Seems like we haven't updated this. Here goes....
Electric Short Course.( and 1/10 open)
1) Gandhar
Slash 4x4.
2) Joe Kodiyil TT Sparrowhawk XXT
3) Murali Kannadhason Jammin SCRT
I'll ask someone with the official results to put them up.
Now, my opinions and my report....
I left For Chennai on Friday morning with Joe. We reached there by around 3 PM and the weather was hellish. Compared to Bangalore, Chennai felt like a furnace. And the humidity was a killer. We were eager to hit the track and did just that.
I got my slash out, and stuck my NiMH in it for the heck of it. My lipo wasn't charged up yet. The first time I got up on the stand, and pulled the trigger.... and the car stopped. Then I remembered that my lipo cutoff was on! D'oh! Got that sorted out and got back on the track. Somewhere in between, my wheel nut came off but the guys were kind enough to lend me one of their wheel nuts. I ran for around 7 minutes and my NiMH died. I got used to 40% of the track. I needed marshalling around 5 times in that session.
The next worry was charging my lipo. I have an AC charger and I didn't have my adapter with me. Thankfully, Joe had one and I could use it. Had it not been for him, many people, including me, would not have ran their cars on Saturday and Sunday. My charger was on constant duty, charging up NiMH Rx packs for the guys there. Joe is to be thanked for all that.
We went over to our hotel rooms and had a good time chatting with Murli. The guys from Chennai were VERY hospitable and made us feel really welcome. My heartfelt thanks to Murli, Ajo, Satish and Raj Kumar.
On Saturday morning, Joe and I worked on our cars, made a few setup changes. I moved to stiffer springs in the rear since it was bottoming out a lot and I wanted to experiment a bit. Went up to the track and met Pravesh who had arrived in the morning.
I ran my slash with more weight at the front to get more on power steering and lesser weight transfer. It turned out to be too much steering and I got a load of oversteer. Abhishek( a pretty good driver) drove it and he too wasn't very happy with the handling. I moved the battery towards the back to get more rear traction due to weight transfer. It worked out pretty well. The car felt weird in the run. It was like the power was suddenly cut. Checked my bearings and motor temps and they were okay. Ajo came over and suggested some stuff and I found the reason. My hex was rounding out and the wheel was on it's way to being destroyed. Since I have had issues with my hexes on the rear hub, I had some spares. They came in handy. I let my car rest till the main. The battery was charged up and I was feeling the nerves as the time approached. Out of 5 guys that were supposed to start, only 3 of us started. 2 guys had problems with their cars.
I got off to a good start and was doing well. I was pulling away as time passed and got a good lead. I had almost half a lap on Joe. I took it coolly on the straights and was cruising and Joe caught up with some great driving. I lost my lead for a while after a jump caught me off guard. That was one bad@$$ jump. It looked small but it took the car really far. Joe and I tangled up somewhere but we managed it well and got out. Joe lost it in a corner where he said he had ESC problems. I overtook him and led to the finish.
The motor came off at 140F in ambient temps of around 95-100F. The battery was at 104F and the ESC was at a comfortable temperature as well. I was really pleased with my car.
Now, onto the track. It was AWESOME! There were no rocks on it. The surface was a bit loose but that was no biggie. The track did not kill one single car. The dirt was pretty good and almost none of it stuck to the car. All my bearings were fine after the run. The tire wear was near zero again. The jumps were great. There were two jumps where you could go all out but the rest were very technical and you had to think before going full power over them. All in all, it was a wonderful facility. Kudos to Raj Kumar, the owner of the track, Murli, Ajo, Satish and the rest of the Chennai team that made this event possible and successful.
After that, we ran the electric open and nitro monster races. I was pitting for Joe in the monster race so I can't comment on that.
We went back to our hotels and the Chennai team was staying with us as well. Once again, we had a great time chatting with all the guys. The socializing was a great experience. I made some friends right there.
The next day had the big races. Nitro buggy, nitro truggy and the beginners race. I was marshalling that race and it was fun. Those guys were crazy but one or two showed some potential. I was pitting for guys in the nitro buggy and truggy races. I messed up both their races
... Especially the nitro truggy for Pravesh. I didn't realize that his engine was off at the start and he lost time in starting it back up. It was my first time trying to start a nitro engine and I wasn't very good with the whole concept of pushing hard on stuff. Well, it was a learning experience.
So, to sum it up, we had a great race with great people, at a great track and the 3 days I spent at the track were amazing.
Sorry for rambling on about this but this was my first race out of Bangalore and my first victory so it has a special place in my mind.
Thanks for reading. I'll have some videos up when they appear.
Here's one from the nitro buggy...
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150765191104844