Just like our full size counterparts who run at Bonneville Salt Flats, running cars for all out speed is a fickle addiction. One week you're r/c car is hitting 101mph, the next you're r/c car is hitting the wall. Go figure!
But, no matter what the resulting speeds are, at an ISC Side Street Speed Meet, you are going to have a nice day hanging out with a great group of people who like to go fast (or attempt to go fast). Everyone is very supportive and helpful, new guys are watched over and well taken care of. There's so much that goes into a speed run car, the speeds on the street are matched by the furious pace of wrenching in the pits.
For the October 9th, 2011, Speed Meet, the street just wasn't giving up any serious speeds. We all worked hard at it, but aside from Tim Smith's 98mph run, no one was able to set the world on fire. Which was odd since two weeks before the JPH entry, driven by Jake Rosen, hit 101mph (the first person to hit 100 on this street). As it turned out, no one went into the 100mph zone on this day.... But, the lack of results for the heavy hitters in attendance, did not dampen the spirits of all those who were there. Driver count was up, spectator count was up, the number of runs in the 80's and 90's was up ... And, it was a great day overall.
Tim Smith posted the fastest runs of the day, hitting 98mph with his rail dragster. Tim drove up from So-Cal to attend, more info on him can be found at www.timsmithracing.com
Charlie Suangka came north for the event and posted the most runs of the day. Still stuck in the mid 90mph range, Charlie tried all kinds of stuff to get to the 100 mark, all with no luck.
Kevin Osmon got in two runs during the day, with two different entries, both catastrophic. Bummer! I know KOZ will be back and ready next time!
Greg Cassell made his debut, running a 2wd 2s car and hitting in the 90's by the end of the day.
Peter Kallogiannis also attended the speed runs for his first time, running a 2wd drag car. With o-ring front tires, the set-up struggled all day. But Peter made it into the mid 70's and is already planning his next car.
Rich Kinyon posted speeds into the high 80's with his 4WD entry, but a battery failure late in the day led to a curb shot which totally destroyed the car (see photos).
There were some SC trucks being run, with Ray Fulmer hitting 59mph with a 3cell slash and Steve Martin getting 51mph out of a mostly stock 2cell SC10.
Gary O'Connor took a few shakedown runs on his streamliner and ran it up to 70mph. This is one awesome looking speed demon and after the bugs are worked out it will be FAST.
For myself, well I guess I tuned the car right off the pace? Too many changes between the speed meets! I tried to back track the changes, but ran out of time. Looking back on it (which is always crystal clear) I should have set aside the 2wd car and concentrated on the 4wd. And, I should have made changes to the esc settings right away. But then again, if it was easy every time, then there would be nothing to look forward to next time!
It's also surprising, looking back on it, that hitting 88mph with the 2WD and 93mph with the 4wd would be disappointing! That's still very fast for an r/c car!
A HUGE Thanks to Gray for organizing the event. (Hope to see another one sometime during the winter months, just to keep us all enthused!) Thanks to all the driver who showed up and helped out with manning the "gate" all day. Many have been bitten by the speed bug, I'm sure we'll see even more entries at the next event!
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~Copyright ~ JPHRacing.com / Jake's Performance Hobbies
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