California Golden State Series Round #3
Oct. 8-9, 2011
GLARCRC in Los Angeles, Ca.
We travelled to the 3rd leg of the Golden state series this past weekend in Los Angeles, Ca. USA. The weather was perfect, and there was a great turn out of nearly 70 racers to compete in 1/8 open and 1/10 touring nitro. I normally don’t race both classes at the same event, but we thought we would have some extra fun and put my Serpent 733TE out on the track because it had run so well at the Nationals a few weeks before. In 1/8 my 966TE had not been so lucky at the Nationals and had taken a big crash which needed repairs. Unfortunately we struggled with the 966 all weekend, trying to find the right setup and get a good feel back in the car.
In the 1/10 class, my Novarossi powered Serpent 733TE was awesome all weekend! The car handled so well on the low traction parking lot, that we did not change one thing on the setup. I used the same setup as the Chipotle G.P. which you can find on the Serpent website. After 3 rounds of qualifying we had the TQ spot by 8 seconds, with fellow 733 racer Walter Diaz 2nd. In the final unfortunately, we stripped a rear belt dropping us out of the race while leading…. too bad as the car was super good.
In 1/8 we had exactly the opposite result as 1/10…… we struggled with the car all weekend, only finished 1 qualifier in which I was unfortunately taken out by a lapped car while on TQ pace leaving me to qualify 7th, and had to race the final extra hard with a car setup that I was not happy with. In the end though, we had a good strategy for the final (pitting at 5 minutes when most others pitted at 4 minutes, and going the distance on 1 set of tires that were still strong at the end when others changed and some ran out of tires) and the car was solid throughout the 30 minute final. After making my way through most of the field and getting past Mike Swauger as he had some of his own issues, I found myself in the lead with about 10 minutes to go. Everything went well to the finish and was able to get the win!
It just goes to show that you never know what may happen in racing. Things can’t always be perfect, but if you stick with it and do your best, good things will come…… and best of all, you will have a GREAT TIME doing it!!
Next race up for me will be 1/10 nitro at the Castle Classic in Union City, Ca. USA. Hope to see you there, and good luck to everyone wherever you may race at. Thank you to Serpent, Serpent America, Novarossi, Xceed, Tornado Fuel, Spektrum, Protoform, A-main Hobbies, Empire Racing, Dynamite, Avid Bearings.
Till next time………
Scott Kimbrow