This weekend marks the Tasmanian TC Championships at the excellent Goodwood circuit in Hobart. With a heap of interstate drivers making the trip across the water this year, competition and anticipation is at an all time high.
We’ll both be running this weekend and looking forward to it. Heavy will run the Mi4-LP in stock, while Scott will run the MI4-LP in Superstock to defend the championship won in a landslide against some visiting interstate driver in 2009. (couldn’t help it, sorry, I’ll get over it one day…or not).
A quick visit to the track this afternoon to acclimative heavy to the surrounds and we were delighted to be met with a track that has been high pressure cleaned by the local fire brigade. Years of built up dust and grime are gone leaving a pristine and gripping race surface in its place. Track records are set to tumble.
We’ll post a few updates over the weekend for those interested in following along.
Stories from the world of RC car racing
20 responses to “Tasmanian TC Championships: Live”
-
It’s all rain rain rain up here… All meets cancelled.. So hope you keep us entertained 🙂
LikeLike
-
First day’s racing done, after early rain cleared and the track dried by about 11.30. The club chose to run all 5 qualifying rounds today, with finals scheduled for tomorrow morning.
There has been some fast and tight racing in most classes, but my ace reporting skills have let me down and I’ve failed to note the particular names. There are about 5 guys in stock on the leading pace, and it promises to have some pretty intense finals. Heavy is right in the mix and put in two excellent runs in Q4 and Q5 late in the day as he got to grips with the track. He will be qualified about 5th or 6th, and is a chance of improving on that in the finals.
In Superstock I managed to crash very hard during Q1, resulting in the battery being ejected, and a first ever for me – a cracked Schuie wheel. It was a very hard hit. After that I got going better and better, winning the next four rounds to tq. Victoria’s Andy McCallum will be second and was going very fast this afternoon. He’s definitely a winning chance tommorrow. Fellow vic Jamie O’Brien and Tassie’s Lee Harvey are close up as well.
Track conditions are amazing, and track records have been totally smashed. Last year’s Tas Champs the fastest superstock lap time was about 14.8. This afternoon I went 13.9. That’s how far the motor/chassis performance has come in 12 months. In stock it’s something similar with amazing lap times the order of the day.
The club have done a fantastic job preparing for the event, and everybody is having a great time. More of you should be here for next year’s event!
More news, including all the gory details, tomorrow night.
sgLikeLike
-
Go Heavy Go
& good luck to you also ScottLikeLike
-
2010 Tasmanian Championships are run and done. Good racing on what really is an excellent little track. Higher grip this weekend than I’ve ever seen, together with current ESC technology resulted in lap records being absolutely smashed.
540 was won by Victorian Aaron Stevens in a dominant performance with his Schumacher Mi4, with Tassie’s Matt Cleaver, and Aaron’s dad David Stevens also on the podium. I think that order is right, but will check once full results are posted. Take note….second in the B final went to Tamika Simms, a young lady in a big hurry. She’ll be winning some races over the next few years.
The Mad Mini’s put on some good racing with local gun Beggsie setting TQ, but a couple of big accidents put paid to his finals chances. Bendigo’s Nathan Tasca was too fast and too consistent to take a good win (also picking up the concourse trophy for his Felipe Massa helmet themed design) from Beggs with I think Matt Wicks in third (also Bendigo).
Stock saw a big battle mostly featuring the visiting Victorians, but out in front Matt Guidotto smashed ’em. Stunning lap records and irresistible pace saw him win and win big in his T3 XRAY. Wicks backed up his mini performance with an excellent run to second in the 416, with Ryan Simms coming home very strong in the last final to round out the podium with a Schumacher Mi4. Our own Heavy D was on fire in the class – with pace to burn and at times the only man to look like having the speed to go with Guidotto. It was the best he’s driven in years….but for one small mistake in each final….with unfortunately big consequences. Heavy finished 6th but could easily have been in the top 3. Horsepower was amazing with the SP 3.0 17.5 motor and Tekin ESC combo.
In Superstock I managed to win each of the A finals reasonably comfortably to take the win. Victorian Andy McCallum (XRAY T3) was fast but unlucky in the finals, while Jamie O’Brien (AE TC5) just go the better of Tassie’s Lee Harvey (Mi4) in a weekend long dual to finish third. My Mi4 LP was awesome today, easy to drive fast, looking after its tyres, and capable of lap times I wouldn’t have thought possible before this weekend. I ran the LRP SPX Stockspec ESC with Speedpassion 3.0 10.5 turn motor.
It was an eye opening first encounter for me with the modern day spec ESC’s. The stock cars running Tekin speedies were unbelievably fast – to the point that the gap between 17.5 and 10.5 motors was quite small. The 10.5 motors don’t seem to benefit in quite the same way as the lower powered 17.5 motors from the new ESC technology. Getting a handle on all the turbo, ramp, rev and timing settings seems quite complex, and when added to motor timing and gear, seems almost bewildering. Not for the first time I can’t help wondering if the technology hasn’t just gone one step too far.
In Superstock, we had quite an interesting experience with the SP motor/ LPR SPX ESC combos. Andy McCallum and I both ran the same combo. Andy was geared at 8.4:1and me at 5.4:1. That’s an amazing difference, but on track there was basically nothing between the cars in terms of straight line performance. Andy was coming off hotter than me, but definitely had very similar speed. I tried 8.05 and 8.5:1 and while the revs were amazing, didn’t feel like I had quite the same performance as at the higher gear ratio. When I went to try 8.5:1 I had to go hunt down the right sized pinion….finding it still attached to my 4.0 turn motor used at the 2009 Nationals. That’s weird gearing in a spec motor!
I’ll post up my Mi4LP setup later on. The car was stellar today. After racing finished I ran with some “proper” horsepower on board and the car was just as good to drive. What a great race track this would be for Modified if we could get enough drivers together for 2011. Start planning, early March 2011, a long weekend in Hobart would be good for the R/C soul!
Special thanks to all those who travelled from across the seas to come race with us in Tassie. Your efforts are much appreciated. And to Peter and the crew from STMCC who put together a ripper track, presented beautifully and with excellent traction. Well done!LikeLike
-
Great report Scott.. Love your work man!
LikeLike
-
A great time was had by all. Here are some photos (with an unashamedley Victorian slant) but you can see all the podium winners.
http://www.tftr.org.au/cm_gallery/thumbnails.php?album=44
Thanks for the race report Scott and great to meet you.
A really enjoyable event!! 😎LikeLike
-
It might be just me, but seems the crowd is a lot happier in Tassie. Great photos, good looking track too… Oh and Scott, congrats on calling races… Is that why you’re wearing a face warmer?
LikeLike
-
The face warmer is pure unadulterated laziness harry, but its already gone.
I am a big fan of race calling. I reckon it helps me as a driver to hear what is going on, it adds greatly to the atmosphere of a race meeting, and it keeps the general public well informed of what’s going on. I’ll jump in and grab the mic anytime nobody else is doign so and I can fit in with my car maintenance needs. If they give me a radio mic I’ll call my own races if necessary!LikeLike
-
Final setup from the Tassie Champs for the Mi4-LP is uploaded to our setups page. This would be a pretty nice starting setup in stock, or superstock on a medium grip track. For mod the grip level at Hobart would have dictated some small changes, but in SS it was superb.
LikeLike
-
-
Scott, that would be interesting, calling your own race while racing… Maybe we could accommodate you with a headset during the VIC’s Title.
Best track I have raced on, better then any track in VIC, I’ll be visiting SA to race on the new track, but I have heard it is slippery. Great event, held very professionally, lots of fun. First over sea’s event for me, LOL.
Cheat’en Tekins won the day in stock, but LRP has released new ESC that should be the equal. I’ll be moving up to superstock in a few weeks after my own club season is over. Hope to race Scott in Superstock next year at TAS.
I’ll try to drag more people over next year.LikeLike
-
Certainly one of the better 1/10th scale tracks I have raced on, Plenty of grip and a good mix of corner shapes and some fast sections and some needing some restraint.
My Schumacher Mi4 was incredibly fast and handling beautifully – best car I have ever driven – and unfortunately I just didn’t get the driving right sometimes and paid the price. Still very happy with the weekend overall and would love to go back next year if possible.
But for now ,y attention is focused on the INDOOR event at Launceston on Thursday night – hope it’s raining 😆 😆 😆 😆LikeLike
-
Awesome report guys. Congrats Scott.
Dave.. Any chance on FDR and Tekin setup?LikeLike
-
Toby the FDR was 6.95 and the tekin set up I’ll postt when I get home – the thing was an absolute bullet – way too fast for a 60something grandfather 😆 😆
And I will also post my Mi4 setup as it was quite a bit different from Scotts.LikeLike
-
Full details, story, results, photos now posted at the STMCC club website: http://www.stmcc.com.au
Toby, heavy is being too modest as usual. If it was the normal 5 minute racing he is used to, he could have won the thing….but unfortunately it was five minutes of awesome, followed by a seniors minute.
I had a drive of dad’s car on Friday afternoon, have to say the stock 17.5 motor with tekin esc all feels really weird. Had to completely change lines just to keep the turbo “on” rather than having to deal with delays and ramps etc. It was fast, but it didn’t feel very nice. I guess with some experimentation you could dial the ESC into the track a little more perfectly, but going too aggressive to make it feel faster all the time seems like it would just result in too much heat being generated.
Yet another reason to race modified!LikeLike
-
But I did change theFDR after you drove it Scott, which made it much better – I thought.
LikeLike
-
Sweet. I’ve found a rather linear setup with mine. Bring the turbo in early and with zero delay. It creats a bit of heat, but I’m still not near 80 deg
LikeLike
-
Hi guys, just got my new LRP SXX Stock spec, heaps quicker in a straight line then SPX, very smooth, but I did notice a few hesiations, possible cogging issues remain even in the MK2 version… Reading the forums it seems LRP are looking at a MK3 version…
Racing tomorrow night, so will find out how good it is, hopefully the cogging isn’t noticable too much… It only happened 3 times over 5-6 runs my guess the hesitation was less then 0.1sec.
Heps of timing options available, and very easy to over heat a motor, ESC measures Motor temp so you cannot blow it up… 🙂
Racing at BENDIGO Classic this weekend, might give the Tekins a run for there money…LikeLike
-
Hi Scott,
Was wondering what profile settings you were using on the SPX?
Thanks
ChrisLikeLike
-
i ran zero drag brag, 1 minimum brake, throttle profile 8. geared at 5.3:1. zero drag brake made the car a bit harder to drive, but if i ran drag brake it ran hotter, so i opted for cool.
the guy i was running against was geared at 8.4:1 and we were pretty much square in a straight line, so don’t be afraid to gear way down.
watch temps carefully – don’t let it get over about 75c. i was coming off at 65c.
that was SP 3.0 10.5 motor, with motor timing cranked to max.LikeLike
-
Thanks Scott.
LikeLike
Action RC
Welcome to Action RC, a home of stories from the world of RC car racing.
Listen to the Action RC Podcast, read race reports and previews, the latest in product reviews or our regular opinion and reflection pieces.
Contact us for content requests or more information.
Action RC 
Leave a reply to hey chris Cancel reply