JConcepts takes Super Cup Round 4

Event: Super Cup / Outlaw Cup round 4
Location: Coral Springs, Florida
Date: July 25-26, 2009
Classes: Electric / Nitro
Race Reporter: Jason Ruona

It's Coral Springs time again and we were excited to make the trip to one of our favorite electric tracks in Florida. It's really hard to choose a favorite track in Florida but this track reminds me the most of the 90's style electric tracks at Lake Park. Coral Springs follows ROAR rules and even asks for your ROAR membership during registration. They run a clean organized operation and it's always a pleasure racing with that group.

The 3 1/2 hour drive is a little rough but we've made the trip so many times now the Ford's might actually auto pilot the way down but I can't find that button on the dash. We stopped at the FT Pierce stop and fueled up and I got one of those ice-cream chipwich snacks. These things should be illegal they are so good. I wanted ice-cream of the future but settled for a cookie of the future. I wonder if the cookie monster has ever tried the ice-cream cookies? If he did that might change the whole program.

Arriving to the track it had suffered some rain damage but everyone was practicing and having a good time of it. Paul and I quickly setup shop and started wrenching. Paul was putting the final touches on his T4 and was mounting his Hi-Flow body. White with white stripes we call it. Paul was also testing out some new rear T4 wheels that we should be releasing in the August / September releases. These new Rulux T4 rear wheels are for using a standard rear axle.

I spent most of my time installing the radio gear for my new M11X radio. 2.4 GHz here I come! I'm finally making the switch and it just feels weird not having an antenna on my radio. As I told everyone I have a built-in excuse if I don't perform. :)

I decided to sit out 4wd because I was sitting in a good position points wise and didn't need to run to win the overall.

I was in a point’s battle with Ryan Eckert in the 2wd class but Ryan is on vacation and was unable to attend. So I would like to thank Ryan personally for the gift this time around. :) I wasn't really happy with my previous 2 results in 2wd at rounds 2 and 3. I was driving a little wild at Lake Park and just blew out at Outtacontrol so I was looking to establish my pace once again.

2wd is just so fun at Coral Springs because of the traction and layouts. I highly recommend 2wd at Coral Springs.

Paul hit the track for some practice while I tried to figure out my radio install work and bind my radio. I've never "binded" before so that was a new experience. Very 2000 and late!

It isn't fun wiring up an RC car when you’re really picky about the way it looks. I think I starred at my 4wd longer than worked on it because the wiring was jamming me up so bad. It looks pretty good now but I'm still not completely happy with it. Ugh, they are just wires right?

I walked out to the track to con JP into a few laps with his buggy. I started driving it and the trim was off. Now I'm trying to adjust the trim on a Futaba and I don't know what I'm doing. JP unlocks it and I made some changes. I'm happy now! :)

Paul was running some hot laps with his B4 and I went back to the trailer for a little A/C action. The track crew started track maintenance and added a few obstacles. I'm never wild about single jumps but it was also a challenge so I was up for it.

Paul and I finished up our wrenching and walked outside to find we were the last ones at the track. 2 guys that spend the entire day working and talking about R/C were still at the track getting it done. After all these years apparently there is still some passion left? ;)

The LaQuinta was calling our name so we checked in and got ready for dinner. Long Horn is one of our Coral Springs favorites so we dined with them. Is a Shirley Temple a girls or kids drink? I really like them but I'm looking for a new name so I can at least get some adult credibility. Red Dog? Seven in Red? I think I'm going to cultivate one of these 2 new names and see how it goes. Perhaps add it to a Wikipedia page?

We thought about Sharky’s for later but decided to post some photos online and call it a night. Did guy see how nice the track and surrounding area looked in the photos? Dialed!

We were trying to get an early start because of rain concerns so we set the alarm for 6:00am. :(

We arrived at track early and we weren't the first ones to arrive. Super Cup director Bobby Phillips was setup and getting entries entered. 100% committed!

Paul and I got the 2wd's ready and hit the track for practice. It was my first run with the new M11x and no antenna. Weird! The Groovy fronts and Double Dees rears felt good but I was feeling Goose Bumps coming on with potential weather concerns. For the first round I put on the Double Dee fronts we made for this track about a year ago and I borrowed a set of Goose Bumps from Paul for the rear. I didn’t notice at first but I think he gave me the more worn out set.

First qualifier went off at roughly 9:30 and we were pressing the program because we wanted to finish the day before the rains hit. The first round seems to take the longest as all the transponder check-in takes forever now. I don’t remember checking in back in the day for racing. We actually didn’t take warm-up laps either. I’m blaming an overall longer race program on Brian Kinwald. He was the first person I saw warm-up before qualifiers in southern California and now we spend almost as much time warming up and checking in than we do qualifying. Thanks BK!

Paul and I were in race 3 so we had our cars ready to go and starting “checking in”. Track was wet and loamy and looked a lot like the old days. Everyone loved it! The track had traction the tires were not wearing and the cars came off the track dirty and they looked like off-road vehicles. Pretty cool actually. The hardest part about trying to keep a wet or watered track is the longer it stays wet the bumpier the surface becomes and the less control everyone has. Ideally to keep the track wet you would have to groom the track every couple races. Again, this adds time to the program and depending on the turnout there just isn’t room for this much track work. Blue groove is the answer to shorter more consistent race programs but unfortunately is not as much like off-road and the tires wear faster.

Paul and I started the qualifier pretty quick and made the way through traffic. Bobby was calling me on a 14 lap pace for the majority of the race. My buggy felt good but I had a little under steer in some of the sweeping corners and it was a little loose coming on the front straight away. I needed it to “square up” as the experts say. I made a mistake on the left side double and needed to be marshaled. I finished with 13 laps 6:01 and Paul finished with 13 laps 6:04. Pretty quick first round.

Paul was up with his T4 and he was running Goose Bumps on the rear and Double Dee’s on the front. It looked cool with that combination and it was pretty dialed on the track. The new wheels were working flawlessly and Paul was running with a truck for the first time in about 8 or 9 years. His last truck was a T3!

I ran out to the track to take some photos and watch some racing. The Short Course guys were beating and banging as usual and JP, Bart Collins and Sean Kersten were the front runners in the stock Slash class. JP was sporting the Truth body with his custom paint job. Pretty impressive looking!

4wd modified looked to be the funnest class on the track as Sean Kersten, Roly Cusine and Mike Barone looked to be quickest. We will see what happens come the main events.

Stock truck and stock buggy was a battle between Dave Bowser, Tim Kowal and Jeff Lynn. We are anticipating a good race here so we will see how the mains turn out.

Short Course open was the last class of the day and I just had to drive one after watching Tim Kowal’s truck. With the Oakley inspired paint job and Goose Bumps the truck was on rails. My first impressions were this is the perfect track for this truck and 2 the tire combination was the secret to the truck feeling so good. Everybody that drove Tim’s truck wanted a short course truck. Of course I was still looking for more power!

We had a short rain delay and now the track was even wetter than round 1. I was going for the 14 laps but the track was developing some holes and bumps so it wasn’t as easy to get down into that time bracket. I finished with 13 – 6:00.

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