Bria1

Ok, thanks

ThermalRD

See you guys in the AM!

ThermalRD

Well, seems most of you were at the track today, so i wont do a full report. More of a review on my thoughts i guess after the race. And for those that didnt realize it, i was testing some other trucks today. So i'll point out my findings there as well. I'll start with practice, and some truck testing.

RT-X. Yup, the RT-X made another track appearance. After my initial test drive, i felt this truck was track worthy, so i wanted to test some more. For whatever reason, the motor is alot more ALIVE now. Its actually fast now... Yup, running hot, but its idling fine, no erratic behavior, and not popping glo plugs. So it'll continue to run 300 until its dead. Anyway, the track test was good. This time around had the truck more dialed in as far as camber/toe, etc. With some switches i had been running on the LST2. Steering great, jumping great, whoops great. Overall, very good. It does appear to need a bit more down travel. So i need to get the shocks to let those arms drop some more. And use a different oil/piston/spring combo to get back the feel, and ride height. Overall, i still feel this RTX is a good truck, that Duratrax just needs to refine a touch in some areas. But i still like it.

MFR. Ya, i tested this one as well today. This one is a quickie. Truck runs good, pretty fast. Suspension is very nice. Steers well, even though i feel the servo saver is weak. Though i never got a chance to really push it in corners. As i tuned it up, i pushed it a bit more, then got it up on the bumper in the whoops section. I hit the throttle the bring it back down, then i was rear wheel drive. That ended that day. I also do not like how hard bumper landings pop this thing into neutral. All i can say is, if the truck broke that easy, its gonna be sold just as fast. But it may just be a set screw, so i'll know more when i go thru it.

New Revo suspension. Not sure what happened to my long wheelbase arms, but they were just not free at all. I could not get a decent setting in the rear shocks. Once i swapped to the RPM arms i bought last season, instantly smooth. I worked from that base point, and got a much better suspension. Surprisingly enough, i felt it was dead on today at the track. The short wheelbase was a bit tricky to get used to, but i had my center diff to help keep that back end under control. Overally, the truck was alot better today. Though i do feel like im going thru a TON of fuel.

The layout. Well, it takes some gettin used to. Personally, i love watching the suspension work on these trucks while driving thru that roller section in the back. The whoops i like having. They occasionally totally wreck me, i still like them. Because no two lines are ever the same, and that makes the race interesting. I dont think anyone got thru them clean all day. The only thing bad about this layout, is that its slow. And needs to be driven as such. I found that focusing on clean laps, is far faster than going out, and trying to attack the track. When i settled down, thats when i set TQ with the Revo. But honestly, im generally happy when im on dirt. This track did seem to be harder on the battery even. I had my battery topped off, and only ran one lap to check in, then sat there waiting. With about 2 minutes left in that 12 minute main, i felt the battery go a bit soft. By the time i was trying to get thru the final minute, i was casing many of the doubles, and that caused alot of carnage. Next time i'll be voting for a 10. Unless i have a better battery...

The race. Ya... Always the best for last. Apparently drivers meetings are over rated. I dont need to be reminded of someones age a dozen times during a qualifier. But i'd sure like others to hear "let the faster driver by" occasionally. Is anyone here friends with meentz? Would it be too much to ask, or to kindly mention that maybe his 6yr old son should have his throttle limited. Other than that, the marshalling was painful on both ends. Some of the marshalls for us were umm... Sleeping. And marshalling the 8th scale race i felt like i needed a number on my shirt, a sweat band, and some jogging shorts and shoes. I was dripping sweat. I was marshalling for the roller lane, the double double immediately after that, and the triple. Yet the bathroom corner needed 2 marshalls. I guess alot of wrecks happen while entering the straight..... Other than that, i can say im unsure how much fun i had, compared to the frustrations of the day. Anyway, i believe i pulled off 2nd place in MT, after starting at least 2 laps down, from a flame out at the line. The problem with being the first to be ready on the track, is that im sitting there waiting on anyone thats not ready. The slash class was great though. I believe i pulled 2nd off there as well. Only seconds behind Andrew, and seconds ahead of Jake. The three of us went back and forth alot, and eventually had a few seconds between each of us. A fun race overall. But my battery is not up to 12's on this layout. I think those big jumps take alot out of it.

Anyway, thats my long post for the day. Brian thanks for the pit work, and all the help thru the day. Too bad you werent out there racing with us. Btw, i gotta say the best looking bodies out there were the realistic CORR bodies. I love my rockstar lid. But Bats blue Rock band body stands out sooo nice on the track.

Bria1

I'm glad I made it out to watch the action today. Those Slashes are a blast. Thanks again Al for letting me run yours in a qualifier. I'm hooked . I got the vid uploading, but 325MB is taking forever.

ThermalRD

325 megs???? Jeeeeeesus....

Bria1

Ya, my camera records in a quick time format and uses a ton of memory to do it. It is pretty good quality though. So far it has just over 125mb downloaded. I hope it's done before I go to bed LOL. I'll be sure to post a link here when it's done.

ThermalRD

Thats the brutal slash qualifier right? That race was brutal... I am sooooo shocked at how durable these trucks are. And the bodies must be made incredibly well. I thought for sure my Rockstar would be cracked to pieces.

Bria1

Ya, round 2 when Al H. was running your truck. As for how tough they are, they are built off the same platform as the rustler and stampede, so their durability doesn't surprise me too much knowing what my trucks have gone thru.

binaryterror

I had an ok day. Early frustration from Drivers in the MT class got to me, and I blew out a shock, I did fairly well and had a good time.

I do plan to do some heavy work on the suspension, its too slow and stiff on this layout for me.

Brian thanks for the help with marshalling and pitting for me, not sure I woulda had my truck ready in time without you helping me marshal.

Bria1

No prob Jake, glad I could help. As for the MT frustrations, ummm ya. I realize you have to be patient with a new and especially a young driver, but that kid was a rolling kamikaze out there. His dad really needs to work with him during a race day even if that means that his dad sits out some races.

And now for [link=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-482731097904126834&hl=en]the Slash vid[/link].

ThermalRD

Thanks for the vid Brian.

Bria1

You're welcome.

Man that vid is funny with all the tube hopping, bumping, outright slamming into each other, running backwards on the track, and the 1 that jumped and landed on pit lane.

ThermalRD

Ya, thats some pretty wild racing. Well, wild driving anyway. lol. I do enjoy the slash alot. But next time, i gotta vote for the 10 minute main. My battery softened up a bit near the 10 minute mark. Left me casing alot of those jumps.

Bria1

Time for that 5400 pack. Ah heck, just get one of those 8000 packs from max amps.

ThermalRD

Curiousity struck again, so i had to get into the MFR. Only thing i found wrong soo far, is a missing front drive shaft (dog bone in this case). How do those just fall out.... I guess maybe i twised it, or bent it up a bit. Regardless, its not there, and that appears to be the reason my truck went RWD on me. Its long, and has a funny hex or square shape to the shaft of it, if anyone finds one at FTR.

Bria1

I saw one at FTR, it was about 5-6" long and had a hex shape to the shaft part. It looked like the ends may have been held on the shaft with set screws or something. I asked Al H. about it and he said that had been there awhile, so I'm not sure if it's yours or not. I set it on the table by the monitor just down from pit lane. It didn't look broke or anything.

binaryterror

Yup Matt, I seen your IM on MSN, that long 6" shaft was on pit lane almost all day. I'd give Al Horne a call and let him know its yours. I was wondering what that was for...even the Mammoth's super long center shafts seemed shorter. I know Al tries to run a lost/found thing when he finds parts. Let me know if you need his #. It did look to have a slight bend, but I didn't scope it out that much.

Brian, I'm not sure frustrating is the right thing to say about that kid. I don't think asking him to be limited on throttle is all that bad of an idea, slower is faster and on this track slower is fastest!

Now off to watch Brian's video!

ThermalRD

Closing account guys. Sorry. Some jackoff thinks im running a business on here, and i know dammmn well i've never talked $$$ in the forums, or run any ads here for paint work. Find me on BannedRC or LSTforums.com. Or any other site im on. C ya....

binaryterror

I just got news that one of RCU's best supporters and our good friend Matt Butler (ThermalRD) was forced to close his account here.

This is unfortunate news, and saddens me greatly about the issue.

Matt is still able to be reached on other forums or his email. If you need help getting in touch with him let me know and I will gladly help.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Matt was not forced to close his account in any way. We contacted him about complying with several of our rules and instead of choosing to follow our rules he deactivated his own account. It was his choice to do so and in no way was he "forced" to do this.

Ken

GT Batman

That sucks. I suspect they had issues with the paint on the slash bodies as they have all been removed. Guess we will all have to hang somewhere else. RCU without Thermal is like a twinkie without the cream filling[]

infernalstone

Lame. :/

rdub202

wait, why? cuz he posted pictures of slash bodies he painted?

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

No, it had nothing to do with that. I'm not going to go in to the particulars of the issue, but suffice it to say that he was not willing to comply with our Community Rules. As I said, it was his choice to deactivate his account. All we asked is that he complied and followed the RCU rules, something that all members agree to do when they join RCU. He decided that he was not going to follow our rules and deactivated his own account for whatever reason, known only to him.

Ken

binaryterror

Ryan, well and all those interested the issue goes much deeper than even RCKen seems to want to indicate. Though thats between Matt and RCU at this point.

RCKen, who is the head administrator/moderator at RCU, I'd like to talk to him/her at length, finding your company structure is very well dodgy at best. You can PM me this info as it seems your kind doesn't want to share this information to the community at large.