzels and whatever you would call that car that Jason (Team Ductape) car put together, all within a lap or so of each other. Dirt is the great equalizer.
My sprint car was fast like it has been at Dukes lately, but problems with my servo kept me from really seeing how competitive I could make it. That will be fixed for my next time out. When there's a good turnout for Sprint cars, there's nothing like racing them.
The mains were crazy. I'm sure a couple of people weren't real happy that there were going to be 8 or 9 cars in the field. Me, I love that stuff. It doesn't always work out. You get caught up in other people's and it's less likely that you're going to be setting your personal best, but hey, that's what racing is all about if you ask me. It's not always about the fastest car or even the most talented driver. There's a good bit of luck involved in that as well. It's just plain fun to get a bunch of cars going around the track really fast to see how it works out. In the main, even though there were a few wrecks, the top three were all within 5 or 6 seconds of each other.
The Dominators looked really fun out there. They ran an 8 car main in 13.5 blinky that looked like a riot. Somehow, I ended up with one. I'm not entirely sure why at this point. I really enjoy 2WD LM and Sprint so I really didn't need another class. Maybe I'll run it down at Stateline since they don't always get as many 2WD LM's there. It seemed like a good idea at the time :)
I'll be travelling next week so I'm not sure that I'll be posting unless I can sneak some racing in. I hear that Muskegon is a great place to camp and my daughter has never been to Michigan Adventure. As long as my wife doesn't read this blog, it might fly.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Proscale June 2nd
Ok, so the whole day wasn't this sunny, but it started out this way and it ended with some pretty awesome racing conditions so if you didn't make it out to Dukes Proscale Raceplex on Saturday night, you missed out to say the least.
The day started innocent enough. I knew that my iPad had a little picture of a cloud with rain coming out of it when I woke up in the morning but what the fuck do they know? I've made the mistake of trusting the weather report before and every time I've regretted it.
My racing mentor Butch Beebe says that once you make up your mind to go racing, you go no matter what. When certain people say stuff, you should write it down because you can take it to the bank. Butch's assertion is that, while the weather may look grim in Kalamazoo, it could be completely different two hours away. Keep in mind, Butch is not a weatherman. He could have been though. If I wasn't already committed to girls and binge drinking in college, I would have probably made it my major since you only need to be right about half the time to keep your job.
If it rains out, it rains out. So what? All you've missed out on is some chores around the house or a chance to get suckered into shopping for blinds with your wife under the guise of "family time".
It's true, we did get a ton of rain in the afternoon right up until 6pm. It came down to the point of completely saturating the track with standing water. But that sandy clay at Dukes just sucks up that water like you wouldn't believe. The track was soft, really soft, but we were racing by 8pm.
If you're a regular at Dukes, you know that you usually don't get very good bite until after the sun goes down. Last night, the traction was awesome right from the start and I'm not exaggerating. I wish Dukes was like that all of the time. It was a little dodgy marshalling, your foot made an imprint no matter how softly you tried to walk on it. Budding 4WD hot shoe Connor got stuck crossing the track a few times when it was still real soft.
How were my cars? The late model didn't start out that good, but I fought the push and got it plausible near the end. I managed 39 laps in the main. Unfortunately for me, Duke had the run of his life and turned in a 41 lap performance with 8 cars on the track. One for the ages to be sure. As far as close racing, 3 of us qualified within .3 of a second in a four minute heat. That's pretty close for dirt oval racing. Like I said earlier, traction everywhere. I think if I could have figured out how to get the damn thing to turn, I might have had a little something, but I don't know about 41 laps. Duke was the man.
There was a full heat of Sprint cars (6), which was nice for a change. The kzoolou GBX3 was hooked up right from the start. Nick had a rocket ship in the first heat, running foam tires. I think he had a 5.7 or 5.8 second lap. I didn't have my foams with me or I would have been all over that. As the night went on, Chuck Lonergan and Randy Erb clearly had the cars to beat. I just didn't do a great job driving and I could have probably geared up a little. In the end, I was pretty surprised, and pretty happy, that I was only a few seconds down to Randy in the main (chuck had an electrical issue). When he checked out at the start, I thought I was at least a lap down. I hit 40 laps, which I've never done in a sprint car at Dukes. I'm pretty pleased with that, although like any racer, now I want to get it to 41. I don't know how realistic that is unless Duke starts flooding the Raceplex on race day right up until race time.
Next week, I'm thinking about making a Thursday appearance at BFG if anyone is going to be there. PM me if you think you're going to make it.
Until next time.....
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