My first raceday in eight years!

The day finally came, I was prepared for it - I made my way into the building the scope out pit spaces ahead of lugging my gear around - I spotted one right in the first row all the way against the wall, then brought the Crafts man-o-saur, HPI box and car to the pit spot. After getting set down, I realized I was pitted next to Barry - someone I knew! Then after talking to the guy across from me, Terry, I knew him by name from back in the day as well, and behind him was John, someone I knew really well from back in the day. All told, there were four people I knew there that night and all of them within shouting distance!

The night was going well after getting registered and finding out that I was one of maybe five people in the building not using a spektrum radio, I got a few laps of practice in. The car handled about how I remembered, it couldn't carry much speed into and through the corner, but it squirted out of the corner like no other. I chose not to change anything for the first qualifier and ran the new 4200 mAh NiMH battery with a 26/84 gear ratio.

The first qualifier and I'm on the stand waiting for the start, getting jokes about "going fishing" and the anouncer comes on and asks me if I even remember what tires I have on the car. Apparently noone runs Kawada 20 or 25's with blue inserts anymore - go figure! The run was fairly uneventful, I was able to keep it clean and avoid needing marshalling - however, at about the 4 minute mark, my car starts slowing down big time! Here I am, with a brand new 4200 NiMH pack and dumping after 4 minutes! I thought my Turbo 30 was partially to blame as it doesn't have the NiMH update - I was thinking it wasn't providing a full charge. Barry says that NiMH's need a few cycles on them to "wake them up".

The second qualifier, I gear down a tooth to 25/84 to try and increase runtime on older batteries as I've got 2000's in, trying to make five minutes. I'm off like a herd of flying turtles and manage to keep it clean again, avoiding needing marshalling a second time, and trying to conserve the 2000's. I do manage to keep full power for about 4:45 and squeek out the last lap on a flattening pack! I turned a 24/5:01 or something along those lines and felt good for qualifier #3.

For Qualifier #3, I've asked Terry to charge my NiMH after running it on the discharge board until it was even, and he was happy to do it. On top of that, he had been rummaging through his pitbox and placed a well used set of Sorex 28's on my pit stall. I get them doped up and out for qualifier #3 and turn a couple laps on them when a familiar sound is heard. The sound of tires squeeling around turns as they gripped was like a little bit of music to my ears. The car doesn't slide through the corners like it did previously, and can carry a little more speed into the turns! I'm scheduled to start third this qualifier, so I park the car about halfway down the straight, waiting for the other drivers to get set to start. I'm watching a car zip around the track - I realize he's trying to turn a flying lap as he barrels down the straight away - straight through the back of my car, which goes flying down the track sideways and backwards. When it stops, facing the wrong direction, I can see from where I am that the rear-wheel steering option has been added to the car! Reflexively, I give the driver who did it a really natsy look and storm off the stand to go take a look. Oh yes, the left rear arm of the car is in three pieces. I throw the car into the pit box, take the transponder out and return it, and when I get back to my pit, Terry has taken the body off and is asking if I have any spares so we can get me back out to get a couple laps in! Long story short since I hadn't working on the car in so long, I had thought the arms were reversible, which they are, with the exception that the shock mouting hole is only on the wrong side, which was of course on the wrong side the first time! I do get back out, but with only 15 seconds left in the race - I turn a couple laps to get a better feel for the car. The driver who hit me came over afterward, and profusely apologized for what had happened and told me he was embarassed to have done that. That's class my friends, and I told him I truly appreciated that level of sportmasnship. That still left me without a really good qualifying run and I'm in 8th out of 10 cars, 5 in the A main, and 5 in the B main, with me right in the middle of the B...

For the main, I had Terry top off the NiMH and went back up to 26/84 because the 2000 made 5 minutes on 25/84 and I've got a good charge on the NiMH now! I've out-qualified two people in my class, my friend John, and my other friend Mark! Okay, neither of them completed a qualifier.... I'm qualified right behind Jeff, the driver who hit my car in qualified #3, so I have a goal to finish ahead of him :) The race goes well, and for the third time in the night I'm running clean and avoiding marshalling. John never made the race, and about halfway through Mark drops out of the race with some sort of problem. I'm running in second, ahead of Jeff and running well. At about the 4:15 point, the battery really starts dumping again! I keep it running around the track, and get passed back by Jeff, but I thought I had lapped him, so just keep trucking on and make 24/5:15 finishing in third. Coming off the track, Terry stops me with an infrared thermometer in hand and checks my motor temperature - 227 degrees I guess is a bit too high - whoops! I guess I was about 3 teeth too high on the pinion which testing after all the mains were completed showed.

All in all, not a bad night - I got a good feel for what was needed, where I was lacking, and I got wheel time.

$40 later, I now own my own set of unused Sorex 28's - which means I'll be back next week!