Racing by post - Round 32 results are up. Andreas W takes the win at Vålerbanen!

[SlideWRX 525]

That is how I set mine up, as I figured people would look to the drawing to confirm what they did and not necessarily notice the discrepancy.

[TurnipJF 7826]

2 hours ago, SlideWRX said:

That is how I set mine up, as I figured people would look to the drawing to confirm what they did and not necessarily notice the discrepancy.

Indeed. I hadn't noticed it until you pointed it out. 

[Tamiyastef 1040]

2 minutes ago, TurnipJF said:

Indeed. I hadn't noticed it until you pointed it out. 

Same here

[SlideWRX 525]

The real question is, Can you outrun the police?

My stock GT-01 managed to put in some good enough times.  I'm gonna tweak some things and try again the next time it is dry.

[Grastens 2718]

Good catch! The map is correct; the labels are not. Guess I went the wrong way on the y-axis 

[Grastens 2718]

I took a shot at Round 29, and with an experiment to try:

If 1:10 requires a lot of room and concentration, could 1:24 strike a better balance of flat-out driving and cornering?

I would have found out, but the battery died after minute 1 of 5! I may need some pit-stops to go the distance 

Unfortunately, one minute was enough time for me to barrel-roll the car, and so the front fender has some nice scrapes! It was hardly the fault of the chassis, though; it handled nicely for a small car on tiny tires, and the roll was due to some previously-undetected debris on the racing line... Being able to go full-throttle was nice, too! 

I then switched to a larger car:

Much more battery on this one! I made two runs, and managed to improve my lap count considerably on the second! I turned my fastest laps in when I nailed my line through corners 2 - 3 and then 6 - 7.

The bigger Lancia was a pleasure to drive throughout  The chassis design really keeps the weight low down, and as a result it behaves very nicely. Having put in some good results with this car (if not a win... yet!), I hope to place somewhere near the sharp end of the tables 

Alas, the battery in my 1:1 car died, so I had to suspend further activities! A shame, too; I had the Ferrari 312T3 and the Opel Ascona on deck for some attempts... If only I could have put the juice from all the batteries I brought into my actual car!

[Tamiyastef 1040]

Had another go this Sunday. Mostly in between rain but still on wet tarmac .

Got the M-05 out to slidder around on slicks. I was surprised at how much traction it got.

Gave the XV-01 another run in somewhat better conditions than last week.

This time weighted the cars as well. 

[Tamiyastef 1040]

Oops, That XV-01 picture is from last week, this one is from this Sunday:

[Andreas W 491]

On the way to work I took the time to let the second hand XV-01 make it's debut in the Postal Racing. It was wet and raining and the commuter parking was full, so no tarmac run. Then I was stuck with the usual spot with gravel. After the snow last week it has been raining non stop, so the ground is swamp like. What about the XV? I must say it's not an immideate struck of love - but it was like that with the Golf as well in the beginning. The XV is quiet, responsive and behaves much like I'm used to after hundreds of laps on ice tracks in 1:1 Audi quattro. But I do not like that it griprolls so easy when I get in the flow. It might be that I am better off changing the BZ for a Torque Tuned for now. 

 

Still it made it only 4 laps short of the Thunder Dragon already on the first stint (with rolls). Not bad, but room for more. On Thursday the temperature is creeping below 0 C, so then the conditions will improve I hope. 

[Re-Bugged 8248]

On 11/24/2022 at 7:55 AM, SlideWRX said:

The real question is, Can you outrun the police?

My stock GT-01 managed to put in some good enough times.  I'm gonna tweak some things and try again the next time it is dry.

What is that you just automatically feel guilty when you see a cop car 🤣

Great looking Lambo 👍🏻

[Re-Bugged 8248]

Dearly would have loved to stretch the legs on the Street Scorcher for this round but doesn’t look like much race time for me for a while yet unfortunately. 

Great to see you all out enjoying it though 👍🏻

[Ferruz 8538]

Same here. Not much time available, and in any case I'll have to sit this one out as my playground looks like this

Soon there should be a consistent layer of ice so that I can have an even-ish surface again. 

Meanwhile, it's fun to read your race reports. Glad everybody is having fun!

[Tamiyastef 1040]

As long as it's not actively snowing this looks ideal to get a snowshovel and carve out the track 

[El Gecko 1193]

19 hours ago, Re-Bugged said:

Great looking Lambo 👍🏻

Agreed! Surprised no one has made a Need for Speed comparison yet (although maybe too obvious? )

[El Gecko 1193]

23 hours ago, Andreas W said:

On the way to work I took the time to let the second hand XV-01 make it's debut in the Postal Racing. It was wet and raining and the commuter parking was full, so no tarmac run. Then I was stuck with the usual spot with gravel. After the snow last week it has been raining non stop, so the ground is swamp like. What about the XV? I must say it's not an immideate struck of love - but it was like that with the Golf as well in the beginning. The XV is quiet, responsive and behaves much like I'm used to after hundreds of laps on ice tracks in 1:1 Audi quattro. But I do not like that it griprolls so easy when I get in the flow. It might be that I am better off changing the BZ for a Torque Tuned for now. 

 

Still it made it only 4 laps short of the Thunder Dragon already on the first stint (with rolls). Not bad, but room for more. On Thursday the temperature is creeping below 0 C, so then the conditions will improve I hope. 

Possibly some wider offset hexes on the rear would help? And/or wider wheels and tires?

[SlideWRX 525]

8 minutes ago, El Gecko said:

Agreed! Surprised no one has made a Need for Speed comparison yet (although maybe too obvious? )

The inspiration was from posters from the 80's that I remembered

[Andreas W 491]

2 hours ago, El Gecko said:

Possibly some wider offset hexes on the rear would help? And/or wider wheels and tires?

Good idea. I'm buiing wheels from JC Racing Products later for the tarmac season. They are 5mm offset. It must be said that the surface is soft and soaked, so when you go sideways the outer wheels just dig into the surface. 

 

I tried it again today. This time on wet tarmac. Now we are talking! I now officially love this car. No more rolling. Just concentrate on throtle control and keeping the line. There was no recordbreaking lapcount,  but in my book decent given it was wet and I drove it for the first time 2 stints yesterday. 

[TurnipJF 7826]

I had an awesome few runs at the track earlier this evening with my TT-02B wearing its new runner shell. I knew that the chassis was capable of good things, having run it in previous rounds wearing its Pink Metallic Special shell, but I was always taking care not to push it to hard for fear of damaging it. However the far more readily replaceable runner shell has allowed me to push the car a lot harder without worry. I have high hopes for this round! 😁

[Re-Bugged 8248]

5 hours ago, Ferruz said:

Same here. Not much time available, and in any case I'll have to sit this one out as my playground looks like this

Soon there should be a consistent layer of ice so that I can have an even-ish surface again. 

Get a 1/14 Semi and race as Ice Road Trucker 😃

[Andreas W 491]

10 hours ago, Ferruz said:

my playground looks like this

 

These are often the normal conditions for me during the winter. Dry and not so deep snow is huge fun, but of course you know that . No conditions for the big numbers lapcount though. 

 

The biggest challenge now is to find a spot where the snow get moved away, but not salted and there is illumination. That is like hens teeth to begin with, and with the current energyprices more and more places are left dark now. Good conditions for mobile criminals from the continent, but bad for nice and humble men in the late 40's, who just want to run their not toys after work.

[Ferruz 8538]

17 hours ago, Tamiyastef said:

As long as it's not actively snowing this looks ideal to get a snowshovel and carve out the track 

Oh but there are ice spots underneath already (pretty chilly up here), making the uneven spot a bit too uneven to drive. And much more snow coming anyway. It's like this every year, during the transition season I just wait one out until there's an even layer, then it's worth carving a truck again (even got a new snow blower for that!).

 

7 hours ago, Andreas W said:

These are often the normal conditions for me during the winter. Dry and not so deep snow is huge fun, but of course you know that . No conditions for the big numbers lapcount though. 

 

The biggest challenge now is to find a spot where the snow get moved away, but not salted and there is illumination. That is like hens teeth to begin with, and with the current energyprices more and more places are left dark now. Good conditions for mobile criminals from the continent, but bad for nice and humble men in the late 40's, who just want to run their not toys after work.

These are the only conditions for me in the winter 😉 we get tons of snow and it's also very cold, so this is it until April at least. Great fun with the cars but better when it's fully covered in snow. Even the smallest pebble can be deadly when stuck in ice

I have the same problem finding good spots salt-wise, unless of course I showel my own but there's not always time for it! That's why I do a bit less postal racing and more free running in the cold season. Carving a track on snow/ice is great fun for driving though! Just no great lap counts.

[Re-Bugged 8248]

6 hours ago, Ferruz said:

I have the same problem finding good spots salt-wise, unless of course I showel my own but there's not always time for it! That's why I do a bit less postal racing and more free running in the cold season. Carving a track on snow/ice is great fun for driving though! Just no great lap counts.

So where’s all the Chipmunks to help when you need them??

[Ferruz 8538]

6 hours ago, Re-Bugged said:

So where’s all the Chipmunks to help when you need them??

Good point! Since the little fellas don't actually hibernate, they could indeed come out and help! But nope, they rather dig their nasty tunnels at ground level, which results in a badly ruined lawn once the snow melts! 🤣 I just can't be mad at them. But they should calm down a little and enjoy RC rather than vandalism for once 😄

[Andreas W 491]

Just submitted the best results. I had a superb RC-experience today. Yesterday I had the XV on the bench. I had a mishap during driving earlier. I had a flying stint,  but one of the dampers got loose after 4 min. With 1 min left I was only 2 laps behind the previous best,  so that sucked. I have now gone over even more metal to metal connections with threadlock. I also shimmed out the rear wheels a little and moved some of the foams in the battery compartment, so I could place the shorty a little furher back. That made wonders. Today the commuter parking was dry, the temperature was 0C and the good thing was flying. I broke the next personal barrier with regards to lapcount and got so happy. Man, I love that XV! 

 

I also drove the Thunder Dragon, but that was after work and it got dark. I still managed to squeeze one more lap out than before. The new Lipos were superb. Even after 3 stints and some bashing there was no cut off. 

 

All in all probably my best RC-experience this year, together with when I got second with the Golf this summer. 

[Grastens 2718]

Round 2 at Round 29:

I had my radio, cars, and all my batteries for this session. Entries included my WR-02C Opel Ascona, F104W Ferrari 312T3, Lancia 037 4WD-H, and the Super Striker. The Ascona posted a DNF when the battery died before the halfway mark.

I had high hopes for the Ferrari 312T3, winner of one race and runner-up in another:

However, conditions were not quite perfect; as I had not run a pan car recently at this location, I did not notice all the gravel/road salt that had made its way onto the surface. The results were: a persistent grinding noise; terrible understeer, and a disappointing result. It was a shame, as the 312T3 has proven to be one of my fastest cars.

So then the SUPER STRIKER made its appearance:

Still wholly unsuited to pavement, still controversial-looking, and still putting up results! The lap count was not exceptional, though there is not much more to ask of a Tamiya Striker!

And so, it was another attempt with the Lancia 037:

I was just short of my previous best lap count despite rolling the car thrice during the 5 minutes. I took the radical step of removing the rear damper spacers, hoping to cure some of the grip-roll that was no issue at all during the previous run. I call it "radical" because this tail-heavy stance ensued:

But it worked! I was amazed at how the car's handling transformed for the better with this adjustment. It is clear to me that the 037 is overdue for some maintenance, however...

The idea inspired me to try the Ferrari again:

This looks familiar:

In a bid to improve ground clearance/reduce the surface area for gravel to get under the chassis, I removed the front wing. This meant no front body mount, but it was a (low) risk I was willing to take. It did not solve the problem completely, though it did mean more laps!

The motor sounded horrendous at this point. Another one to service, then...

With one battery left, it was back to the Ascona:

I managed to roll this one four or five times in the 5-minute race. Despite this, it went well beyond my expectations; keeping the speed low to reduce the rolling meant its surprisingly-sharp steering could get to work, and this car was unusually-good in the tighter turns. I even managed to pop a wheelie with this one during the run! (albeit following a post-roll recovery)

I had put in well over an hour at this point, but before I went home:

The 1:24 experiment continues! The chalk writing is visibly faded compared to the first photos in this post; I made "good" use of the runoff areas!

Coming from an hour of 1:10 scale cars, I found the 1:24 chassis difficult to adjust to, feeling it to be quite twitchy compared to the larger entries. However, I eventually found a nice rhythm through the corners, made easier by the longer times between turns (which are also shorter to execute) as the little Lancia negotiated the course.

I was actually on pace to challenge my best result for the day until the battery died with just over a minute to go! I really need to figure out a better solution for that... I elected to submit this result despite the car meeting all the criteria for a Not-Classified in the final standings: the way I saw it, a pit-stop to change batteries would have taken over a minute, meaning the final count would be effectively unchanged.

Nevertheless, the 1:24 experiment is showing a lot of promise! I just need the car to last longer than 5 minutes...

Back at home, the Lancia was disassembled ahead of some long-overdue maintenance and maybe some cleaning:

And though the results have not come his way lately, at least Gilles still draws a crowd! 

(apologies for the lack of taste  I need the levity, as you will see...)

On a more serious note: my grandfather passed away today, so while it is a small gesture, I will be dedicating my best result to him. But regardless of where my entries end up, I would like to think that getting out there and doing what I love would be the best tribute I can give. After all, it is thanks to him and his hard work that I am here today, and can enjoy the things I do.

Best of luck with the round, everybody! I am looking forward to seeing who finishes where, as this looks to be quite an intriguing round