Busy with the holidays so the write up is going slow. Here are some teaser pics though comparing the two cars.
Friday, December 24, 2010
"Act of Dominance" Test #1 Update
Busy with the holidays so the write up is going slow. Here are some teaser pics though comparing the two cars.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
"Act of Dominance" Test #1 - Kyosho MP9 TKI2 & JQ Products THE Car
So to kick off the test, we are putting the new Kyosho MP9 TKI2 up against the new JQ Products THE Car. Samurai vs Viking! Should be a good fight.
We are going to start off with the build and comparing some of the parts. I am just waiting for them to both arrive (will both be here in the next few days).
In the meantime a quick comparison:
Japan: Saki
Finland: Vodka
Winner: Finland
Japan: Samurai
Finland: Viking
Winner: Japan
Japan: Total Area = 377,994 km2
Finland: Total Area = 338,424 km2
Winner: Japan
Japan: GDP (per capita) = $33,478
Finland: GDP (per capita) = $34,044
Winner: Finland
Japan: Drives on left hand side
Finland: Drives on right hand side
Winner: Draw
Japan: Flag: Two colours with a circle
Finland: Flag: Two colours with a cross
Winner: Draw
So so far we are at a draw in the comparison. LOL.
Stay tuned.....we are far from done with this.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
2011 coming in fast!
So the so called "silly season" is over (for me at least) and for 2011 I have re-signed with Kyosho America and JConcepts. I have also added Team Orion to the official list and will be excited to run some of their new gear.
As for the 'ol Blog, I am going to try out a couple of new things:
- "Act of Dominance" car reviews. I am going to take a couple of cars this season and put them up against the MP9 TKI2 at some of the local club races and timed practiced sessions. I am going to run them back to back and compare lap times and subjective feel. I will also add in reviews on the quality of the parts and build up with lots of pictures and videos. Don't expect too many cars as it will be self funded and will depend on how much money I can hide from the wife for the purchases...haha (Unless some manufacturers want to man up and send out a kit to see how it stacks up). This should be a cool little comparison project and it won't be a fluffy magazine review. I am going to "keep it real" pull no punches and call it like it is. Stay tuned for more info!
- I am also going to dig around and answer a lot of racers questions on products. I will compare stuff like tires, wheels & inserts with dimensions, weights and quality. Again lots of pics etc.
- I am biting the bullet and buying a pretty cool new camera. Not wanting to lug a SLR around, I am going to pick up a Panasonic Lumix DMCLX5K. Pretty bad ass little camera. Hope they are on sale for Boxing Day!
- I would like to welcome Jerome Treignier to the Red Army. Jerome has always used Kyosho cars but now has been officially brought on-board the program (good call Joe!). He is actually French (France French, not Quebecois) but is living here for school and will be doing the race scene here. It will be nice to have an official Team mate and hopefully we can fill up some of the podiums spots this year.
Ryan'isms
- Now if only someone would pic up this kid (of maybe he needs to get off his ass and make a proper proposal up...haha). Ryan has the speed and the desire and is a good kid. You will see him in the A Main this year.
Chet'isms
- Time to buck up and pick up an 8th scale nitro buggy buddy! I was in your shoes before and I really have grown to like nitro racing. The competition is awesome here too. Screw buying a house...haha.
So that is it for now. Thanks for checking out the blog and I guess the real season kick off race will be Motorama in Februray. Super stoked to be going to that race!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Dirt Trax RC Fall Classic
So after about 5 hours we arrived at Dirt Trax RC. The place was PACKED with a total of around 80 or 90 entries I think. Tracked was freshly packed and looked decent. The jump faces were a little abrupt and there wasn't too much of a landing transition but the layout looked fun and should make for some tight racing. the track blew out pretty fast as they have a large sand content. Big pin tires were in order early on in the day. I used JConcepts Goosebumps and Proline Step Pins in the back with JConcepts Green Groovy's up front. I ended up changing camber link positions, wheelbase, shock oil, shock position, ESC settings, gearing, slipper setting and ride height...haha. Base set up was way off! First round was a little sketchy with too many mistakes. I still managed to pull off a 17 lapper, but it was a slow one. Round two the car was better but I just had too many crashes. Third and fourth round were no good either. the track was pretty loose in some spots and I struggled trying to lay the power down. This left me 3rd in the B main (wow). I really needed some more track time but Friday practice wasn't in the cards for me.
2wd Open B Main
Everyone pretty much ran Step Pins or Goosebumps. I noticed by later in the day there was a harder surface exposed on the racing line. For the main I decided to use JConcepts Flip Outs and I think it was a good choice (for me at least). A bit of a gong show start put me into second place and then I biffed it off the double table to go to like second last. I managed to work my way back up into the mix. The race was pretty good with the top 4 of us training around for a bit and jockeying for position. Not a whole lot of passing but lots of gifting of the lead by all of us. I worked my way into the lead for a bit but I crashed off the double table and gifted the lead to a hard charging Matt Stacey. Chased him down for a few laps and got within a second of him when we got into some lapped traffic. Eric Deschenes must have thought the battle for last place was important as he would not move over even though the announcer told him he was a lap down and the battle for the lead was coming through. We tangled a couple times before I could get around him (yes I am bitter). Drove my ass off and closed in on Matt about a second per lap but I was one or two laps short as the buzzer went and he managed to hold me off to the finish to take the bump up spot to the show. Matt drove a super clean race. So my day was done.
2wd Buggy B-Main Results
2wd Open A Main
Total gong show! Rough start and lots of banging going on. I think in the first 1/4 of the race half the field broke out! (I think they all did it on the same lap too!) Matt did the B Mainers proud by getting into the third spot, David Lecuyer was in the second spot and Damian Lamy was GONE in first place. He stretched out a comfortable lead and then smartly put it on cruise control for the remainder to take the win.
2wd Buggy A-Main Results
4wd Open A Main
Another gong show start. I missed a bunch of this as my loaner camera was all screwed up and I tried fixing it. I think it was Joe Glover out in the clear from the start and took the win with Benoit Legault in second and Damian Lamy in third. I'll let the video do the talking.
4wd Buggy A-Main Results
Random Thoughts:
- We rolled into town in a bad ass pimped out right hand JDM Mitsubishi Pajero that Ryan Luna bought. It was totally trippy being on the left side of the car and in control of nothing.
- I can only wonder what the racing surface was like before they dumped some clay into the mix. Was pretty "beachy". Must have been a sand trap before!
- Good to visit other tracks! Good bunch of guys there and great support from the local hobby stores. Tons of great door prizes! Still can't believe we can't have a track in the Toronto area.
- The drive sucked. Up at 1am Saturday in bed at 11pm. 21 hours up takes its toll. I guess I am getting old. I fell asleep in like 5 minutes.
- California set ups DO NOT work at this track...haha...I must have changed a dozen things and while it was getting better it still wasn't where I wanted the car to be.
- Little Damien Lamy drove really well for a 12 year old! LOL Laid the smack down. I was told his dad built a nice track in their back yard for him to practice...I thought of this too, but my kid is going to play golf...where the $$$ is...haha
- Good racing for the most part. Most of the guys were pretty clean but the guys who weren't were REAL hacky.
- Who would have thought that a British Pub would serve decent butter chicken?! Abiye convinced me that it would be good simply because the picture on the menu "looked legit". It was actually really good.
- You cannot go wrong with Holiday Inn Express. Totally worth a few extra bucks to sleep in a nice room with nice bathroom and sweet free breakfast. I hate staying in cheap ass ghetto hotels.
- Insane variety of cars being raced there, which is refreshing. A/E, Losi, Kyosho, Tamiya, Durango, Hot Bodies, Schumacher, X-Factory, PSi Racing, TQ Racing and MRC/Academy were all present...crazy.
JB'isms
- JB I think actually took his shoes off when he went to sleep. I may be wrong though.
- JB set Abiye's Bose iPod dock to repeat play Milli Vanilli's Blame it on the rain and then left for lunch.
Abiye'isms
-Before we left Abiye rebuilt his shocks. I was shocked (haha pun) with what was inside them. half filled, black oil...awesome.
- Abiye trusted JB to glue his tires even though 3 tires coming off the rims that JB glued cost him the win at the RC Pro Series Canadian Finals.
- Abiye had zero luck in the A Main. He got the short end of every stick when it came to pile ups and marshalling.
Abiye's lovely shock oil...
Pics:
The Pajero! This thing had LED lighting, 7" DVD, Bluetooth stereo (streaming iPad and iPhone music), GPS, independent rear heating controls, turbo timer, insane off road lighting etc etc.
The Track Layout (sorry I lost my auto stitch program)
Close up of the beach (freshly tamped)
The GTA Crew
"The Prodigy" 12 year old Damian Lamy (nice kid)
Damian's unique rear end (complete with sway bar and lead weight on the hubs)
A little tagging on Steve's Tamiya
Some of variety of cars at the event:
PSI Kit?
TQ Mid Motor
Schumacher 2wd
Schumacher 4wd
Durango
Damian's B4
Steve's Tamiya (sweet paint..haha)
Schumacher 2wd
Concourse winner
I think I got the shaft on concourse. Come on this shit is TIGHT! haha
High flying action over the double table (note plexi wall to keep everyone in check)
See Mike I was smiling!
Roostin'
Abiye and JB were playing on the beach and making sand castles with my car stand!
Local CTV news crew was there.
Thanks to Ryan Luna and Robert Bekkers for letting me use some of the photo's and video's. I am waiting till after Christmas to get a pimpin' new camera!
2wd Open B Main
Everyone pretty much ran Step Pins or Goosebumps. I noticed by later in the day there was a harder surface exposed on the racing line. For the main I decided to use JConcepts Flip Outs and I think it was a good choice (for me at least). A bit of a gong show start put me into second place and then I biffed it off the double table to go to like second last. I managed to work my way back up into the mix. The race was pretty good with the top 4 of us training around for a bit and jockeying for position. Not a whole lot of passing but lots of gifting of the lead by all of us. I worked my way into the lead for a bit but I crashed off the double table and gifted the lead to a hard charging Matt Stacey. Chased him down for a few laps and got within a second of him when we got into some lapped traffic. Eric Deschenes must have thought the battle for last place was important as he would not move over even though the announcer told him he was a lap down and the battle for the lead was coming through. We tangled a couple times before I could get around him (yes I am bitter). Drove my ass off and closed in on Matt about a second per lap but I was one or two laps short as the buzzer went and he managed to hold me off to the finish to take the bump up spot to the show. Matt drove a super clean race. So my day was done.
2wd Buggy B-Main Results
| 1. Stacey, Matt | -17 Laps - 6 min 18.32 sec | (X Factory X-6²) |
| 2. Summach, John | -17 Laps - 6 min 20.03 sec | (Kyosho) |
| 3. Catricala, John | -16 Laps - 6 min 5.94 sec | (Tamiya TRF201) |
| 4. Laliberte, Steve | -16 Laps - 6 min 16.38 sec | (X Factory X-6²) |
| 5. Glover, Joe | -16 Laps - 6 min 20.13 sec | (Tamiya TRF 201) |
| 6. Breen, Sean | -15 Laps - 6 min 0.41 sec | (PSI LMX) |
| 7. Wright, Tom | -15 Laps - 6 min 3.11 sec | (Tamiya TRF 201) |
| 8. Deschenes, Eric | -15 Laps - 6 min 8.21 sec | (Schumacher) |
| 9. Gutuescu, Mihai | -15 Laps - 6 min 18.95 sec | (Tamiya TRF 201) |
2wd Open A Main
Total gong show! Rough start and lots of banging going on. I think in the first 1/4 of the race half the field broke out! (I think they all did it on the same lap too!) Matt did the B Mainers proud by getting into the third spot, David Lecuyer was in the second spot and Damian Lamy was GONE in first place. He stretched out a comfortable lead and then smartly put it on cruise control for the remainder to take the win.
2wd Buggy A-Main Results
| 1. Lamy, Damian | -17 Laps - 6 min 1.86 sec | (Associated FTB4) |
| 2. Lecuyer, David | -17 Laps - 6 min 15.63 sec | (X Factory X-6²) |
| 3. Stacey, Matt | -17 Laps - 6 min 18.38 sec | (X Factory X-6²) |
| 4. Solt, Jake | -17 Laps - 6 min 19.42 sec | (Associated B4) |
| 5. Tyler, Kevin | -16 Laps - 6 min 3.28 sec | (X Factory X-6²) |
| 6. limlaw, Joe | -4 Laps - 1 min 41.49 sec | (X Factory X-6²) |
| 7. Lamy, Gaetan | -3 Laps - 1 min 1.93 sec | (Associated FTB4) |
| 8. Gagnon, John | -2 Laps - 0 min 38.9 sec | (TQ Racing) |
| 9. Legault, Benoit | -2 Laps - 0 min 42.69 sec | (Schumacher) |
4wd Open A Main
Another gong show start. I missed a bunch of this as my loaner camera was all screwed up and I tried fixing it. I think it was Joe Glover out in the clear from the start and took the win with Benoit Legault in second and Damian Lamy in third. I'll let the video do the talking.
4wd Buggy A-Main Results
| 1. Glover, Joe | -19 Laps - 6 min 16.39 sec | (Tamiya DB01R) |
| 2. Legault, Benoit | -18 Laps - 6 min 0.58 sec | (Schumacher) |
| 3. Lamy, Damian | -18 Laps - 6 min 7.98 sec | (Associated FTB44) |
| 4. Birku, Abiye | -18 Laps - 6 min 9.36 sec | (Tamiya 512) |
| 5. Bortolotti, Steve | -18 Laps - 6 min 13.51 sec | (Tamiya 512) |
| 6. Gruver, Chris | -18 Laps - 6 min 15.85 sec | (Team Durango DEX410) |
| 7. Stacey, Matt | -17 Laps - 6 min 3.48 sec | (Mihai Tamiya 511) |
| 8. Wright, Tom | -17 Laps - 6 min 13.21 sec | (Tamiya 512) |
| 9. Lecuyer, David | -4 Laps - 1 min 15.08 sec | (Team Durango DEX410) |
Random Thoughts:
- We rolled into town in a bad ass pimped out right hand JDM Mitsubishi Pajero that Ryan Luna bought. It was totally trippy being on the left side of the car and in control of nothing.
- I can only wonder what the racing surface was like before they dumped some clay into the mix. Was pretty "beachy". Must have been a sand trap before!
- Good to visit other tracks! Good bunch of guys there and great support from the local hobby stores. Tons of great door prizes! Still can't believe we can't have a track in the Toronto area.
- The drive sucked. Up at 1am Saturday in bed at 11pm. 21 hours up takes its toll. I guess I am getting old. I fell asleep in like 5 minutes.
- California set ups DO NOT work at this track...haha...I must have changed a dozen things and while it was getting better it still wasn't where I wanted the car to be.
- Little Damien Lamy drove really well for a 12 year old! LOL Laid the smack down. I was told his dad built a nice track in their back yard for him to practice...I thought of this too, but my kid is going to play golf...where the $$$ is...haha
- Good racing for the most part. Most of the guys were pretty clean but the guys who weren't were REAL hacky.
- Who would have thought that a British Pub would serve decent butter chicken?! Abiye convinced me that it would be good simply because the picture on the menu "looked legit". It was actually really good.
- You cannot go wrong with Holiday Inn Express. Totally worth a few extra bucks to sleep in a nice room with nice bathroom and sweet free breakfast. I hate staying in cheap ass ghetto hotels.
- Insane variety of cars being raced there, which is refreshing. A/E, Losi, Kyosho, Tamiya, Durango, Hot Bodies, Schumacher, X-Factory, PSi Racing, TQ Racing and MRC/Academy were all present...crazy.
JB'isms
- JB I think actually took his shoes off when he went to sleep. I may be wrong though.
- JB set Abiye's Bose iPod dock to repeat play Milli Vanilli's Blame it on the rain and then left for lunch.
Abiye'isms
-Before we left Abiye rebuilt his shocks. I was shocked (haha pun) with what was inside them. half filled, black oil...awesome.
- Abiye trusted JB to glue his tires even though 3 tires coming off the rims that JB glued cost him the win at the RC Pro Series Canadian Finals.
- Abiye had zero luck in the A Main. He got the short end of every stick when it came to pile ups and marshalling.
Abiye's lovely shock oil...
Pics:
The Pajero! This thing had LED lighting, 7" DVD, Bluetooth stereo (streaming iPad and iPhone music), GPS, independent rear heating controls, turbo timer, insane off road lighting etc etc.
The Track Layout (sorry I lost my auto stitch program)
Close up of the beach (freshly tamped)
The GTA Crew
"The Prodigy" 12 year old Damian Lamy (nice kid)
Damian's unique rear end (complete with sway bar and lead weight on the hubs)
A little tagging on Steve's Tamiya
Some of variety of cars at the event:
PSI Kit?
TQ Mid Motor
Schumacher 2wd
Schumacher 4wd
Durango
Damian's B4
Steve's Tamiya (sweet paint..haha)
Schumacher 2wd
Concourse winner
I think I got the shaft on concourse. Come on this shit is TIGHT! haha
High flying action over the double table (note plexi wall to keep everyone in check)
See Mike I was smiling!
Roostin'
Abiye and JB were playing on the beach and making sand castles with my car stand!
Local CTV news crew was there.
Thanks to Ryan Luna and Robert Bekkers for letting me use some of the photo's and video's. I am waiting till after Christmas to get a pimpin' new camera!
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