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I am now a gentleman racer! (20 posts)

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F1Yankee said 9 months, 3 weeks ago:

hello race fans! CRaP has just completed its 1st 2-day session! thursday was race night – only 6th out of 7, but hey still banging on 100% reliability :) strangely, i seemed to have lost my mojo after q1, which is exactly the opposite of what was planned. my best lap time has dropped to 21.8, but 23′s and 24′s are more typical. i also picked up a 3rd battery pack to prolong the life of the other 2 – pricey, but so far they have been very good to me.

the thing is, with race day you don’t actually get to do much driving. since the car was still reasonably fresh, i decide to double down. with the car untouched from a lousy night before, i was putting together a series of 21′s and set a new personal best of 20.6! :D the track record for my class is now 18.5 and race winners around 20.

my setup is very easy to drive and still has plenty of pace for me to exploit with greater skill. sir jackie might also approve of my move of the day – i made up lots of ground with a clean 3rd sector, got a good launch on the straight, rocketed up the inside wall and my target conceded turn 1 to me. we both had a laugh at how we accidentally did this properly executed maneuver :D

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F1Yankee said 9 months, 2 weeks ago:

aaarrrrggggg tonight was 1 to forget. it started the other night when i was prepping the car and a bad firmware flash bricked my speed controller, aka the heart of the car. warranty service will take about a month! i was late getting to the shop and left my store credit at home (my wheel/tire budget gone!) so i had to pay for a replacement out of pocket. i got it installed with no time to spare, and my first lap all week was q1 :( i inherited 5th out of 7 in both q1 and q2, and my very first last place in the main.

i was really feeling the pain of some of those f1 radio broadcasts. proper setup of the speed controller requires a pc, which lives at home. i wasn’t getting 100% throttle, down on power anyway, braking was screwed up, i was ice cold, even my dinner delivery went to hell…just misery everywhere i turned.

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F1Yankee said 9 months, 1 week ago:

a hard-fought 6th out 10 tonight. what i lacked in pace i made up for in…watching race cars my whole life! i passed into 6th, when he came back at me later he chose to get physical. he caught me at the same corner again the very next lap, this time i was taking the initiative and introduced him to the outside wall :D

we’re steadily gaining proficiency here. much less crashing, much greater consistency, control, aggression. without being watered, the track is getting slower, but i’m putting up 21′s pretty regularly now. in fact, i’m wondering if i’m starting to be held back by my easy-to-drive setup – the top competitors are visibly generating much more grip than i am.

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F1Yankee said 8 months, 3 weeks ago:

equal parts ecstasy and agony tonight. the track was re-done this week (i helped!) and is much more flowing, although the attrition rate was noticeably high from the mega-jump. after q2 i was tuning my differential when i broke it – 3rd time for the same parts, and i’ve been paranoid since the 1st, so i blame the manufacturer. 20 minutes to go…no way can i get to it, rebuild, and reassemble the car. i briefly considered reporting my scratch from the race, but that is not what racers do! i was wrenching furiously and made my final with no time to spare.

no 1st turn calamity this week, and i made a pass for 5th on the 1st lap. soon after, i got harpooned by 6th. i reeled him back in, made the pass, and strangely spent most of the race by myself. no way was i catching the top 5, and the bottom 4 couldn’t catch me once i found my stride. so, again i’ll take some pride in my mid-pack 6th out of 10 for the rookie :)

next week is my big race. the 300 entry limit has been reached with 66 entries in my class, which is huge. that’s about 7 mains, with the winner advancing up the food chain. my goal is to qualify in the not last bracket, and finish not last in my race. oddly, i find myself at a disadvantage with this “home” race – i have a long commute in the wee hours friday, saturday and sunday, where many of the drivers will be staying at a hotel near the track. no problems…art from adversity, or something like that.

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F1Yankee said 8 months, 2 weeks ago:

the books on the 2012 jconcepts fall indoor national championships are now closed. my classification is 9th / 10, i am spared the dishonor of being the very worst in class. the level of competition was excellent! it was great to see the skill and passion on display, and i got to sit down with ace drivers, parents, factory reps and even owner/engineers. the racing action was super intense, and the finals were as good as anything you’ll see on tv. as a race fan, i am 100% satisfied. as a racer i am, ahem, motivated.

my own driving was below what i expected from myself, and i’m not going to lie: my behind and my pride are both sore as hell. i was struggling with exhaustion at the end, but what really did me in was how long it takes me to warm up to my best and the very limited track time. add some on-track sex offenders and bad luck (like getting stepped on by a marshal) and i call it a “learning experience”.

reporting and videos can be found here:

http://events.redrc.net/

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