People have been asking me where I've been and when am I going to come out and race all summer. This was one of the those summers where the schedule, my family, and my health didn't cooperate enough to allow me to get out there. With BFG underwater, the Raceplex in moth balls and a slashed tendon on my ankle, I decided to take a few months off. I'll admit, it was kind of nice to get away for a little bit. I've only been racing for 6 or 7 years now, which still puts me as a rookie of sorts compared to the Lonnergan, Renniger, Beebe's of the hobby, but it seems like I've been tied up just about every weekend for that span of time.
About the end of summer, though, I started to get the itch again.
A few weeks back, Butch called me to see if I wanted to go to the Fall Roundup at Monee? I had been itching to get back into racing and this was a great opportunity since I had never attended the Fall Roundup in the past (and Monee is one of my all time favorite tracks).
I figured, what the hell? If I had completely lost my skills at least I could see some great RC racing and I'm a huge fan of road trips anyway.
The turnout for the event wasn't that great for a big event. We raced with 30ish on Friday night and maybe 45 on Saturday, but there were 19 late models so the field was deep enough. If it weren't for the West Michigan racers, who entered 9 of the cars, it would have been an average club race attendance at many tracks.
There's always some fast guys at Monee
It's a little daunting when you take time off from RC racing. There are times when technology and equipment pass you by so you wonder "Do I have the right stuff to be fast?". Fortunately, in the world of RC dirt oval racing, the technology itself has stabilized somewhat. I didn't have the purple can motor or the latest battery of the week and I still felt like I had as much smoke as most of the racers. Those that had more speed were either carrying more speed through the corners or had some other way to get horsepower that I am not aware of. That part was great.
Monee is definitely a horsepower track. We literally ran out of gearing combinations to get us where we needed to be. Note to self: (make sure you have some tiny spurs and big ass pinions when you go to Monee).
They say the track runs 220ft or something like that. The straightaways are pretty long in comparison to the width of the track. Like every track I've ever been to, turns one and two are completely different from three and four. It seems like no matter what you throw at, you are either good at one end or the other. I guess you just go for the happy medium. I focussed on three and four since that was where I seemed to have the most trouble hitting my spots.
I did better than I thought I would have thought, given my time off from the sport. Qualified middle of the pack, transferred from the B main, and didn't finish last in the A. All in all, a good showing for my first time back in the saddle.
I did receive a few requests for setup info so to be fair, I figured I would post the more important bits here:
I attribute most of my success (other than just being Kzoo Fucking Lou!!) to my heavily modified front end. It took thousands of laps of testing over the past year to come up with this design. Pieces of the nose have been strategically removed to allow airflow over the steering servo, keeping it working at peak efficiency without overheating. I really believe it was good for about two tenths of a second out there this weekend.
The body and front ride height were carefully calculated to give it enough lift so that if I have contact with another vehicle, it propels me over the top. It's not an every race occurrence, but it sure is nice to have it in your back pocket if you need it.
If you need other details, PM me over on HobbyTalk. I'd be happy to send you somebody else's setup that knows what they're doing. If you need some instructions on painting your body, I can help you out there as well.
As mentioned earlier, West Michigan was well represented there. Jody Flipse had his car going pretty good, but never caught a break in the heats or the mains. It seemed like somebody got into him within the first 30 seconds of the run every single time. Brian put together a really good run that put him into the B main. Butch had a good car, but no race luck. Made it into the B, but couldn't stay out of the wrecks. Bill got it going pretty good by the end. Scott Brady had a fast car, but he didn't get the practice laps in to dial his car in. It would have been fun to see how well he did if he would have been able to come in the night before with us and turn some laps. Zerfas drove well, but it looked like his car was on valium. Someone needs to hook him up and get that ride of his working like it should.
There was a pretty good sized pack of racers running 41-42 laps. It took 43 to make the A.
Chuck Lonnergan. and Mike Renniger had some really fast runs, made the A and Chuck was even leading the field when he was taken out by a lapper. Mike finished 5th, which was good enough to get a plaque and a picture. There were two or three guys that might have been faster than them, but results were skewed due to collisions. Michigan finished 5th,6th, and 8th.
As far as RC racing goes this winter, I hear really good things about the racing at BFG. I am planning to run there at least two times per month, maybe more if I can swing it.
Hope to see everyone at the track soon!
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