Saturday's Report

Friday's Report

The full day Friday was devoted to qualifying. After round #2 had been completed, there was a break in the program, while the racers were resorted based on their single best qualifier. This would put most of the slowest/fastest guys together with others of equal ability.

Thursday's Report

We got to the track bright and early Thursday, but it was already packed with racers and friends. The track opened up for practice around 8am or so, and within an hour things were looking quite busy. The driver's meeting was set for 10:30am, when everyone gathered around the timing and scoring area for the longest driver's meeting I've seen in ages. I don't think there was any rule or regulation that wasn't covered. Because of the tight schedule and the officials not wanting people walking on the track, we never got a chance to take a group photo - maybe later in the week (after the Finals) that might be possible.

Wednesday's Report

Because of the increasing number of participants at National Championships several years ago, the on-road Fuel Nationals were split into two nationals, one for 1/10 scale sedan cars, and one for 1/8 cars. However, because of the poor economy, ROAR felt that attendance in 2009 would be very low, so the races were combined into one large national championship for both classes, to be held in Toledo, Ohio, hosted by the 1/8 Racers Club.

The 2009 Great Lakes Challenge is an enjoyable "fun" race that many on-road racers in the USA loook forward to each year. This is the 12th runnning of this annual event. Over the years, classes have been added or removed to keep things current with what on-road racers are doing, but the main focus of the event - fun - has never changed. It's always been a competitive event, in that people want to do the best they can, but the race is more about good friends getting together to spend a weekend doing what they most enjoy.

The Toledo 1/8 Racers has had this attitude since the beginning, and it's caught on. Race fees have always been very low, ande at only $40 people get a whole of racing in for not all that much money. The real expense of the GLC for most people was getting to and from the track, with racers coming from all over the country. With this year's Nationals being held a few weeks later at the same track, some racers looked to the GLC as a good time to get ready for the more "serious" event coming up. For many racers though, this was the "real" race, representing everything good about r/c racing.

There were four classes. Not counting those racers who had to work during the week and who couldn't sign up until the weekend, we had 50 racers in the 1/10 scale sedan class, 44 racers in 1/8 4WD, 24 additional racers in 1/8 Masters Class, and fifteen racers in the growing GT class.

I got to the race along with Lou Przybyla on Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday and Thursday were practice days, as was Friday morning. Mid-day Friday, we had a driver's meeting, took a group photo, and started the day's two rounds of qualifying.

We retired the last DNA3 body per Art Carbonell’s suggestion. For the upcoming Homestead race, we will change to Stratus 3.1; 61R/59F, 42 shore all around. We added a degree of camber to the rear; 16/21 pinion; 55/60 spur; red clutch shoe; stock Kyosho clutch bell with .03mm end play for the smoothest engagement possible. Art also pointed out something was wrong with the Nova S12. The old S12 is now retired. We broke out the 353 Race 3CT.

Saturday, March 21 2009 was a practice day at Homestead RC Raceway. With a state series race coming up in two weeks, lots of racers showed up either to work on their cars, break in new engines, or just enjoy driving on the track. Meanwhile, Johnny Wong with the help of lots of friends were busily getting everything ready for the upcoming race.

Clicking on the link below will start up a "Flash" slide show gallery of the weekend's fun. There isn't much to say in way of a race report, but if any of the people running their cars that day care to send me anything, I'll gladly print it here.

Driving up to the track on Saturday, we saw signs directing traffic and some cones past where we turn to go into the track. It looked as if there was something going on at the Speedway today. That brought the excitement level up, even though we were only there to practice.

While practicing at the Homestead track the weekend before the race, we were informed by Doug McNeely (race announcer extraordinaire) that the track would be open Friday afternoon for early practice. Hint. We needed early practice.

Luckily, we had a "doctor’s appointment", so we were able to make two hours of good lap time practice. We expected a good crowd, but did not think so many competitors would be there on Friday. Doug had said rooms were going to be cheap, and he was right. At the end of the day traction was fierce! We had Exceed Brand - 42 rears and 40 fronts. For our Kyosho 1/10th scale, anything softer than 40s would have produced Giovanni’s favorite - the Traction Barrel Roll. He once reported a 10-in-a-row-landed-on-the-tires barrel roll! "Sooo coooool!" was all he could say.

Getting Giovanni's car ready for the Final

It's been ages since I last attended a State Race in Florida. I used to go all the time, to race after race, but back then it was to compete. Taking photos and doing a write-up became more and more a part of what I was doing, but I always managed to do everything including race. Then I got involved in covering a lot of big races, mostly overseas, and I got into the habit of leaving my car at home, just traveling with my camera and laptop.

Having just covered the Florida Winternats, I found myself with a free weekend in early March. Art Carbonell was driving up to Kissimmee to compete in the State Race, and I ended up driving up there with him.

The trip up became mostly a test session checking out two modern GPS units in Art's car. Many years back I had been one of the first people to purchase a Garmin Street Pilot, which put color maps up on a large display, and showed where my car was at any moment in time. It didn't plan routes, read the street names out loud or anything - it was just a basic "street map", but it did what I needed. On this trip we were testing out a Garmin Nuvi 350 and a Navigon 5100. They're nothing like my old unit - but in many ways are far more useful. For navigation, you just enter the address where you want to go, and the GPS acts like a "back street driver" telling you where you are, when to turn, and so on. One of the first things I noticed is that while the GPS "knows" how to get someplace, Art often had his own way of doing things. The GPS would say to turn at the next street, but Art would turn sooner or later, based on past experience. I'm sure both ways would have gotten us where we were going, but the Garmin GPS kept announcing "recalculating" as Art ignored the suggestions and did things his way. The Navigon was quiet about this, only displaying a message on the screen that it was recalculating a new route. My impressions after four hours of use is that both the Garmin and the Navigon are a great tool if you're going someplace you don't already know how to get to. The Garmin has a louder voice, and is easier to use while driving, as there isn't much information on the screen and what is there is quite large. The Navigon shows far more detail, but you don't have enough time to read it while also driving the car. It's great if you have a co-pilot sitting with you. Both are available at discounted prices for not much more than $100 or so, so anyone can afford to buy one nowadays - in the past, the discounted price was $600, and all you really got was an electronic map that also showed where you were.

We arrived in Kissimmee in early afternoon. There were quite a few people out practicing. As the day neared the end, temperatures dropped, traction went up, and everyone wanted to take advantage of the great track conditions at the same time. With about twenty racers there, it got quite busy for a while, but then the sun fell off the horizon, the temperature nosedived, and it soon started getting dark. Time to put away all the toys, head out for dinner, and sleep.

The Racers

Doug McNeely, announcing

Part of the pit area

The Track

My name is Giovanni Woodall, and I am a R/C racecar driver. We were looking for pocket bikes one day, and walked into this one shop where they had some rc buggies and monster trucks. My dad checked that out with the owner, and we bought those instead. My mom was happy since the R/C cars are a lot more safe than the pocket bikes!

We played with the dirt tracks for a while. My dad really liked it. Not so much my mom or sister, and we like to do stuff all together as a family. So we thought we would try some electric on road cars.

Giovanni and his family

Giovanni on the track

With the US economy in the dumps, and the Northern half of the country still dealing with ice, snow, and winter temperatures, one bright spot in the country appeared once again in Ft. Myers, Florida. This was the thirty-third running of the Winternats, and racers and other interested people showed up from all over the world.

Unfortunately, the poor economic conditions did prevent many people from participating this year. Still, 39 racers showed up for the Sedan Class, 28 racers for Master's Class, and 47 racers for the 1/8 Open Class. With two days for practice, three days for qualifying, and the final two days for the main events, the smaller field resulted in a very relaxing schedule, far more enjoyable than the usual crowded conditions where almost two hundred racers try to fit themselves into the program. Most of the racers who participated have been doing this for years, and have lots and lots of experience. Lou Przybyla and Art Carbonell returned to Ft. Myers once again - they both have been racing in 1/8 scale gas ever since the very first cars were produced, back in the late 1960's. The youngest racer at the event was eleven year old Giovainni Woodall, racing in Sedan Class.

Ralph Burch finishing the fastest lap ever at Ft. Myers, while airborne

Start of the 1/8 Open A-Main

Team Red Cup Racing, the guys who put on the race

The IFMAR 1/10th scale electric on-road World Championships were held at Radio Control Speedway (RCS), in Bangkok, Thailand, starting November 13. The 1/12th scale Worlds had just completed two days before, and the track was completely revised for the larger 1/10th scale cars.

Built in 1995, RCS is a wonderful facility, with lots of room for pit tables, race control, and a large, well-stocked hobby shop. Between events, there was a "free day" to change over the track to the new layout. The track people were busy at work, but many racers took advantage of the day to get in some sightseeing or shopping.

The track design allows for easy changes to the layout. The outside track size is sixty meters long by twenty meters wide, which usually provides approximately a 220 meter driving line. The new layout allowed the larger 1/10th scale cars to use t he full length of the straightaway.

The World Championship Track

World Champions enjoying computer racing before the Sedan Worlds started

The Pits