Qualifying

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First Qualifying Round

All the qualifying heats started from the Nitro pit areas, with the transponder timing loop going across the pit lane. IFMAR starts let everyone run on their own race clock, so for each round the racers raced against only themselves. One big benefit of running on a large track with 1/10 scale cars is that there is plenty of room for drivers to move over for faster cars, and even more room to recover from slight mistakes before hitting a barrier! No racer was called for hitting or hacking all weekend long, a good side benefit of the friendly atmosphere and large venue.

The Electric RS4 round was the first class to race, and just from watching the practice, it was easy to see who would be the racers to beat! About 15 racers showed up to race the electric class, but the competition was pretty fierce! Although about an hour separates the Austin and San Antonio racers, it was easy to see that the distance doesn’t cool off the friendly rivalry. Two heats of about 7 cars each ran, so there was plenty of room on the track for everyone.

In the first round, it was Travis Lewis, Michael Toth and John Duvall, all racers from Austin, who set the fastest times. Lap times for these racers were in the 23 to 24 second range.

After the first heat of electric cars ran, a light rain started falling, prompting racers on the windward side of the storm to cover their radios and chargers. But racers in South Texas are used to rain, and stuck around. Most visited the air-conditioned Hobby Center shop to chat with Jeanette and Amy, two of the employees there, but it was the roof cover that brought them inside, really…

The rain delay was only about an hour and a half, as the rain stopped then started again. The traction actually seemed a little better after the water dried, however, so it wasn’t seen as much of a loss. After everyone confirmed the track was fine and the weather was checked on the internet, the second heat of electric cars peaked their batteries and started their race.

The Nitro RS4 class was our largest yet, with about 60 racers total! Many of the racers were still learning the track in the first round, plus tuning 2 speeds and engines for the size of the track, but lap times were in the 23 to 25 second range for the fastest racers. The early TQ was set by Mike Umino of College Station (attending Texas A&M), but he’s originally from San Antonio, so he had plenty of support and cheers from the sidelines of the track!

In the Super Nitro RS4 class, the entries were light, but the racing was still fun to watch. The lap times of Ron Meloni, the early TQ for this class, were almost as fast as the Nitro RS4 class, proving that the Super Nitro isn’t any slower, just BIGGER!

Second Qualifying Round

In Electric RS4 class qualifying, Frank McKinney recovered from a first round DNF to set the TQ pace, only to have it taken away in the next heat by John Duvall! Luckily John and Frank are headed to the NORRCA Nationals in Las Vegas this week, so they can share setup tips! John’s TQ beat Frank’s time by about a second and a half, prompting many of the San Antonio racers to rally behind Frank (who lived in San Antonio until moving to California late in 1997 to work at HPI).

Nitro RS4 qualifying didn’t budge the TQ time set by Mike Umino, who had a rough time in the second round of heats. Most of the other racers were gaining on Mike’s pace, however, as they learned the track and passed valuable race tips between themselves.

The Super Nitro RS4 racers kept their same order in the second round, with Ron Meloni getting faster and faster as the day went on.

Third Qualifying Round

The heats on Sunday started at 11 AM, giving the racers extra time to practice and socialize. Even though the qualifying was scheduled to start at 9, some of the racers weren’t at the track yet (perhaps because of extended socializing the night before), and it was decided to give them extra time to set up. Since this was meant to be a fun race, the schedule wasn’t taken too seriously!

John Duvall’s TQ time in the electric class held firm as Frank, Michael and Travis each did their best to catch it. Frank was actually on pace to beat John’s time by a couple of seconds, but cut the decreasing apex turn at the end of the straight too tight and got stuck for a few seconds. That’s what you get when you try to cut a couple of tenths off your lap times! However, Frank did get a 22-second lap in there somewhere.

In the Nitro RS4 heats, Mike Umino still had a bit of trouble but no racer could get close enough to his TQ time to be a big threat. Mike was able to breathe a little easier as the end of 1/10 scale Nitro qualifying drew to a close and he was still on top!

The Super Nitro racers all improved their times, but Ron Meloni was still in the pole position with first-time racer Daniel Lin trying to give Ron a run for his money!