This years Reedy Race was held at the superb facility of Tamiya USA in Aliso Viejo California.
The Tamiya track is one of the best tracks in the USA and has been track for the Reedy Race for many years now. A total 130 drivers entered the race in three classes. The Spec 19 turn, open modified and the invitational class. The invitational class this year saw the best drivers ever. With 8 world champs and several other champions they battled it out in eight rounds of finals which were mixed every round. So all drivers competed against each other spread over 8 rounds.
XRAYâ™s Joel Myrberg and I arrived already on Monday afternoon at Los Angeles international airport. Rick Howart from Peak Racing USA was so kind to pick us up and we were heading to our hotel. After having a fresh dive in the swimming pool and some food it was time to sleep. The eleven hours flight with nine hour time difference kept us no longer awake!
The next day we scheduled some practise at the famous SoCal raceway track. In the evening we also joined the club race which was big fun!
The next day we hang out at the beach to relax a bit for the days to come.
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Thursday the race started with controlled practise. Each driver had four rounds on Thursday and four on Friday to get a feel of the track and find the set-up. This race was the first big outdoor race after the Worlds. With the new T1FKâ™05 I was very confident to do well. It was very interesting to see some teams with redesigned cars and all trying to be as competitive as the rest. In the early practise session it was clear that World Champ Marc Rheinard was really fast with his Tamiya ride. Team XRAY with Ralph Burch, Mike Dumas, Joel Myrberg and I were as competitive as most other teams so the first day everybody was pretty satified.
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On Friday it was the day to test additives and fine tune the car. After switch from the standard chassis to the new 2mm chassis the car had more traction and the lap times were going down. Also with the all new 2 degree toe-in blocks, the car felt much more stable and more coexistent. To get some overall steering I changed the front spring from baby-blue to white.
The buggy grip additive worked best with the RP30 controlled tyres in cool and hot condition. On the end of Friday the car was very easy to drive and fast. For this special format of racing itâ™s needed to have a car that you can race and battle with. 7 turns motors were used by most racers.
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On Saturday it was battle time! Racing against the worlds best isnâ™t easy and a good start was needed. After having some good finals I started in the last round on the last row and it was time to changes some radical stuff. Because four sets for eight rounds were allowed I tried something new.
After talking with Ralph we both decided change strategy by using new rear tyres and the used rear tyres in the front. This might be not super-fast but more consistent for the next rounds to come. Having this, it means more under steering. I increased my rear anti-squat in the rear from 1.5 degree to 2.25 degree by using the new eccentric suspension holders. This gave more steering and better rotation through the corner. I also changed from the very stable PF stratus 3.0 to the more aggressive Mazda 6. After this round were I finished fourth I was very happy with the set-up and having in mind that for all other finals I could use the same tyre trick!!
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Sunday started with a cool track for the first two rounds. In these rounds the car was very good but it was hard to beat the guys who had still new tyres left. After this exciting day both Craig Drescher and I had the same points but Craig won the race over me by a faster final time.
Ralph, Mike and Joel had some really good finals but going fast is not enough to win this special race.
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Final thoughts:
- All XRAY cars looked really good and were very competitive.
- The new XRAY option parts were excellent performance-wise and helped me a lot
- Peter Robinson won the Spec 19T for XRAY by dominating the race.
- Jared Scott and new team driver Bobby Flack made the open mod final.
- Jared Scott should have won the open mod but bad luck did not allow him to take the victory.
Specials thanks to Mike Reedy and Scotty Ernst organising such an event. Also thanks to the whole XRAY team and RC America for their great support! Last but not least Team Orion/Peak for the great horsepower once more.
