Race Report 35F air temp
I treated the track again to medium-high traction with sugar water, but because of the cold weather we had tire selection problems. I tried the new SJ racing Sorex 36. No traction at all. Next CS 32's dry better but pushing horribly. I was worried about shredding a treated tire.
Next RP 30's. These were worse. The CS 32's really improved with traction compound for 10 minutes and also after scuffing in from storage.
Traction became very good by heat 1.
I won the first of two heats and was qualified first
I broke an arm in the second heat but was running my personal best laps on this layout late in the heat.
I ran the race fast lap in the main. Robert who is usually faster was present with a Team Magic Car. I was thrilled at being so close to the leader lap time wise. I did not run my best battery in the main and it dumped a few seconds early. 6:20 seconds of runtime (380 seconds) on a battery that discharged 895 seconds at 20 A. This gives an average amp draw of 47 amps during the race! wow.
(895s x 20A)/380s = 47A.
The thunderpower batteries are holding up very well. I believe I have about 40 runs on two of them. One still has more than 5000 mA-h. The second slightly less at 4972 mA-h. I have a newer one with only about 15 runs for the main but it was not charged on time. 5172 mA-h. These packs are nominal 5000 mA-h packs. Now there is a new 5300 mA-h 45 C pack available. I will probably get one of these to have two packs with good capacity available for racing and then two pretty good used packs for practice only. I am very pleased with Thunderpower Packs. No bloating at the high discharge level in the heat.
I was 1 second faster than last race. My best ever on the layout. So what was new. I added the little sway bars for improved steering precision. I ran more brakes (69%) so that I could run what I will call the "stock car line" very tight to the markers. I was chasing fast competition with a hooked up car. And my car is just really fast on the straights. I can pass on the straight with ease. Very much like a stock motored XXX-S on a dusty asphalt track is faster (I talked about this in the intro). Something about the belt getting a good air cushion at speed. The Tekin RX8 helps a lot of course. My fast laps means it is no slouch in the corners either compared to top of the line newer cars with good drivers.
The Serpent with rear gear diff may be a little faster than the Losi, it just does not hold up to the power we use.