Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Monday, May 27, 2013
A Little more
Ok so I was out cleaning catfish, and when I came back inside my wife was watching "Dirty Dancing" and it still has 30-45 minutes to go in the film. I never saw the movie when it came out, never watched after and I damn sure don't want to watch it now. My 4 year old son has taken over my Android playing Iron Man 3 so here we are. I dont know who all is still reading this since I have been neglecting it lately, but I do have a Facebook page for the blog as well as one for The F1 Posse even though I temporarily ditched the website. Feel free and by that I mean PLEASE post up any pics or info you guys want to share, new products you hear about, what ever over on the TCDoesRC Facebook page. So with that said, I need a shower, catfish guts are forever.
Texas EOS and The UTAC race
This coming weekend is the opening of the Summer Texas Electric Onroad Series. It is back for the 2nd season after a successful debut season last year. The first race was scheduled for Saturday June 1st in Austin, Texas, but was recently changed to Sunday the 2nd. That change basically mean I ain't going. Crap. Was looking forward to the series. But I should only miss the first one, so still have 3 more to make. June is Austin, Mikes is in July, Houston and Austin or maybe it was San Antonio after that. There is some confusion and changes that I haven't caught up on, but will hopefully know when and where I need to be sometime before I need to be there. I hope. Work is crazy busy so I can't stalk all the forums like i used to and Mikes board has been down for 3 weeks. I am for the most part out of touch with all the new stuff coming out, I'm sure most of you know it before I happen to see it on Facebook or hear it at the track. But any way.....
In 2 weeks is the inaugural Ultimate Trans Am Championship or UTAC for simplicity's sake. VTA and Formula 1 take over Mike's Hobbyshop for a day. Hoping for a good crowd, we are very fortunate to have Brad Palmer of F1 Paintlabs flying in for this. So Robert and I, along with Zach and the rest of the F1 Posse get to hang out with BP for a few days, try to get some free stuff (Im kidding BP!!) take him for some real BBQ and just all around RC shenanigans. It should be and will be cool, and add the UTAC in there will just be icing on the cake.
Lets talk racing shall we? I have been on a bi-weekly race schedule of late, and we have had a bunch of new F1 guys defect from over at the off road side of the building. These guys are already fast, and with the group of guys that have been coming in over the last two years, not only do we have a healthy F1 class, we have some very fast guys giving Robert a run for his money every week. That is good news. But at the same time the bastards are all faster than me, so I am falling farther back in the pack all the time. My car is good, my skills are improving all the time along with my lap times, but the competition is getting pretty stiff. I guess that is still good news. F104V2's, Kyoshos, F103s and even old standard F104s are knocking down fast lap after fast lap. Did I forget to mention Exotek? No, of course the Exoteks are usually still winning under the control of Robert. We still get an occasional FGX and the newer F113 quite frequently. Zach bought a Speed Passion SP1 from F1Paintlabs and should have that out on the track soon along with a standard F104 he acquired just this past weekend. I cant keep track of all the different chassis' that make regular stops.
There also has been some changes in the track. We now have bright yellow plow discs all over the place, making the sharper corners and hairpins a lot more crash friendly. So we are breaking a lot less parts when we get a bit too aggressive. Instead of a front end and wheel flying up in the air and a broken car heading to the pits prematurely, we get a little slap on the wrist, some klag on our tires and off we go. Great addition in my book. Plus thanks to Ray in the shop, we have kits, parts and even bodies on the shelves so we can get stuff now instead of having to order and wait. F1 life is good at Mikes now. Better every week it seems. Kick ass times indeed.
I am a Fernado Alonso fan. But there are already too many red Ferrari's at the track. I was going to do up a real nice livery for the EOS race, when I had to pullout I was bummed and just used a can of yellow I already had and the kit decals. For the UTAC I am planning on another F2012 but will get a little fancier with the paint and some good decals from BP. If only Sauber didn't go with that grey scheme this year I would pick them. Maybe go throwback with the Benetton B188 on an F2012? Or maybe something else. We will see, I have 2 weeks to decide. See you soon. And more often. I promise. Cheers!
In 2 weeks is the inaugural Ultimate Trans Am Championship or UTAC for simplicity's sake. VTA and Formula 1 take over Mike's Hobbyshop for a day. Hoping for a good crowd, we are very fortunate to have Brad Palmer of F1 Paintlabs flying in for this. So Robert and I, along with Zach and the rest of the F1 Posse get to hang out with BP for a few days, try to get some free stuff (Im kidding BP!!) take him for some real BBQ and just all around RC shenanigans. It should be and will be cool, and add the UTAC in there will just be icing on the cake.
Lets talk racing shall we? I have been on a bi-weekly race schedule of late, and we have had a bunch of new F1 guys defect from over at the off road side of the building. These guys are already fast, and with the group of guys that have been coming in over the last two years, not only do we have a healthy F1 class, we have some very fast guys giving Robert a run for his money every week. That is good news. But at the same time the bastards are all faster than me, so I am falling farther back in the pack all the time. My car is good, my skills are improving all the time along with my lap times, but the competition is getting pretty stiff. I guess that is still good news. F104V2's, Kyoshos, F103s and even old standard F104s are knocking down fast lap after fast lap. Did I forget to mention Exotek? No, of course the Exoteks are usually still winning under the control of Robert. We still get an occasional FGX and the newer F113 quite frequently. Zach bought a Speed Passion SP1 from F1Paintlabs and should have that out on the track soon along with a standard F104 he acquired just this past weekend. I cant keep track of all the different chassis' that make regular stops.
There also has been some changes in the track. We now have bright yellow plow discs all over the place, making the sharper corners and hairpins a lot more crash friendly. So we are breaking a lot less parts when we get a bit too aggressive. Instead of a front end and wheel flying up in the air and a broken car heading to the pits prematurely, we get a little slap on the wrist, some klag on our tires and off we go. Great addition in my book. Plus thanks to Ray in the shop, we have kits, parts and even bodies on the shelves so we can get stuff now instead of having to order and wait. F1 life is good at Mikes now. Better every week it seems. Kick ass times indeed.
My new livery.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Sweep Tires and Exotek rims and More....
Expect more detailed write up soon from Official TC Does RC Test pilot Robert. He has the new Sweep F1 racing tires and a set of Pits mounted up on the new Exotek offset rims. He tried them a bit before the races today and will ring them out properly Monday I am sure. But are some pics of how they look compared to the regular tires and wheels. Also included a post of Roberts he wanted me to do my famous copy and paste job too. More than happy to do it instead of typing it my self.
From Robert
Got my Sweep F1 tires and Tamiya F104 rubber tire wheels in the mailbox yesterday Mounted them up last night and they look great but were a bit of a hassle. and I am not confident that I got the super thin tire glue deep into the actual mounting bead to ensure a strong bond.
Also had some issue with the self adhesive foam insert. The instructions say to stick the foam directly to the wheel. If I simply did that I would have covered part of the mounting bead with foam and caused interference between the tire and rim. So before sticking it on I beveled the edges of the foam so it would sit nicely between the mounting ribs, not on top of them.
Then, I noticed the foam inserts where slightly too short to simply stick to the rim and have the ends meet. I had to give them a slight stretch as I stuck them down to make sure there is no gap once I got it all the way around the rim.
Once you have a foam insert stuck to a rim the tire becomes rather difficult to stretch over the tire and rim, So I followed the instruction that recommend flipping the tire inside out first, slide over the insert then flip back. That really does not work either so I started with the inverted tire and slowly worked the tire over the rim, stretching it as I was flipping it right side out working my way around the perimeter of the rim.
I must say that although unorthodox mounting Shimizu tires and inserts is much easier once you have the proper glues and technique.
Will possibly test the Sweeps on Friday night and for sure on Saturday morning. Hopefully performance and low price will make the effort to mount them worth it.
And now for something completely different........ VF1. Check this out. Its been floating around RCTech for a couple of weeks, and honestly, I have had an alarmingly hard time pulling myself away from the PS3 and F1 2012 long enough to post much of anything. But the VF1 idea is very interesting. As is this pic from yesterday. I don't know why.
From Robert
Got my Sweep F1 tires and Tamiya F104 rubber tire wheels in the mailbox yesterday Mounted them up last night and they look great but were a bit of a hassle. and I am not confident that I got the super thin tire glue deep into the actual mounting bead to ensure a strong bond.
Also had some issue with the self adhesive foam insert. The instructions say to stick the foam directly to the wheel. If I simply did that I would have covered part of the mounting bead with foam and caused interference between the tire and rim. So before sticking it on I beveled the edges of the foam so it would sit nicely between the mounting ribs, not on top of them.
Then, I noticed the foam inserts where slightly too short to simply stick to the rim and have the ends meet. I had to give them a slight stretch as I stuck them down to make sure there is no gap once I got it all the way around the rim.
Once you have a foam insert stuck to a rim the tire becomes rather difficult to stretch over the tire and rim, So I followed the instruction that recommend flipping the tire inside out first, slide over the insert then flip back. That really does not work either so I started with the inverted tire and slowly worked the tire over the rim, stretching it as I was flipping it right side out working my way around the perimeter of the rim.
I must say that although unorthodox mounting Shimizu tires and inserts is much easier once you have the proper glues and technique.
Will possibly test the Sweeps on Friday night and for sure on Saturday morning. Hopefully performance and low price will make the effort to mount them worth it.
And now for something completely different........ VF1. Check this out. Its been floating around RCTech for a couple of weeks, and honestly, I have had an alarmingly hard time pulling myself away from the PS3 and F1 2012 long enough to post much of anything. But the VF1 idea is very interesting. As is this pic from yesterday. I don't know why.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Lots of new stuff
I don't know where to start so i will just throw something on here and go from there.
F1Paintlabs has all the new 2013 liveries coming out on their website soon. I have seen some pics of a few of them and they are nice as usual. I haven't decided what livery to go with next any way. But BP also has released the new kickass official F1Paintlabs hat, which I will be getting as soon as I can.
Sweep has released their new F104 size rubber tires. Compounds so far are from Super Soft on up to Hard. Me or Robert will probably have a set soon to try out along with the Pardus and the Pits.
F1Paintlabs has all the new 2013 liveries coming out on their website soon. I have seen some pics of a few of them and they are nice as usual. I haven't decided what livery to go with next any way. But BP also has released the new kickass official F1Paintlabs hat, which I will be getting as soon as I can.
Sweep has released their new F104 size rubber tires. Compounds so far are from Super Soft on up to Hard. Me or Robert will probably have a set soon to try out along with the Pardus and the Pits.
More later. But now here is a great video. Happy Birthday Ayrton.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Ramblings
Been awhile so several things to discuss. First up we have, hopefully, our big monthly massive turnout F1 race coming up next weekend. No on road racing at all this weekend because of the Annual Big Foot off road shindig Mikes does every year. So hopefully that, and the fact that we asked what would be a good weekend for the massive turnout F1 race, will help us have a, well, turnout.
We have Monday practice plus another layout change tomorrow night, looking forward to hitting the carpet again. Me, Robert, Scott, Zach and hopefully some others will help put the track together and lay down some rubber for a groove. We will also continue testing out the Pardus tires tomorrow. I have a set, as does Zach, plus Robert has been borrowing one of those sets to test while I have been away from the track. He digs them, and I do. I had problems at first with too much grip, traction rolling and all that. But after looking things over, the issue was the outer diameter of the Pardus vs the Pits were about 2mm more. So a quick ride height change and, Bazinga!, back in action. Scott will unveil the new 3Racing F113, and hopefully let us take it for a spin. Also there should be a couple of Tamiya F104 Pro V2's there as well, oddly enough I have not seen one in person yet. So we should have a full gauntlet of F1 chassis: Exotek F1R, Exotek F1 Ultra, Tamiya V2, Kyosho Plazmas and now a 3racing F113. Plus I am sure Robert will have one of his original F103 carpet rockets on hand. Tom even has a Top F1 Rebel that he hasnt brought out yet, but he won't be there tomorrow. Man what a great time to be in F1 RC.
More stuff. In June we are having the 1st annual Ultimate Vintage Transam Championship at Mikes. Originally planned for just VTA, seeing how VTA guys are kinda weird like the F1 guys, they brought us together for the weekend. Randy Novak has already lined up some BIG TIME sponsors and the rumor mill has even mentioned a few more. Rules are USVTA for the VTA and our Mikes House rules for F1. Meaning F1 chassis up to 205mm RUBBER F1 tires, 2 cell and 21,5 or slower. Simple, just like us. We will be running a 10 minute hot lap qulaifier and 3 10 minute mains with 2 pits each for points. Should be cool. Hell, it will be cool. Here is the LINK to the race. Some big time Sponsors and already a few Big Time drivas have committed to the show. Looking way forward to this, stay tuned for more.
We have Monday practice plus another layout change tomorrow night, looking forward to hitting the carpet again. Me, Robert, Scott, Zach and hopefully some others will help put the track together and lay down some rubber for a groove. We will also continue testing out the Pardus tires tomorrow. I have a set, as does Zach, plus Robert has been borrowing one of those sets to test while I have been away from the track. He digs them, and I do. I had problems at first with too much grip, traction rolling and all that. But after looking things over, the issue was the outer diameter of the Pardus vs the Pits were about 2mm more. So a quick ride height change and, Bazinga!, back in action. Scott will unveil the new 3Racing F113, and hopefully let us take it for a spin. Also there should be a couple of Tamiya F104 Pro V2's there as well, oddly enough I have not seen one in person yet. So we should have a full gauntlet of F1 chassis: Exotek F1R, Exotek F1 Ultra, Tamiya V2, Kyosho Plazmas and now a 3racing F113. Plus I am sure Robert will have one of his original F103 carpet rockets on hand. Tom even has a Top F1 Rebel that he hasnt brought out yet, but he won't be there tomorrow. Man what a great time to be in F1 RC.
More stuff. In June we are having the 1st annual Ultimate Vintage Transam Championship at Mikes. Originally planned for just VTA, seeing how VTA guys are kinda weird like the F1 guys, they brought us together for the weekend. Randy Novak has already lined up some BIG TIME sponsors and the rumor mill has even mentioned a few more. Rules are USVTA for the VTA and our Mikes House rules for F1. Meaning F1 chassis up to 205mm RUBBER F1 tires, 2 cell and 21,5 or slower. Simple, just like us. We will be running a 10 minute hot lap qulaifier and 3 10 minute mains with 2 pits each for points. Should be cool. Hell, it will be cool. Here is the LINK to the race. Some big time Sponsors and already a few Big Time drivas have committed to the show. Looking way forward to this, stay tuned for more.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Feb 9 F1 Racing at Mikes.
Had started trying to pump up the attendance every couple of weeks at Mikes. Want to get at least one all hands on deck race a month with the F1 guys. Most of the time we are sporadic at showing up with between 4-6 F1 a race day. We expected 13 this weekend but life got in the way of 3 of them and the Post Office got in the way of 2 more, so we had 8. Good turnout, not great, but good. Me and Robert drove our new F1Rs most of the day, but we finished with our Ultras. OK he finished, I actually never did lol. As per usual, Robert stole the show, and the rest fought for the rest. And fight we did. Very close quarters racing on the new layout, and most of us are about the same speed so it makes for really good races. The track is a monster, narrow lanes, bumpy straight and a sweeper designed by Satan himself. I went into the sweeper and 4 times didn't make it out. My F1R is going to be the go to car for me for awhile, Ultra is still fast, and definitely easier to drive, but I think the F1R is the ticket for the time being. The Ultra isnt going any where, in fact it will still travel to the track intact every week, but the F1R is going to be the main car. I have the right tires for our track (R1 hards F3 softs) and quick motor Team Icon 21.5 and a new HobbyWing Justock speedo in it, just need to get a decent driver and we will be in the show!.
I had planned on sitting out WGT and 1/12 scale because I was short of funds and we expected a big day for F1, but in the WGT Q3. Robert broke his car, so I took his spot in the Main. He Tq'd but Im not kidding myself, so I opted to start from the back. In the end I was 3rd, behind Scott and Dougie. Dougie had lapped us all but Scott and I had a battle for most of the race, I gave up 2nd spot with only a couple of laps to go. We all knew I was going to to goof, but we expected it to come a little earlier. Great race weekend. Goin back for seconds next week with a full slate of carpet goodness, F1 and WGT and maybe if there is a class I will throw down some 1/12 scale action too.
In other news this week, Yokomo and Speed Passion have shown up with new F1 cars, and I hear rumors of 2 more Major manufacturers with either a full F1 kit or conversions on the horizon. Dont know how good that info is but sounds cool any way. Plus add the that Sweep Racing Tires has announced F1 tires for the F104 style cars to be release by the end of February. Busy times folks. Busy times.
I posted pictures of the prototypes of the Yokomo last year, not sure what all has changed since then.
Yokomo Formula 1 car
T Phalens write up HERE from CompetitionX
Speed Passion F1 Car
UF1 write up HERE
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Snowbirds!
The annual Snowbirds race is happening now in sunny Fla. I have always wanted to hit the 'Birds more than any other race. Not this year but we have some Mike's locals there. 2012 stock sedan National Champ Chris Chris Adams and our very own Sharpie are there along with James Lumberg. Give em Hell boys. Check out the racing live here Snowbirds Live
Monday, January 28, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Another new F1
It seems VBC is in the F1 race now with a new car called the Flash 04. Looks slick as snot (thats a good thing) with a bitchin looking front end, inboard links and bellcrank steering. Looks like a lot of the good stuff from other designs thrown into one car. Im diggin this one. I will be very interested in seeing one up close. Will it be any better than any of the other? Who cares, its a new car, looks good.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Exotek, Kyosho and Tamiya
There ate now 2 of the Kyosho Plazma F1 cars in town, with another on order. I have seen the car in person, and it looks good. I have not seen it in action yet. I will this weekend.
Also, TP over at the UF1 site posted. THIS. Tamiyas version of the Ferrari F2012. F104 Pro v2 with new/old step nosed body. More to come as I get back in the groove.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Racer Roberts Renault R26 F1R
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Weekend Racing 1/12
Good turnout at Mikes this weekend. Christmas is over and I now have some time to play. We had 8 F1's. And some pretty tight quarters racing. Lap times in the qualifiers were well down from normal, but Robert and Doug picked up the pace in the mains. My car was surprisingly fast all day, only 1/10th off the best lap in the qualifiers, but with the tight quarters, my erratic at best driving style wasn't the best. DNF'd both qualifiers with a broken front end in Q1 and a moved motor after forgetting to turn at end of straight in Q2. In the main, I started in the back but was in 4th by then end of lap 1, made my way to 3rd and held it until the 45 seconds to go mark. I don't remember exactly what I did, but it was wrong. I think I made an ill advised passing attempt on one of the Ferrari's and didn't pull it off. I had problems passing all weekend. I always do, I don't get the opportunity to pass much, so I'm not the best at it lol. But it was a great and relaxing day at the track. Raced WGT as well, car is good after about a minute on the track, but that first minute it is a handful. I will be rethinking my tire saucing strategy, only thing I can think of that might be off. When the car is good, it's really good, but after a minute of traction rolling and twitchyness, I am a long way back.
Tomorrow is Monday night Practice, I will have the Ultra, the F1R, my SpeedMerchant and my XRay VTA car. The new F1R made the track for a few laps yesterday, but I picked a bad servo, so I changed to a Savox that was in my WGT. And took the KO servo out of my 1/12 for the WGT. 1/12 car is out of action for awhile, while I decide what direction I am taking in RC. I am about to get back into VTA, and if it is fun like it was in the beginning, I will stick with it, F1 and WGT. If not, I will drop it like a bad habit and go from there. VTA had an incredible turnout yesterday, as people are gearing up for the big VTA race this Spring at Mikes. As well as all the special little races that Randy Novak is putting together. I have to get in on some of the shenanigans and hi-jinx. Now that i have a car that can survive it.
Tomorrow is Monday night Practice, I will have the Ultra, the F1R, my SpeedMerchant and my XRay VTA car. The new F1R made the track for a few laps yesterday, but I picked a bad servo, so I changed to a Savox that was in my WGT. And took the KO servo out of my 1/12 for the WGT. 1/12 car is out of action for awhile, while I decide what direction I am taking in RC. I am about to get back into VTA, and if it is fun like it was in the beginning, I will stick with it, F1 and WGT. If not, I will drop it like a bad habit and go from there. VTA had an incredible turnout yesterday, as people are gearing up for the big VTA race this Spring at Mikes. As well as all the special little races that Randy Novak is putting together. I have to get in on some of the shenanigans and hi-jinx. Now that i have a car that can survive it.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
A little Monday F1 Mayhem
New Years Eve, off from work, so I went up to Mikes for some carpet practice. Robert met me there as he was going to break in his new Exotek F1R. (Mine is still in construction) Ended up with 5 F1 cars on the track running and playing it was a good time. Me and Robert (ok Robert and I) decided to get narrow F1Rs, I having just sold my original F1R was already missing it, so no problem. I will buy another. My intentions were easy, I have a problem, I like RC cars. Good excuse, get another. Roberts was intent on finding out if in fact "wider is better". I will say that after one day of track tests and probably less than 5 packs through it, we dont know. But I do know that, Robert was turning lap times of 10.9, just like he turns them in his Ultra. Disgusting. He really is good though. My Ultra is still doing well, might gear it up, or even down a tooth, not sure. I am running 11.5 lap times, but I still havent had one magic flying lap where everything is millimeter perfect. Work in progress, F1 RULES>
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