VTA points week #3

Finally, we get a new layout! It's a long sweeping track with just two switchbacks before leading onto the entry to the straight. Mark has added a little obstacle coming off the last switchback though - so while you want to go out to the edge of the track, you can't, because there's a board there! Learned very early on that you want your drivers side mirror to get taken off by that board for the fastest way through there - thank goodness I left those off my car :)

During practice, Dave took my car for a few laps and turned an 11.2 or so - I was still working on the gearing though. James, ah James! His first week in VTA running 2s/21.5 in a TC5 turned 9.7's...

I improved to 10.9's by the second qualifier, but thought I was slightly over-geared at a 5.09, the next lowest ratio I had available to me was a 5.2, so that's what I ran in the main. It just involved dropping a tooth on the pinion - I swapped it out just before I went out for the main as I had been working on my wounded 13.5 car.

As a side note, Mark was teching the fastest qualifier in each VTA round, which was me in both my qualifiers as Bob came unglued in both qualifiers at about the 4:40 mark - the car with no weight added comes in at 1458g and no worries on final drive ratio - no problemo!

I ran okay in the main - I was touching boards where I shouldn't have been, and lost time to silly mistakes. I heard the scoring for one of my laps at a 10.7, which made me very happy until, shortly after that, it sounded like my front belt had started slipping a bit - I had corrected that before practice. I get to the last lap, and my car is slowing like it's dumping, which should be next to impossible, I manage to pull the car across the finish line and park it. I go to move it closer to me after coming off the stand and it won't move! I get to it, and can hear the motor spinning on throttle, but no movement. I peel open the body and it looked like someone had been milling my spur gear into something a little more round, but without teeth, and there is a perfect line of white plastic along the back of the chassis- DOH! I finished fifth in the A, and was the fastest guy running something other than 2s/21.5

I look forward to trying to improve my lap times on this fast, sweeping track layout - a type of layout which I've always felt suited my car best.