Tag Archives: truck racing

Radio Control, RC Trucks

Evolution of a theme – New race body debuts at “Treads Gone Wild”

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With the slow destruction of my old race body, the damage done to the very old temporary body, and the debut of the BRCR Summer Race Series “Treads Gone Wild”, it was high time for a new body. But, time was not on my side, so my original plan of a complex and amusing theme was out the window.

When I originally started to race the first Cow Body truck a few months back, it was a big hit at the track. Despite it’s very simple design, and the multitude of very nicely done air-brushed artwork on other trucks, the amazing acceptance was, to say the least, surprising!

SC-10 "Cow Car"

Short Course racing takes it’s toll on these little Lexan bodies, so replacement is just part of the hobby. The neat part is that you are not stuck with a design forever. The bad part is that you can’t keep using your awesome design forever. I purchased a couple of new bodies on sale, and set them aside for the future. You never know when one will develop a catastrophic crack and need to be quickly replaced. With speeds of 30 MPH+, aerodynamics actually does matter.

“Cow Car 1” suffered a pretty nasty break in the rear mounting locations, and had to be retired about a month ago. But I was not ready with my new design concept, so I pulled an old Traxxis Slash body out of the dustbin of bodies past (for reference Traxxis is a good basher brand, but it does not have a reputation for real race performance). It was a musing for a while. People were shocked to see a crappy old Traxxis running so well and so smoothly on the track. LOL. Little did they know, at first, that it was covering arguably the best Short Course currently made, a Kyosho SC-R. But the body is pretty cheap to start with, and it was not long before the stresses of a very competitive race class took it’s toll too. Again, I was not ready with a new design.

After procrastinating for months, and with the start of a new Summer Race Series at our track “Treads Gone Wild“, despite my air-brushing skills being squarely in question, I had to come up with something fast! I literally had but a handful of hours to get a concept, design the pattern, lay it on the body and paint it up! Traxxis body was severely damaged in practice Friday night (so was the truck, but that’s another story), so I could not simple use the Traxxis body for the opening of the serious, and I had to fix the truck too. All in the matter of a few hours yesterday morning. Plus, it was the first warm sunny weekend day this year, so I also had to squeeze in some motorcycle riding. Had to act fast.

The “Cow Car” theme had stuck, racer announcers started to call me “Cow Car Dave”, and people expected to see me cowing it up. But I didn’t want to do the same old thing, again. Plus I wanted to experiment around with some design elements, like flames or tears. I spent some time looking at all the awesome designs in this RCTech air brushing thread, and It hit me. I could do both! So, I did!

In less than 3 hours, I knocked out this little gem, combining my first attempt at airbrushing rips, and adding drop shadows, but still sticking with the “Cow Car” theme (between “Cow Car 3”, shown here, and Cow Car 1, I also painted up a Cow Car for my daughter… more on that later.)

TA DA!

Cow Car 3

It’s pretty rough, and there are a lot of mistakes in it. Some of it because I was rushing, most of it because this is only the 2nd body I’ve tried to airbrush (the first body was “Cow Car 2”, in the middle).

A lot of people liked the design, and I do too. I got my rips, my neon color and stuck with the Cow theme. All in all, pretty good. But, now, I’m really starting to enjoy the air brushing thing, and I want to keep practicing, and paining more bodies, but, I have all the bodies I need for my race vehicles. I guess I could just go and buy more bodies, paint them up and maybe sell them for cost at the track, so that I can practice, and not go broke doing it.

Finally, here is the full family of Cows, 1, 2 and 3 (left to right).

Original Cow Car, Strawberry Cow Car, TGW Cow Car

Radio Control, RC Trucks

MooOOoooOOOoOoooo – The Milk Man Delivers!

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Oh yeah, what a nice of racing!!!

This is the second outing of the ‘Mooo Mobile‘, drive by me, aka The Milk Man.

Had a good couple of hours of practice, and the truck was running pretty good. Did some baseline laps with the setup from two weeks ago, then I started tweaking the suspension.

For the last few days, I have been researching suspension from the other manufactures. Seeing what they do differently, and working up some research for a new iPhone / iPad App. Yes.. going to see about making this hobby pay off in $$$, not just silliness. During this research, I saw a possible solution to a setup problem in a set of springs designed for Losi trucks.

Here is the issue. For front springs, AE (aka Team Associated) maxes out with the ‘Red’ spring at 3.90 lb./in. Which is pretty stiff for a vehicle that weights maybe 4 lbs. total. The Associated spring is 2.25″ long, and right now I have to run it at the max length, just to get it to sit at the right front ride height. Adding to the issues, the setup sheets recommend cutting a coil out of the spring, making it shorter and stiffer. I’m thinking that cutting a coil will make for a sloppy suspension, since the top of the coil will no longer be flat, and not sit right on the spring perches.

Then I get this brilliant (well, different, if not brilliant) idea to purchase a set of the Losi front truck springs in the 4.1 lb./in. rating. They are close in diameter. Plus, the Losi spring is only 2″ long, also giving me the ability to lower the truck more using the shocks built in threads. Something I could not do with the stock 2.25″ spring.

It turns out, the Losi springs have a slightly larger ID. Almost too large. But, they fit well enough, and under tension do not move around adversely. So, I gave it a run tonight. And I must say, it did help quiet down the front handling, making the truck handle more neutral. Less sliding in the rear end. I took some notes tonight on what I tried, which I’ll be including in a different post later on this week.

I did OK tonight, again making the A-Main in Stock (17.5 motor) Short Course. We had a couple of pretty full grids tonight. I held my own in the main, finishing where I started, in 7th place. Not stellar by any means, but the track was also VERY loose, so those with better skills really dominated. Not finishing last is always a plus, when racing against so many more experienced drivers. Most of these guys have been racing for 10 years, a few more like 30! I’ve been at it for a total of 7 months so far… so.. I don’t feel to bad about my progress.

But, the best part of the night, was the post Main rounds entertainment. We call it Hack for Cash. This little race has a different set of rules. And they are pretty simple.

  • Race in an oval, skipping the inside, making the track 1/3 as long, and cutting the jumps down to 7 and 2 table-tops.
  • There are no corner marshals. You crash, tough. You wait out the race in humiliation, unless another racer hits you and accidentally knocks you back into the race. It happens a lot when things get dicy, so it’s truly not over until the fat lady sings.
  • Punting other trucks is encouraged. In fact the race leader has a big fat target on them, everyone wants to take them out
  • Last man standing, or the driver with the most laps when the 10 minute buzzer goes off wins the entry fees. Tonight it was 14 racers at $2 a head. 28 bucks on the table for the winner!
  • It’s OK to work as a team to take out other drivers, but in the end, only on person wins.
  • You cannot stop on the track. If you stop, you’re OUT! That does not include being crashed out. See the rule above about how you might get back into the race.

So, with 14 trucks in the race, starting in a modified Motocross start (trucks lined up side by side all the way across the lane in the back straight. Overflow trucks are placed *on top* of the front line trucks. When the buzzer goes off, it’s anyone’s guess who’s left standing. I was 2nd truck on the inside of the front row, so I started with a truck on top of me, as did most of the front 9. When the buzzer sounded, I made it 1/2 way down the straight before the truck that was on me, came up from behind and knocked me onto my side. I was out. I sat there for many laps being passed. Trucks trying to dodge me. Finally, I was able to wiggle sideways enough to get clipped by another truck and end up ride side up again, and back in the race!.

It was brutal. Crashing trucks, people yelling ‘Get the leader’. Take out the owner’s truck!! Brian, the owner, is a pretty damn good driver, and he’s won just about every single one of these Dash for Cash events. Tonight, we were all gunning for him. One of the racers said.. “It’s going to be tough to keep track of who’s in front.” I told him that it would be a little easier that he though, since he didn’t have to worry about it being me.

After a few laps, a couple of trucks were upside down, and one of them even flew completely over the wall and off the track. That one was NOT coming back. It was about 1/2 way into the race when I got my truck jammed up into one of the upside down trucks in the main sweeper (corner for you non-racers). Nice high speed WHAM!, CRUNCH!. My front wheel was jammed up into the other truck’s suspension. A truck with a reputation for being built like a tank. The best outcome I could hope for was someone else understeered into us exiting the sweeper, snapped off my first right control arm and gave me a chance to drag the chassis around the track until the end.

I didn’t have to wait long. One of the mod truck guys went in to deep on the corner, hit the wall then shot off it into me, knocking me free of the big Traxxis 4×4. Except, it remained upside down, and I didn’t lose my control arm! And, I was back in the race!

Nearing the end, Brian was clearly the target, and I was clearly driving way too fast, at least that’s what everyone was yelling. “Slow down! Brian is behind you.. slow down and take him out!” So I sped up! And in a few laps had run him down, and I had him square in my sights. On the last straight to the main fishing I had my shot, and I had to make it good. It’s a tight left-hander to the Start-Finish. He was 3/4 of the straight ahead of me but going slow, trying to make sure he didn’t catch up too lap traffic and also make a clean jump. I punched it. Let all 250A blast into my torque motor and did my best to t-bone him as he made the turn.

I missed. And with ever bit of speed my truck could make, went straight into the cinder block wall on the outside of the turn. Completely perpendicular to the wall. I could not have hit it harder. This time, it was game over.

Or, was it? NO! It was NOT! I bounced off (thank YOU RPM products for not letting my frame snap in half) and ended up on the complete other side of the lane, across the start finish, pointed in the right direction! I punched it and chased him down again! This time there were three of us right on his tail, and we were going to nail him to the wall on the outside of the big sweeper. We lined him on the front straight, and at the last second he jammed on the brakes and two of us shot straight past him into the turn at full throttle. Again it looked like a trip to the parts store for me. But this time I was on the binders, slid the truck in backwards, tapped the wall and was off.

Back in the throttle again, I put the hammer down trying to catch up to Brian. I was concentrating on the fact I needed to catch up to him, I sort of missed the fact that he’s been clipped by the 3rd truck in our assault, and was on his side! I just kept pouring it on, and then I noticed, there were only two trucks still running in the race, Steve and myself. As the timer counted town, Reid (Race Director) called out for a big “Mooo” and to not blow it. I only had 2 turns and two jumps and I was going to take the checkered flag.

Which, of course I did, because, I’m The Milk Man. It was and EPIC Hack for Cash. high-fives for me all around. It was a blast, and at the end of the night, all my racing was paid for with the winnings, and I split the rest with Steve for being the driver to finally knock Brian out of the race for good! Thanks Steve!

What a night! What a great design and paint job on the body, courtesy of my daughter, and what a blast!! I just have one last thing to say.

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Radio Control, RC Trucks

Monday Night Racing results

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Wow, it was a challenging night at BRCR on Monday. Turnout was a little down so Alex (race director) combined what is typically 4-6 racing classes down into two.

Class 1 – Novice, Stock and Open Class Short Course Trucks.

Class 2 – Stock Stadium Truck, Stock Buggy, Open Stadium Truck, Open Buggy.

So, instead of racing just Novices (we are allowed to basically run ANY set-up in our Short Course trucks), I was racing against Stock, Modified and Open class Short Course as well. Field was 8 entries deep:

   Demartini, David    #1    (novice)  
   Kuiphoff, Chris    #2       (novice)     
   Arns, Zach    #3                
   Hansen, Dylan    #4     
   Livingston, Wes    #5     (open)          
   Wirtanen, Tony    #6      (open 4x4)        
   Pergam, Ewan    #7        (open)     
   Cigledy, Mike    #8

Still sorting out some handling issues from last week, I was not running at my best, yet, I managed to complete the two qualifier rounds and start in the 4th grid position for the final A-Main!

The race itself was a little chaotic. With the fast drivers and fast trucks picking their way through the slower traffic. Again, I had problems getting my track rythem until the last few laps. Really not my best work at all. I was really concentrating on getting good laps in and not paying any attention at all to my position in the pack. I knew I’d been lapped at least twice by someone, but when the 10minute race was over, I was VERY happy with the results!!

                             Bremerton R/C Raceway
Novice A Main                                                 Round# 3, Race# 1
 8:24:46 PM  02/07/201
________________________Driver___Car#____Laps____RaceTime____Fast Lap___Behind_
                Wirtanen, Tony    #6      21     8:21.280     21.988           
               Livingston, Wes    #5      20     8:22.139     22.404           
              Demartini, David    #1      18     8:20.438     24.441           
                 Hansen, Dylan    #4      18     8:26.542     24.410      6.104
                  Pergam, Ewan    #7      17     7:54.331     23.808           
                 Cigledy, Mike    #8      17     8:00.449     25.100      6.118
               Kuiphoff, Chris    #2      16     7:55.236     26.385           
                    Arns, Zach    #3      13     6:37.676     26.224

Racing against some of the best Short Course competitors in the area, I managed to pull off a podium finish. I even turned my 2nd fastest lap so far! I think that if I’d not spent the first 15 laps crashing and lawn-darting the jumps I could have been right up there with the top 2 guys on the lead lap.

There’s always Wednesday Night Short Course racing! 🙂

Radio Control, RC Trucks

R/C racing on Monday Night.

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This past Monday, I took the plunge and ran my first full race with the re-bodied SC10 truck.

SC10 truck in the pits during Monday Races at Bremerton RC Raceway.

It was a real blast, but I have A LOT to learn about truck setup before I’m going to be competitive. The most challenging issue I’m facing right now, is the speed of the steering servo. It’s too fast! It makes the truck feel really loose. When hitting full throttle down the main straight, it’s very difficult to put in a little steering correction. Instead, I’m finding myself loosing control, needing to slow down, and often getting passed while trying to regain control of the truck.

The RC controller I have is made by Futaba. A well known, and respected name in Radio Control for decades. Checking through the manual, I was disheartened to find the radio I’m using does not have any ‘Expo’ (a configurable low-action or dead-zone) settings. It does, however have a Dual-Rate capability on the steering channel (#1), which might allow me to tone down the very fast steering servo. My concern, having not tested it, is that it might make the steering too slow, making the better servo a moot improvement. :/ Things you learn, right?

Even more daunting that the steering issue for me last Monday, was the fact that 45 minutes before the first heat race, I completely destroyed the stock rear differential I’d put after breaking the output shaft on the race differential that came with the truck. Ugh! With not much time, I had to rip apart the entire back end of the truck, remove the transmission, split it’s case and try to slam in a brand new Team Associated ball differential. With the cost of a rebuild kit of the stock costing $30, and a complete new competition ball differential being $40, the decisions was pretty easy. Go for the adjustable diff and learn to set IT up as well. Having been a racer for a long time (full-sized vehicles, that is), I’m well versed in the climbing of the learning curve. You just have to do it. Good racers have a lot of wheel time.

Upside for me, was that Brian (owner of BRCR) was kind enough to build the differential for me, while getting everything else ready for the race, so I could concentrate get the truck apart and back together in time for the race. Final 5 minute call to line up for the race came as I was putting in the last two screws. I selected one of my qualifier battery packs, ran from the pits down to the track and got in line, JUST in time for first heat.

I finished last, several laps down from the leaders, but it was great experience, a lot of fun, and I plan to race again this coming Monday, assume I’ve not broken the truck in the mean time. 🙂