R/C Tech Forums - View Single Post - New Caster Racing Nitro Buggy Just Announced!
Old 02-18-2009, 05:32 AM
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modhobby
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Originally Posted by Chris K
Sorry to hear that you had a tough time Shane - guess you were the only buggy or truggy there as no one else has posted! It's TOUGH to be the only representative of ANY brand at a big race and the format of this one makes it particularly tough!

I figured that with all the FL and Southeast support for Caster stuff that there would be more then just ONE racing at an event of this size and stature!

Which main did you make????

Well, better luck at the Tallgrass Race - certainly NOT as big of a race as the Psycho/Nitro but hopefully you'll do better!

On a side note, I'm in Des Moines and I think I'll drop by Hobby Haven and see if they have the cars in stock to look over - who knows, I might be next!
There was more than one Caster car there, I was there. I am running the new 1.5r. Which I am happy to report nothing broke, except the filter inside the gas tank. This event is definitely brutal because of the lack of sleep as I found out in my main. From the reports of a lot of drivers at PNB, there were a lot of bad luck. Here is my race report. This was written a week after the event...

Well, I am now recovering from the longest week in my life. The Psycho Nitro Blast. I was really really fun despite only having 6 hours of sleep in the last 3 days!!!! I was there from Wednesday til Sunday at midnight! Having said that, here is how I ran with my 1.5r. This was only the 3rd outing for me since building the car in late December.

Friday practice: The buggy felt almost perfect, I tried different tires to see how it would work,. I settled on bow-ties then hole-shots for the 3rd qual and mains. I ran 3 tanks in practice and felt very confident the car could do this race. (me... might be a different story).

Saturday qualifying:
1st qual (3PM) - I got 3 laps into the race running 3rd and my center CVD came undone in the front. Poor lock-tight job. SO I preceeded to go back and tear down and motor pray every parts and re-lock tight. Additionally, the front upper hinge pin on the right side was coming out so I had to re set the set screw.

2nd qual (9PMish IIRC) - First warm up lap, came over the triple, slapped the chassis. Bam! sheared off the clutch bell went to 14 tooth to 0 teeth in 1 sec. Additionally, I didn't notice this until Shane told me, but I had my gold filter break off in the gas tank which he then lent me his from his stash of Caster parts.

3rd qual (3:30AM) - Ran great. did 11 laps in 10:49, that was B/C main level. I was pumped but was exhausted and went to the RV to sleep.

F MAIN: Woke up at 7:30 to find out the mains posting at 8AM. I had 30 minutes to get my buggy ready for the main. Being half asleep and just running over the buggy very fast, I failed to see that BOTH of my upper front hinge pins were undone again ( I hate this design BTW, I am captured kind of guy) not used to looking at this part for issues, I overlooked it and went to the track and my pit man noticed it on starting and tried to reset them, well, I started in 2nd and fell to 4th, trying to catch Shane I was fast approaching 3rd place past 3rd to only stop steering and went completely straight, the car was done. I was positive I would have bumped if I would have checked the car over better. So it was not the car's fault by my own here.

Conclusion: this is why the Psycho Nitro is a tough race. Mentally it is hard to be on your game with all the weird time schedules. I am REALLY looking forward to the next club race to really drive this car properly with no distractions.

Big thanks to Shane Keller for all of his setup advice, help, customer service, tire gluing, wit and charm. I look forward to pitting/racing with you and the next race we are at together!


Also, the WireGrass is possibly as big as PNB, I have some new reports some well known drivers are coming. The facility is awesome, time of the year is awesome, it should be a great race. Also, there will be a HEAVY Caster presence there.

Last edited by modhobby; 02-18-2009 at 05:34 AM. Reason: typo
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