My First Race!

[philly]

Just thought I'd let you all know about my first real experience of racing, last Saturday at York.

Having been to a couple of meetings with friends I was hooked, so I did what most eager newbies do, delved into ebay for a car of my very own.

Knowing nothing about what to buy or why but realising I liked the look of all things Losi, I bid for and won a old XX-CR.
Eagerly I waited for the car to arrive, and when it did I was exstatic. All the bits were in the right place, no damage, loads of spares, ready to go... no motor. Or reciever. or transmitter, or battery? Oh my god! Will I ever get to run this thing.

THEN, someone put me on to oOple! A quick add, met up with a top bloke, thanks Oscar, and I'm in business. My budget is busted but at least I'm ready to go.

A couple of evenings tarting up, polishing etc, but hang on... how do i get the power from the battery to the motor. I needed a speed controller. Too little time to ebay...lets go to the dealer then. Saturday afternoon. Last bit of spare cash in my pocket... the world's my pearly mollusce.

I approached my happy, smiling dealer with hope and trust and stood around his shop for 20 minutes while he finished his cup of tea, and then was offered the vast choice of one speedo. "Will this do the job?" I enquired " should do" he replyed. " It looks rather big, it will fit in the XX won't it?" I offered "Should do" he repeated, (by now his tea getting cold must have been really annoying him!) " Ok, then." I said, handed over my £50, and left.

I was deflated but still excited at the prospect of racing.I rushed to fit the speedo, (which was too big and had to be 'squeezed' in to sit flush) and speedily connected up the cables via newly purchased, gold corroly connectors. Obviously, being THICK, i reversed the polarity and blew the protection diode on my new speedo. Oh whoop de doo!

A quick repair saw the car running, and off to york.

Turns out it's a 4WD regional night, so it's pretty busy. Everyone looks like they know what they're doing, except me. So a friend books me in, I await the first race and away we go.

Stood on the 'podium', knees trembling, trying to have a laugh with the Harley riding man mountain on one side of me and the 11 year old who's far too talented to be there, I waited for my number to be beeped out. 7..that's me... we're off.

Powered down the first straight and... straight into the wall. Car dies. A marshal brings my beloved over to me where I find the motor cable unplugged, damn new corrolly connector. Back in and we're off again. And managed to finish the heat. A good 13 laps behind the pace but Rome wasn't built in a day.

Bristling with new found confidence I hit heat 2 like a typhoon. Blasting away from the start, never to be caught out by that first corner again I went through it with ease, over ran the second and ploughed into a tire which sent me into oncomming traffic, slammed me into a B4 who was already a half lap ahead and popped off my rear shocker.
The same kind marshal brought over my car with a pittying look and I quickly repaired the damage and got back in the race. Two laps later, I made the first jump look easy and rounded the corner for the second, took it too hot and threw a drive shaft. Out of the race.

Surely nothing could go wrong in heat 3, could it? Learning from my mistakes I slowed down, watched the lines, followed the good guys, got faster, and smoother and faster and ran into a wall again. This time, the kind marshal repaired the front shock mount for me, (he must have been tired out from walking to my car all the time), I thanked him with a wave and an embarrased smile and tried too hard to pick up the pace, hurtling round a bend, I set up wrongly for the jump, hit it on an angle, my car took off and landed in the lap of the marshal sat in front of the podium. He viewed me with a look to say " is this yours?" and threw the Losi back on the track, but i didn't care, I was getting the hang of this. I was free, I loved it the track, the competition, the whole atmosphere was great...I was going to finish a heat! There was about a minute to go, 2 more laps, maybe 3...YES!!! I was slowing down....I had surely remembered to change my battery pack, hadn't I? ...Apparently no! I slowed to a stop 20 second before the race ended. Right infront of race control. Damn.

So. Skint, car in pieces, not having finished a heat, dead last on the timing sheets, am I downhearted? Not a bit of it. Can't wait to get back next week. If you're there, I'm sorry in advance, if you want to say Hi, I'll be the guy looking lost in the mask!

[B&H Racing]

Love the race report

I'm same boat to a degree.

I had only raced on 12th oval before so had never driven round a circuit or in fact turned left

I wanted a new challenge, so bought myself a buggy & started racing 3rd Jan.

1st- Race week run with a broken rear diff
2nd- Race week Motor blew up
3rd- Race week lots of radio interference.
4th- Race week, hit a concrete post and broke the car
5th- Race week, in practice broke a wish bone.

Between the above problems i`m absolutely enjoying it and getting better every week.

I have met alot of friendly people already and people attending the club that I race at gets bigger every week.

Can`t wait to take the car outside to race

[jim76]

quality!
the main thing is you enjoyed it and want to come back. All to often new people come along, break their car, get shouted at for hitting someone elses car, then don't bother to come back.

The best tip of all for new people is GO SLOW. if you go slower you won't crash as much, or break as much. So you get more laps, and it's cheaper to fix!

[woOdy]

If anyone is worried about people shouting at them, then please dont be. They are only wound up thinking they will go faster but in fact the calmer u are the faster you go. People that shout will always be slower. They are not shouting at you. At the end of, they are toy cars and there is no money at club stage to loose. Its just fun!!!! So please have it and enjoy Off Roading . Regards to newbys, if you are stuck with anything just please ask anyone. They will always help if they can. Us sado's are always on here also, so u can ask us.

[BenG]

Heres a good tip to newbies.

If you arent sure, ask. People are always wlling to help, and dont worry, we have all done it.

Also, driving wise( I still do this if I goto a new track) Stick to the middle of the track. Then, after a few laps, you will naturally begin to get closer to a corner, or take one wider to get the next one tighter e.t.c. Thats how you build up speed. Don't try run before you can walk

[Hog]

Originally Posted by B&H Racing

Love the race report

I'm same boat to a degree.

I had only raced on 12th oval before so had never driven round a circuit or in fact turned left

I wanted a new challenge, so bought myself a buggy & started racing 3rd Jan.

1st- Race week run with a broken rear diff
2nd- Race week Motor blew up
3rd- Race week lots of radio interference.
4th- Race week, hit a concrete post and broke the car
5th- Race week, in practice broke a wish bone.

Between the above problems i`m absolutely enjoying it and getting better every week.

I have met alot of friendly people already and people attending the club that I race at gets bigger every week.

Can`t week to take the car outside to race

Think you've been doing really well Brett - seing as FORCC has got VERY busy of late you're faced with trying to learn a new formula with 7 - 8 car heats. A task not easy for those of us racing there for the last 20 years!

But you did everything the right way round - came, looked, and asked all the questions before spending your cash.

And trust me - the regionals are a whole new ball game