ok ok so its been awhile since i posted a new blog. i kinda got agrrevated with club racing and wore out from racing the best of the west.ill start by talking about the best of the west since thats a bigger deal then club racing and catch up on that then talk about whats been going on in the club racing scene.
best of the west round 2 was a long, long , long day. i woke up at 330 am after getting to bed at about 1 am so i could go pick up my buddy rob. i got to robs house at 430 and he was sick and couldnt go. ill be honest i was kinda pissed cause its an house drive out of my way and he didnt call me or anything. i could have got an extra hour or 2 of sleep and been better. got to arc right about 6 am( i would have been there sooner but got on the wrong toll road after i left robs and toll roads dont have alot of exits)when i showed up there it was freaking packed. i have never seen so many racers at one event. over 240 people for a one day race i knew it was going to be crazy. the good news is the track was one of the best i have ever run at. the layout was fast, hooked up and hard. i got on the track the first time for my first qual( i really hate having to fight people for practice time so i usually skip practice.the thought of breaking my car cause 20+ people are on the track at the same time trying to learn a new track just doesnt appeal to me) well my first qual was decent. at the time it was lower b-main upper cmain and i wasnt 2 dissapointed in that. the second qual i just kinda screwed up. i knew the track better and knew how much grip my car was getting so i didwhat im not good at and i tried to over push my car. my time was way worse the secodn run where everybody else's was better and i dropped all the way to the e-main. i had no business being in the e-main but that was my fault. the part that sucks is each qual was 5 mins and the lower mains was 5 mins. so i would be there for almost 10 hours for 15 mins or race time. in the emain i started 4th and got a good jump and was out front within a couple of laps. then i got on lap traffic and it ended my race. he hit me into a hay bail that had a banner on it and that banner got caught up on my wheel and i lost almost 2 laps while the marshell tried to free my car and there was nothing i could do about it. so i finished 6th i think and got crap for points. a really disappointing race that took from 6am till 1am to finish. wow what a long long day.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
botw round 2 part 1
I think I will get into the racing part of the best of the west round 2 in my next blog. this one i want to talk about my thoughts on the series, my goals and some conversations i had at the track.
i guess its easiest to start with my goals for the series. before round 1 started i had set my goal at a top 10 over all finish. after the first 2 races i have since changed my goals because i relieze im not one of the top 10 drivers yet. thats not to say i wont or cant make any a-mains in the series because if i drive my best i think i can get into the top 10 at a race or two. the competition is a little better then i thought thou so im scaling back my goal to a top 15 finish. after the first round i was sitting in 15th and after 2 rounds i dropped down to 21st out of 122. the good news is the round 2 race at arc was at a track i normally struggle at when i race there and i still have 2 races at my home track and 2 races at sunvalley that i typically do decent at. so i still got a chance to pick up some decent points.
ok now for some conversations i had at the track. i started to really watch the pro drivers race as i dont get alot of chances at my track to do that. from an observation it seemed to me that the diffrence between the really good sportsman drivers and the pro drivers was the pro's ability to stay planted and carry more speed thru corners. so i asked a couple drivers what they thought the diffrence was and these were the responses i got.
kortz told me that alot of it is learning throttle and how much or how little you have to use at every section of the track. he aslo told me dont try coping other peoples set ups. he said he cant drive other pros cars because he doesnt drive like them so the cars dont work in his hands. he said first find a set up your comftable with and then learn to make that fast. then slowly change things so you stay comftable but are able to pick up a little time here and a little time there.
paul colemans answer was to the point. he said to learn the whole range of the throttle. he siad most people only know brake , half throttle and full throttle. he said you got to learn 20%, 33% 70% ect. you need to learn the whole range so you get the most out of your power band and power use.
rossettie and jon anderson told me that you have to see more of the track. you cant see just 10 feet in front of your car. you have to see ahead of the jumpso you can set up for whatever comes after the jump before you get there. you have to see whats going on a turn or 2 ahead of you so you can set up your move to pass slower cars. and you have to see the lines other races are using so you dont get tangled with them if they crash. they also so learn the fastest line around the track but dont get stuck in that line because if the track changes or someone crashes in that line then you can get around it and it not slow you down.
im always looking to get better so being able to talk to some of the best races in the world and in the area is something i like to do.
i guess its easiest to start with my goals for the series. before round 1 started i had set my goal at a top 10 over all finish. after the first 2 races i have since changed my goals because i relieze im not one of the top 10 drivers yet. thats not to say i wont or cant make any a-mains in the series because if i drive my best i think i can get into the top 10 at a race or two. the competition is a little better then i thought thou so im scaling back my goal to a top 15 finish. after the first round i was sitting in 15th and after 2 rounds i dropped down to 21st out of 122. the good news is the round 2 race at arc was at a track i normally struggle at when i race there and i still have 2 races at my home track and 2 races at sunvalley that i typically do decent at. so i still got a chance to pick up some decent points.
ok now for some conversations i had at the track. i started to really watch the pro drivers race as i dont get alot of chances at my track to do that. from an observation it seemed to me that the diffrence between the really good sportsman drivers and the pro drivers was the pro's ability to stay planted and carry more speed thru corners. so i asked a couple drivers what they thought the diffrence was and these were the responses i got.
kortz told me that alot of it is learning throttle and how much or how little you have to use at every section of the track. he aslo told me dont try coping other peoples set ups. he said he cant drive other pros cars because he doesnt drive like them so the cars dont work in his hands. he said first find a set up your comftable with and then learn to make that fast. then slowly change things so you stay comftable but are able to pick up a little time here and a little time there.
paul colemans answer was to the point. he said to learn the whole range of the throttle. he siad most people only know brake , half throttle and full throttle. he said you got to learn 20%, 33% 70% ect. you need to learn the whole range so you get the most out of your power band and power use.
rossettie and jon anderson told me that you have to see more of the track. you cant see just 10 feet in front of your car. you have to see ahead of the jumpso you can set up for whatever comes after the jump before you get there. you have to see whats going on a turn or 2 ahead of you so you can set up your move to pass slower cars. and you have to see the lines other races are using so you dont get tangled with them if they crash. they also so learn the fastest line around the track but dont get stuck in that line because if the track changes or someone crashes in that line then you can get around it and it not slow you down.
im always looking to get better so being able to talk to some of the best races in the world and in the area is something i like to do.
Monday, November 13, 2006
r/c racing
Well i decided to start a blog to write about my hobby which is remote control racing. for my first blog ill just do a short run down on how long i have been racing and what stuff i race.
I got my first r/c car and started racing in oct/nov of 2005. i started with an ofna 9.5 mbx rtr. i liked the car at first but quickly figured out that it was a peice of crap for racing. think i hadthat for 10 weeks. i didnt finish one race i started with that buggy and quickly upgraded to a hyper 7. i was still racign beginer at that time(my home track has beginer, novice, sportman, and expert classes)i never podiumed in the beginner class but i moved up to novice any ways which looking back was a great move. i podiumed a couple races in novice eventully winning one quickly moving up to sportman. i believe in moving up when you can compete in the next level not when you can win the next level. so i didnt stay in novice collecting wins. i moved up when i felt i could run with the faster guys. about april of 2006 the hyper 8 came out and i quickly got one. i went on a nice little streak of 5 podiums in 7 races and was glad i switched cars. my cars were getting better and so was my racing skills. in april i also raced my first big race which was the US gas champs and took 8th in the d-main. my goal in that race was not to get last and i didnt. i wasnt even in the last main so it was a good race to me. after that i didnt race any more big races till oct but i kept on doing local races. i collected a couple podiums in sports man but no wins with my hyper 8 and kept racing it till august. in august i got rid of my hyper 8 and decided to try something other then an ofna buggy. couple of fast guys and guys i look up to at the track had the new xrays so i spent some time talking to them and decided thats the car i want. so i got the new xray xb8 tq. i went on a streak that included 13 podiums in 16 mains. during this streak i raced in my second big race, the ofna off road championships. i qualified 4th in the b-main and finished 2nd. top 2 racers bumped up to the a-main so there i was in the a-main at my second big race. i ended up taking second in the a-main taking home a couple of big trophys. im still running my xray buggy and loving it. im racing locally but visiting more tracks and also racing in the best of the west series. best 5 out of 8 races. after round 1 i was in 15 out of 80 people. we just finished up round 2 this weekend and had over 250 people. not sure where im sitting in points but will know in the next couple of days. ill post the results when i get them.
ok now you know my background ill start posting my current racing results and diffrent racing stuff in my other posts
I got my first r/c car and started racing in oct/nov of 2005. i started with an ofna 9.5 mbx rtr. i liked the car at first but quickly figured out that it was a peice of crap for racing. think i hadthat for 10 weeks. i didnt finish one race i started with that buggy and quickly upgraded to a hyper 7. i was still racign beginer at that time(my home track has beginer, novice, sportman, and expert classes)i never podiumed in the beginner class but i moved up to novice any ways which looking back was a great move. i podiumed a couple races in novice eventully winning one quickly moving up to sportman. i believe in moving up when you can compete in the next level not when you can win the next level. so i didnt stay in novice collecting wins. i moved up when i felt i could run with the faster guys. about april of 2006 the hyper 8 came out and i quickly got one. i went on a nice little streak of 5 podiums in 7 races and was glad i switched cars. my cars were getting better and so was my racing skills. in april i also raced my first big race which was the US gas champs and took 8th in the d-main. my goal in that race was not to get last and i didnt. i wasnt even in the last main so it was a good race to me. after that i didnt race any more big races till oct but i kept on doing local races. i collected a couple podiums in sports man but no wins with my hyper 8 and kept racing it till august. in august i got rid of my hyper 8 and decided to try something other then an ofna buggy. couple of fast guys and guys i look up to at the track had the new xrays so i spent some time talking to them and decided thats the car i want. so i got the new xray xb8 tq. i went on a streak that included 13 podiums in 16 mains. during this streak i raced in my second big race, the ofna off road championships. i qualified 4th in the b-main and finished 2nd. top 2 racers bumped up to the a-main so there i was in the a-main at my second big race. i ended up taking second in the a-main taking home a couple of big trophys. im still running my xray buggy and loving it. im racing locally but visiting more tracks and also racing in the best of the west series. best 5 out of 8 races. after round 1 i was in 15 out of 80 people. we just finished up round 2 this weekend and had over 250 people. not sure where im sitting in points but will know in the next couple of days. ill post the results when i get them.
ok now you know my background ill start posting my current racing results and diffrent racing stuff in my other posts
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