HPI Challenge 2004 @ NY

[Buncrana]

weather looks good to me. Besides, brian from bruckner said if it rains, they will wait it out til it just passes by and continue with the races. he does not have time to hold two days of racing on Sunday due to weather change on Sat.

As far as the campers, I did not get a chance to be at the track to check out the build, but the camping thing is totally BS since Bruckner did post of hotels in the area.

Yeah, one lot had a motor home and a generator.

 

[RatzoRC]

A lot of people come from far away for this race. Thats why you see the campers. Last years winners won a trip to race
in Vegas, and If they won in Vegas, A trip to race in Japan.
This is one of the biggest races that HPI has.
All in all, it's a great time to be had. Make the best of every situation.

 

[rossb]

I'm going regardless. See you guys there.

 

[NJRC]

well...it RAINED but I and the rest of the Savages were the only ones that got the chance to qualify.

Didn't really know the faces from here. Sorry didn't meet with anyone except for Rossb.

For those returning tomorrow, the 3rd qualifiers start off at 8am which I believe is the truck class.

 

[Buncrana]

Stop by my canopy. It's the blue one behind Bruckners set up. Which qualifier were you in? How did you do?

 

[NJRC]

I was in race 1 and I believe I heard them say I moved up to forth while i was racing but I have no clue how I did overall. Either way, I was just out to have some fun and watch the races.

 

[Buncrana]

Hey, that's the most important thing. If your not having fun, why bother doing it. I though I cam in 2nd or 3rd even though I was in first for a while. Even thinking that, the race was a blast. I hope you made it to the A main so we can race each other again.

 

[RatzoRC]

If they run faster tomorrow, you can get knocked out of the A main.
There is another round of qualifying.
But you may run faster as well. I just don't want you to get your hopes up.
Thats what happened to me last year.
I was TQ for Saturday. Sunday, I was last in the A main. I just held on by a thread.
Good luck tomorrow boy's.
I will not make it.

 

[Buncrana]

Not going to get my hopes up because I was stunned that I even got 1st. As for qualifying, the Savages are done as per Tom Baffer. The other classes will qualify and then the mains. I'll be happy tomorow if I race a good race, win or lose. :smoke:

 

[NJRC]

My friend Nick who was supposed to qualify in the 1st race didn't even get the chance to do so because during practice, someone kept playing with their radio and it was on the same channel as my friend's was. The runnaway Savage with stock body that got loose into the crowd three times was my friend Nick. From all three wild crashes into the crowd, he broke a few things just from someone else's stupidty. The three wild crashes into the crowd were all in the same area of the track so it had to be someone close. He pretty much lost his entry fee, practice time, qualifying time, and broken truck due to someone esle.

There was one tent that had all stock RTR's with stock radios. That tent had about 6 ot more guys to them and we all know that stock radios only go up to 6 channels. After the first wild crash,we just thought something was wrong with the truck itself. Then the second wild crash happened in the same area so I gave he a different radio and reciever with a different channel. Same thing happened, wild crash #3 in the same area.
Hmmm? two different channels used on the same truck resulting in wild crashes in the same area as that tent was with all the stock RTR's.

 

[Buncrana]

Yeah, a friend I was with had someone screw him like that also during practice. Almost discouraged him from racing at all. Broke an arm only I think. I seen some truck take out someones stand down at the side where the campers were. Thing was going WOT, hit the track boards and flipped into the stands. I'm going to avoid practice tomorow after it gets busy, not worth the hassle. Sorry to hear your friend did not have a good time.

 

[NJRC]

The truck that went WOT into the track boards and stands was my friend Nick. All the WOT wild crashes were all on that side of the track with his truck so for it to be a coincidence to happen all on that side of the track is strange to believe even with a swap of channels in his truck.

I loved how during practice with all the trucks and cars on the track, if a car got in my way, I just drove right over it with the Savage.....lol.

 

[jgrs4]

I was there today also, my 11 year old was driving my white Savage SS like he stole it, so if he hit or ran over anybody I apoligize. I will be back tomorow, solo, so I will need someone to pit for me, so if anybody knows of anyone let me know. I am running in nitro modified. Thank you. See you guys tomorow, I thnk the weather will be great.

 

[rossb]

Hey guys. It was good to finally put a face to at least one person (NJRC). I saw that truck going wild in the pit area. It nearly took my table out. During the practice runs I also went right over a bunch of R40s. They got in my way and I could not slow down. A driver of one of the R40s I ran over was standing right next to me. I apologized and he just laughed. It was quite funny. It is amazing how easy it is to drive a Savage over a touring car. I even drove right over a Savage 25 RTR during qualifying.

I did not do so well during qualifying. One of my rear tie rods kept popping off whenever someone hit me and whenever I hit a track board. I had to keep running down from the driver’s stand to reattach the tie rod. This really killed my lap time. I spoke with an HPI representative and he said that this is a common problem. He told me to mount a washer on the screw that holds the tie-rod ball to the steering knuckle. The tie rod then sits in between the washer and the steering knuckle and the tie rod will stay attached. That sounded like a great idea. I got home and tried to remove one of my rear wheels to do this mod and I could not get the wheel off the truck. The nut was off the axle but the wheel was not budging. I struggled with it for about 30 minutes and I was pulling so hard it felt like I was going to break the rear suspension. The wheel refuses to come off. I want to race tomorrow so I decided to leave the wheel and I came up with a new idea. I used a couple of tie straps to secure the tie-rods. I hope they hold, here is a pic:

Here are some pics. I am holding the banner in the middle of the picture (behind the blue Savage). The HPI guy let me keep that banner.

 

[jfischer]

The problem with the tie rod ends is something that I have seen many times. I lost a race or so because of this, and on all of my trucks since then I run a washer, or one of the bevel washers like you use on a servo mount on the bottom side, and then safety wire all of the turnbuckles on. I think I also have Pro-Line ball ends on all of them, and that seemed to help some and they last longer without getting all of the slop. It is the little things that will help you last the whole race.

I did not do so well during qualifying. One of my rear tie rods kept popping off whenever someone hit me and whenever I hit a track board. I had to keep running down from the driver’s stand to reattach the tie rod. This really killed my lap time. I spoke with an HPI representative and he said that this is a common problem. He told me to mount a washer on the screw that holds the tie-rod ball to the steering knuckle. The tie rod then sits in between the washer and the steering knuckle and the tie rod will stay attached. That sounded like a great idea.

 

[hb1111]

i had the same problem i just put washers,but in your case i hope the tie works,and good luck on the race tomorrow ,i wonder why the rim is stuck?let us know how it goes...

 

[NJRC]

nice shot of all of us for the group photo. That's me on the bottom row, third in from the right with all the tattoos.

Here are some photos from todays races. I am hoping that somewhere out there maybe someone had some shots of me racing and would post them or maybe not. Some good shots of rossb getting some air and some in the air conflicts with another savage.

 

[RatzoRC]

Nice pics. Looks like you had a good time.

 

[Team 17]

What were the final results? Did any of the members make the "A" main?

 

[NJRC]

Yes, I did make the "A Main" for the Savage class and ended up 8th due to a blown trans. It all happened when I had to swap reciever and radio really really quick before the race since someone else in the A Main was running my channel 82. Anyways, if the other guy with the same channel hs a better lap time than you in qualifying, then you are the one to change channels. So I couldn't get someone's FM Futaba crystals really really quick so I swapped to my spare AM channel which was only a 2 channel reciever. My original FM was a 3 channel with reverse connected. So during my Main race, I slammed hard into the back end of a ramp to avoid another truck and when I slammed the ramp, it shift the truck into reverse which resulted in no forward gear for me to control.
Either way, I still had fun trying, and I did still get a plaque for finishing 8th in only 3 laps. Did not get too far with no forward gearing.