After a few weeks of wet weather sweeping Tasmania (and bringing much needed rain in areas of the midlands and east-coast that have been drought stricken for as long as 8 years), the northern Tassie offroad crew gathered to recommence battle on their new Latrobe raceway.
Steve and I took the chance to go race, with Steve and family staying with us while on holidays at the moment.
Stevo ran the Racing Lines/Action R/C RC8T truggy for his first appearance in a nitro offroad race.  He enjoyed himself, and drove well to finish fourth, and I reckon I might be sending him home to Queensland with the offroad bug biting hard.
I ran buggy with the LRP S8 BX and struggled to stay with the front running pace of Tim P and Sam W.  I managed to qualify and finish third, but really was never on the pace of those two.  Time for a much needed overhaul and freshen up for the LRP I think.  For a start I think its time to track down some new brake pistons, and some different spring options to set the car for the conditions a little better.
As is often the case, when your car is not working quite as well as it might, the temptation to overdrive is strong.  On a challenging offroad track, I made plenty of mistakes and spent far too much time upside down trying to go with the fastest guys.  I was a bit disappointed with my driving, but still enjoyed the day out.
The track was in pretty good nick considering recent weather and provided a platform for fast times, and good racing.  Plenty of new faces still kicking around to show that there remains a lot of potential for the club to continue to grow.
We finished the day off with a few tanks of juice through the Team Associated SC8.  I still love the sliding, rocking rolling nature of the SC8 CORR replica truck.  I’d love to see a heat full of them tearing up the track.  Both Steve and I had a drive, and handed to radio around to a few of the other boys to universal smiles and enjoyment.
I can’t help but feel a bit sad that already aftermarket tyres are starting to show up that provide more grip, and bodyshells that take the realistic appearance of the CORR replica SC8 toward the ‘cake of soap’ appearance of truggies.  The latest generation of truggies (like the Losi 8T 2.0 and Mugen MBX6T are barely recognisable as trucks, and the newest generation smaller truggy tyres are further diminishing the difference between that class and buggies.  I’m a bit sorry that the SC8 and its like appear already headed down that path as well.  Competition, it is said, improves the breed, but sometimes I’m not all that sure I like the results.
I also just finished a build I really enjoyed.  Wait until you see the HPI Cup Racer/Datsun 1600 in Racing Lines in a couple of months. This replica of my first car (and what a car it was) is a stunning piece of work.  As I said, you’ll see it in the mag in the next little while
There’s a few photos from today here – including some of Steve in action.