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Tamiya DT02 challenge SHRCC 2013 Race Report

The Tamiya DT02 challenge was held last weekend at the excellent SHRCCC club (Link here)   in Farnborough Over 30 Drivers came from all...


The Tamiya DT02 challenge was held last weekend at the excellent SHRCCC club (Link here)  in Farnborough

Over 30 Drivers came from all over the country to meet for the first 'Tamiya Fighter' style race in the UK. There were two classes available for the drivers to enter



  1. Stock: Holiday Buggy and Sand Rover stock kits, with the only modifications being oil shocks, front shock brace and up to a 23t motor.
  2. Mod: Any DT02 kit, any mod and up to a 19t brushed or 10.5t brushless motor.

The track was 200 miles away from me and I havent raced a 2WD buggy for a very long time so I was really looking forward to the experience of racing the DT02 with a range of different drivers and enthusiasts.

Concourse 

Sunday started off a little overcast and once everyone had set-up there was a concourse competition where John Weston from Iconic RC picked up the top honours for his smart looking paint job.
From left to right, 1st 2nd and 3rd
It must also be mentioned that there were a lot of exceptional looking cars lining up for this competition, and the detail and care that had been taken was fantastic, my son was smitten with the cars, and loved looking into the cabs of the Holiday buggies looking at the many different custom drivers there.
The attention to detail had to be seen to be believed!

Practice

A brief drivers meeting was held and then it was time to take the cars out for a practice. My son was racing a Holiday Buggy in the Stock class, and I was racing a very tweaked (Article soon) Sand viper in the Mod class.
Ready for practice

From the start I was pleased to see that Holiday Buggy just seemed to stick to the track and the 23t Sports tuned motor gave it just enough speed to negotiate the bumps and turns of the SHRCCC track with comparative ease. The car was keen to lift its front wheels but the spiked rear tyres were always going to do that as they dug into the astroturf.

I took out my modified car and it surprised me how well it handled with the base set-up I had made. The car had only really been finished the day before so it had just raced up the street and back for a couple of minutes to test it went in a straight line.

Racing

The racing on the day consisted of 5 heats with 4 rounds for qualifying and 4 finals providing an A and B final for both classes.

Qualifying

The weather was still quite overcast as the qualifying started. However that did not matter as the spectacle of watching these cars was fantastic, they looked great and quite scale as their suspension soaked up the bumps and they pulled wheelies as they battled amongst each other for the lead.
1980's Flashback!
As the mod cars came out on the track, some of them were surprising the drivers as the 10.5 motors gave us some epic length wheelies covering the main straight, but soon the drivers started to reign in the power and the mod class cars were really flying around the track.
Chasing down the competition in the Mod class
It did not take long before I started to get into the swing of racing a 2WD buggy. I had set my cars suspension to be quite low. The front had a lot of camber and toe-out allowing me to hook into the corners, I soon managed to do quite well on the infield and I was becoming pretty confident with the buggy, although there was a double kick up near the finish line which I just couldn't nail as my car seemed unstable after the first kick-up.

Lunch ..... Box

After a couple of rounds we stopped for lunch, and as there was a lot of Tamiya enthusiasts there the opportunity for an aptly named Lunchbox race was too good to miss. The trucks looked fantastic grabbing some spectacular air and rolling around the circuit.
More classic action, these cars will never get old

Back on track

The sun was now shining and the push towards the final qualifying positions was on. Malcolm Mcdougall, Lee Davies and Richard Morris were blazing a trail in the Stock class, with Nick Stokes joining them in the battle for the modified honours.
The Stock classes proved that 23t motors can still provide speed and big air!
All classes had some close racing in the afternoon, the Holiday Buggy's and Sand rovers amazed people by staying intact despite some impressive rolls, and the mod class DT02's impressed by achieving 14 laps on the circuit. As a point of reference 14 laps is a good amount of laps even for the 'serious' 2WD models that normally race on a club day.
The Action was hotting up in the Mod heats 

In my races I had to put some timing on my motor. I was far to slow on the main straight and would loose any advantage I had gained in the infield. I also began to dial out the toe-out on the car, as when combined with the bump steer on the DT02 it seemed to be making the car unstable at times (on the small bumps of doom). After each race I made small adjustments and the car got better and better, although I was being too cautious with the amount in which I changed them (I am used to racing TC's where a small adjustment can make a large difference, so habits are hard to break) I was also cautious that if I put too much timing on the motor it could go boom and I didn't have a spare.
John Weston tackling the 'bumps of doom!'

With the qualifying over I managed 5th for the Mod A final, and my son managed to qualify first for the B final (not bad for a 10 year old).

Finals

So here were were ready for the finals. The sun was still shining and everyone was ready to take to the track to grab victory.

B final Stock

The cars line up for the first final of the day.

This was the most stressful race for me and I was not even in it. Max was at the front of the grid and he looked pretty small standing on the podium against most of his fellow racers. As the race started he managed a really clean start and took the first sweeper superbly and maintained his lead. I watched on as the race continued and their was a lot of drama. The whole field was racing hard and there was a fair few incidents and Max was being chased throughout the whole race by Torran Hayward and a collision with another car popped the shell and it was hanging off. I could hardly look but Max just carried on and managed to claim victory, making a very proud moment for me.
Max picking up his prize

A final Stock

12 cars racing for the honours in the A final

The A Stock had McDougall charge from the front of the grid and stay there with a superb drive. The rest of the field had an intense race as they vied for the remaining places.

Malcolm receiving his prize from Simon Mitchell

B Final Mod

Torran Hayward qualified first and just charged into the first corner to establish his lead. He then held off challenges from Simon Mitchell and Andy wade to claim the honours.
Torran taking the victory prize from second place man Simon.

A final Mod. 

Nick Stokes was on pole with Malcolm Mcdougall and Lee Davies ready to chase him down. As the race started I managed to make a great start and gained a couple of places to get to third place, and then took second half way around the track. Unfortunately I got tagged by a car and managed to face the wrong way but quickly resumed back in third. At the front Nick was driving smoothly. As I raced on I managed to hold onto third but then that damn kick-up claimed me and flipped my car out of the marshal's site. I lost my advantage and found myself down in fourth as the guys up front battled for the chequered flag.
Lee Davies racing on to claim his victory!
At the front of the pack, Lee Davies was flying and after an uncharacteristic mistake from Nick Stokes he was able to take the lead on the 7th lap and held onto that position as Malcolm (2nd) and Nick (3rd) gave chase but that was the order in which they crossed the line.

I also managed to hold on to my 4th position holding of the threat of the Nissan Titan of Kevin Dent.
Lee claiming his well deserved prize.

Winners Parade!

The prizes were kindly supplied by Fusion Hobbies and Hunter Systems.









Overall 

It was a fantastic day and everyone enjoyed it. There was a great bunch of people racing and SHRCCC did a fantastic job of hosting the event. Lee Davies and Simon Mitchell must also be called out for setting up the event.

Would you be interested in this event next year? let us hear your opinions on our facebook page (Here and in the link on the top). I will post a feature soon on all the mods I made to my DT02 soon.

Also thanks to all contributors for the photos.
tamiya 5880386389600570687

Post a Comment

  1. Excellent write up. The double kick-up you mention ruined my Mod B Final due to no oil left in the shocks by then, haha. :-) John Weston

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great write up, this is why i like RC! Grass roots racing!
    Where is this DT-02 write up? I'm looking at getting 2 kits for my sons for christmas, would be interested in what you did to yours!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the complements :)

    The DT02 tuning tips will be ready very soon. If you go to the facebook page you can like it and you will get notified of updates. The DT02 is a very strong chassis, my son has one and he loves it.

    ReplyDelete

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