The competition consisted of in order .
1. X ray XB4
2. Durango DEX 410 V3 & V4
3. Caster S10B
So 1st heat in the morning. I used the green custom special body. Had quite a few skirmishes with a beginner who whacked on my car. I also crashed a lot as I lost my rhythm and there is some lack of power, as my 8.5T failed a week before and I didn't want to buy any motors as of yet, so I used my trackstar 10.5T motor from my Lazer ZX. I brought the ratio down to 7.9, and also I almost maxed out the motors endbell timing to get maximum speed. The 5100mah saddles I used lack power and I had problems clearing some short spurt jumps.
This is my result.
2nd heat. A fellow next to me had a look at my proline M3s and he remared that I might get more grip if I flipped the tyres the other direction. Since I had nothing to lose and my 1st heat was dismal, I tried it. Also I used my ORCA 6000mah stick pack and cable tied it tightly. The car was much better this time, it was rather quick and I made fewer mistakes, and I had the punch to clear the short spurt jumps. Indeed I improved my placing and cut down my lap times substantially, but I was miffed that had I not made any mistakes I could have gotten 13 laps like Ramesh with his XB4.
3rd heat
Again, another good run, the best of the day. I made almost no mistakes and the car was easy to drive, I took the 1st position for 2 laps before some screw ups, and also a 10.5T against 8.5 and 7.5 is no match. As a result of less mistakes, I managed to net 13 laps !
I was stoked that I am one of the guys who made 13 laps. not only that, I beat a sponsored driver name Azman Azam, which I have never ever achieved before in my life, he always beats me.
So I qualified 5th in the A final.
we ran 3 mains
1st Main
At the start off I went and drove clean lines as the first few cars piled up. Kept my cool and got the lead for while, before Ramesh with his XB4 got the better of me, then Shem with his DEX 410. I traded places a couple of times up and down, but finally managed to keep at 3rd.
2nd Main, Same sotry, another good run, with great challenge from William with his caster S10B, overtook me, but some how he made too many mistakes, and my mid caught up, overtook him and stayed consistent even though he had more speed, again maintained position at 3rd.
3rd Main, same thing, a massive pile up in the 1st turn, and I lead for a while, made a few mistakes and also wasn't fast enough as the shem and Ramesh, so ended in 3rd, but I did slip to 5th once but managed to chase back to 3rd before the 4 mins mark.
Sponsored Kyosho driver David Lim with ZX6 was set to win but he had durability issues today in all 3 finals, if he was sorted I would have been 4th..
Still happy with the way it turned out as a lot of people took my Optima Mid seriously today, William even joked that he wants to get the race organizer to ban customized cars like mine .
After the race, I ran my SWB mid, and I was totally amazed at how it handled. With the MId arms and Durango normal shocks, and gear diffs, the car was really quick and went through the corners very quickly with only an occasional spin out, I dare say that I may have been able to go one place up with the SWB, I don't know why it drives so well, even though I put so much effort into my LWB. It could be the short arms and small bore shocks works well on this track. I am going to try the SWB in the next race.
but congrats, never thought you'd go so far a couple of years back but with a little perseverance and great design skills look at you now.