Gravity Dodger

iTrader: (10)

The thing I love about R/C is there is always something out there to tickle the fancy of just about anyone with a pulse. I've recently been awaken to find the joys of owning my first r/c truck and wanted to chronicle my journey into entry level racing.

First off I'm admittedly a total noob to r/c cars/trucks. So please forgive me if some if not most of what I'm originally posting is going to be extremely elementary and basically a regurgitation of multiple websites and postings I've found and applied to my Slash. That being said even though this might resemble more of a blog than a informative thread I welcome all comments and suggestions that are constructive in nature to all of those who aspire not only to bash but to throw their hat into the ring of racing.

A brief tidbit about myself, I have never owned an off-road car or truck nor participated in racing them so again please do not expect my original contributions to put you on the podium, my background is in airplanes and my passion is in pylon racing and have raced all sorts off different aircraft with great success. My pylon racing downfall, I live in MN, so the pylon race season is short lived and you can only imagine my excitement when I recently witnessed the joys of indoor off-road racing, how excited was I? I left the track early so I could make it to the hobby store before they closed to buy my Slash.

My Truck and set-up for good or bad;
2wd Orange Robby Gordon edition Slash
Spektrum 4c Radio
Stock stearing servo
50 wt oil on all 4 shocks w/ 2 hole pistons
0 tow in front
-2.5 camber front and back
Outer shock position hole for front and 2nd from the last for the rear
Rear upper-link in top hole
Geared 90/19
2s 50c 5200mah lipo at the rear of the battery tray

My first race is tomorrow (Friday) so I'll report back with my thoughts and results. I'd enjoy hearing others feedback on their racing experiences/set-ups and if this thread accomplishes nothing else I hope it encourages others to find a local track and dip their toe into the fascinating world of r/c racing.

Paul

rcgod

iTrader: (33)

That's awesome Paul, welcome to the hobby. Just be careful, it's addictive as hell. Next thing you know you'll have a whole stable of cars. Main thing is have fun. Good luck on your first race. If you don't know already how things work, talk to the race director and he can tell you, or better yet have him introduce you to one of the regulars to pit next to. It's always nice to have someone that's experienced to help guide you through the learning process.

For setup help take a look at the slash thread here, on the Traxxas forums, rcshortcourse.com, or ultimaterc.com.

Gravity Dodger

iTrader: (10)

Thanks rcgod, I can already tell this is going to be addicting!

Tonight's race was a total blast, we had 21 drivers in the Stock Slash class and I was able to qualify TQ B Main (sorry if that's wrong still trying to learn the lingo). Had a shaky start to the B Main and even drove off coarse in the main straight but was able to shake off my rookie jitters and finished a lap and a half ahead of second earning a slot into the A main race. My main objective was to A) Have Fun, and B) To not finish last so in my book I was playing with house money in the A main. From a rookies perspective some of the drivers in the A were incredible to watch and unbelievably consistent with lap deviations of about 6 tenths of a second. I just tried my best to follow their lines the best I could while trying to stay right side up. The end result was 8th out of the 10 which I was happy with and I'm excited to learn how to control my truck better and become more consistent with practice. So far my only regret about racing is waiting so long to start!!!

Paul

The track has a youtube channel of all of the races so I'll post that when I have the link.