TNR A-Main Challenge

This past weekend was the TNR A-Main Challenge in Norco, California. We couldn’t ask for better weather on the last weekend of January with sunshine and temps cresting 80*. (I’m just pointing this out coming in from Ohio where we are in a deep freeze.) The venue though is a spectacular covered horse pavilion which is generally awesome but does create some challenging shadows on the track at certain hours of the day. The track itself was huge with the pros regular lap times around 45 seconds and a tricky surface riddled with sharp holes on an otherwise fast layout, truly testing man and machine. Add in the challenge of pretty high grip in the line when the track was dry and very loose dust/marbles just outside if you missed that line.

The event also drew a record crowd yet again catching all off guard. This created lots of trouble with official time keeping and resultant less track time and a constantly changing schedule. Many upset and rightfully so, but I say the only way this gets rectified in the future is a culture change in American racing for these big events that requires signups ahead of time and capped entries. This would allow a scheduled program and all attendees could know what they were paying for and what to expect ahead of time. The other main area of contention was marshaling, also quickly rectified with numbered cones where it is clear who is not at their cone and would justify a penalty.

On to my racing experience and it was truly a struggle for me. With the limited track time I didn’t get my diffs up enough early enough and my seeding was slow as I struggled to put two laps together. Then in Q1 I had some of my worst and longest crashes ever absolutely struggling with the depth of the track and certain jumps depending where I was on the drivers stand. I was making progress on setup though and got my diffs where they were needing to be. Also going to a bit heavier front shock oil to mellow out the reaction of the car in the grip and bumps.

For Q2 I found some pace in all 3 classes mostly in the top 3-5 for for top 5 laps but I still couldn’t shake the one or two horrendous crash laps where I would loose 6-10 seconds on a lap. It was tough, but I took solace in my improving lap times and finding a good tire with my RawSpeed SLW Mach ones. I was ready to make it happen in Q3 when the news came that it would be cancelled in leu of making the mains longer (see time management above). So I qualified just barely into the A in Ebuggy and nitro truggy in 12th and 13th respectively and 2nd in the B in nitro buggy in 15th. It’s alright, I knew I needed the extra track time!

Well as main day came about the watering schedule also changed and more water was being applied compared to qualifying. This meant a bit of a decision between soft and soft long wear Mach ones and I had to keep an eye on the track.

First up was the Ebuggy A1 and I opted for soft Mach one on this one as the track had a bit more moisture still in it. Starting 12th was difficult but by lap 2 I had managed to get up to 8th. But those long crashes continued to haunt me and I would loose time and basically be battling in the 8-10 range for the remainder of the main eventually finishing 8th or +4 from where I started.

Then it was time for the nitro buggy B main and it was 20 minutes. I had a good start and got into the lead and felt I could pull away. But the track got the better of me again and I fell back to 4th. I stayed calm though and after the first pit stops asserted myself into 2nd. My buggy was still

A little loose and the rear felt a bit high but I managed to get the bump and knew I could make the necessary changes for the A final.

That A for Nitro buggy was our next race and it was 30min long. The changes I made for it adding a half a degree of rear toe and lowering my rear ride height a touch and also adding a 20g weight to the rear. On top of that I moved the front caster block forward one mm and also inserted the small screw in the knuckle armpit area to limit steering travel to make it easier to drive on this track. (This track has a tendency to be very aggressive on steering.) I went with SLW Mach one but afterwords feel that perhaps they were a touch hard for the track with a little more moisture in it and I should have went with soft. Anyways starting from the back I moved up to 12th on the first lap and my car was feeling best it had all week. By lap 3 I got into 9th but then this long crashes started to take hold with multiple mistakes throughout the run often when I kept catching the same driver and I just couldn’t get past them. The tires again were a touch hard the first half but started to get better as the run went on and in the end made a small charge from 10th to 8th on the final laps to finish 8th or +7 positions from qualifying.

Finally we ended the weekend with the nitro truggy A. Again starting from the back in 13th was tough but my changes for the main, slightly lighter rear shock oil and lengthening the rear link to slow the rear reaction a bit were both good changes and I felt I had good pace. I ran soft Mach one and they were great as well. I had a tough start though as everyone was fighting hard for those potions early and came across la one in 15th. After that it was a steady climb throughout the run having a good battle with a couple of competitors. A few too many mistakes still plagued me but in the end was able to come back to finish 5th or +8 positions from qualifying.

So all in all I found improvement on main day and all my equipment again performed very well. My Kyosho teammate Phi also did phenomenal winning both electric classes and battling for the win in both nitro as well. The Kyosho cars are on point this year and we are looking forward to the release of the new MP11e ebuggy in the coming months!

Set-up Notes: This was a tough track condition that gives cars lots of steering and makes the rear a bit loose feeling. Tire wise when most dry during qualifying SLW Mach One was the ticket. For the main when they started to water more then regular Soft was better. I also added the little screw in the 'armpit' of the knuckle to limit steering and reset endpoints.