RB5 at Bury Metro- North West Regional. Sunday 27/5/07.

The day started off really wet. It was raining and I as the chairman of the club was thinking of cancelling the meeting. We decided to wait a little while to see what happened. It did stop and it was time to start racing.

Practice.
I started off the same set up as Kiddy which is Losi green springs on the front and Losi red springs on the rear. I had 40wt in the front with the the middle largest two hole piston in and 35wt and the smallest two hole piston in the rear. I did run the brass bulk head and the Atomic Carbon towers front and back. I started off with the shocks on the second hole from the inner, front and back due to the rain and on the inner at the bottom of the rear but the outer on the front. I had the wheel base on long and the batteries forward. The rear camber link was the shortest it would go and the front camber link on the outer hole on the outside and the middle hole on the inner. I didn’t have any washers under the ball ends front or back to try and give so roll. The tyre choice for the wet was Ballistic Buggy mini spike greens. The car felt pretty bad but it would go round the track.

Round 1.
It was still wet and I left the same tyres on. The only thing I changed for this round was I went to shot wheel base to try and get some more rear end traction and I moved the front axle position from top to bottom as I thought the front end was a bit low. The car was still rubbish but I was the only person not to crash and finished first in round one.

Round 2.
It was still wet but not raining. I left the tyres again but started to play with the new holes that Atomic had put on the new towers so the shock could stand up right more. I also put on Losi blue springs on the front to stop the front end from diving. In this round the car was understeering into the corner and over steering in the middle and under steering coming out. At this stage I am not happy. I wanted my B4 back. I don’t even know where I finished in this round.

Round 3.
This was a bad round for the mechanic(me) as he put the motor in backwards and I didn’t start or finish.

Round 4.
This round was dry and I changed to Schumacher yellow mini spikes. I also dug out the B4 BIBLE and started to read. I shortened the front camber link, lengthened the rear link to the longest setting, put back the wheel base to long and also stud the shocks up even more. I put the front bottom of the shock to the inner position also. This round was very good. I did finish second behind Danny Mcgoo by three seconds which I thought was ACE and I was catching him. The car was the best it has ever been and I still think the rear is too hard and I also think the pistons are wrong. But a, second in the end I couldn’t ask for anything else.

A Main.
It was dry and we set off down the straight. I got round the first corner with no problems, got to the second and I was up Dannys bottom and sorry Danny but I caught him. We got out of the tangle near the back of the pack. I settled down very quickly and the car felt really good and I started to push it. I got up to second and Damian Whittle was leading and he was about three or four corners ahead. I knew it was still the beginning of the race and I had a good half of the race left. I pushed harder and after all it is my track caught up to Damian and passed him. Got up to first and stayed there. I then relaxed a little. A lap from the end and my cells started to go soft ???????? I could see Danny in second and he was catching me fast. I was coming off the banked corner to go down the straight and he was about four or five yards behind. I crossed the line and the buzzer went. I didn’t hear Danny’s number called and he caught me and passed me two or three corners from the end. When Danny crossed the line he didn’t get called so he had finished the previous lap. This means I WON.

Conclusion.
At the end of the day, I was very unhappy at first but had a think and due to the changes the Atomic Carbon have made to the towers and my Dad making the bulk head, I think today was a very good result. I also think there is a bit more I could of got out of it as the rear was still a little stiff and it jumped out a few times and it didn’t feel like it was rolling. I do have two weeks till the big day so I need to get testing.