Congratulation Rob, you'll do fine. With all your experience in racing, you don't have anything to worry. Crawling comps are generally much more laid back than its racing counterpart. The concencus seems to be that the guys at the comps are much more laid back, and help each other out all they can. A lot of the guys that were pretty big into racing have said that crawling was like a breath of fresh air because the racing had gotten so "cutthroat" among the competitors, and at the comps everyone gets along and tries to have a good time.
Just make sure you take some spare parts that you think you might need.At my first comp, I just took the tools that I would need to tune my rig, and I figured that if anything broke I would just be out of the comp. Of course, something broke right off the bat and I learned that you can just take a repair that costs a few points. Thank goodness Chip and some of the other guys gave me some parts that I needed to get back in the comp, and even with a problem that cost me 4 repairs, I still came in 8 out of about 25.
I read the page a Jake's and its going to be a really nice competition, I wish I had the cash to fly over there and join you at the comp, I can already tell that the guys putting it on are doing a great job. There's going to be some prizes, it's not everyday that a DX3R radio system is a possibility of being in the drivers raffle at a local comp, so theres no telling what else might be in the mix.
It doesn't say anything in the rules about a time limit, so you'll most likely be able to take your time. Just dont get in a hurry. Sometimes the pros take 10 or 15 minutes to read the lines on a course to make a decision if there isn't a limit. That's a little excessive, but it shows that you definitely don't need to hurry.
Also, the judges are supposed to call out your points. At our June comp, I didn't realize why James was pissed off until we were almost home, then I finally figured it out. When you get points for something, the judge is supposed to call out "reverse" or whatever the points were for, just keep everyone honest. James didn't know about this, so he thought the girl judging was just trying to rub it in his face when she said "reverse, another reverse" and so on and so fourth. Lol, so don't get in a fight with the judges for pointing out your errors, thats their job.
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