The 2018 Jconcepts fall nationals at R/C Excitement is in the books! .
We arrived on Friday afternoon for tuning and set up. We found the track a bit low bite and we adjusted for that. Seeding qualifiers were Friday night, and we found ourselves well and truly in the A mains for Pro4, and 4x4 mod buggy. Our Xray Xb4 ran on Proline M4 Electrons while our trusty MIP Pro4mance SCT ran on M4 Positrons and put down enough Hobbywing/Team Scream power to break into the 15 second lap bracket. Saturday Qualifying was productive. We took TQ in pro4 with mains to B, and we were in the back of the A in Mod 4x4 buggy that was just stacked like we’ve never seen it; with mains to E. Sunday we ran our last round of qualifying, taking all three rounds of Pro4 qualifying, and had very good runs in mod 4x4 Buggy ultimately qualifying in 7th spot.
In the mains, the track was pretty rough, and getting a bit blown out at some key spots...but that just made offroad racing fun! The MIP Pro4 was pretty dialed in by now, and William took the win, though he had a rough start with a bobble and some traffic. In Wheeler, it was far more dramatic. William wanted the set up duties as well, as he “knew what he wanted.” OK. Go for it! A1 we finished 8th, A2, 7th and A3, with some fairly major changes for more grip, we finished 5th giving us a 6th place finish overall! Over the moon happy with that performance, considering the company we were keeping!! Special thanks to Todd Anderson and his crew for hosting such and awesome event and providing up with such a great facility. Our MIP Pro4 is the best short-course on the market....well scratch that, it hasn't been sold in 2 years actually. "Razorback" as William and I call him, is fast, highly modified by William's crew chief, but getting pretty dated. Getting parts is getting hard, and the original drive line is starting to whither from the massive Hobbywing North America power. That said, William and I have decided that Razorback is retiring. That will let us open up to other classes that are a bit more popular, stay tuned on that front! Special thanks to our Sponsors. Xray, RC America, #Proline, Hobbywing North America, #miponline Team Scream, and Douglas and Company.
When William finished the race, he was pumped. He came to me and said it was just perfect, everything about the truck was exactly what he needed....he won by two laps on second place....it got uglier from there!...
We had already decided that this was "Razorbacks" last race. The class has diminished to the point that there isn't support or the competition to continue...Every time we rebuild this truck its' $300 bucks...and that's like every 3 races....it's nuts.
We both looked at Razorback, its cooling fans on the ESC and motor comfortably and loudly wirring along....ready to take on anything. Razor back had previously in this event qualified fast enough to be in the middle of the Amain in 4wd buggy...and honestly not that much slower than the current Champion Spensor Rivken....so it's was a magical moment.
I said...can I do it? he nodded....I reached over and put the truck on the bench, pulled the 6 body clips, and shut down the ESC.....the fans stopped.....I reach over and pulled the 0.050 allen driver,disconnected and removed the battery.
He's done. William smiled at me....I couldn't.
Dave
