John and Cristian went to Connecticut for the RC Madness 1:18 Off-Road Carpet Nationals in Enfield on April 13-15. Primarily we were there to network with customers, manufacturers, and other RC-types. But we were also excited about participating in the racing. It was the first time for both of us to race 1:18 Off-Road, and John’s first time racing anything. Read on for Cristian's summary of the weekend...

Friday was the 1st “official” day of practice. Most of the racers got to the track on this day, and everyone was anxious to get their cars dialed in. Space was at a premium on the drivers’ stand, and there was a line to get on of about 15 minutes each time. John and I were lucky that we chose Spektrum DSM technology, so we did not have to wait for frequency clips one time!

My cars were always pretty good, but I was lacking a little speed. In the Mini-T, I switched to a Reedy mini Mod 17 turn and in my RC18T, I threw in a Li-po pack, with a mini Mod as well. The Mini-T was plenty fast, really easy to drive, but the RC18T, with a Venom 2100mah Li-Po pack was a beast! So fast, that I had trouble taming it.

I only did a couple of adjustments to my trucks but mainly focused on trying to get the most amount of track time I could for the day, after all practice makes “almost not quite perfect!” At around 7:30 pm, John and I packed up and went to the hotel to get some much needed rest. (We were at the track from 8:30 am to 7:30 pm, and this was a short day!)

Qualifying started around 10:30 am on Saturday. I was in Race 11 and 12 for the first round. 11 being 4wd modified truck and 12 being 2wd modified truck. John was in race 2. Three minutes before his race, we realized he had forgotten to install his hand-out motor, doh! So after scrambling and some quick mechanical skills by yours truly, we managed to get him to his first ever R/C racing qualifier. What transgressed later, well I don’t know if I can put that into words…

As for my qualifying, it was pretty disastrous as well. All I knew was that my Mini-T was great! The RC18 T was a little more difficult to jump and drive straight, mainly because of the 4wd, but probably more because my truck was WAY TOO fast ( I guess Rob is Rubbing off on me!). In the first round I managed to climb up to 4th in 2wd truck and I had a DNF (did not finish) in 4wd, because my gears were skipping due to all of the power my truck had, so I decided to pull the truck off before it stripped the gears.

In the second round my fortune was reversed. In 4wd, I had a great run, finishing 2nd place in my heat, behind Josh Anderson (who ended up Top Qualifier for the event and won most of every class) from Team Associated, about a lap back, which put me 5th on the qualifying grid temporarily.

In 2wd truck, I started reeling in the leaders, and 3 laps into the race, as I had taken the lead for fastest car on the track (and Top Qualifier paces), when a corner marshal stepped on my truck and broke the battery hold down, which gave me a DNF for the second round of qualifying, but at the same time boosted my confidence as I knew my truck was fast!

In the other classes, the fastest guys were the usual suspects. Josh Anderson was quickly picking up the pace to Dominate almost every class he ran. Zack Barry, the Factory whiz kid from Team XRAY was top 3 or top 5 in all the classes he participated in. Team AE’s Tony Phalen and Quark’s Frank Root deserve some mention as well as these guys were all legitimate contenders for the crown. In 4wd modified, the early TQ was Megatech (Pro-Pulse) Team driver Mike Wilder Jr and in 2wd Modified local fast guy Mark Smyka was setting the pace.

Sunday Morning proved to be a very long, but very exciting day for us. There was still one more round of qualifying left for us, so we still had a chance to move up in the ranks.

In 4wd, I had moved up to the fast heat, to run with all the “A-mainers” Which was cool because I finished 5th in the qualifying run, but with a slower time than my previous run. A couple of other guys went a bit faster in this run than myself so they bumped me down to 9th qualifier.

In 2wd Modified I had a horrible start, but managed to get back on pace after the first minute or so. I was able to start laying down the fast, consistent laps that I knew my Mini T was capable of doing. With a minute left I had dropped my pace to within a couple of seconds of TQ. I kept pushing it until the last lap when I crossed the line at 18 laps in 5:06, one second off the TQ pace. I now knew my Mini-T had what it needed to possibly bring home the win.

In the mains my RC18T was dialed! Off the starting line I managed to go from 9th to 4th after the first corner and hung with the top 3 cars for the first lap. Going into the second lap, 5th place ran me off the track and the whole rest of the field freight-trained through me. This proved to be costly as my motor gear mesh became realy tight and made my truck behave very erratically. To make it short and not bore you I finished, where I qualified, 9th place. I was bummed because I knew my truck was better than 9th place.

2wd Modified was again a whole lot better. I had loved my truck since the first time I put it down. I had managed a 3rd place qualifying position which I was quite happy about. Off the start I knew I could pass second place as he was running rubber and I was running foam tires. Foam tires typically are lighter and hook up better on carpet, but as a downfall are not as good landing from jumps. The buzzer goes off, and effectively I passed 2nd place. What I didn’t expect was that 1st was going to go wide in the sweeper, so I tucked in there as well and found myself in the lead. Unfortunately, I thought about it way too soon. Three corners later I hit the pipe and EVERYONE proceeded to overtake me.

After a couple of strong laps I found myself back in the hunt, managing to work up to second place. I managed to close the gap on the leader considerably, but right as I was actually getting within striking distance, a car flew from another lane and T-boned me going over the crossover. I lost about 10 seconds in this wreck, but fortunately I didn’t lose my position and ended up finishing second. Not too shabby for a first time out though. I was excited and disappointed at the same time, because I knew I had the quickest car on the track.

The day kept going as there was still 6 or 7 more A-mains to be run, plus the trophy presentation. Team Associated’s Josh Anderson proceeded to win almost every category on the planet with the usual suspects (Root, Phalen, Barry) rounding up the top spots in most classes. Special mention should go to Team Losi’s Mike Haynes who won 2wd stock and 2wd modified, he was the smoothest and most consistent driver in the two classes. After all was said and done it was 11:00pm, I think I speak for John as well, we were exhausted!

The R/C Madness crew did a great job again this year, running a smooth and exciting program all weekend long. If we had one suggestion, it would be to start qualifying on Friday next year. The event has grown too big and popular for Saturday and Sunday only (that’s a good thing, growth is great for our hobby, plus it means more time away racing our Toys!)