THEQuagraine
THE JQ World Tour – Travelling THE World #rcgypsy Style
Category Archives: Race Reports
Rhein Main Warm Up – Germany Day 1
It’s late, I’m tired, and I still have to do my clutch, so eff off. Find something else to be offended about and someone else to hate today.
NEO17 Setup
Since getting back to Finland things have been hectic. Not had time to sit down and do many thoughtful blogs the past few days. I still owe you some form neo. For now, here is the setup the team ran. The main points to note, are the drilled pistons, they really make a difference! Get the stock fronts, and the 1.3 rears, and drill them out. I use this drill kit myself.
The other great change was the +1 degree hub inserts, that gave much needed forward bite, and good rotation in tight low speed sections. Make sure to pit the + towards the inside.
For the NEO17 setup go here.
For all BLACK Edition Setups, check here.
The NEO Race 2017 Black Edition Loaner – Q & A
Name: Fat Jesus (aka David Gibson)
Nationality: English living and working in USA. (5 years)
What type of racing do you do?
1/10th and 1/8th off road.
How long have you been racing?
I started when I was a kid, stopped for a while and then started again about 8 years ago.
Current chassis / manufacturer?
Well last year it was Mugen, this year I have changed to HB but so far this year I have only run the 1/8 electric chassis.
How would you describe your skill / experience level?
Competitive / good club racer
Other races recently?
PNB 2017, Motorama. Reedy race.
How many Neos have you attended ?
About 5
How have you found The Neo generally this year?
The event’s as good as ever. Having been racing in USA it is great to come back to this level of professionalism and event organization. Phil, DXR, the BRCA and all the other staff do an awesome job, but the quality of drivers and competition is great as well.
How have you found spending time with the JQRacing Team?
Is this a serious interview ? (smiling) Its been good fun, everyone is helpful. A small but genuinely passionate team. People seem to be in the team because they genuinely believe in what JQ is trying to achieve. By the way it’s possibly the rudest team I have ever pitted with. It’s good fun. (smiling).
What were your reasons for trying a BLACK Edition?
Two reasons, one I was genuinely tempted to buy a Black Edition but once Lee Martin signed with Infinity and decided to race the HB I did as well. (note : Lee Martin is a friend of David’s so he generally runs the same chassis as Lee. Currently Lee is able to race different chassis as the infinity product does not exist yet). So my reasons for trying the Black Edition are that I had previously consider buying one, my HB nitro chassis arrived too late to get prepared for The Neo and when I saw the JQR Black Edition loaner for Neo advertisement I thought it was a great opportunity.
Initial impressions?
Solid. Looks strong. Well put together plus some clever ideas like the electrics being easy to install for example. You can tell it is designed by an engineer and racer as there are good solutions to common problems.
Practice impressions?
The Black Edition immediately felt safe, neutral on the jumps and good on the bumps. JQ suggested more toe in on the rear hubs and it was good throughout day one. However I did not do enough laps due to small engine issues and a few maintenance related teething problems.
Qualifying?
I drove poorly for the first round, crashing mainly due to poor judgment of distance. Once I got in the groove from Q2 onwards the Black Edition was excellent. As the track got more rutted it became obvious the car has no vices. Jumps, bumps, holes, the wash board section the Black Edition was excellent.
This the fourth year I have been eligible for the over 35 final and the first year made it. It is also my best ever overall Neo qualifying. To achieve that with a car with which I had absolutely no previous experience with says a lot about the Black Edtion. (Ed. note David qualified 101st overall)
Finals?
The BE felt good. Even with track rutted the car handled well. I struggled with getting into a driving rhythm though, partly due to engine damage affecting the tune
Overall?
It has been an awesome race meeting, I really enjoyed it. I qualified well but had a few engines issues in the main, however due to the strong qualifying I may not have bumped anyway. The car was really good, it didn’t miss a beat all weekend
Over all comments and thoughts?
I have run a lot of different cars and this is the first one I have run that I can’t think of a weakness. A very very good car for people to try. Probably what speaks to the truth of that more than anything is I have now asked my local stockist in the US to sell me a BE and Ebuggy so I can keep running the brand as a paying customer! JQ’s design is good and he was helpful throughout neo with setups and parts.
Finally a huge thank you to all of the JQRacing Team, especially JQ and Liam (Team Manager). The car, pitting, help, it was fun, the team supper, awesome weekend. Many thanks.
Neo17 – Day 4, Mains & Pains
JQ cleaning up his car after smashing it to bits in his semi final. According to JQ himself he got so excited about catching and passing Dakotah Phend and Darren Bloomfield that he imploded.
Neo17 is done. 1th impressions.
– Ongaro was impressive, it’s almost like he is a virgin.
– Wings are overrated, clearly.
– At least 1/3 of JConcepts won the race. #raceaka
– Maifield ran out of white wheels: Final proof that yellow wheels are slower.
– The world champ was driving two cars. Too bad they were attached to the same chassis.
– AE team broke all non-AE parts. #wearen’tAE
– This just in: Typical Euro Layout suits stick radio.
– Maifield was on fire in eBuggy.
– Neo just isn’t the same without Hollywood and Showtime. I love them both, please come back!
– Xray: Wollanka didn’t turn up for his final, Coelho didn’t turn up for the event, Tessman’s tyres didn’t turn up for the main. #ProConcepts #2Bcontinued
Neo17-Day 3, THETeam Supper
On this day of celebration, I have outsourced my blog to Fat Jesus, as I have to focus for tomorrows mains. There will surely be more juicy blogs next week. For now, enjoy being told what to do.
Fat Jesus’ 10 Commandments:
1. Thou shalt all go BLACK Edition.
2. Thou shalt not covet your neighbours car.
3. Thou shalt not marshal like Spaniards or Italians.
4. Thou shalt run eTruggy. Tis brilliant.
5. Thou shalt only drink hot chocolate with coffee.
6. Thou shalt never case THE Quad.
7. Thou shalt enjoy THE Team Supper.
NEO17 – Day 2 – Qualifying Part 1
Well, it’s slightly challenging to write about the top guys, because I am busy smashing into them in the top heat. So far the highlights of my qualifying.
- Waffle stomping on Tessmann in the quad, creating the even lower low profile cooling head. Sorry Ty!#godworksinmysteriousways
- Marco Baruffolo Special (MBS), 9 second marshaling in a 3 second crash. Please see Neil Cragg for marshaling advice.
- Ruining Ongaro coming onto the straight, absolutely perfect showing of the wheel. #wrongplacewrongtime
- My 10 second heavily assisted last lap crash in eBUGGYYYY after a good run.
- Quading over Coelho like the Touring Car With Jumps Champion he is. Winning.
- Beat Maifield in warm up. Later he told me he was on the phone. Just kidding. He said he just putts around.
- Only REDS to do the quad, until Marco Rossi showed up and yelled at Maifield.
- Best looking car in the woops. #stewable
- I mainly crash on flat sections.
A lot of engineering going on in this hall!
Ironically, I am at the moment exactly where I normally am, around 20th. A year ago I wrote “It Sucks to Suck” and around the same time publicly announced that I would rather not suck anymore, and that I would try and improve as a driver. Well, one year later, same result, so FAIL you might say, but I’m actually not too unhappy. The reason is, that before I had this 20th or so pace when driving perfect heats, and not crashing. This year, I am having meltdowns, or crashes of epic proportions at times, and I am still 20th. The thing is, that I am in fact a lot faster, and also pushing more, and I just end up with one or two crashes, or traffic issues, and my time is basically about 10-15 seconds slower than a clean run. What that means, is that I basically have a 10-15 second better pace now, and if I can eliminate the mistakes, I will be much better. And it’s not like it’s impossible. In the 2nd round, I had 10 great laps, and one crash on one lap leading to a 9 second loss.
Having said that, I always drive a lot better in finals, so with the speed I have now, I am quite confident for the finals, I think I can do well if everything works. It’s going to be great fun to do battle (NO pun intended) in the mains.
On another note, JQRacing had a driver (no, Fat Jesus) in the old man final, and another, Max Mört in the Junior Final today, which was great. Too bad I had too many mistakes to make it 3/3.
The Batmobile attracts chicks! Also, please someone tell all women in the whole world that high cut jeans are terrible. Thank you.
Neo Day 1 -PRACTICE
Day 1, so far so good. Practice has gone better than ever before at NEO. I seeded into both top heats, 14th in both, which I have never done before. My lap times are OK, but still 1 second off the best. I would like to see if I can find the pace needed. My cars feel really good. I made changes for each round, and both times the changes improved my car. Now for tomorrow I will just leave them, and drive as well as I can! Sounds easy.
The track is very good in my opinion, faster and more flowing than most years. Similar to last year, which was the first of this new style. I prefer this a lot to how it used to be, tight, hairpins, etc. This is wider, and more raceable. It also has sections where good drivers can go for it a bit more, and make up time, which is how great tracks should be. We don’t want everyone doing the same thing every lap. The surface seems really bumpy and uneven, catching a lot of drivers out in seemingly easy sections.
There is really no rest, you have to be driving your car and concentrating at all times. In the first practice, I kept forgetting that the front straight ends right after the driverstand. I just went straight and then last minute handbrake, which was quite embarrassing.
Everyone seems to be running clay compound once again, the AKA guys running slay Typos for the most part it seems. I don’t know if one tyre is better than another, they all seem to be pretty equal at this point. As for car’s, this track isn’t really the kind of track that will favour one type of car, because it has a good mix of everything, it has the jumps, and woops, but it also has on power bumpy corners, as well as off camber sections, and tight corners. So a car really needs to be good at everything, and not be lacking in any department………………….C-hub!
Max Mört is doing very well at his first NEO, and so is Petri Ström, the mini cup champ running a loaner. After each other in 54th and 55th.
I really only have one main point from today.
We started racing at 8:30 or 9, and the day ended at 8pm. There were 23 heats, and we all raced 3 times, except the lucky ones racing both classes, that got to run 6 times. INFINITELY MORE ENJOYABLE THAN 6:30 TO 4AM COMPLETE BULLSHIT “RACES”. Just sayin’. We actually had time to socialise, and get some sleep.
Neobuggy is a race for the RACER, and one that looks to improve RC, with extensive coverage, a lot of track time (value for money), special dash for cash and junior final events, food, snacks, hobby shops on site, and even accomodation. It’s just really damn good, and all these professional race promoters running these money grabbing races elsewhere should take note.
Peace.
NEO17 – Day 0
Above you can see the track. Looks very nice, There is a berm, shame that it’s shallow, and in a relatively blind spot from the stand, but it could get dicey. Nice hip jump in back corner, cross over, woops, off cambers, rollers, looks flowing. Looks like a lot of fun to me! Can’t wait.
The JQ team have all arrived, I think there are 12 of us here, and that includes two rental ride drivers. First guy is the retired Petri Ström, who made a comeback, won the Tamiya mini championship back home, and automatically qualified himself for a NEO17 rental ride. Should be good. Preparation for this race, 0%. Received everything at the race. Brought his radio. Should be solid.
Fat Jesus was humbled at the sight of such immense beauty and incredible engineering.
The other rental ride was a no brainer. When we heard Fat Jesus, aka David Gibson applied, we just had to give him a go with the BLACK Edition. I mean if it’s good enough for Jesus, then how much better can things really get?
When Fat Jesus made the pilgrimage back to his homeland, he did not expect such a warm welcome.
Everyone received a nice gift pack that THE Galvinator put together, BLACK Edition beanie, gloves, earplugs, easter eggs, the right pistons, and some sort of penis pump.
Max immediately decided to launch his modeling career.
A few beers and some laughs, after Fat Jesus turned water into beer for us!
And at some point I actually managed to finish this!
SoCal Nitro Shootout #1
Out here at ProLine Raceway for the 1st ever Socal Nitro Shootout. It has been a lot of fun in the pits, but the racing has been terrible for me. I have been having motor issues, which are hopefully solved now, for tomorrow. When the motor actually ran normally I had fast laps, so if the issues are now over, I should be ok in the B or A, whichever main I ended up in. The results aren’t posted…..
It’s hard to pinpoint some engine issues, air leak, fuel tank, fuel line, carb, it’s just a mess. Seems to work fine, then the race starts and it’s all over the place. It’s just impossible for me to time anything or get in any kind of rhythm.
The track is super fun I think, I can’t wait to race tomorrow. I think it’s good this race has “heads up” qualifying, so no ifmar quals, just racing head to head. Unfortunately this was wasted on me this time. But I do hope more races use racing as qualifying in the future.
THEQuagraine 