VTA points week #8 - the final week!

Week #8, the final week and I'm sitting in fourth, but Jeff in third has been seen nowhere, and may wind up having a third goose-egg which would essentially eliminate him from contention.

I got there early so I could work on the car using the setup board I had made. It's 7 layer 1/2" birch-veneered plywood, and was the platform of the first cross-cut sled I made for my table saw. It's pretty flat and stable, but I forsee 1/2" or 3/4" melamine in my future. Last week I had added massive negative camber to over-compensate for the traction rolling I had been doing. I took that out and set a nice 2 degrees at each corner. I then re-glued the outside lip of every tire AGAIN as one of them had apparently peeled in the main last week. I had plenty of time and took it out for a few laps on the new track layout and it was sliding just a bit, but showed no signs of wanting to go over! I chose a taller gear (4.5 FDR) and just relaxed and chatting with Dave, Matt and Kevin until qualifying.

The first qualifier was mediocre and I had a few issues on the track and the car started to feel awkward to me after that, like it was slowing or rubbing or something just wasn't right. I turned 24 laps, which was still fifth fastest, but a ways off the pace. My fast lap time was a 12.0.

In the pit after the qualifier, I spotted the problem - the same tire had broken the bead again. Since I had nearly an hour, I glued it once on the inside, once just under the lip 15 minutes later, and finally a ring all the way around. Sadly the tire had a bit of a "lump" to it, but I flattened it out best I could. I geared up as I was being run down in the straight still but didn't change a thing otherwise.

The second qualifier was damn good for me and was incident free! I slotted up to a 25/5:06, which was good enough to qualify fourth in a TOUGH field. With James, John & Mike ahead of me, but Kevin, Greg & Jeff behind me for the main.

I touched nothing for the main even though I felt I was slightly overgeared. It was a VERY rough start, and was the exact opposite of last week. The pile up happend in turn three again, but as Mike was being Mike and pulling out of the pile up, he punted my car through the turn and halfway over the board leading to the straight. I was able to drive off of it and rejoin the race in dead last. From there it was just a matter of driving down folks, and I had worked my up a few positions thanks to other folks having mishaps and keeping my own race just as clean as could be. I battled with Jeff for a while to maintain fifth, and eventually pulled away and past a rolled-over Kevin to take fourth. It was smooth sailing until about 30 second to go, I've got a 2.5 second lead on Kevin and James comes up to lap me. I let him by in the second to last turn of the lap, and just as he gets by, he bobbles and hits the board , and I hit him, which of course, sends my car upside down (remind me to use lighter paint next time), letting Kevin past me. I finish in fifth, a bit dejected from that and the fact that trophys and prizes are only for 1st through 3rd.

I don't forsee a new car in my future anytime soon due to the $400+ price tag for any new machine I would consider. I may pick up a used one though - John's Tamiya 415 MSXX is a tempting bit of kit, but I still enjoy giving people a run for their money with an eleven year old car.

Sidenote - Why am I being passed in the straight by Greg, who is using the same speedo, motor, battery and using a taller FDR than me? I think that's a function of the driveline having too much drag in it. I checked out his car a couple weeks ago and you spin the rear wheels together and the drivetrain continues to spin for a while - mine comes to a pretty quick halt. I tore the car apart to work on the bearings and individually, the rear diff, center layshaft, and front one-way all spin very freely, but as soon as I throw the belts on, it comes to a grinding halt - mostly it's the rear axle/belt. I believe I will be ordering a set of low friction belts for a Tamiya 416 WE soon. The front belt is the exact same length, and the rear belt is one tooth longer, which should free it up a bit - and if the belt is too loose, I do have a rear tensioner I can use. I think I will also be ordering Tamiya 44mm lightweight CVD's and outdrives at the same time to reduce the rotating mass by a bit, not to mention the front driveshafts are starting to wear a bit. A 416WE spool with a TA05 18 tooth low friction pulley should also drop right into my car to further reduce the rotating mass.

I'm still tempted to get the BOCA bearing ceramic bearing kit for the car, but that's $120 I'll wait to spend...

Next week : Non-points series racing. I do hope people still show up!