Originally Posted by EMU
I just got home and settled down from the race. What a blast that was.
We had a good turnout, with 14 racers, all of which participated in the Kyosho Stock class. Saw some new faces, which is great to see.
The layout was flowing, with a couple good technical sections.
I decided to drive brushless cars going into this race, and drove a 3500kv in each of the three classes. In modified, I decided to give the GL-Racing GLR a shot with 2S lipo. The car feels a little too light for me, but drove more consistently than I had anticipated. I think with around 15g more, the car could be more planted and generate more traction.
I used my Eneloop cells for the AAA NIMH classes, and felt that they did adequately. I wasnt the fastest car on the track with my AAA cars, but I felt that the speed was good enough to focus on the racing rather than cell voltage.
Tommy set up a good track layout, and GIHOSU ran the show like a champ. The timing system was not perfect, but was leaps and bounds better than the previous race.
As for the races... In 70 comp, Tommy got out to a small lead, and got a little gap. Then, there was an error on his part, and I got by... We ended up battling for almost half of the race, trading the lead a few times before he slowly started edging away from me. I pushed harder, and just ran out of talent and he earned a safe margin to take home the victory.
In modified, I got a good start and passed and had some aggressive passes to gain the lead early on. I didnt expect it to last long, knowing the pace and consistency advantage that the AWD cars had over the 2wd. If the track rubbered in a little more, that difference would tighten up. Tommy passed me and just paced away steadily. I tried to push the GLR, and lap times went away. Then I tried driving the car light and steady, and started finding pace again late in the race. The more I thunderfooted the throttle, the more speed that I lost coming out of the corners.
In Kyosho Stock, which was the most competitive class of the show... I found myself with an early lead, and paced accordingly. I knew that my brushless car was down on top speed a little to the brushed cars, so I just focused on hitting my marks, and not losing any time unnecessarily. After the first minute of smooth sailing, I noticed a red Sauber chasing me down the straight. Dwight had started catching me, gaining a few feet each run down the straight. I started trying to tighten my line to defend, but he could sail past me around the sweeper after the straight. I knew that I needed to work the infield as much as possible, and I took as aggressive of a line as I could to pass him back through the chicane and infield section after the sweeper. If he would get the lead on to the straight, I feared that he was going to gradually disappear into the distance. I put as much pressure on as I could, without contact. multiple laps in a row, he would pass me down the straight into the sweeper, and I would pass him into the infield... until he got into a little traffic, and zigged instead of zagged... and that gave me enough opportunity to get a comfortable gap and secure the victory.
All three races were very enjoyable. I really made Tommy work for the 70 comp race, and he held strong under immense pressure. Mod was a pleasant experience with new technology, and Kyosho Stock was a battle that I am still suffering effects of PTSD from due to its intensity.
Thanks for everyone who came and participated, and helped make this event a good success.
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