jonnymorrow

iTrader: (31)

Maybe you guys can give me some words of wisdom and encouragement.

I’ve been passionate about the hobby since I was a kid, have been racing on and off for years, understand a lot about setup, spend countless hours and dollars on gear, race clean laps and am quick to have fun and make friends at the track but no matter what I do,
i just continue to come in last.

Anyone been here before? Don’t know what it takes to break through and am losing the “fun factor.”

Grateful for thoughts and tips.

Speed 8

iTrader: (1)

Cool that you've covered clean race laps, that's an important base to cover. My two cents towards the next level;

1.) Do not underestimate the importance of braking. Varying from track to track it's either important to very important. How's your ability on slowing the car down?
2.) Buy this book by Ross Bentley: "Ultimate Speed Secrets: The Complete Guide to High-Performance and Race Driving". Read all the chapters but especially the ones about mental and psychological preparation.
3.) Learn to juggle. ;-) Juggling is a massive brain exercise and improves hand-eye coordination, reflexes, peripheral vision and a host of other motor skills. There's a good reason a lot of professional race-car drivers have it in their training/warm-up routine.
4.) 80% of a fast setup is tires. Make sure they are top-notch before spending money on other go-fast bits.

Hope this helps and keep having fun. :-)

sugs

iTrader: (4)

Would be helpful to know what class it is you are trying to run in.

dcerven94

iTrader: (1)

Are your lap times in practice up to par? if so, try to focus on your car and ignore the announcer. personally the comments are what break my focus. i try to run races as if its practice

jonnymorrow

iTrader: (31)

Thanks for the great replies guys. I’m only in stock classes. mostly 2wd but trying 4wd too, and race mostly indoor in Southern California.

My practice laps and my race laps are about the same, a few seconds behind. I’m pretty consistent but just never in the pack.

rcgod

iTrader: (33)

Not trying to discourage you, but bottom line is some people have natural ability and some don’t. I’ve raced with guys that started the hobby and were winning within a year, and some that were still terrible after 10 years. You have to focus on the fun aspect and do the best you can. Not saying you can’t get better, but imo we’re all limited by our god given hand eye coordination. I could live at the track and I’ll never be good enough to be world champ.

First, have your vision checked regularly. My son just went from last place to A main just by getting a new pair of glasses and prescription. If you vision isn’t good you’ll never do well in this hobby.

Most important is YOU HAVE TO KEEP YOUR EMOTIONS UNDER CONTROL. This is never talked about but imo the most crucial thing to doing well. I used to be very emotional when I was younger and racing. If I got taken out I lost it mentally. My chance at doing well was done. In my old age I’ve mellowed out a lot. My reflexes are slowing, but I still do well because I keep my stuff together on the driver’s stand. If you get mad your concentration is broken. Might as well just pull your car and save it for the next race.

Billy Kelly

iTrader: (9)

Just out of curiosity. What’s your consistency rate? Are you consistent but slow, fast but inconsistent, and so on. I’m consistent. But not fast.

rcgod

iTrader: (33)

Another thing is don’t crash. It’s easy to say but if you want to get better you have to take the corner marshals out of the equation. Make it your goal to run a whole race without being marshalled. Even if you need to slow down to do it. The guys that are winning are running clean laps. Even if they’re not the fastest driver on the track, they’ll usually be there in the end. Doesn’t do any good to chase tenths when you’re giving up seconds when you crash.

RazorRC

iTrader: (4)

If you have good equipment, a good setup, run clean laps, then something is mysteriously wrong. Even if you’re 1-2 seconds off the pace in the C main or whatever, you should finish higher than last just by virtue of not crashing/needing to be marshaled.

dowj28

iTrader: (15)

In your own words, in the last 5 races, what has caused you to fall behind? Craahes, landing a jump, hitting a pipe, others crashing into you, etc. We can give you better tips know this bit of info. In a race if you crash once dont expect to be in the top three. First place drivers wont usually crash under normal race conditions. As stated by others, go slow and dont crash is the best tip. Gear down and go slower if you have to, you don't need to clear all the jumps.

if you dont have crash then its driving lines and taking tight corners when applicable.

Dont get discouraged we all have our challenges. Part of the hobby we all love.

Lastly, ask some fast guys to give you advice cause they can see what you're doing right and wrong.

jonnymorrow

iTrader: (31)

Good thread guys, thanks for all the great feedback.

I crash maybe once or twice per race so I appreciate the feedback about not being able to crash at all. That is of course the goal.

As far as where I’m at, I probably drive a little gently to get clean laps. Unfortunately most of the guys in SoCal push hard, are fast and get clean laps so it seems that without all 3 I’ll be last.

Anyway, I’ll try again. Just a bit discouraged.

Davidka

iTrader: (85)

Do you ever get to practice? Sometimes it just comes down to that. Without track time you’d need a whole lot of natural talent to have the timing necessary to drive a good line quickly.

jonnymorrow

iTrader: (31)

Yeah I practice. I think it’s just one of those things where it’s going to require tons more practice than I have time or money for.

Mahjik

iTrader: (2)

I don't think I've seen this mentioned yet (if so, just ignore). Something else to do is to have one of the faster drivers take your car and TX around the track a bit. Have them provide some suggestions on things that could help you out (whether it's car setup or TX tweaking).

lowspark

iTrader: (7)

Something to do in regards to braking, and this can change through-out the day depending on track conditions.

I hit the straight-away full speed and then slam on the brakes... if the tire lock up and slide, I turn down the brake. I want it to slow and stop the car with locking the brakes up. If the track gets dryer or dusty, I may turn them down some more. If the traction comes up I may have to turn the brakes up a bit....