I had to overcome this same bias, having only raced on the much larger RCP tracks, but because I don’t have that much room at home and the Mini-96 fits my space perfectly, I decided to give it a try, and I’m so glad I did! It has been a blast, made me a better driver on the larger tracks and a lifesaver during quarantine. I’m sure you too will love it when it arrives. Just give yourself some time to get used to it, because it takes more skill than the larger wider tracks.

Glad to have you onboard! You will love the mini 96 and competing every month with a new layout makes it even better!

MHRC,
No worries.

For March I ended up going to VT most weekends to get out of the house and the ones I did not the family was home so I could not set up the track. We still have not dealt with a lift to get me into the basement but as it gets warmer I should be able to set up the track in the garage and do some laps.

Cheers,
Jim

My M96 should be delivered on Monday, so I should be able to get laps in this month too.

Awesome! Welcome to the challenge! What is your location and experience with Mini-Zs? There is a FB group for this too, where some of the side conversations happen.

Iowa. I have been running them since the summer/fall of 2019. I already have 2 Wide-L kits, and access to 2 more, but getting them setup out of the way is difficult. I should be able to setup the M96 each month and not have to take it up/down each use.

This morning was my last run on the knock-off EVA track and I was happy to dismantle it. The tiles will be repurposed to add padding to the unfinished section of my basement floor and for a small 8x6 pad in my home gym for floor work.

The RCP track should be here on Tuesday so I am excited to see if I can beat my knock-off tracks best time of 333.18 seconds.

There was so much frustration involved when the front bumper of my car would snag a Velcro strap holding the track edge, that racing started to become stressful. I have broken 3 front CVD’s in the last week alone. Then there were the times when I would be having an otherwise decent run and the car gets sucked under a track edge that isn’t perfectly secured - I swear they act like magnets... Nothing like a few 9 second laps to improve a run!

I don’t expect the RCP track to magically make me stop hitting walls and to instantly take .5 seconds off each lap, but at least I will have more confidence to approach outside walls in an effort to take the fastest line through the track.


on another note - I purchased the best upgrade next to a decent transmitter... I got a PN tire truer. I’m still learning the ends and outs of it - but after truing my tires the car became a bit more predictable. I’m noticing less traction rolling and less seemingly random oversteering or directional changes. The car definitely feels more planted with trued tires.. still lots of tuning to do though...

Class- Box Stock
Date- April 21, 2021
Location- Madison, WI
Race Time- 325.97
Fastest Lap- 3.76s
Chassis- Kyosho MR-03
Body- Audi R8
Wheelbase- 98mm
Tires- PN Firm
Motor- White endbell MZ9P
Batteries- 800mah Nimah
Front Springs- Orange
T-Plate- Carbon Stiff
Motor Mount- MM2
Gearing- 7t w/stock diff
Notes- Moved the track to a new location. Not a great run tonight but I just wanted to one in quick. The location is a new space we're trying to work out how to make into a club. Hopefully some of the members will join in as I've posted the rules and a link to this thread on the wall.

27th - got a couple runs in tonight, new location is working well. Dropped two tenths off my fastest lap and almost 20 seconds off total time.





27th run

This was 100% spot on, especially your last sentence! I got my RCP track set up and immediately noticed it is more narrow than my old track. I’ve only gotten 5-6 runs in the track so far but I’m really going to have to put in the practice time if I want to get 75 laps in under 6 minutes. Right now in a given run, I am able to achieve 50 or so clean laps at a 4.6- 5.1 second pace but the rest of the laps are not clean and come in anywhere from 5.2 - 7.5 seconds haha. I am really impressed that you are able to achieve consistent clean laps in under 4 seconds!

I am about to go race 1/10th TC on a “tight carpet track” so this should be a fun change of pace.

Cheers!

Class- Box Stock
Date- 4/30/2021
Location- Denton, TX
Race Time- 299.9
Fastest Lap- 3.67
Chassis- MR03
Body- Mercedes AMG GT3
Wheelbase- 98mm
Tires- Rear PN FR, Front PN SSS
Motor- Stock
Batteries- PN 750
Front Springs- PN Red
T-Plate- PN #4 Black Fiberglass
Motor Mount- MM
Dampener (If applicable)- Stock
Dampener Fluid (If applicable)- N/A
Gearing- 7T Pinion
Notes- Made makeshift tire truer out of a Dremel and small lathe. Definitely makes the car more consistent and less traction rolling Loving the trued tires...improved from last month by almost 12 seconds.

Let's see it.

If you use the Kyosho low height slick front tires, you don’t have to worry about truing them.

M96 is ready to go. Just need to get my timing system back, setup, and laps on the clock by Friday.

Already had a Taig lathe and Dremel so I just bought a tool holder mount for the dremel from Alisam Engineering for $20 and voila...tire truer I originally tried to true the tires with a cutting tool and that was a major fail!

Class-Box Stock
Date-4/7/21
Location-Winston-Salem, NC
Race Time-276.737
Fastest Lap-3.429
Chassis-MR-03 ASF
Body-McLaren F1 LM
Wheelbase-98mm
Tires-K30LH fronts, Marka V1R10 rears
Motor-Stock
Batteries-TRP 747s
Front Springs-Kyosho Orange
T-Plate-Kyosho Carbon Med
Motor Mount-Stock MM
Dampener (If applicable)-None
Dampener Fluid (If applicable)-K 15k grease on top shock
Gearing-Stock Gear Diff/7T pinion
Notes-No changes this month, and 1/2 a second faster than last month CW.