Hmmm....Here we go again!

Seems like last year, no posts all summer long!  Gets a bit busy racing every weekend!

So what happened? Well I did all rounds of the 1/8th buggy national series ended up 93rd which is almost the same as last year...mmm

Electic 1/8th (E8) was better for the national series, 11th overall after many trips up north to the land of green tracks.

Now the good bits, TRUGGY....7th overall at the nationals (same tracks as E8) and had a great laugh at most of these events as we do a bit of 'glamping' and enjoy a good movie & food on Saturday evening whilst in our tents.

I can now also claim the title 'Fastest Truggy in the South' after a clean sweep in the last round of the Southern Regional Series at Herts last Sunday, hammering home my lead in the championship and a 1st place overall....Well chuffed.
E8 was also good with a 2nd overall and I brought home some swag and trophies as well as spraying some bubbly.

A big thanks to all who attended the SRS races this year.

Now on to the tech stuff, I've always wanted to do an 'under the hood' type review on my cars so now seems about the best time ever.

Jimbo's Agama A8T truggy:
I've been running a fairly standard out of the box setup with just simple changes and concentrated on easy to drive and the all important reliability rather than fancy 'special' setups that only work for 1 track. (see setup sheet below).

-Engine: Bullitt 217 + 2024 pipe. Good power and 10 min fuel stops.
-Piranha fuel and Bullit P3 plugs.
-12' front alloy hub carriers help keep things strong.
-Agama fibre pads and steel disc brakes, only way to stop this thing!
-Answer RC ackerman plate to replace the slightly 'thin' kit one.
-Agama Alloy servo saver top +Answer Alloy servo horn.
-LiFe battery up front, RX & PT in the rear box.
-Now running Xpert servo on steering, old Ace on throttle.
-Robitronic electronic switch has not glitched once all year.
-DIY rear arm guards help to keep things clean.
-Answer spring cups as I just had some there.
-Tires for Herts track were the all new BETA V-Max.
-Special Ken Block inspired rear wing decals.
-Very old Futaba T3PK radio running Fasst 2.4Ghz

Umm Agama

Well I have both my new toys built and ready for action....just need the rain to sod off! Has this not been the worst year for cancelled races ever???

 My 1st impressions are that the kit is well laid out and packed in a 'logical' way which should make the build easier and most parts are finished ready to use, a few bits to cut off molding trees as is normal. Overall the quality of the plastics is good, a bit harder feeling than some kits, but not brittle, just a bit harder putting in the screws, so should stiffen up things around the whole chassis nicely. All the fitting hardware is good old metric, so a decent 1.5, 2 &2.5mm hex tools will get you through the build along with some pliers and a bit of grease.

















All the turn buckles are nice and chunky and a bit odd in only fitting on 1 side not double sided at the hubs, so requiring an extra washer to be added to prevent 'pop off's' when I crash...lol  Adjustable alloy hinge pin holders are used all round with numbered inserts to make the adjustments. A noteworthy feature of the wishbones is the use of 2 types of plastic, normal semi-flexible for the main part, but with a harder insert where the hinge pins go through, giving you strength and long wear from the same part, very logical.

The centre diff and brakes are a nice on it's side setup with simple 'pucks' that push out on to the pads.
Just a note on the bearings, they are smaller in external diameter than the ones used on the front or rear ones, one to watch when build them up ;) hopefully they are man enough for the job.


Rear end is off-set to allow the engine to be closer to the centre line and the chassis is super narrow down the back as well, take some care shimming the rear diff gears and if your not sure, just ask anyone who's had a Losi to help you out. A 4 part engine mount allows you to remove / refit the engine and keep the mesh the same and the fuel tank has a clunk so you can keep revving whilst you wait to be marshaled...just put the brakes on once they get there......


Radio tray allows you to place the battery in either the rear or front boxes and then put RX and PT in the opposite box, I'm sure some even manage to squeeze it all in the front one....no idea how! I made a little mod to mine so that the steering servo wires aren't so close to brakes, just a small hole in the bottom of the front box (see pic). I also chopped out the PT holder thing so it was easier to feed wires through. Added a Robitronic solid state switch, nice bit of kit, and NO cut off so you get the chance to finish even if the battery goes flat, but has indicators to show battery condition.

The shocks feel good once built up, depending on what brand of oil you use the listed weight might be a bit off, only track time will show what's needed. The body shell is an 'angular' design and narrow at the rear to match the chassis.

I can't wait to get out on track with this truggy, should be a blast.



If you need set up or parts advise feel free to send me a message or talk to NemoRacing for advise. 
A big thanks to Rob & Jon from NemoRacing for supplying the kit and all the bits to make this kit up.

From L to K.... & then A.....all change

Wow, the whole season just shot past and not a single update!...whoops!

Well a good season on paper, a few headaches and tough races but overall had a great few results.
Buggy Nationals, 98th overall out of 140 drivers.
Truggy Nationals 13th overall out of 45 or so, had 1xDNF and a not so good final Rnd. could do better.
E-buggy National 12th (I think), quite a few 'big' boys making an apperance, still good fun.

SRS 2nd in both Truggy & E-buggy class's.... :)
KMRC 1st for Truggy championship, just missed of a complete full house of 101 points.

and now were done for the summer and back to the cold, very damp rubbish.

Losi has been my staple diet for a number of years, but never really got 'comfortable' with the buggy, truggy is awsome. So I decided to spend a bit (!) of cash and got a pair of Kyosho TKI3's one for Nitro and the other for Electric......had a few runs with them and definiatly a different feel and so far easier for me to drive.

Then along came NEMO, not the damn fish, NemoRacing, I started off trying to buy a nice new Agama truggy, got a talking and boom, a nice little deal and a pair of cars, and engine, fuel & spares were in a box to me.....not for free, but I'm now 'supported' and part of a team!

As of yet no track time with  the new toys, but I'll do a little Buggy/Truggy build report soon.

I also made a long.......... long awaited return to an old hobby of mine, mountian bikes, I was once a top racer and regular magazine test rider (MBUK) and felt the urge to get back out in the mud when it's to muddy to race RC's. Only been out once so far, a whole 3 miles lost in the woods, cold and wet........need to get a 'lot' fitter so I can enjoy the thrill again.... New transport is a Specialzed Camber...

Well time to build and prep cars ready for the weekend.

No treats this time as I'm on a diet...........

Winter Blues

I f**king hate the winter.......right that's that out of the way.

Even thought I quite like the tracks when they are 'damp' as the grip is good and tyre wear is minimal, I'm getting a bit fed up with this cold stuff. Not enough to make me take up touring cars, but would be happy with some 1/10th 4wd action indoors....one day round here hopefully.

Racing has been mostly at Slough with 2 trips since xmas with a 30th and 34th out of 70-100 drivers so hanging in there just. Hopefully keeping up with racing all winter will give me a good start to the season whilst others our 'playing' with other classes or just watching TV.

A little trip down to Torch saw quite a large list of broken parts, but all silly little things that just don't normally cause problems...typical. And then a completly dead speedo at the start of the 2nd final ended my days racing...at least I can now by a new one to match the rest of the gear.....

Sticking with my Red/Black theme, the Durango now has a Tekin RS Pro and 4.5T brushless system waiting to be tested out on the track. :)
I've also been stocking up on LiPo's ready for the season, either for practice during the week or for running the 1/8th nationals & SRS races or just some Short Course fun down at Adur. Need to sort out a bombproof storage box as I have a few ton of explosives to carry around now.

Finally the nationals dates for most classes have been released and I can start planning my summers schedule, looks like at least 10 weekends away which wont make the missus happy. Note to self: Need to check over my camping stuff before easter time and fill up the gaz bottles, also check the projector works on my netbook ready for the evening entertainment ;)
See my southern race dates calendar here.

Next weekend will be the chaos that is the Brighton model world show down in Brighton, indoor carpet 'show' racing with a Short cousre is going to be entertaining to say the least.....might get to run over a few Mardaves though so not all bad...just lots of silly questions like how fast does it go........Hmmm.

By far the best treat selection from this month has to go tho the Chilli choclate cookies....mmmmmm keeping you warm on a Sunday.

Fuzzy felt and Duvets

Well since a nice warm holiday I'm not feeling this UK weather at the moment, to bloody cold!

Took the 1/10th 4wd out for the day at Eden Park Raceway, did crap in the qualifiers but settled down a bit for the final and won the B final by quite some way (3s), with a time that would of placed me 6th in the A....damn.

Next up was going to be Nitro buggy at Slough, having arranged a car share and stood outside at 6.30am waiting, a few text's later and we were OFF, it was already raining and forcast to get worse. So back to bed and get warm under the duvet, turned out it was not so wet there and I missed a 1/2 decent days racing...But could have so easily been a bearing wrecking mudbath, my choice I guess.
Now I'm bored with no cars to fix!
So I had a little tidy up in the office/workshop and came to 1 conclusion, I like products in Red & Black......

Next up was back to more of the green stuff, this time down at Torch, only a short 66 miles away.
Still not happy with 1/10th 4wd buggies, they feel so different to nitro, so a rubbish session on the frozen astro, nearly 'throwing the toys out the pram' in the final as my car was possesed and so hard to drive...
The advantage of a quick 1/2 day meeting is the time after to do some testing, or in this case trying another car out whilst someone drives mine :) After just a few laps were both come to the same conclusion, my car is Shite and I can drive the  other much easier....strange as they are both the same !!!

More detailed checking of radio settings and setup etc found nothing 'odd' but the servo has to go down as 'dodgey' and should be checked 1st. Later at home I found the steering posts were binding on the mounting plates and was stiff as hell, worn down and locking up all the time! 2 washers later and it's smooth as silk!!! I've only done 3-4 races like this thinking it was just the car, so now gotta wait weeks until the next meeting to see if it helps sort out my erratic driving....lol


Best treats were: Caramel & Pecan cookies..yum

So Christmas next so definitely no racing! Time to have a lie in and keep warm for once!
HAPPY CHRISTMAS and see you in the New Year.

Away from the track...

For the last 2 weekends I have been away from the race track :(

But I did get to fly to Florida for a holiday and some time with the better 1/2 and step daughter in the sun.

We had booked a hire car to get about in, but once we were told it would be a Toyota Corolla...NO! We went through the upgrade options, we kept away from the convertablies because we needed room for 3 + bags, but mainly so we didn't turn in to crispy bacon after a day on the road.... So ended up with some yank tank in a very Ipod white....Nice name though, Dodge CHARGER :)

It was a huge beast but felt quite slow, probably due to the auto gearbox, 3 suitcases and a nagging passenger...lol The 1st part of my holiday was down in Napels doing the usual holiday things, eating, drinking, sun bathing & shopping. The girls were out on Thursday night at the shops picking up a few 'Black Friday' bargins at the outlets at midnight! My turn soon.
Friday  saw us back on the road up to Orlando and 1st stop for me was at Superior Hobbies which is a regular stop for me when here. Now if I had a shop like this near me I would be very poor and need a bigger van to take racing, loads of stock anything and EVERYTHING you could ever need. So after a quick look around, out came the shopping list.... not only did they have almost eveything but in most cases had more than 1 set available...uuh ohh......

So just a few bits, Carbon shock towers, Tekin 4600Kv motor, load of  wheels, spring kits, sway bars, hubs etc + a pair of nice lipo 'bags' that actually fit your batteries! Most are hard or not in stock in the UK so needs must.

Next week I'll be back out on the track with a few of these bits bolted up ready to use and abuse to see if it's made me any quicker...lol

Treats for the day were:- Anything with fries!

RWMCC Slough 13-Nov-2011 Winter is here

Winter is officially here, and for racing that means some nice damp dirt and plenty of traction, but cold fingers and short finals.

I rolled up to find a full car park and setup outside with a few regulars / team mates, noticing a good number of team drivers from most of the manufactures, 1st thought was damn, where are all the slow drivers today? could be a low final for me today then!
A quick look at the track showed that some rain had fallen overnight, but then a load of fools took their cars out for practice and cleaned up the racing line quite well, thanks guys :)

Set off in Rd1 H4 and buggy was OK a bit twitchy, 7laps / 5m48s
Put my roll bars back on for R2, car was much better and I hit less traffic..7laps - 5m45s 
For R3 I swapped out the Revolvers(M3) for some XBT/Eclipse (red) as the track was almost dry now due to lots of sun, winter racing remember! Car was much better and less under steer than before. 7laps -5m38s
So a not much improvement!

 After some food & pitting duties I was off out in to the D final, 10th on the grid. The usual chaos of the start put me right at the back, as is normal for me.... The track was getting quite rough and I struggled to keep the thing rolling over a lot of the time, I'm used to racing a Truggy! Finished 11th in my final, 44th overall out of 85 drivers.
This leaves me 13th overall so far in the championship, so still OK and competing against my usual suspects.

Treats for today were - Caramel & Chocolate Crispy Bites

 Finally a well done to Mr Ginter's for his bump into the B

PS after I got home I rembered that I have raised my ride hight for the heats due to the build up of dirt BUT I forgot to lower it back down once it dried out, that might explain why it fell over ...arrrgh.

Car - Losi EU Buggy
Engine - OS Speed