calvino

Well I finally was able to actually say I raced something ([X(]). I ended up taking a friends rustler XL-1 out and having a pretty eventful night. Here is how it goes

Arvie, get a pit space/pay my $12 entry fee
get the car ready for practice... whoups seems like my ancient POC nicad went bad... no issues, grab the orion nhmi. What, its acting dead also ([X(][>:][&:][:@][:'(]), I swear i charged up the dummie at home [&:]. Well maybe its my CO27 being a pain, its never had the comm cut... No issues the track is covered in truggy's... im not risking my friends car [>:] I can call qualifying practice right .

First round of qualifying, smart me is a lil late getting my transponder/is jogging up to the drivers stand to find to my horror someone had their radio on my channel in the pics ([:@]) yell to the guy in the timing tower the issue.. 3 laps lost later im good to go. End up getting 2nd in the qualifier out of like 3 cars in my class, i am happy, heck or no practice time... got my 15 seconds of timing tower fame... . Yaa good race, got to love Zippy Lipolys [8D]

Second round of qualifying, even smarter me decides to raise the front end on the rustler to get better steering (WRONG).... somehow also the steering throw adjust gets tweaked and i loose some steering. So i head into qualifying with "no issues" until i get racing and the car handles HORRIBLE... at first I thought my pack was dead since when the pack goes low, so does the BEC... its a mess. SO i poke around and look like a total idiotic newbie.... horid race, i get "last" in my class... so i head back to the pits... End up getting some good advice from some guys racing stock (they lumped both rookie and stock together), take their advice and 1/2 an oz of lead also.

Main race: I learned my frequency was going to conflict with someone in the main so I ended up changing crystals... no biggie (not to self, bring spares, its a good idea ). I get my transponder early, grab my frequency pole and head into lay down a lap or two. Only at this point do i realize my throws are way low and after about 1 crappy lap i figure it out with my dads help going "why does it still handle so bad".... so after some transponder issues i start dead last out of 10 cars in the race. The tone goes off, there is the typical pile up as everyone battles for the first corner... i just keep plugging around methodically and slowly chip away at the field. The rest im not going to say so i don't spoil the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qaj5cW5juBs

Moral of the story is this: Just because someone says your car is not a "racing machine"... does not mean you don't have a chance against the other guys/skill plays a huge role. My advice has to be: take it slow and methodical and if in doubt, "roll a jump", it maybe not as cool as seeing your car flying through the air it is better to keep it on all 4's instead of wasting time having to be marshaled by someone. Here is what i had "against me" in terms or raicng making it "almost impossible":

The car is NOT very good at handling period.. its a rustler (and the Xl-1 the first gen at that [X(] )
This car has slop all around, via worn bushings.... (or what were bushings) so other than the drive train its real sloppy and crappy [:'(]
My motor was at least 5 MPH slower than the rest, it was designed to be used in a cordless drill at around more like 12V, not 7.2... (runs good and torquey on 3S though )
I had absolutely no racing time on the track minus qualifiers
The rustler is about the least tunable car i have driven [X(][&:]
This car jumps like a darned brick
And i had the constant fear of radio issues to contend with

So all said and done just take it easy and dont listen to what everyone says about "its car over skill".... yes car has a little to do with how you end up but it is more skill/confidence than anything that wins races [8D]

Access

Well this mostly ends up being a false cause type argument anyways, though it is less of a clear-cut case than the more frequently cited logical fallacies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correla...ation#Examples

It's not a clear-cut case, but this is part:

#2 - The c) good racers will a) choose 'better' or more race-tunable vehicles. They will also b) win more races in part because of (a), but moreso, they will b) win more races because they are c) good racers.

In other words, C causes both A and B (primarily). Granted, A also causes B to some extent, but not the extent that C does.

One thing we can say for certain is that A (having chosen a 'better' vehicle) does not cause C (being a good racer), at least at the club level there are pleanty of bad racers running 'factory team' models or equivelent. At the end of the day, club racing is really a mixed bag.

You recognize the importance of setup, and there is certain things you just can't do with a Rustler, like set the anti-squat. Which, while often overlooked, is probably one of the most important things to get right, especially with club tracks being in the condition they typically are.

iexion

[sm=thumbs_up.gif] Congrats man!!! [sm=shades_smile.gif]
*** Place who woulda thought with a car like that.

Seeing that vid makes me wish we had a track around here. There are no tracks in the state at all

But even in last place as long as you finish, its still a real enjoyment to be racing

TIGER76

Good on you calv

Proofs your piont i reckon alot of people get put off racing down to what others tell them,what they dont tell them is its mostly about fun thats why we start in this hobby,we dont all wanna race in the worlds rc carbon fibre final lol

If you can go out and have fun and enjoy it and relax your gonna race at your best [8D]

Slow is fast baby[8D]

Great vid btw keep it up [sm=thumbup.gif]

ElectricGuy007

Congrats Cal on your victory. I was impressed because you stayed in line while everyone else was crashing.[sm=thumbup.gif]
Its freekin hilarious that the truck didnt even have bearings in it.[X(]

calvino

Except for the tranny the rest is just worn to non-existance bushings.. I did get around to cutting the Comm on my CO27 and it runs a bit better. Just helps to go over everything *BEFORE* the race . Hope to race with a much better car next time though, i think it was partly luck I got what I got [8D]

TIGER76

Yeh preperation is the key for racing m8
Judging by the video you did good cos like said looks like you checked out the track lines and stuck with them while everyone else seemed to be all over the place