- Messages
- 1,494
- Reaction score
- 4,759
- Points
- 1,290
- Location
- Fredericksburg, VA
- RC Driving Style
- Bashing
- Racing
- Crawling
- Thread starter
- #61
Race Recap for Sunday 6/28/2026!
We started the day by driving 1 hour and 45 minutes through dark clouds and sprinkles of rain, thinking the worst. The forecast said 40% chance of storms in the afternoon, but it was looking more like 100% chance of storms at any moment. Somehow, the rain held off for the entire day. There was some crazy high humidity. I'll take that over a rain out any day.
For this race day, it was just my son and I. My daughter has been under the weather and wanted to stay home, so it was a dudes-day. Luckily, she gave me the approval to race her Slash in the SCT class, but I was NOT allowed to use her bug body lol.
The race director ran a tight ship to get us finished up on time before any weather came in. I was racing 3 classes, and my son was racing his class...the day moved by very quickly. Because of that, I have no pictures or videos of the racing and that sucks.
The track appeared shorter than what we're used to, but it was packed full of tight turns so lap times were about the same as usual. It was a lot of fun.
SCT [Traxxas Slash]
My expectation for this class was to have fun and nothing else.
1st qualifier: Fun was had and I locked in 2nd place. For the entire 4 minutes, I was in a constant battle for 2nd with another Slash. We traded positions a few times early on until he got tangled up with a barricade and I put some distance between us. He caught back up to me rather quickly and was right on me for the duration of the heat. We finished within 2/100s of one another.
2nd qualifier: I got blasted by another truck on one of the ramps during the first lap of the race. Sent me flying and I landed on my lid where I stayed turtled for a lap, dropped down to last and was only able to make up 2 places. Finished 5th and frustrated...that's racing!
A-Main: Ran a perfect main! Held down 3rd place the entire race. Finished in 3rd! First podium of the day!
Expedition - Mini Offroad [Arrma Mojave Grom RTA]
I had zero expectations for this class considering I've only tested the truck in my driveway and have about 2 minutes of total drive time on it. There was a very diverse field of vehicles. There were some Mini Kratons, Mini Slashes, Mini Maxxes, and only a handful of Groms. I'm fairly certain, my truck was the only one running a brushed motor...there were a lot of wheelies from the others...
1st qualifier: After recovering from being slap wheelied into oblivion by a Mini Kraton, I finished 3rd. I was lapped by the leader and 2nd place truck while a turn marshal collected my truck from the moon. Flowing through the track using body roll as a mechanism for judging speed and turns was super fun! I knew I had more in me than a 3rd place finish.
2nd qualifier: Had a much cleaner race this time. I was in the top 3 trucks, door to door, bumper to bumper, the entire race. I was running in 2nd place the whole race trying to hold off the guy behind me, but he was able to sneak by me in the last lap and I finished in 3rd again. I was happy with this finish. Most fun race I've had in a while.
A-Main: Had some really good, clean racing. Lots of trading positions. Couldn't catch the brushless Mini Kraton who held down first place the entire race, but I did stay on the same lap as him and finished right behind him in 2nd place. 2nd podium of the day!
Spec 21.5 Touring [HPI RS4 Sport 3]
1st qualifier: I was battling for 2nd and 3rd place for the first half of the race. Finished in 4th out of 5. The car was on rails. I was feeling locked in. Then my front left turnbuckle decided to adjust itself and toe'd itself out so much that the car could barely turn right. I had no crashes or impacts that would have stripped the plastic (my first thought), it was literally just out of adjustment, and the threads are perfectly intact. I think I hate this car... lol
2nd qualifier: After making the front toe adjustment, the car was back to being on rails. I battled for 1st for a couple laps, then my body decided to tuck under my front tire when I cut a corner just a smidge close and kissed a corrugated pipe on the way by. I pulled the car in, fixed the body, and took a 35 second lap putting me down into 3rd where I stayed and finished.
B-Main: I had an absolutely flawless run and won the B-Main, bumping up into the A. This was the best run this car has ever made. Third podium of the day!!
A-Main: I started in last place. Had another perfect run...and stayed in last place. LOL. These guys' spec cars are so much faster than mine, it just doesn't make sense.
Check out the consistency percentages. All drivers over 90% is pretty wild!
Novice Touring [Tamiya TT-02]
My son was feeling pretty confident and excited after his performance during his first race day. There were a lot of younger entries in his class today and he was pretty excited to race against other kids. Unfortunately, his class was a demolition derby...every heat. There was a lot of smashing and crashing and it wasn't just the kids. There were 2 adults whose cars were way too fast for the track, and they were causing total chaos on top of the total chaos the kids created for themselves lol. One of the track barricades was a concrete curb. It was at the very end of the short straightaway and there was more than enough space to slow down for the turn at the end. In the A-main, I watched these 2 guys race each other down the straight at every bit of 50mph and both cars went headfirst into the concrete curb. No attempt to make the turn. Total yard sale. Parts everywhere.
My son told me he felt like he got beat up all day during his races and he really wasn't wrong. At one point he was somehow t-boned then pushed down the entire length of the straight stuck to the front bumper of the car that boned him. It pulled the lower suspension pivot, screw and all, clean out of the suspension arm. We were able to undo the screw and put everything right back together without issue. He stayed in good spirits though. He somehow finished 7th out of 9 in both qualifiers and the A-main. He did end up winning a giveaway for some store gift cards, a HobbyTown t-shirt, and some Traxxas swag.
We headed home in very high spirits, just as the rain came into town. My wife was very impressed by my hardware as I walked through the door medals around my neck stating, "the champ is here!"
Perfect day of racing!!
We started the day by driving 1 hour and 45 minutes through dark clouds and sprinkles of rain, thinking the worst. The forecast said 40% chance of storms in the afternoon, but it was looking more like 100% chance of storms at any moment. Somehow, the rain held off for the entire day. There was some crazy high humidity. I'll take that over a rain out any day.
For this race day, it was just my son and I. My daughter has been under the weather and wanted to stay home, so it was a dudes-day. Luckily, she gave me the approval to race her Slash in the SCT class, but I was NOT allowed to use her bug body lol.
The race director ran a tight ship to get us finished up on time before any weather came in. I was racing 3 classes, and my son was racing his class...the day moved by very quickly. Because of that, I have no pictures or videos of the racing and that sucks.
The track appeared shorter than what we're used to, but it was packed full of tight turns so lap times were about the same as usual. It was a lot of fun.
SCT [Traxxas Slash]
My expectation for this class was to have fun and nothing else.
1st qualifier: Fun was had and I locked in 2nd place. For the entire 4 minutes, I was in a constant battle for 2nd with another Slash. We traded positions a few times early on until he got tangled up with a barricade and I put some distance between us. He caught back up to me rather quickly and was right on me for the duration of the heat. We finished within 2/100s of one another.
2nd qualifier: I got blasted by another truck on one of the ramps during the first lap of the race. Sent me flying and I landed on my lid where I stayed turtled for a lap, dropped down to last and was only able to make up 2 places. Finished 5th and frustrated...that's racing!
A-Main: Ran a perfect main! Held down 3rd place the entire race. Finished in 3rd! First podium of the day!
Expedition - Mini Offroad [Arrma Mojave Grom RTA]
I had zero expectations for this class considering I've only tested the truck in my driveway and have about 2 minutes of total drive time on it. There was a very diverse field of vehicles. There were some Mini Kratons, Mini Slashes, Mini Maxxes, and only a handful of Groms. I'm fairly certain, my truck was the only one running a brushed motor...there were a lot of wheelies from the others...
1st qualifier: After recovering from being slap wheelied into oblivion by a Mini Kraton, I finished 3rd. I was lapped by the leader and 2nd place truck while a turn marshal collected my truck from the moon. Flowing through the track using body roll as a mechanism for judging speed and turns was super fun! I knew I had more in me than a 3rd place finish.
2nd qualifier: Had a much cleaner race this time. I was in the top 3 trucks, door to door, bumper to bumper, the entire race. I was running in 2nd place the whole race trying to hold off the guy behind me, but he was able to sneak by me in the last lap and I finished in 3rd again. I was happy with this finish. Most fun race I've had in a while.
A-Main: Had some really good, clean racing. Lots of trading positions. Couldn't catch the brushless Mini Kraton who held down first place the entire race, but I did stay on the same lap as him and finished right behind him in 2nd place. 2nd podium of the day!
Spec 21.5 Touring [HPI RS4 Sport 3]
1st qualifier: I was battling for 2nd and 3rd place for the first half of the race. Finished in 4th out of 5. The car was on rails. I was feeling locked in. Then my front left turnbuckle decided to adjust itself and toe'd itself out so much that the car could barely turn right. I had no crashes or impacts that would have stripped the plastic (my first thought), it was literally just out of adjustment, and the threads are perfectly intact. I think I hate this car... lol
2nd qualifier: After making the front toe adjustment, the car was back to being on rails. I battled for 1st for a couple laps, then my body decided to tuck under my front tire when I cut a corner just a smidge close and kissed a corrugated pipe on the way by. I pulled the car in, fixed the body, and took a 35 second lap putting me down into 3rd where I stayed and finished.
B-Main: I had an absolutely flawless run and won the B-Main, bumping up into the A. This was the best run this car has ever made. Third podium of the day!!
A-Main: I started in last place. Had another perfect run...and stayed in last place. LOL. These guys' spec cars are so much faster than mine, it just doesn't make sense.
Check out the consistency percentages. All drivers over 90% is pretty wild!Novice Touring [Tamiya TT-02]
My son was feeling pretty confident and excited after his performance during his first race day. There were a lot of younger entries in his class today and he was pretty excited to race against other kids. Unfortunately, his class was a demolition derby...every heat. There was a lot of smashing and crashing and it wasn't just the kids. There were 2 adults whose cars were way too fast for the track, and they were causing total chaos on top of the total chaos the kids created for themselves lol. One of the track barricades was a concrete curb. It was at the very end of the short straightaway and there was more than enough space to slow down for the turn at the end. In the A-main, I watched these 2 guys race each other down the straight at every bit of 50mph and both cars went headfirst into the concrete curb. No attempt to make the turn. Total yard sale. Parts everywhere.
My son told me he felt like he got beat up all day during his races and he really wasn't wrong. At one point he was somehow t-boned then pushed down the entire length of the straight stuck to the front bumper of the car that boned him. It pulled the lower suspension pivot, screw and all, clean out of the suspension arm. We were able to undo the screw and put everything right back together without issue. He stayed in good spirits though. He somehow finished 7th out of 9 in both qualifiers and the A-main. He did end up winning a giveaway for some store gift cards, a HobbyTown t-shirt, and some Traxxas swag.
We headed home in very high spirits, just as the rain came into town. My wife was very impressed by my hardware as I walked through the door medals around my neck stating, "the champ is here!"
Perfect day of racing!!
