This year’s regionals had a one day race schedule. Three qualifyers follwed by the mains were all run on one day, Sunday. This gave more people the chance to practice all day on Saturday. I had put in my 801XT my old OS V-Spec from last season. At least, I knew that I wouldn’t have problems through out the day. I have sealed up my newer OS V-spec since the last time I raced and since the old motor runs fine I know it’s not my fuel tank or lines.

At first in practice my truggy pushed with the Proline Holeshots. I went back out and tried my AKA Cityblocks, but it seemed worse. I came to find that my servo saver had loosened up which what was causing my steering problems. I still felt more confident running the ProLine Holeshots for qualifying. The first round of qualifying was good. I kept a pretty clean line around the track. This new layout was technical. Horsepower was definitely not going to win this one. I needed the truck to have good steering and traction on the hard packed clay. I was able to get in a solid 8 lap run which put me about mid pack in the A. The second qualifyer I tried to push the 801XT too hard. I had a lot of mistakes which cost me a lot of time. So for the third round of qualifying, I decided to slow it down and drive more consistant. I was bouncing around in the top three spots through out the qualifyer. For the last few minutes I was on a new TQ pace. I made a few slip-ups and gave my position up to Team Scream’s John Cravotta. He ended up TQ and I was starting in the 2nd position.

The start of the main was good through out the first lap. Before my first pit I had ghost flamed. I had a feeling that the motor had enough. We got it restarted and back out I was. I was trying to make up time, but half way into the 30 minute main the computer crashed. We pulled in during the break and restarted the main as a 15 minute main. This time around I wasn’t so lucky. I got a good start but into the second corner a truck from behind got stuck in my rear wing and we drove straight into the pipe. Traffic was definitely tough on this restart. I made another clean pass for position with another guy and the following corner he t-boned me. My motor was definitely on its way out and we had it idling high to get it to finish the main. I finished in the back of the pack. I felt good about my 2nd place qualifying spot and was completely satisfyed with the 801XT’s performance for the day. I can’t wait to throw in the other motor to see how it runs under good horspower again.

Hello all! Welcome back to my Blog on the TS-201SC. 

While working on chassis #2 & #3 I thought about what changes needed to be done to chassis #1. 

My thoughts on the first truck were that the wheel base was too long. At 13.150" it's right at ROAR's legal limit and I want to shorten the next two chassis by as much as .375" This will allow for maximum adjustment in wheel base as with #1 I can only go shorter. (I can go longer but it makes the truck illegal and in truth it needs to be shorter for the indoor tracks)

I thought that I would give it another go Friday night at Hemet and change the suspension front and rear. Having made these changes has made the TS-201SC very stable and straight under throttle as well as turn in much better. (This 2wd  tuning thing is all coming back to me now after 20+ years :)

In the first "Q" I had a Rx fail on me. Pres Ilog loaned me one of his and we were set for "Q2". I ran second in that heat which was fast enough to break TQ but the TQ came back with a faster run and thus I settled for second on the grid.

In the main the TQ couldn't answer the call for the grid during warm up as his diff spun. I was looking forward to that battle to see how my Tamiya would stack up against a factory backed Kyosho truck. At the tone I wanted to see how fast I could pull off a first lap and ran a near 4wd Mod time of 28.809. The rest of the field was having their own battle and thus I set the cruise control and backed down and at the end of the 7 minutes I crossed the line uncontested to take the TS-201SC in it's 2nd race to an A main victory.

We will hopefully have chassis #2 & 3 done and have those out at Thunder Alley on Wednesday.  :D

Take care.

Friday was practice all day for the RC Driver Offroad Madness at R/C Madness. The track was fast but technical. The six pack on the track was hard to get a good rythem through and timing was key. There was a huge triple along the back side of the track which held up great thru the whole weekend. The triple was my favorite part of the track. Practice went really well for me. The 801XT was handling well and the motor was running great.

Saturday was the start of three rounds of qualifying with a fourth round on Sunday morning. My first qualifyer was probably the best. I ran consistant laps and didn’t make too many mistakes. I took it pretty easy just to get in a solid qualifyer just in case my day didn’t turn out well. My second qualifyer was about the same. I tried pushing the truck a little harder but ended up costing myself a faster run. I should have just kept it clean and slow. The third qualifyer is when I started to have motor issues once again. I had my pit guy tune in the motor during warm-ups and it seemed to be fine. We started the race and my motor had richened up. It seems like this is the first year I’ve ever had this many motor issues. Since my third qual was a wash, I was hoping for a better fourth qualifyer on Sunday. In practice after the qualifyers on Saturday night, I ran a few laps and everything seemed to be alright.

Sunday was a beautiful day for racing. The start of the fourth round was ok, but problems rose again. The 801XT just didn’t want to run. I took advantage of the break before the main and took someone out to tune my truck. I tried another fuel just to try and eliminate one factor. We re-tuned the motor to the new fuel and I felt the truck to be running strong.

The mains were next and I was starting 10th in the A-main. I tried firing up the truck for warm-ups and it didn’t want to run again. We found that the fuel filter I had on was bad, so we took it off all together. I started the main and the 801XT was running ok. After a few minutes, it started to lean out and the tune was running all over the place. I pulled the truck off after only 5 minutes just so I didn’t ruin anything more than it already was. Next things I’m going to try is another motor than replace the fuel tank if I’m still having problems.

Hello all! 

This blog is to clear up some rumors and such about the 201 based Short Course race truck you may have seen or heard of.

It was build using the TRF 201 buggy and has been stretched and widened to make it legal for racing under ROAR guidelines by using mostly Tamiya parts and a few from other manufacturers.

The "TS-201SC" was built by Track Star RC in Winchester California to be raced, showcased and used as a test vehicle to draw interest from racers and enthusiasts alike to gauge the market for Tamiya through Track Star / Short Course HQ's efforts.

This is NOT a factory built prototype or preproduction truck. However upon speaking to the powers that be at Tamiya USA they are excited about this project and we will continue to race and develop the "TS-201SC" for as long as they wish us to do so.

A second test bed truck is currently being built by Track Star in a little bit different configuration and plans to possibly build a third configured truck are also in the works.

Any questions about the TS-201SC should be directed to trackstarrc@gmail.com

If you would like to see Tamiya get involved into SCT racing please contact Tamiya USA. :)

Monday, August 16th,

HOT. Yup, that about sums it up! I have never felt such heat in my life. 103* with about as much humidity as possible. Yea, HOT.

Luckily it was also very fun and a great time! I first want to thank Corey Guidry for helping me to attend the race and putting on a great show! I also want to thank Barb and Martin Harrison for opening up their home to a stranger and hooking me up with a ride to and from the airport! So much appreciated!! And last but not least to local racers Chris and Ben for allowing me to pit in their AC trailer so I didn't melt! Thanks to all of you!

Now with my 7 hour delayed trip home to California well under way lets get to some racing action!

I chose to head to the south Rd # 3 because I needed a second round for points and I knew there was a very good turnout of 200+ entries for this event and that the competition would be very good. The track had some technical sections with many jumps in the corners or through the corners. A section called the "Wagon Wheel" brings that to light. Qualifying went my way for the most part. In Truggy I felt pretty solid all weekend. My 801Xt was handling the track very well and I was able to TQ the first 3 rounds solidifying my overall TQ.  I tweaked set-ups here and there and it gradually got better and better. In the 4th round I decided to have a little fun and put on a show. I drifted the fluff and managed 2 of 3 backflips on the front double. (No small feat, as it wasn't really a backflip type of jump) I had a good time and had some fun with Mr. Castleberry racing side by side and jumping over him and such! It was a good time.

Buggy was a bit more of a challenge. The track was a little blown and had loose marbles on the edges with a semi groove through the middle. This is generally my hardest track condition because It doesn't bode well for my free flowing driving style. I messed with my set-up every round and really didn't find anything I was comfortable with for all of qualifying. I was still able to manage to TQ the last 3 rounds of qualifying to take the overall TQ. The track had gotten rough and staying on your wheels was paramount and I was able to accomplish that pretty well which helped me in my cause.

Truggy A-main - At the tone we were off. I held the lead from the Start but local hot-shoe Derek Guidry was in hot pursuit. He remained close for the first 5 minutes or so but made a couple of mistakes which were all I needed. My truck was hooked up very well and I just worked at keeping it clean. I stretched my lead to about a lap and a half by the end of the 45 min main. On the last lap I barely squeezed out another backflip on the front double to finish my race.

Buggy A-main - I didn't know what to expect. We had gotten a bit of rain about 2 races earlier which was much needed. By the time our race was up though the track had dried off but I felt was in a bit better shape than it had been thanks to the rain. I went out for warmup hoping that my car would be hooked up. I was surprised to feel how good it actually felt! I had finally found the set-up I had been looking for on my 801X for this type of track! My car felt very good for the conditions and I took the lead at the start and just extended and extended. I was pleasantly surprised and very excited that I made the right changes to my car and by the end of the 45 min main had about a 2 1/2 lap victory.

All in all it was a Great weekend. Double TQ and Victory for my Tamiya vehicles! I was very happy with the performance my cars gave me this weekend. I also can't say enough about the type of people that were at this race. Everyone was so friendly and hospitable! Also that Cajun food is Awesome! Grilled Crawfish and Catfish are amazing!

Anyways, next trip up is South Korea. Not sure on what type of event it is but I know one thing for sure....I'm going to have fun!

Keep on Tamiyaing everyone!

Well I've had some time with the TRF201 now, and have to say I am really loving the buggy.  I have worked on my setup, and have put one together that is easy to drive and still has plenty of speed, a great combo!

I have run the track at 4 different tracks so far, WCRC, OCRC, PRCR, and Pegasus.  I have been able to lay down competitive runs at all of those tracks, and the best part is I haven't had to change my base setup at all for any of them.

The car's durability is insane, I have yet to break a single suspension part.  The original idler gears are prone to be weak, but Tamiya should have a replacement for them in the very near future.  RW racing also has a replacement idler gear, I'll be testing it's durability this coming weekend, but it looks good so far!

I update on RCTech often with anything I find regarding the 201.  My setup sheet should be available on the TRF site anytime now, but for the meantime, it was posted on RCTech about a month ago.

This weekend was the final round of the Ontario RC Pro Series held at Hardwood Ski & Bike located about 1.5 hours north of Toronto. The track was very challenging to say the least; with real logs used for the washboard sections, a sand box filled with beach sand, grass, a huge gap jump, a monstrous table-top, and rocks the size of small children just to keep you from getting too cocky! I arrived late to practice on Friday and was only able to get 1 battery pack through my E-Buggy before it got too dark.
Saturday morning I was able to run my E-Buggy which was a complete handfull, and my nitro buggy which wasn't too bad considering my main focus was to wrap-up the E-Buggy championship so nitro was the last thing on my mind. My goal for qualifying on saturday was to just be smart as the track was so blown out that driving at anything more than 6/10th's would mean you're upside down. I did just that in round 1 for E-Buggy, kept the buggy moving and on all 4's until the final lap where I ran into a car that was crashed and awaiting a marshall. I ended up 2nd on the round because of it but I wasn't the least bit worried. My nitro qualifier saw much of the same, just driving around, turning laps, keeping the shinny side up, and I ended up 2nd in round 1 for nitro aswell!

Round 2 I made some changes to my E-buggy to try and make it more driveable at speed over the insanely blown out track but it just ended up making the buggy worse. It was hooking over every rut, rock, hole, anything and would just not settle down. Luckily I had kept a cool head and just drove the car even more conservatively (which kills me by the way!) and ended up taking TQ for the round. In round 2 for Nitro, I ended up qualifying 3rd but again, the main focus was wrapping up E-buggy since races 1-3 in the series were complete disasters for me in Nitro Buggy. By round 3 the track was becoming very undriveable for the buggies. Lap times had dropped off almost 2 seconds and I was starting to become very frustrated. I beat myself in Round 3 as I let my temper get to me by driving a horrible car WAY harder than it should have been driven, so needless to say Round 3 was one of my throw aways in the qual-points format with round 4 to run early sunday morning.

Tom Wright and I decided to stay late on Saturday after qualifying to try and make our E-buggies more complient over the rough track and tried 2 completely opposite setups. I tried a super light shock oil setting with yellow springs, stood as far upright as possible, while Tom tried thicker shock oil settings with red springs, laid down about half way. After some testing, tire swaping, and car trading, Tom and I decided his setup would be the one to go with. It absorbed the ruts/holes/rocks/boulders/grass...EVERYTHING better than my car did so we went that route.

When we arrived Sunday it was absolutely POURING rain, and the weather did not subside. I wanted to race for the mere fact that I didn't get to showcase the prototype 801x-e buggy's full potential at all on the weekend but I knew that if we didn't run the mains I would still win the Ontario Championship in E-Buggy. It ended up raining non-stop all day long on Sunday so the drivers all voted to call the race and base the points off qualifying. Just like that I captured the Ontario RC Pro Series Championship in 1/8th Electric Buggy, ahead of Kyosho driver John Summach in his Mp9E.

Here's some video of Ryan's run in the Pro Truggy A-Main at the recent RC Pro Series Race, in Rescue, CA. Sorry for the Quality... I had a higher quality video ready but was unable to upload it to YouTube or Veoh...

Watch Ryan Lutz - Pro Truggy A-Main RC Pro Series in Sports  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

After not having raced for a 1 month plus (busy will family stuff) I was able to go out and get my RC fix at the RC Pro Series in Rescue, CA. 

The race was a 3-Day event with practice on Friday, 4- Rounds of Qualifying on Saturday & Main Events on Sunday.

Friday - Practice
I arrived at the track early and met teammates Ryan & Eric and setup our pit locations. Not having raced for a while I decided to focus on Buggy this race. I dusted the cob webs off my buggy and got on the track. After the first tank it was obvious that I needed to change my diff oils. first starting with the rear  I did a quick change and added 6000wt. Out for another tank the buggy felt good. I was running worn cityblock tires the whole day so I could get a feel for every setup change. I then returned to the pits and refreshed my front shock oils with 550wt at half rebound. After several tanks of run time my car was ready. I returned to the pits to do a complete diff rebuild in anticipation for the next day of Qualifying.

Saturday - Qualifying
After the drivers meeting we settled in to start the day of Qual runs. Run 1 - I tried some fresh City Block tires and the car was good but was bottoming out on jumps and wasn't clearing some of the larger gap jumps like it should. Back to the pits where Ryan helped me with some setup changes. He suggested changing my rear springs to Blue/Black and dong some shock piston mods. With his guidance I did the mods, refreshed the oil to 375 w/half rebound and changed the springs.  We also found my droop settings were way out. I corrected this, reset my ride height and changed to I-Beam tires and was ready for Qual run 2. Prepped for Qual run 2 I was on the drivers stand when my pit guy started up the car and I noticed my right front tire wasn't spinning... broken drive shaft. I headed back to the pits missing the start of my qaul run. Ryan quickly jumped on my car and replaced my drive shaft and had me back on the track 1 minute in to the run... after a lap or two I adjusted to the setup changes and settled in I was still able to make 6 laps. For Qual run 3 I didn't change a thing. I set out to put down a good run and it was good but not good enough. I finished 2nd in the line up. For the final Qaul run of the day Ryan suggested I change shock position on the rear, I also switched to some fresh Cross Brace tires. I was able to put down some good lap times and pulled of with 8 laps my best run of the day and the best overall for my class.

Sunday - Mains
With my 1st and 2nd place finishes in the Qualifying I was able to Qualify 2nd overall.. (qualifying points system). My main was the second to the last race of the day. I was prepped and ready early in the day so I was able to shoot some video of Ryan's & and Eric's mains.

After a rough start in the main I was able to re-gain the 2nd place position and had 1st place in my sights when .... Flame out... at the the end of the straight away.... after re-firing I pushed hard to re-gain my lap and was starting to pick off the competition when... another flame out occurred. And that seemed to be my struggle for the rest of the race... engine problems. At the end I was able to finish in 6th out of I believe 11 cars. 

Even with my unfortunate problems in the main it was still a great weekend. I always enjoy racing with my teammates, and I was able to shoot some pretty good video this race! I'd like to thank Tamiya, Ryan, Eric, and my pit guy Kerk.

Carlos Macias

Videos:

Ryan Lutz Buggy Qualifying Run:

Ryan Lutz Truggy Qualifying Run:

On July 30th I went to Rescue for an Rc Pro race. The track was really fun, it had a big step up and lots of jumps. I got to the track on Friday for practice. Practice went great I had no issues.

Saturday Qualifying- The first qualifier was going well, I was in first until my clutch barring went out. In the second round I got the TQ and I had the fastest lap. In the third round I flamed out. In the fourth round I crashed going off the step up and there were no marshals around and I flamed out again. I qualified third overall.

The A Main- The start did not go well, halfway through the first lap my servo saver arm broke! Ryan and Carlos got my buggy fixed and I was back on the track. I was out for a while with many laps down to catch up. I raced the twenty minutes that were left and had fun on the track. I finished in 5th place.