After last weekend's tough lessons it was time to return to the dirt track for a second time. I used the setup from last time on dirt as a start, but used a little less droop on all four corners, a gear diff and ran different tires back to back.
Competition was more fierce than last time: The pack was running close together and there were some fast drivers that weren't there a month ago. I missed the first qualifying - luckily I could depend on the easy handling and a (mostly) proven setup to do the work. The second qualifying went well but the car seemed a little loose on the rear at times. For the third qualifying I made some changes (more rear droop and a higher ride height front and rear). It was too much, and the car understeered. In the end I had to settle for sixth in qualifying - not as high as the last dirt race, but not bad
In the break between qualifying and finals I tried dBoots Multibytes up front. The car tended to hook with the old setup when it was decellerating from high speed to low, I thought this may be an issue with the rear tires (dBoots Multibytes) providing less bite than the front ones (Losi Step Pins), which would become a problem as rear downforce decreased.
The dBoots didn't really solve that... so that problem may be down to caster and kickup settings in combination with the grip ever increasing as the car leans on the outer front tire, until it reaches a threshold where the car hooks. However, the dBoots did make the car perform a lot better: The carcass doesn't balloon (much) under power whereas the Losi Step Pin does. I noticed before this greatly influences handling: The tire ballooning interferes with the suspension action and makes the car feel nervous and less predictable. With the ballooning gone, the car seemed to have at least as much steering and consistent throughout the corner. Forward traction didn't seem affected much.
At the end of the break I broke down the car in a seemingly small crash. It seemed severe since a rear arm was dangling behind the car. It turned out that the hinge pin had crushed the plastic pivot ball on the outside of the suspension, and that in term caused the hinge pin to pop out in the small crash, whereas the real damage that caused it was probably done last week indoors.
Thanks to a fellow club member I had the car ready again just in time for the finals. In the first final I had a steady race and was running in fourth when someone in front of me had to retire - I continued steadily and had an opportunity to snatch second, but ultimately a little impatience and inexperience resulted in a small mistake and meant I had to settle for third in the end.
The second final had a bit of a messy start - I got caught up in a few tangles. However, when the gaps opened between all the cars the pace of the FWD enabled a comeback to third.
The last head was again a messy start - again I got caught up in a few tangles, and this time caused a few too. After that I made a few errors on my own and I knew it was a done deal position-wise and ended up in tenth.
In the end, the results from the first two heats were enough to score a podium for a second time with the car. I think I proved my point with the FWD on dirt then
Now for those other surfaces and managing that hooking handling trait.