Went down to Strickland for a club race after a disappointing previous week at the Winter Nitro Series. The Winter Nitro Series was a tough day chasing down an air leak. I finally found  the leak, it was the front peck cock/nipple feed on the Tamiya tank. It had  loosened. Anyways fixed it with some lucky seven. Just a heads up remove the peck cock/nipple from the front of the tank and seal it with lucky seven.

After fixing the problems from the previous week I headed down to Strickland Rc for a nice relaxing day of club racing. All of my favorite rc buddies were there and it was an awesome day. It was a small turn out with some great talent including Jon Renshaw from Jac racing fuel. What a great guy and attribute to the Rc community. I believe we only had 30 -40 entries and there was enough for an A and B main in truggy. 

The qualifiers were 7 minutes and I managed to tq  the first qualifier. After making a poor tire choice for the second qualifier I ended up placing second for the main. Got off to a great start and never looked back. Local talent at the track is fantastic and local favorite Mike Osteen gave me a good run until the last 3 minutes where a clutch problem removed him from the race. Anyways chalked up another 1st place victory for Tamiya and will continue to work hard supporting the team.

Off to the races: Tip of the day run the 2.0 toe block on the truggy for tight technical tracks it allows the truck to rotate faster and also allows the truck to correct itself faster when the rear end looses traction.

Talk to you soon

Here we go again;

Another exciting year of RC racing  begins. Team Tamiya is going to have a ton of fun and a tremendous amount of success for 2010.

The new arms and shock stand offs for the truggy are about to be released at the end of this month according to rumors and top officials at the Tamiya headquarters. 

After a couple months of testing the new arms, I must say the truck is a completely new animal. The new arms narrow the truck slightly and the swing shafts are lighter than the originals. This allows for quicker response and a more progressive driving feel, allowing the truck to make faster direction changes and making it more agile through the air. The truck not only handles better but feels lighter with the narrower track width. The new arms are much stronger than the original arms as well. It is much easier to push the truck harder knowing that the arms will not fail. They are virtually bullet proof now. Two gallons on the same set of arms and still performing well.

This weekend started off the season with a warm up race for the upcoming Outacontrol Race series in Ocoee Fl. The race brought in a ton of pros and local fast guys. The Tamiya truck fired up and ran flawlessly all day. The track ran three 7 minute qualis and a 20 minute main qual points style. All three rounds were fun fast and fantastic the 3 f's as we like to say down here.  Team Tamiya qualified 4th in the A with some real hot laps in the 34 second range with an average lap at the track being in the high 35 to 36 second range. 

The main was stacked with local and pro competition, and the start looked like a D main with so many rivals together. After a large pile up in turn one racers spread out on the fast flowing layout. Did I mention it did not have a straight away if you can believe it. Must be some new non traditional style techno mambo jumbo. Anyways it was fast flowing and real fun. First and second got a nice hole shot and did not get caught up in the pile up.  It was hard to chase down the leaders who had a clear track and ran into the back markers real quickly. 

I did have an opportunity to battle it out with a team Hot Bodies driver. We had a really nice battle for third and forth place for a little while before I finally found a hole and checked out trying to hunt down the leaders who had a three quarter lap advantage.  Anyways to make a long story short it was a fantastic day of racing and we were able to start out the year with a 3rd place finish. It was nice to podium the first race of the year even if it was not a first place finish it still feels good to start the year with a fresh photo.

Talk to you soon grab the new arms as soon as they come out it is like getting a new truggy for xmas.

Strickland RC did not disappoint.

The track was dialed with a tight technical layout. Hard packed blue groove calcium infused goodness. The track was fast flowing rhythm to your eyes. The tire of choice was AKA grid irons Super Soft. Cross these tires with a Tamiya 801Xt and an Os Speed and you have the perfect recipe for Thanksgiving race dinner.

The race was stacked with local talent. All of the fastest drivers from central Fl attended 54 truggy entries. 2 5 minute rocket round qualis and 30 minute A. 

The 801Xt was hooked up with a perfect tight technical Set up. 1.3 Pistons all the way around with 2 holes filled per shock piston. 55 front 45 rear. 39 ride height front 42 ride height rear. diffs 5f 10c 1r 1.5 toe out 2 camber fr 3 camber r droop full.  And a few tricks of the trade.

The truck was completely dialed on the tight track with high bite blue groove. On pace for an 11 lap 5:25 first qualifier on the 10th lap FLAME OUT. Oh No. 2nd qualifier on Tq Pace and another flame out. Oh well still good enough to start 6th in the A. the Amain was stacked with talent as well as the B.

Started the main in 6th got a fantastic start. Put myself right into 3rd place and checking out. Held onto 3rd place with no problems for 8 minutes of the 30 minute main. Launched over a very large triple and missed the down side slightly. Both shock bolts let go and I completely had no  rear suspension. I pitted and continued to race until the 20 minute mark achieving 10 minute pit stops on the new speed. I was able to hold onto 5th place on the next pit stop the shocks went through my body, causing the chassis to bottom out and forcing me to run into the trailer and quick fix the suspension. Was able to get back on the track and finish 7th overall. I must say if the suspension would have made it. The truck performed the best so far, and many heads were turned as the 801xt put down some of the fastest most consistent laps of the day. Every race I enjoy driving this truggy more and more.

The Turkey race was a fantastic event and because of the large turnout I was able to help many racers with set up advise and put Tamiya in the pits giving back to the racers to help them improve their skills. 

Tamiya did not win the Turkey shootout but they were #1 in the eyes of many. We will get them at the next one. The winter Nitro series is about to begin followed by the Ultimate Audio Show down. Stay Tuned this truck is on its way to a victory very soon. Every day it becomes more competitive.

Stay tuned for more info Flyin 

Well like the title says the last 3 weeks we raced 4 times including a double header yesterday Nov 21, 2009.

The previous races were not so exciting, fantastic weather and tons of fun. Can I just say some arm issues. Things had been going great for a couple races however I experienced some sever arm breakage. I would like to note up until this last race arms were not an issue. Maybe a softer batch of plastic from overseas.  I had only broken one arm in 5 races. I was starting to see some wear in my plastics and decided to change all of them.

What do they say? If its not broke don't fix it. lesson learnt. 5 arms in two races.  As you know broken parts do not win A mains. Note yes all of the arms were boiled and then even quenched in a warm oil bath. I learned these tricks in college. 

Well I ordered all new arms the week of the 14th and Tamiya expedited my order very quickly and replaced all of the plastics for the double header this weekend the 21st.

Race 3 was the Outacontrol Championship. The turnout was small so the championship was postponed and changed to a money race. The qualifiers went really well and were tons of fun. The track was really tacky from rain a couple days prior to the event and the calcium was heavy. Traction was fantastic and Andy did a great job on the track. The track was super smooth and fast. My set up was on point and I qualified 4th in the A.

The main began with a rough start large pile up in the first turn. Finally traffic opened up and one by one I picked them off to move into 4th place. A fellow racer with very similar skills went back and forth with a wing check that sent me into a wall to break another arm. Off the track I ran to change it up and get back into the race. With the last two races I am getting good at swapping them out so I was able to turn the car out in about 4.30. Back on the track I went. fortunately there were quite a few flame outs and drop outs that allowed me a 5th place finish. Very happy with the results considering I was out of the race for a few minutes. Just goes to show anything can happen when racing.

Packed the trailer up and headed over to Wow. The track was dialed with large jumps and the clay was the most perfect orange you have ever seen. The race started 5 minutes after we arrived and the truck was even better with the cool night air fueling my new Speed. Qualified 2nd in the A and loved every minute of it.

Took the Tamiya around turn 1 in the main and never looked back. The Tamiya ran a flawless 30 minutes. The weekend ended up being a blast and another victory for team Tamiya. I will admit I have never driven a truck that I like better than this Tamiya. I know that the new changes they are making to the truck are going to make this truck unbeatable for the price. This truck truly will compete with any of the manufactures out there.

Keep your eyes out for the results from the annual turkey race.

I would just like to give props to  Tamiya ,Hole Shot Hobbies , and my friend Tony over at the Horizon service center for keeping my Jr 9100TS and Jr9100S running perfect. You can not beat any of these companies customer service centers. You can not beat Jr's warranty services or Tamiyas customer support. Check out the new forum on site and look at the latest blogs and posts.

Note: since replacing the arms for the second time things seem to be back on track. Must have been a fluke.

Well drove out to Orlando for the best race I have been to in a while. All of central FL's top talent showed up for a qual points event that ran until 3:00 Am.

Gates opened at noon and I ran into fellow team mate George Martinez who has been racing a ton lately so he was helping out in the pits. Ran 2 tanks at practice just to get a feel for the track and a nice tune for the evening. The track was super fast and technical with a cool but dangerous crossover.

Did I mention the A main was stacked with some of the fastest drivers I have ran with.

3 qualifiers and a 20 minute A.

First qualifier: Fired up the truck took one lap and out of no where the front arm broke. Back to the trailer for a little repair.

Second Qualifier: Got back out on the track and had a nice qualifier set me up 6th in the A.

3rd Qualifier: Reshuffle Got out on the track and with the lack of the first qualifier my shuffle did not sit so well. Ended up driving with some bullies and got bounced around pretty bad. Good enough to earn 10 qual points and start 6th in the A.

The A was stacked with Fl talent and the Main began around 1:30 in the morning way past my bed time. Had a great start. Missed the pile up in the first turn and pulled away behind 1st and second. Held 3rd for 13 minutes until I ran into some heavy traffic. Had a bad wreck with someone that wanted to rear end me over a large double. That set me back to 5th. Worked hard to fight back and forth between 6th 5th and 4th for a while tire to tire. Worked back up to 3rd 28 minutes in with a pit strategy had a bobble over the double triple feeling pressure from behind. Raced toe to toe for 2.5 minutes. On the last lap 3rd 4th 5th and 6th hit the final sweeper together and all of us ended up on our lids one way or another. I felt bad for the marshall. I was the last to get turned and ended up 6th overall. One of the best races I have been a part of even with a 6th place finish. The tightest local competition around.

Talk to you soon.

Well the last 2 weeks were tons of fun. Raced a new track in the Fl scene OCP. Fun fast track, a mini wire grass. Fast flowing and fun. Some fantastic talent out at the track as well.

This weekend we raced at our local track and we also had some great talent show up. I was able to qualify in the top 5 in both events. However some a arm gremlins decided to pay me a visit and chew through 3 rear arms. Oh well.

However after lots of work and attention to detail I do have a few pit tips for those that are interested. These tips are for the regular guys like myself that compete with some of the best local talent around. I do not know if these tips are Lutzinator approved but I will toss them out there anyways.

first tip: When building my shocks I have found that 1.3 pistons work the best all around. However I was not happy about how high the fluids were running during the hot weather. I will use terms that everyone is familiar with in shock weights. During the peak summer I was using 80 and 90 weight oils 650 -900 depending on the brand. Anyways my chassis would still bottom out over the larger stuff. I have found filling in 2 of the 6  holes in the 1.3 with my soldiering gun really helps. This makes the shocks more progressive and equalizes out the dampening . This is my own opinion and some may disagree but it works very well for me. Combine this with the medium springs up front and some firms in the rear on the truck. This also allows you to run more conventional oils like 55 and 45 200-350 which most racers are more experienced with. Some may find that they want the rear end to react quicker this can be accomplished by running 1.4s with 2 hole filled in. Hope this helps

second tip: I have found when shimming my front and rear diffs it is very helpful to put a 2mm shim behind the pinion gear. This helps to keep the back lash more consistent between maintenance.

More tips to come in my next blog. Happy Racing

Remember when on the drivers stand Keep your cool so you do not look like a complete tool!!!!!!!! They are only toy cars Ya right

Round 5 A muddy Mess. That says it all for round 5

Round 6 started out as a picture perfect day. I was happy and feeling confident that I had worked all of the little gremlins out of my gear. I had been battling some radio issues for most of this point series and finally bought a new radio. It solved all of my issues.

We were happy to see a new more technical layout for race 5 and 6, and it was a blast. All of the guys down at wow put a super layout together. 

Qualifying went well I was able to seat myself second in the A and the track began to tighten up and become super fast. A few local fast guys showed up to try and mix up the points a little. I really needed the help considering I had a few races end early due to some minor gremlins.

The main began and myself and a couple locals checked out and switched positions numerous times. Finally the top 3 guys broke free and put a lap down on the feild. We continued to pull some fast lap times when the sky decided to open up. Rain started about 20minutes into the A and the day was washed away. Tamiya ended up finishing first with the technicality. I feel confident we would have pulled 1st in the end even without the rain.

The truck felt fantastic and is truly starting to feel magnifficent. All in all it was a fun little points series.

This was the perfect opportunity to get a feel for the new Tamiya truck and I am happy with a second place finish overall with the Tamiya 801Xt. 

We are  getting ready for the FL Winter Nitro Series and I can not wait.

I will keep you posted. Talk to you soon Not so Bad first series with the truck Second place overall in Points. Many more races to go.

FYI The truck now has 7 solid races on it and besides some minor wear on the plastic steering and ball ends. The drive train is still in excellent shape. All of the cvds and ring and pinions are holding up. This is one well built Rc Racer

As the title says the Tamiya 801 XT was on RAILS this weekend. Track was hard packed and dusty. Tire choice for the weekend was AKA grid irons. This week brought out some very fast guys considering there was another large race scheduled for the same weekend.

Fellow racer George Martinez was present supporting the Tamiya croud and the weather was fantasic. Tqed the first Qualifier and then was out done by an 11 lap run by one of the local fast guys, who is a true champ and an excellent racer. Actually one of the fastest in FL. We all call him Factory so we will leave it at that. Ended up qualifying second in the Amain. 

Race started out as usual Factory checked out and some how I got caught up in the first turn pile up. How did I go from second to last in 3 second. Only god knows. One by one I worked the Tamiya 801 XT up to second place in 4 laps. The truck was completely dialed. It was amazing how well the truck handled whatever I tossed at it. Average laps for the day were 32-34 and we were starting to pull 29. Fastest lap of the day was a 28.8 done with the Tamiya 801xt. 

To make a long story short 23minutes into the 30 minute main my front king screw ripped out of the front knuckle off of a big jump. I have never had this happen before, it must have been a fluke. The truck limped around for two or three laps before suffering an unwilling defeat.

 I can not wait to get this truck back together and entered into another race. This truck will make anyone a better driver. And best of all it looks like it is going 100mph when it is sitting still.LOL We will get them next time.

Tamiya is still sitting 1st in points as of now. To be continued

Took a trip out for the Region 4 warm up race. The re grand opening of OutaControl. This track lived up to its reputation. Track was off the hook and the competition was heavy. A lot of the big boys from Fl were there. Factory and non factory guys. The new layout was technical and fast. The track was a ton of fun. The Tamiya brought a lot of attention in the pits and everyone loves the tilted engine. Got to love eye candy. I will admit I did not see a lot of differance between the handling of the car from upright to slanted but it sure looks very trick.

Anyways the race was fun. Broke a servo horn in the first qualifier. Fixed it and landed 7th in the A with a decent run in the second.  I was not happy with any of my tire selections and will be trying some new stuff next week. Track was hard packed and dusty. The clay is white and sandy. My tire choices seem to be geared more towrds red sticky hard pack. Anyways the A main was like playing ping pong I got bottled up in the first turn which happens to be a real tight 90 and ended up in the back of the feild. Tried my best to stay consistent and ended up finishing 6th overall. Not to bad considering all of the tallent at the event. I would have to say if you visit Fl and want to race some great competition. Lake Park First Choice and then OutaControl Second Choice. All of the clubs have some great drivers its just that all of these fantastic drivers meet up at these 2 tracks. To much fun to express in words.Talk to you soon.

Round 3 of dirt wars was a complete success. Set up felt really nice and the truck handled very well. Looking forward to the regional s in 2 weeks. Qualified 3rd for the A. Ran a flawless race with a pit strategy and it was the wrong idea going up against a real fast guy from Tampa. I should have raced head to head. Trying to maintain fuel efficiency caused me to get lapped. We were still the 2 fastest guys on the track but trying to go 10 minutes on the tank cost me some time. Next time we will run 3 pit stops and race head to head. All in all a great weekend of racing finished 2nd and I am in 2nd place in the points series with 3 races to go. Looking forward to running on the new outacontral track. Andy has a reputation for having the best track in central Fl it will be interesting to see the new layout.

Added note George Martinez broke out the 801x and it looked real nice on the track. George it looked fast on the track Sunday. See you at the regionals George.