Texas Shootout (Thornhill)
- Ryan Lutz
- Apr 1
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 2
This past week I made my first of hopefully a couple trips down to Thornhill in preparation for the IFMAR Worlds coming up at the end of September. The track crew is still fine tuning how to do their builds and they mixed the dirt more than they have in a long time and it resulted in a much smoother surface than usual. However especially with the 'cold' day on Saturday in the 60's the grip never did reach what we experienced at the National last year. But it got pretty solid by the end of the day Sunday when temps got back into the mid 80's and again on my test day on Monday where I really felt I made some great progress with my MP11 on this kind of track.
For the event, during qualifying it was my Kyosho MP10e TKI2's final race weekend and it was going fast! In Q1 I ran Double Blue Triad tires to a TQ for the round and I backed it up with a solid run in Q3 on Soft Triumph to take a 2nd and thus be 2nd overall behind Kyosho teammate Phi Long! My Nitro buggy was decent but something just was amiss throughout qualifying and the mains (which I figured out on Monday). My buggy was just a bit loose on the left side of the track on the pitchers mound and the critical breaking / throttle input points. Regardless I did my best and made a couple of changes fine tuning my diffs and shock choice. In the end with a pair of 3's I would qualify 4th overall into the A-main.
Sunday started with ebuggy A1 and on some soft Triumph tires I got into the lead on lap 1 and held it for a second lap before making a crash on my own letting Phi back by and I had to play chase car the rest of the race but Phi stayed clean. Too many mistakes on my part resulted in a 2nd place in this one.
Next was the nitro buggy 30 minute final. I again went with Soft Triump in this one and they felt good overall. I again got into the lead on lap 2 from the 4 position and led for a lap before turning in to early at the end of the straight and being demoted back to 7th. After that the lead trio was gone and I really just didn't quite have the leaders pace. Again, still struggling a bit with the ease of driving around the left side especially. Well I drove best I could and came away with a 4th. I'll go into all the things that made my buggy so much better on Monday below!
Finally we ended up with A2 of ebuggy and I needed a win and a fast one to beat Phi. Before the race started Phi's dad told me to race him hard and not be kind to him and he also told Phi to take me out too. haha. So on the start I pressured him and was able to make an amazing pass over the huge triple option (I so wish someone got that on video) and got into the lead. I led for most of the race before hitting the compression rut on the top right and flipping over with 3 laps to go allowing Phi back by and he didn't relent and beat me again! So I had to settle for 2nd again. I guess I should get used to that because Phi isn't getting any slower! ;-)
So, on to Monday and my first real good test day with the MP11. I'm going to just share with you my direct notes from each practice MP=Monday Practice
Mp1- yellow triumph from Ebuggy taped rear. Felt good tire wise. Rear seems a bit high and can step out on exit.
MP2 - lower rear roll center B dot up and out on C and D. Great change. Rear rolled a touch deeper but way more stable. Didn’t step out. Way more grip and control on left side of track.
MP3 - CVA 93 front (from uni). Not huge change. Maybe more balance and little more pull out of corners steering wise. Little more stable. (Already was running CVA 93 rear)
MP4 - blue 70 front. (From black 72)
Little more springy feeling and transferred a bit more to rear. Wasn’t as smooth or consistent and lost a little steering.
MP5 - back to black front. 2.2 front bar (from 2.3)
Slight more steering but dives a bit on front which upsets rear.
MP6- going to try to help rear work with it. Shorter rear camber link inside low on hub. (from middle low) Maybe rotated a little more. A little less stable. Rear still a bit high compared to front.
MP7- 2.5 rear bar fast feeling. More rotation. Can’t drive quite as hard as when I was 2.3/2.6. But if can stay controlled can be good fast rotation. Blipping at end of straight keeps car flatter instead of dumpy erratic.
MP8 - front carbon inserts. Touch less steering. But more stable on high speed sweeper.
-1/2 turn less rear camber more stable on higher speed corners. Still good rotation.
-Another 1/2 turn less rear camber. More of the same. Wants to square up a bit better on exit. Front is just a little divy on front left sweeper.
-1/2 turn less front camber, more initial steer/twitch but smoother mid and exit. More stable on sweeper
-1/4 turn more front camber. (split difference) Great balance. Perfect.
*ended with -1 rear camber, -1 front camber, 2.5 toe out front. on Triumph tires
(Rear oil of 400 with 1.3x7 was fine for up to 70*. Over 70 and need 450.)
MP9 - 500 rear oil (big jump to test).
450 would have been better. Made car a bit loose in the rear and stiffish feeling. 80*
Mp10 - lower front RH 1 turn, then rear, then front, then rear, then all another 1/2. So 2 1/2 turns lower in the end. When lowering front it would dive a bit and then doing rear would balance it back out. So a 1-2mm rake seems appropriate. Lower was better through the higher speed corners. Ended at 20/21RH.
Mp11 - raised rear link to top on tower, sat a little too much on exit. And rolled more, but ok. So raised front link and felt better balanced as front also rolled more. Then lowered rear link back to middle and it was amazing with the front high and rear middle. Perfect balance and less wanting to traction roll at all.
MP12 - lexan wing, actually solid and still good rear grip. Mounted pretty forward with front edge of wing at back edge of tower.
500 rear oil is solid around 85* and lots of running.
*Other set-up things I did during quals or practice - I tried front arm sweep for the first time on the car with the A block narrow and the B block wide. This seemed to be good
So that was my day of testing. Overall my car got so good and it was one of the rare times in my life where I thought this is one of the best cars i've ever driven for the condition. Super pumped moving forward with a great base to work from on similar tracks!
Oh, and I have to share my Ebuggies final jump launch!
