A group of us gathered at Canalside Raceway for a Friday night bash session. Canalside Raceway is sort of the unofficial test track for RCSoup. We will be bringing you many featured stories from this track this summer.

I brought the Losi SCTE, and my boys brought their Duratrax Evader and Electrix Circuit. We met Kevin there, with his SC10 4×4, as well as a few local 1/8 buggy drivers. It is a decent size track, with an approximate 100′ back straight. It features wooden jumps, on a hard packed surface. With the wooden jumps, they can be moved around for a new track experience, or removed completely for easier grooming of the track.

Right off the bat, the Evader was having trouble. I had charged all of the batteries Thursday night in anticipation of getting the trucks out on the track. And yet, the Evader would not move. After we got home, it turned out the solder job on the battery connector was no good. I soldered a new connector on the battery, and charged it again. It is a 4200 mah battery, and it took over 4000 mah on the charger this time. We’ll try the Evader again for race day this week.

The Electrix performed well. The stock pin tires work well on a loose dusty track surface. Its clear my sons need some practice on the dirt, but that’s what these sessions are for, right? The more time we can get them behind the wheel the better they will become.

This session was the first time I got to see the SC10 4×4 up close. Kevin had his truck there, and there was also an SC44 (B44 short course conversion) driven by Jarrod. Kevin and I dueled for a while. We even swapped radios at one point. His truck is so smooth off the line. The response of the trigger was very comfortable when compared to the Losi. On the Losi, I had the throttle punch control turned up for a quicker reaction. Reason being when in the air I need that quick blip of the throttle to help keep her level. That setting makes it feel abrupt off the line. Something that takes getting used to.

On the straight, I think the SC10 4×4 has a touch more speed. We’ll have to compare final drive ratios at some point, he might be geared a little higher than I am. We are after all running the exact same power system in both trucks, the Castle MMP with the 1410 4 pole motor. In the corners, the Losi feels stable. Any spinouts were certainly driver error. Some of the corners at Canalside are a little tight for the Losi, not quite enough steering to get around unless you get the line perfect. But that doesn’t mean you can’t power slide through them.

As I was finishing my second pack, I noticed the front right side sitting a little lower than it should. I brought her in, and found that the lower front right shock screw was missing, it had loosened itself and was somewhere on the track. I threw another screw in it, and a fresh pack, and went out for another run. At this time I also let the buggy drivers try it. They both went about 6-8 laps with the truck, and it was evident the battery was nearing the cutoff voltage so we brought it back in.

Again, I found that lower shock screw missing from the right front A arm. Upon closer inspection, I found that the plastic in between the three shock mount holes on the arm was cracked. This crack was expanding the screw holes, thus allowing the screw to back out easily. I placed an order for some new arms. The next offroad race is June 12, so I hope to have the arm replaced by then.

This was my first trip to Canalside, and I have to say it is a wicked little track. Just enough difficulty to test you, but not too tough to take away any of the fun.