ludeman

Hey all, My problem is I can run my track flawless when no other cars are by but as soon as I get in traffic I seem to choke. What's a good way to deal with traffic?
Thanks

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Stop choking.

Seriously, when you're on the stand, just calm down. It's just a psychological block; you can beat it, man[8D]

gelbschnee

are you talking about radio problems? otherwise TBJ is on the dot.

ludeman

I know its psychological but was looking for tips in general. Like how to pick a line when there is a pile up or how to deal with someone bumping in a turn etc....and yes tricks for dealing with the psychological barrrier

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

With a pileup ThunderbirdJunkie just tiptoes around 'em. This is usually in turn 1 or 2, so he usually hops up a good few positions in this situation[&:]

rasper

Start practicing with 1 or 2 other guys, and gradually work your way to more and more people, and when its cruch time, treat it like its a practice day or just bashing around, youll find the competition instinct then kicks in and your on auto pilot.

As for the pileup....well, with cars you need to "tip toe" as thunderbirdjunkie would put it, around them, with trucks....well, find a way thats open, and floor it......he who gets in your way will have to move, or be moved.....

proanti1

My Feedback: (2)

Plow everyone out of the way... has worked for me for years.

KID_EVIL!

Slow is the new fast they say. stay calm and watch for your opening........ that's what people do when they get behind me LMAO!! Also, rubbin's race'in as was mentioned above.

Cutless009

My Feedback: (1)

For faster cars at the head of the pack, I like to drive easy and stay right behind them, and watch how they drive, memorize their line, and then plan my move on a specific corner when I know for sure where they will be.  Then I take an opposing line, so that I can accelerate out faster than them while not hitting them, or take a line that completely blocks them from accelerating out of the corner, even though I took the slower line.

electricrc68

just go in and slam the throttle.

rc awesome

Have you ever raced? Probably not with a bandit! Anyhow, flooring your truck around the whole track isn't going to work, and the people who flip the cars over will hate you

electricrc68

yeah i have never raced....and well i would be happy to flip their car over

chase1

i am by no means a pro racer but i just try to relax, focus strictly on my vehicle and whats happening just in front of me.try not to get usedtohearing and using the sound of your ownmotor to judge your speedor acceleration as it is hard to tell yours from others in the mix. that messed with me alot because i practice alone at the house. also i am usually not the fastest driver on the track so i will just hang back a bit the first couple of laps and let the wild drivers take themselves out and pass a my leisure. slow and steady can win races, but being fast dont hurt.

proanti1

My Feedback: (2)

Yeah, right before you get kicked off the track.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

Gotta catch 'em first[&:]

rc awesome

That would probably be impossible with a bandit. Racing isn't like bashing. I've only raced once, but I've seen enough RC races to know that people throw tantrums when someone deliberatly rams their car.

ThunderbirdJunkie

My Feedback: (3)

If that happens where ThunderbirdJunkie races, nobody whines...they just get even[&:]

sloppyG

the tantrums are typical, I've raced a few times and have found that I apparently don't take things nearly as seriously as a "real racer"

driving on the track is fun, throwing a hissy fit because you get 7th place is not fun. I like the driving on track, but could care less if I'm in last place

ovationdave

My Feedback: (16)

I think everyone has to deal with this nervousness regardless of what R/C genre your part of. I used to race boats, I could go in circles all day long by myself, but as soon as it got crowded, it was amazing how small a lake could feel!. Airplanes (my main thing now), is the same. I got used to flying on a large field. It was really, REALLY wide. I attended an airshow once and was so nervous about landing I never went up. Why? The field was really, really narrow. But now that I fly more, I don't really have that problem. If you practice having to be really accurate, and not as sloppy (I was a sloppy flier really, that small field made me realize that) the better you get, the less nervous you will be on raceday. I really think that its just a matter of how confident you are with your skills. What I mean is, I teach classes alot for my job now, and if I know the material inside and out, I am never really that nervous; but if I don't know it very well, I am sweating bullets on the first day. Practice, practice, practice. I know I had to realize that I was reacting to where my boat went in the water and correcting it, rather than driving it where I wanted it to go......I needed to turn that around (no pun intended).

Thats just me, and just my $0.02. I wish you luck getting over your racing butterflies!

Dave

P.S. I don't mean to imply your a sloppy driver, you may very well not be. That was just a personal observation, so no offence. ;-)

ilanstylz

My Feedback: (12)

I am new to racing as well as electric RC's...... However the very first day at my local track (not an official race but there was over 10 rc's on the course) I found out that everyone there was cool. I was real nervous at first but after a few laps around the track and noticing that everyone there was just to have fun I relaxed and started doing alot better. I've been to a few of the races at the track here and its basically the same thing, everyone is cool as long as you aren't out there trying to hit everyone on purpose, so I say when your racing just have fun, try not to think to hard about it, especially about messing up, because it can happen even to the top racers, everyone makes mistakes, its how you learn to deal with those mistakes and try to correct them.....

XXT-CRer

at many of the club level tracks ive raced ove the last 25ish years (off road, not oval) slow truly is fast.

practice, practice, practice, so that you dont crash when you ARE NOT in traffic and you will do fine.

there will always be pileups, and sometimes there is no way to avoid being collected into it. you just have to slither your way through, sometimes even coming to a full stop if neccesary.

it might be safe to say that at the club level races are not lost in pilups, they are lost when the coast is clear and you dont make the most of it.