Buddyboys Off-Road : South New Berlin, NY

Driver: Kevin Crandall

Yesterday was the season opener for Buddyboys Off-Road track. Having been there for “Build Day”, it was cool to see it come together and actually get raced on for the first time. I hadn’t driven on the track at all before yesterday. The turnout for this first race was pretty small, around 25 entries but it was still fun. Hopefully more people turn out in the coming weeks! They’re missing out.

We ran the following classes:
2wd Short Course
4wd Short Course
Sportsman (kid’s and more inexperienced drivers)
Monster Truck

I chose to only race my Associated SC10 4×4. Jim Decker then offered to let me pilot one of his stock 2wd Traxxas Stampedes. Big thanks for that! We both ran the stock stampedes. Since there weren’t enough for us to run a separate class of them, they stuck us in Sportsman class. In the previous indoor season, the kids had their own class. Now it is combined with the more intermediate drivers as well, which is fine.

The weather report looked grim for the day, reading 50% rain by the time I left the house. Upon arriving at the track it was misting pretty good and the track had some standing water on it. A few brave souls decided to run on it anyways to help dry it out. Their trucks were caked with mud by the time they took them off. The rain let up and we actually started racing about an hour late (not too bad!). The track seemed to dry pretty quick.

Since there was such a large chance of it starting to rain again, I didn’t bother getting out my charger and decided to just run the day with what I had charged (2 lipo’s for the SC10 4×4, and 2 Nimhs for the Stampede).

My plan worked for the most part.. running the first 2 heats on the same pack, and using the fresh one for the Main. The SC104x4 actually died with less than a minute to go in the second heat, but I was ok with it, since heats aren’t as important when you only have enough trucks for 1 main.

Jim's Stampedes. I ran the one on the right.

Sportsman Class:
I didn’t quite feel right running with the kids. It seemed unfair to them, as I am a bit more experienced. I was not the only adult tho, so at least I could race those guys. The stock Traxxas Stampede actually did really well around the track. It’s not the fastest truck on the market with just a 7 cell Nimh and the stock Titan 12 turn brushed motor, but it held it’s own. This would actually be a fun class (stock stampede). I ended up winning both heats, and the Main. I forfeited my “Feature Winner” decal that the track gives out tho, to the 2nd place finish, which was Matt’s son Josh Peterson. It was obviously the right thing to do.

4wd Short Course:
This was an interesting class. We had most of the big names on the track. Two Associated’s, a Losi, a Durango, and a Traxxas. The heats went ok. I don’t recall where I placed in them. My battery hit cutoff in the 2nd heat with very little time left on the clock. I also had body issues. I was running the body from my 2wd SC10 (which has seen much better days). My rear fenders were flapping in the breeze. Actually once I had to be marshalled because a fender got tucked under a wheel and got me stuck.

I ended up chopping the fenders off for the Main. It started to look like a real Short Course truck by the end there.. During the main, the rest of the body gave way.. with the rear portion breaking off from the front, right behind the cab. Going down the straight the 2 halves bounced apart from each other and it actually looked like the truck broke in half. It was pretty distracting, yet hilarious at the same time.

I took the 4wd Short Course win as well. Not necessarily due to flawless driving technique, but more so because I survived. We had 1 truck die, 1 truck broke, and another I think thermaled. Either way I was one of the last men standing. A win is a win though I guess. Also, those new serrated wheel nuts I installed.. work great! No wheel loosening yet.

Overall a great day. The track had more traction than I expected and it was a great first outing on it. I look forward to the next race.

Buddyboys Off-Road : South New Berlin, NY

Driver: Matt Peterson

The season opener at the new offroad track at Buddyboys. Awesome! After our “dig day”, where a group of us worked together getting the track built, I have been there about half a dozen times just fooling around. I hadn’t been there since the pipes were laid out last week though. Boy, those pipes make it a track. I was really impressed with the job the crew at Buddyboys did to get that track finished up in the last few days before the race.
I brought along my 2wd SC10, my 4WD SCTE, and my son’s both had Electrix Circuits. We weren’t really sure what classes would shake out until we knew who showed and what they brought with them. I expect more classes to form as word gets out about this track. It is an absolute blast to drive on.

2WD short course

The 2wd short course class rules state you can run up to a 13.5 motor, and a 2S lipo. No limits on tires. On the indoor track, I was running the 17.5 Novak Ballistic. I changed the stator for a 13.5 wind. Its a fairly simple operation. The 13.5 proved plenty powerful enough for the track. I started with Jconcepts Goosebumps all the way around for tires. During the first two heats, I was having some serious traction issues. At every corner, I had to drive as slowly as possible to even make it around the corner with spinning out. Before the Main, I was talking to one of the other racers, looking for an alternative. See, my SC10 still has the stock pin drive. The only spare tires/wheels I have are hex drive. I asked around, and no one had pin drive wheels to loan me. However, a couple of racers helped me perform a quick hex conversion. Turns out the hexes for the front axles of the Traxxas Slash 4×4 fit the rear of the SC10 perfectly. So, with two hexes from Jim Decker, I threw on the stock Losi hex wheels/Eclipse tires from the SCTE. Talk about a wake up call for this truck. With the new tires, this truck handled very well. I started the Main in second, and within one lap, I took the lead. I never looked back, and took the win.

4wd short course

The Losi proved a formidable threat in the 4WD class. I won both the first heats by more than a lap. The AKA Enduro tires handled flawlessly all day. Even in the muddy conditions early on, I had no problems putting the power to the ground. With the few number of classes, I didn’t have enough time between rounds to fully charge the battery. I made it through the second 6 minute heat. After the 2wd Main, I checked the charge on the 4wd battery. I only had about 8.2V in the battery. I was hoping it would be enough. When the main started, I was TQ. Knowing I could pull some really fast laps if needed, I took it easy at first. I figured if I could take it easy, and stay with the pack, I would be able to conserve enough battery to make it the full 10 minute race. Then during the last minute, make my move and take the lead. It was a plan at least. I got to the start finish line after the first lap, and didn’t hear a beep. At first I thought maybe I just missed it. So I drove another lap, and when I hit the start/finish line again, no beep. I pulled the truck off the track, and sure enough I had forgotten to plug in my transponder. By the time I got the transponder in, then got the truck on the track, I missed a lap. Being three laps down, it was going to be a chore catching up. So I went full bore trying to catch Kevin, who was in the lead. I picked up 2 laps within the next 5 minutes, so I was one lap down with about two and a half minutes remaining. It was at about the 8 minute mark that I noticed a problem. The truck seemed sluggish on the straight, not quite the speed I had throughout the race. I got around the first few turns, and the truck started cogging, then it stopped. That was it for me, I hit Lipo cutoff with 2 minutes remaining.

Sportsman

Both my boys ran their Electrix Circuits in the Sportman class. They did very well for their first time on an off road track. After the first two heats they seemed to be getting the hang of driving on the dirt. Josh did very well, taking second in the Main behind Kevin. Josh was first among the kids. We did experience some battery issues on Noah’s car. Not sure if they weren’t charging all the way, or if he was just on the gas more than everyone else. During the first heat he broke the battery wire off the ESC. Kevin was able to get it soldered back on in time for the second heat. In the second heat, Noahs battery died with just a minute or so left in the race.  He made it all the way through the main, taking third place. Joshs car actually broke with about 30 seconds remaining, but he was far enough ahead of everyone else that he held on to his second place. Getting it back to the pits, the right rear dogbone popped out. Not entirely sure how, but I got it back in easily enough.

Overall, a very good race day despite the weather.  Looking forward to the next race. If you;re from the area, check out Buddyboys new off road track in South New Berlin, NY. It is a ton of fun.

Here’s some video from this weeks racing action.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWG7COEac8M[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ukJxuU_kNE[/youtube]