So last weekend I went to the Jconcepts INS race at Adrenaline R/C Raceway in Winchester, VA. I raced this in the 17.5 Independent class. The car worked pretty well. I tried some different setups.... mainly tire and spring changes, but by the time the mains came around on Sunday I was back to where I had started in qualifying. My biggest issue was the sensor wire popping out of the motor in one section of the track. If I didn't do it right, the car would smack the second double and pop the wire out. Happened in practice, but first round of qualifying went fine. Then it happened in 2nd round. It is a pretty old sensor wire, so I bought a new one and put it in. But it still happened in round 3. So for the main, I zip tied it to the motor wires. I qualified 3rd in the B main. Moved to 2nd fairly quick and the leader and I started pulling away from the rest of the field. I was good with just riding there really.... top 2 got the bump to the main. A few laps in the sensor wire pops out. Thankfully, Broc Champlin was marshalling that corner, and he pitted across from me and knew the sensor wire issues I had been having. So he was able to get me fixed up pretty quick. I didn't lose too much time but did drop back to 3rd, like 6 seconds back. I started putting some decent laps together, and with some help from issues with the leaders, I was able to get back into 2nd and then the lead. Then of course, the sensor wire comes out again later in the run, so I drop back to 2nd. Was gonna ride there but then the leader caught the pipe and I went by. Held on for the win and the bump.
Now the A main run was not good.
I glued the sensor wire in so that was no longer an issue. But I think I over sauced my tires, and the groove seemed to narrow up since the B main run. It just took sooo long for the car to come around..... I was just trying to stay out of everyone's way.
But overall, it was a good weekend. Had a lot of fun and got to race at a track I had been wanting to get to for a few years. So now, I'll probably tear the car back down for a quick rebuild, and try to get some of the sloppiness out of these rere parts. Next race for this car will most likely be the vintage race at Thunder Alley R/C in NC next year, so I have some time to get it ready.
