3GENRacing's 2012 Race Report

[dashat2]

Hey all, Last summer I did a post following the progression of my 9 year old sons 1st year racing. Its was alot of fun and received a great deal of advise from fellow slash owners on set ups and tricks of the trade. Well this year I am going to do the same thing but I want to do it starting with the indoor dirt season and transition to the outdoor season. Along the way we hope to announce some exciting Race team and sponsorship news as we have a couple of things in the works..

So with that outta the way here is some quick background about us:

3GENRacing consists of My self , My dad ( The Basher) and my son ( The Kid )= 3GEN ( Catchy Huh ) lol

Current Race Vehicles:
The Kid 2010 Traxxas Slash VXL
Dad 2009 Traxxas Slash BRUSHED stock
Me 2011 SC-10 MMP/ 17.5 Revtech ( I know I defected )

Sponsors: To Be Announced

Tracks :

Indoor
Cheese City Xtreme Monroe WI
Flash Intro Page
Outdoor
Race'em RC Rockford IL
index.htm

2011 Results:
Rock Town Points series
Dad 1 race in sportsman 3rd place
The Kid 1st Place Novice
Me 3rd Place Mod 2wd ( LCG SLASH )


2012 Race Schedule:
INDOOR
December 11th – Offroad Series 2
December 18th – Offroad Series 3 * 2nd Place A-main Sportsman
December 29th- Friday night thunder


January 8 – Offroad Series 4* 3rd place A-main Sportsman
January 15th- Offroad Series 5 Did not Race
January 22nd – Offroad Series 6* 3rd Place A-main Sportman ( Current Points Leader )
January 28th – Track Rebuild

February 5th- Offroad Series 7* 1st Place A-main and TQ
February 12th - Offroad Series 8
February 19th – Offroad Series 9*
February 25th – Offroad Race

March 4th – Last Offroad Series Race 10*
March 18th – Offroad Race
March 31st – Offroad Race

[RickM]

All very cool, but you are losing us without pictures. We need RC Porn!

[dashat2]

I'll post some after tomorrows race Until then heres our trucks

[fla_cracker]

I still love those paint jobs.... you need to throw up some pics of them in action...

[dashat2]

OK well put the batteries on the charger. Loaded the camera into the camera bag, loaded camera bag into car along with the rest of the racing gear. Left batteries on charger in kitchen at home.. OOOPS I did get a rear Bumper mounted camera view of the Amain I'll post shortly..

In any event Here's how todays race went down:

Great turn out at the track today. 2 classes of Sportsman, 3 classes of stock + 4x4 and buggy.

1st Round of sportsman was a feeling out process for the kid and the new equipment on the truck. I just installed my VXL into his truck along with Big Bores and a few bolt ons. Started out the heat slow. with 4 minute heat he said he wanted to just get used to the changes and ride for the 1st 2 minutes and then the last 2 he would as he put it " Bring the heat". He wasnt lying he finished with a 12.456 race win and would have qualified C main 4th in the Stock C main with that time.
Cheese city 1/8/2012 - YouTube


Round 2. Had the front shocks a bit stiff running a 2mm and 1mm spacer in front and a 4 and 2 rear. Pulled the 1mm in front and the 4 rear to soften it up. Made a nice improvement in Round to and with the resort he was racing agains the top times of sportsman. As of now he was sitting 3rd quick. Race began as before and slower start to get the feel and increase the power as the race went on. By the 3rd minute he was 10 secs out in front with a minute left eneded with another 13.678 win.

Round 3. Liked the change we made in round 2 but still wanted a softer feel. This time he was on the gas from the tone and led wire to wire with an un eventful heat. Finished with a 13.408 lap win. Qualified 1st for the A-main!!!! Funny part is his truck was clearly to soft and was bottoming out over the jumps and had bad body roll but didnt seem to hamper his laps and he like it so I wasnt about to say anything.

A-main.. Not the best race. Ive always let him run on of my lipos in the mains and until now had never been an issue. But with the new Brushless system the increase in power from the 30C lipo he was caught of guard and made a few crucial mistakes. He led for the 1st 1:30 but a bad lap dropped him to 4th. The kid battled his way back to 2nd and was closing in on the leader with just over a minute to go.. Everything was looking good and was shaping up to be a great finish among the top 3. But a bad corner followed by a bit of over driving/ frustration left him in 3rd and out of reach of the win. Finished 3rd

After a strong afternoon his 3rd place finish left him dissapointed and in tears as going in he felt confident he could pull of a sweep. He did leave very excited about the new found power in his truck and said " We need to play with the shocks to help him in the turns. I explained to him he would win every race but he was learning to feel his truck through the radio and that in itself was huge..

I on the other hand was at the opposite of the specktrum. Learning a new truck with new power plant and characteristics left me on the bottom of the Qualifying sheet. I did however find a set up that was working well and was able to Win the C main and Bump to the B main. But Going in with only one battery left I knew I would have to be smart to make it to the end of the second 7 minute main on the same pack. I dropped to the rear on the start and just stayed outta the way but making up ground on the pack and due to attrition and clean laps came home with a 4th place finish..

All and all a good day for 3GENRacing. And it was my Birthday to Boot!!!

[mattyhawk]

Such fun to live vicariously through your racing fun. Keep us posted!

[wyd]

Originally Posted by mattyhawk

Such fun to live vicariously through your racing fun. Keep us posted!

I feel the same. Its fun to read these reports. This is why the Slash thread is still the best.

[dashat2]

No racing on the schedule this weekend, attending the Race'em RC AwArds banquet Saturday and taken the rest of the weekend to design the 2012 3GENRacing bodies! Back on the track Jan. 22

[mattyhawk]

You know you are going to post the finished bodies right, just wanted you to know that up front. I love your paint jobs, mixing my two favorites, RC offroad cars and RC Warbirds

[dashat2]

Yes, I am going to post them.. Not painting yet just tossing some idea's onto paper.. Think im sticking with the Warbird theme but triing to figure out how I can toss some Digital Camo into it.. The wheels they are a turning!

[dashat2]

Great Night at the Race'em RC Awards Banquet tonight. Here is a Couple pics from the night!!

The Champ!!!



Pulling a " TEBOW " for my 3rd place finish.

[dashat2]

Race Day,

Made some changes to hopefully make the VXL with corner exit power. We'll see how it goes..!!

[dashat2]

Well interesting day at the track, Show up at 830 to find about 1/2 inch of water on the inner track. The tracks inside is an clay oval and one of the guys watered saturday night and it did not absorb like he thought so, With racing at 11 it was 1030 before we were able to get on the track.

The kid started the first 2 rounds with an ill handling truck, Steering was only working at 50-60 % throw and could not figure out what it was, went as far as replacing the whole steering rack, adjusting endpoints and pulling the servo apart to make sure it was not bad. After one last try before round 3 I reset all setting on the TQ to factory defaults. problem solved. Today the track had a ton of grip and in hindsight i should have loosened the slipper a bit and stiffened up the front a bit more. But the results of the day were on par with what we had to over come for both he and I..

Round 1 - New track layout, Bad handling truck and over cautious driver= 4th place finish
Round 2 - Truck still off made a suspension change and added some toe in to help it turn 3rd Place finish
Round 3 - Solved steering issue To a 2mm spacer out of the front susp Driver now driving like he knows how too 2nd place

A-main - With steering solved and a ready driver or mabey to ready he over drove the 1st 2 laps and hit everything but lindsey Lohan. Slowed down and made up time on the leaders only to crash with 1 minute left and fall from second to 4th. Fought his way back to third and finished a respectable 3rd considering the day..

On on the other hand I Won the D main to bump to the C, was running second in the C with a transfer to the B well in reach only to make a mental error and hit a pipe and break a front a arm..

O well thats racing

[mattyhawk]

Well done guys!

[dashat2]

Intersting Developement:

With the track being down this weekend for redesign I thought it would be a good time to tear both trucks down and rebuild the shocks, diffs, check for breakage ect.. Upon doing so I found the kids Slash to have a cracked Chassis where the Bulkhead mounts to the chassis. Well completely broke may be more accurate as a chunk the of chassis is missing. So with this latest discovery and after talking the the kid about it we decided to toss my LCG chassis on it and get him used to it as we planned on having him run it to start the outdoor season. So wholesale changes will be made to set ups to adjust for the LCG as it likes a little softer suspension and a little more front toe. I am also going to pick up another pair of 1* rear hubs to give it the rear toe it likes.

I love this hobby!!

[Hvrc]

sounds awesome! to you and your kid, congrats!

i got to say, your paint work really puts a smile on my face, reminds me of better times :)

keep up the good work guys!

[dashat2]

Originally Posted by Hvrc

sounds awesome! to you and your kid, congrats!

i got to say, your paint work really puts a smile on my face, reminds me of better times :)

keep up the good work guys!

Thank you, Just for fun I sketched up a couple ideas for The Kid's new lid. He loves the Military theme stuff but asked if we could do a S. Korean Airforce themed one to reflect his Heritage.. So here are a couple Ideas. Let me know what ya'll think

[fla_cracker]

Great mock-ups...... I like the second one..

[dashat2]

Thanks Fla' He likes the 1st one to me I like the copper color and the flat black but its a bit LOSI to me.Ive modified the second one a little bit added a " Tear " to blend the Red tail stripes in. My only thing with it is its ALOT like his body now minus the Turkey mouth and the Korean Signia looks like Pepsi!! LOL

[dashat2]

Its almost raceday, The trucks are Built, Clean and the packs are charged. The changes to the kids Slash are a plenty. Kept the Big Bores shocks on it but made an oil change and went 45 front and 35 rear. May drop to 40 front at the track depending and toss on the Blue springs. 2* rear camber and 3 front but may back it out, also added 1* toe in the front. Hadn't been able to find the 1* rear hubs locally but now I may go with the 2* Anza hubs and see what they do for it. Dropped the gearing down to 19/86 and loosened the slipper 1/4 from where is was. Also tossed some rear anti squat at it with shims undo the tranny front and lowered the front body posts 1/2 inch. With this set up he should be able to carry alot more speed through the center of the turns where the Stock HCG Slash chassis really seemed to struggle. Im hoping it also gives him the confidence he lacked with the HCG chassis.

Full report post race!!