when you first started racing....

MrNanoTrax · #1 22-07-2007

did a lot... or just about everything seem to go wrong? i mean... did you have trouble actually doing well in qualifiers and in finals or did you struggle getting your rhythm? i know this is a predominantly electric biased forum but i just started racing nitro and i'm a bit frustrated... i don't have a team so i know thats a part of my problem but someone tell me i'm not alone.

for example... i went to practice at the track yesterday and the surface was soft and loamy clay. they had just tilled it so my front/rear, holeshots/bowties combo was perfect and i was recording some good lap times. i was going thru lots of practice laps with no problem.

today, i go to the races and they've completely flattened and packed the surface but i didn't think much of it until i got on w/the same tire combo. yesterday i was turning on dimes and today i couldn't turn a trick. the 1st qualifer i had the worst time and i *knew* could drive better than that.

i was irritated but made the tire change to edges/gladiators for the 2nd qualifier. everything was going ok... i flipped a couple of times due to aggressiveness but that didn't kill me... the last 2 minutes of the race, i ran out of gas... no shortage like this on the 1st qualifier, but now i lost 2 (or more) laps on the 2nd qualifier due to that.

out of 7, i was 6th for the final and race time comes around. i wait til 4 minutes before start and i crank up the engine. my engine was cold and it kept cutting out... FUCK. i ended up starting about 15 seconds after the marker....the race was lost before i started but at least i could make a good showing right? wrong... i knew when i would be running down on gas, so i pitted. my son was trying to be pitman and i THOUGHT he gassed me up.... the same lap after the pitstop, my engine cuts out. i'm like... what's up NOW?? i go down to see and i'm outta gas... WTF?

long story short, this is my 2nd attempt at racing and everything that COULD go wrong DID go wrong... i feel like quitting. like, what are you doing here? i love doing this but i also want to be competitive. i've driven well with top laptimes when my truck is on the track... but something ALWAYS goes wrong. tell me i'm not the only one.

ashleyb4 · #2 22-07-2007

It happens to all of us no matter how long you have been racing you have bad days. And things go wrong. For example: a few days before the inddor finals i check my one of my motors that i havent run in a while. It had skimmed and rebrushed it before the last meeting i had used it and it worked fine. Sunday morning and i went to go for round 2 after switching motors as the 10 was a bit quick and i turned the car on and put it on the track and it goes really really slow. OK needs a skim i thought so skimmed it rebrushed it. Tryed it again. Same happened again. Then i put my other motor back in and i put the shotty diode the wrong way in my rush to change the motor. And it goes pop and my car goes backwards. Round 4 i had an ok round but still not that fast. So i end up quiet low down the finas listing.

I had 2 meeting in a row like that the inddor finas and a inddor regional in dudley.

But hay its all part the fun and we learn from our mistakes.

A

TRF_Tastic · #3 22-07-2007

Dude just stick with it and learn from your mistakes!!!

That is all I ever do, keep learning, all the top guys will tell you that they never stop learning.

I was racing Touring cars today and I miss timed my charges all day, I couldnt peak my cells for my start times, this made me rush which put extra pressure when it came down to quali time cause I was flustered and it took extra time for me to get into a rhythm, which sucked the big one and because of that I missed out on an A final place but hey next time I will be more prepared!!!

Just stick with it dude it happens to the best of us and we all have crap days, just remember that this is a hobby and that we do it for fun!!!!

k£v!n · #4 23-07-2007

When you've done well at a meeting that you are happy with you kind of forget about the bad runs until the next one, well I do anyway

Southwell · #5 23-07-2007

Done better than i did yesterday then. I did about 5 mins running in a practice and 3 rounds of qualifying combined, all sorts of failures cost me a shot at making the top of the a final, it happens to all of us at some time. You just have to learn from your experiences and look forward to your next meeting.

Chris Doughty · #6 23-07-2007

as everyone has said, its really hard, things go wrong... a lot.

best advise, do everything twice and plan twice as long to do everyhting.

if you think you have tightened your wheel nuts, do them again anyway.

if you batteries take 45 minutes to charge, give yourself 1hour 30 mins to charge them.

with Nitro racing.,.. make some friends, or hook up with someone locally that knows a thing or 2, it is a BIG help!

keep on racing, its fun.... eventually

b4rs · #7 23-07-2007

jato, if anyone has it worse than you then its me. i hate it wwhen things go wrong consequtively. it really frustrates me.

my normal events at a race

you spen lik £7 to enter a days race and then you come away from paying to enter the first race after realising your batterys werent charging

motor moves after a knock on the track = out of first race to repair knockages etc.

2nd race, batterys are charged, im really behind after forfeiting and i put my buggy down ready for the second heat. and bleep bleep bleep, transmitter batteries are dead!!!

go get some new batteries = half of second race unfinished.

really really behind.

and i wont bore you from here on but lets just say, i have really bad luck when it comes to racing, about 45% of bad luck is my own fault like batts etc but most is pure unlucky smiting down from our lord

but i stick in there with this hoping one day ill win and get a trophy, or at least win a raffle at regionals and get a pit mat, so i dont lose my bearings in the long grass of spenny!!!!!! (which i have done twice now!)

sosidge · #8 23-07-2007

I was probably quite lucky in that nothing in particular went wrong when I first started racing.

This was twenty years ago with a Tamiya buggy. The cars were slow compared to today, so they were pretty easy to drive, tyres didn't matter too much, batteries were pretty robust, about all I had to deal with was a few broken parts.

Everyone has had days like you describe though, where everything goes wrong, I have had my share, silly motor problems, crashing and breaking the car at the same corner again and again, batteries not charged etc etc.

All you can do is just learn from it - as long as you keep enjoying the racing that is the most important thing!

What I will say though is that some beginners do make it a bit too complicated for themselves, which is easy to do now that there is so many different products and adjustments available to the cars, desperately trying to find some speed. They mess around with three or four different cars, a box full of motors, every tyre combination under the sun etc etc.

Really you are better off sticking to one car, one setup, and a fairly slow one at that, and just focus on the driving until you can do consistent laps for 5 minutes without crashing.

The start tweaking and upgrading to go faster.

josh_smaxx · #9 23-07-2007

Yes i agree, just ask people from teesside what my night was like on saturday!

MrNanoTrax · #10 23-07-2007

thanks for the feedback guys.... i'm feeling a bit better now. i cleaned up my truck, dropped my new engine back in now that i've finally got it fitted properly and i'll be tuning in preparation for the next race.

b4rs · #11 23-07-2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by sosidge

I was probably quite lucky in that nothing in particular went wrong when I first started racing.

This was twenty years ago with a Tamiya buggy. The cars were slow compared to today, so they were pretty easy to drive, tyres didn't matter too much, batteries were pretty robust, about all I had to deal with was a few broken parts.

Everyone has had days like you describe though, where everything goes wrong, I have had my share, silly motor problems, crashing and breaking the car at the same corner again and again, batteries not charged etc etc.

All you can do is just learn from it - as long as you keep enjoying the racing that is the most important thing!

What I will say though is that some beginners do make it a bit too complicated for themselves, which is easy to do now that there is so many different products and adjustments available to the cars, desperately trying to find some speed. They mess around with three or four different cars, a box full of motors, every tyre combination under the sun etc etc.

Really you are better off sticking to one car, one setup, and a fairly slow one at that, and just focus on the driving until you can do consistent laps for 5 minutes without crashing.

The start tweaking and upgrading to go faster.

great advice at the end there, tht is what i have done wron, spent all my dosh on things i dont really need and listened to people telling me to do things with my car. it really does confuse you and when your a beginner it doesnt help lol.