Oval Breakout racing.

[Iowa crawler]

Well OK I am good with this. A bunch of numbers and details will look good. Definitely visible. I over did it with the tinted glass. One coat is all you want.

Stickers and chassis tuning and it will be ready to test on Sunday. I chose 67 because the number are next to each other and I could put them down and not worry about the spacing.

 

[Iowa crawler]

I am very surprised at the left front weight bias this thing has. I am also kinda worried about it. I know I only have to go five seconds and that should be fine. But I don’t want a car that is loose in the rear end. It causes a spin out and that’s worse than a car that plows. Can’t wait to run this thing.

 

[Iowa crawler]

After making some adjustments to the springs and front control arms I got the corner weight to a better place. I think the least amount of weight should be on the right front. And even rear gives better acceleration and traction. I think, could be wrong.

This is the starting point.

 

[Doom!]

Glad you went with the green and black, it looks great.

 

[Iowa crawler]

Holly crap this thing is awesome. I just did 100 laps all at 5.0-5.3. And that’s the first time on the track. At 100% throttle it’s a bit wild but at 53% and using the fastest line it’s about 5.023 seconds. The track hobby shop is so excited they want to start carrying this kit with a truck body and making it a separate new class.

 

[Iowa crawler]

This car is a total hit. Everyone was driving it. I did 265 laps on one battery pack and broke out like three times because I was getting bored and running 5.1 I wanted 5.000 and I kept getting closer and closer till I hit 4.98 and then a 4.8. I totally have cut the corner to break out. So if I can run 200 laps at 5.1~5.2 I should place well. Except this is a big time event. I just found out they book out the hotel near the track for the out of town competitors.

And after the fantastic showing at the Snowbird U.S. nationals in Florida last week. I will be literally competing with the best in the country.

 

[Doom!]

Right on! Do it for your forum pals!

 

[Iowa crawler]

I’ll keep everyone updated on the race. And try to get some videos.

 

[Iowa crawler]

I spent most of the day working on this car. During last nights successful testing and tuning I had a couple issues. One was the hopping around the corners and the other was the rattle from the body.
To fix the rattle I made a large front bumper pad that supports the body and will protect from flexing too much.
For the rear end hop I put on brand new tires front and rear and will use traction compound at the beginning of the race.
I also polished all the parts of the differential. It is smooth as silk now and should be good.

 

[Iowa crawler]

Well that was not what I was expecting.
The car handles really well and the rear end hop is not the diff it’s the body on very long body posts. I am going to work on that.
But the car ran really well and it only had one breakout in the second heat. The first heat I had started with a fully charged the battery and I went to fast at the beginning and broke out twice. That is an instant last place.
But I did not charge the battery after the second qualifying heat and since I only broke out one time in that heat I figured I could Drive aggressively with out going faster than 5.000. If I just clip the apex of each turn and drive in the center of the track that is 5.100 just about every time. And with a 5000 mA battery running 43% throttle it can drive like that for a long time. So I got into the A- Main at number 5 and did not have to do a B- main. So I left the battery alone. It’s a 75 lap race and I want to test for the 200 lap race coming up. The normal announcer was doing something and not calling the race so I had no idea my place. And I have not seen the data. But I finished in first place. Ya I am shocked. I have no idea what happen it was just over and I looked up at the board and could not find my name. Then someone said I won and my name was at the top. Sometimes that’s racing.

 

[DudeAbides]

Iowa Crawler, you have the best threads. I love your no prep build and your vintage trans am. I visit them often.

 

[Iowa crawler]

Iowa Crawler, you have the best threads. I love your no prep build and your vintage trans am. I visit them often.

Thanks for the kind words. I really enjoy those builds. I can not wait to update the no prep thread. I bought a set of tire warmers for five bucks . I have not run the car yet.

 

[Iowa crawler]

I found the statistics and looked at my data from the ESC. The voltage drops off from 8 to 7.something it stays there for the whole time I had data memory.
I was still going 5.2 after 160 laps so I think for the 200 lap race I’m not changing anything. I have a forced 60 second pit stop at lap 100. So I think I’ll drive pretty wide for the first half. Then during the second half I can tighten it up and hopefully not break out. You can’t go slow you need to stay about 5.1 for safety but with six cars there is traffic and drafts to mess you up.

 

[Iowa crawler]

So I’m looking at the race results and my first lap is 9 seconds. I’m like what is that??
I thought the tone went off and everyone raced towards the starting line. Then the clock started and you made a lap and that is lap one.
I think when the tone goes off your first lap is counted when you cross the finish line for the first time. Some people at the front of the starting line have 8 second laps and then the people at the back 9-10 second then the last couple people have 5. or the more experienced drivers have 5 second laps.

I’m not sure but from looking at just about everyone else’s starting laps, just about everyone does this at some point. On the race I just competed in, the only guy that did not breakout on the first laps started last and is a very new driver.

This is surprising information that I bet not everyone knows. I’m going to probably keep this quiet and see if I’m correct. But not starting a lap down is huge. I remember a couple weeks ago not knowing why I lost the race because I never broke out. Not realizing I broke out at the crazy race start. And since so many people are making the same mistake. No one notices? Can’t be.

 

[Iowa crawler]

Did some modifications to the breakout car today .I had a 21.5 motor in it but was having some terrible cogging at low RPM. Not sure why but it could be a bad sensor board. I swapped the 21.5 for a 25.5 motor. I also put in a tekin servo and changed the rear gearing from 26 to 29 teeth. This makes the car more efficient I hope. I drove 200 laps on a partially charged battery. After 175 laps it was a little slower but still 5.1.
And it did 200 laps with no problem.

Sunday is a normal race day. I won last week. The car was super tonight so it’s all on me.

 

[Iowa crawler]

No breakout race today.
Different break out race today. Big traxxas cars.

Next week is the third annual Cedar Rapids Bullring 200. Two hundred laps on Sunday. I’m running breakout and Busch lite.
Saturday is four qualifying heats.
Friday is practice till 10:00. Door prides, raffles. All sorts of fun.
There are people coming in from out of town and have booked the hotel out.

Today I got to practiced for about an hour and dialed in the throttle. It’s between 5.09 And 5.29 as long as drive my fast line full throttle and don’t cut the corners. And I would have to really cut the corner to break out. It can happen sometimes to avoid a crash or something and then I just have to let off the throttle and it’s ok. But 200 laps is a long race.

 

[Iowa crawler]

I gotta give it to the breakout car. I left it at the track after the race Sunday. And they did not open because of weather till Friday. I tossed the car in the battery charger for like five minutes and then raced two 50 lap qualifying rounds and a 60 lap Main event, finishing a disappointing third. After reviewing the data the battery was not charged properly. The data showed a 7.58 voltage ..should be 8.2+-. Normally I set my throttle to 53% and the car does 5.001~5.200.with the occasional 5.3or4 because of traffic or whatever.
The race started out with four. 5.6 laps and I was going 5.4 to 6.0. So I bumped it up to 54% on the throttle and then I was nervous about breaking out. But I was not able to keep up with the person in the lead. So I was driving around at 5.4s for the main event and finished third. Super consistent car but the preparation failed.
Tomorrow will be better.

 

[Iowa crawler]

Did it again. I won the first qualifier and added battery voltage . Then broke out in the second qualifying round. This set me up for the B main. And I planned to burn down the battery so it would not break out in the A. Great plan except the B main was just two people and the other guy conceded the race to me. But I did not burn brown the battery so in the A main I broke out in the fourth lap from first place and lost the race from there. Mistakes like a dropped lap are just about unrecoverable unless everyone else makes a mistake. It can happen but not today.

 

[ahr43]

Hmm. Sounds suspiciously like the guy conceding the B-main to you suspected your plan to burn the battery down for the A-main. By conceding he put you in that tight spot. Why else would someone concede a race? Bit of double-teaming going on there? Yeah, racing is weird. 'AC'

 

[Iowa crawler]

He was trying to help me out. He is new to breakout and figured it would speed things up. And to top it off they usually have six cars in the A-main. But they decided to put both of us in the A- main because breakout can handle seven or eight cars without much trouble. Well, no one told him that and there was some confusion.
I’m learning a lot every race. It’s a fun game trying to go fifty laps in traffic at .020 of a second between each lap.