Sssooo, I finally drove my Hyper on a track..!! Prior to this, I had driven the Hyper for one test tank in a parking lot to check the tune on the Mach..

It was the first practice race on the new track they just built here where I live(finally..)

All in all I was pleased, though, having only run two prelim rounds(whatever you call them..), I missed the 10-minute main race cuz my stupid gas/brake servo arm stripped out... [:@] Frantically tried to fix it, but to no avail.. P.issed me off at the time, but whatever I'm over it.. Was my own fault, cuz back when I put it together, I used some cheapo screw to hold the arm into the Hitec servo.. I seem to have this problem rather often, on all my trucks.. As a result of this problem btw, the Hyper had some pretty rough crashes, and proved that toughness everybody talks about.. [sm=thumbup.gif]

Anyway, so I only ran two tanks really on the track.. Was kind of funny, cuz before the Hyper I ran my LST2 on the track, and let me just say, with those USELESS Muggy tires(I know I know, I should have gotten some real racing tires, but I thought they'd be at least better than stock - they're not really..), the LST2 had about as much grip as a tapdancer with greased shoes on an ice-rink... Was ridiculous. This track is really hard - more for buggies.. But whatever..

It was immediately clear how much better the Hyper tires were.. Initially I had the steering dialled way down, so was not getting the best out of it - was still fun.

Observations - once I upped the EPA, handling started getting MUCH better... Power-wise the Mach seemed almost perfectly suited to this truck, and this track. The 8t's with OS VSPEC's sounded cooler, but weren't down the straight or out of the corners any faster... I even ran over a few of the cheaper buggies.. There was a top-line Kyosho truggy with OS Speed and all the goodies and a good driver that I had no chance against, but it's cool.. Power for me with the Mach was everywhere, and I even had to go easy on the back straight(which ends in an elevated corner..) Run times seemed good too... Never timed it, but was always amazed how much fuel was still in the tank.. The Fioroni(old-school 2-shoe) is awesome too.. I also thought the Hyper flew well. There's only one smallish jump really, and I - surprisingly - was nailing it pretty well I thought..(all that bashing paying off??.. Heh-heh... ) Braking was less than ideal, but the truck is so new, and I didn't get a chance to adjust anything really..

EDIT - ps: If I ever meet the guy who designed the radio box, I'm going to waterboard him... My first pack(a new pack......), lasted about 1 1/4 tanks.. Why I don't know.. But changing it took 20 minutes. I ended up just drilling a hole in the side of the box for the plug to go through...

Anyway, there's the "real" race next weekend, which I think I want to have a go at... Will be a bunch of more experienced and even sponsored drivers there, so I'd get killed - but whatever..

My setup is all over the place at the mo.. Handling I'd like to see it more swing the back end out like I see well set-up trucks do in videos.. The engine needs a slight adjustment(may have approached 300 a time or two yesterday ..[X(] Oops.. Was just a weird situation running with so many other people - I'm just used to adjusting everything while the truck is running, not on the bench.. Here though it was like, lay it on the track and go...)

Here a couple short clips and pics..(girlfriend didn't get any good footage really - was too scared to get near the track, cuz she didn't want to have to turn over any upended cars...):

http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u...t=MOV04821.flv

http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u...t=MOV04855.flv