I recently had the chance to try my hand at a spot of 1/8th scale Nitro Offroad racing – in Tasmania of course.
The Track.
We arrived at LaTrobe at the brand new track of the North West RCCC – so new in fact that noone had done a lap. The first laps were reserved for the guys that had done all the work and they had a 5 minute play before the rest of us could turn a wheel – pretty fair I thought.
The layout is a good one and plenty of sweat and toil had gone into it – together with what looked like a good quality clay all on a rocky base.
There were – as is almost mandatory these days the massive jumps and there was some space left for bits of race track. I’m not an expert by any means on offroad tracks but I know what I like – I like some track to race on apart from the jumps. On this layout it looked like there was a great bit of racing track from the last big jump around a series of turns and right through the right hander at the end of the straight and through to the step up. Unfortunately – my opinion only and it carries no weight – there was a stutter section and a plow disc section thrown into this great piece of race track. Anyway it’s what the club wants so fair enough.
The testament to the work by the club is, that after a great day of racing with Nitro buggies, truggies, monster trucks and others the track was still in great shape with hardly any sign of deterioration.
THE CLUB
They are a very friendly and welcoming bunch of guys at the NWRCCC – I’m not sure I’ve ever been to a more welcoming and including type of club – keep up the good work guys.
THE TRUGGY – Associated RC8T – powered buy Sirio
If you are in the market for a Truggy you should have a look at one of these – a great thing, I loved it and can’t wait to get it going again.
It handled the track well – mostly overcame my shortcomings on the jumps, brilliant over the stutters and plow discs, and WOW on the straights. Nothing broke, nothing fell off and the motor was rock solid – didn’t look like a flame out all day – and economical as well.
I found the truck amazingly easy to drive – heaps of grunt when you wanted it, plenty of smooth dribble when you wanted that and basically go where you pointed it. I think it jumps fairly well also – but I don’t – so we never really got that sorted during the day.
I was absolutely stoked to qualify second and finish fifth in the final at my first go at Nitro Offroad Truggy – not my last.
Many thanks to Scott and Racing Lines for making the great Associated RC8T available for me, thanks to the club for their welcome and tolerance of a Nitro Offroad ROOKIE. I’ll be back.
If you want to see a pic of the Truggy check out Racing Lines Feb 2009 edition – that’s it on the front cover. It’s also a sneek peak at a close proximity to what the new Action RC corporate paint scheme is going to be like.
Heavy D.