All wrapped up at the 2025 edition of Motorama, one of the coolest events on the calendar that we get to be a part of. With legendary Scotty Earnst on the mic and 1 million square feet of racing and entertainment action packed in one location it's a must attend event. On the R/C side for 1/8th scale we have Ebuggy and Etruggy on an always pretty unique, spectator friendly (big back jump) racetrack to battle it out on. This years track had it's challenges with a supercross style jump section on the left, an 80* drop on the top left, an option lane in the middle of a fast middle diagonal straight, and a bumpy (by weeks end) daytona turn into a 5 pack of skipping across the top singles.
My week showed some promise at times and a bit of a struggle at others. In etruggy I tried the new Kyosho KPI hubs on it for the first time in practice and seeding. I was just lacking some steering though. I think these hubs could work on truggy, but I think they are going to be best suited for larger more open tracks and or high grip as far as the trucks are concerned. Once I switched back to basically the same set-up that I ran last year my truck was able to pivot the tighter corners quicker and was more responsive on this more technical layout. Good learning moment.
Tire wise I was trying a couple compounds, but practice was limited with just 1 open practice and two seeding rounds per car before jumping into Q1 on Friday afternoon. I tried SS and SSLW and pink and perhaps when the track was a bit wetter had the most success with the SS. Seeding though I was a bit off pace and I heard others were saucing and I hadn't done so yet but I was able to at least get into the A sorts for when qualifying started. Tread pattern wise I was primarily liking the Mach One, but I gave the Aurora a shot but found they didn't have the steering needed on this track and I gave the Super Mini a shot one qualifier but I think this track just needed the most amount of rubber on the track and so Mach One was what I kept going back to.
For Q1 on Friday evening I got off to a fast start. I ran SSLW Mach One in both classes and opted to sauce for the first time, this time using FDJ red. First up I was able to take a solid TQ in Etruggy with the hot lap of the round which was awesome. In buggy I crashed on the first lap thru the 5 singles and lost 5 seconds but rebounded with a fast remainder of the run to take 3rd for the round with the second fastest lap just .006 behind.
In Q2 truggy I had a great 4 way battle for the lead and would take 2nd just 0.3 tenths out of TQ. Buggy I would break on lap one tumbling through those singles. (This was really a hard section to hit on your first lap without being able to do a practice lap thru them. Lining up was a challenge with some ruts developing at the end of the daytona turn.) In Q3 I would take a 3rd in truggy, again a very close race for the top 3 or so and in buggy a few crashes had me langusihing in 7th.
Finally in Q4 with TQ on the line in truggy as 3 different drivers took tq in the first 3 rounds it was up to this final run. My pace stayed consistent and while others were getting faster laps I was able to run the cleanest and take the TQ by 0.6 tenths and nab the overall TQ in the class! In buggy I had a bit better of a run though still just not comfortable as I battled with the rear being a bit loose and lacking forward drive this weekend. I would get a 4th in the run which would qualify me 5th overall into the triple 5 minute A mains.
Sunday brought the A's and and they were all bunched together. First up was Truggy and I knew it was going to be a challenge for me as the guys right behind me had been on my heels all week and were a touch faster on fast laps and I knew I had my work cut out for me. In A1 of truggy Spencer got by me on I believe the daytona turn and I ran 2nd for a while trying to keep him close but on lap 7 I crashes on the front left hip and fell to 4th which is where I would finish. In A2 he got by me again on lap 1 but I got him back on lap 2 and held the lead until lap 10 when a marshal was grabbing a crashed car obstructed my view of the end of the daytona turn and of course my truck hit a rut and because I couldn't see it I wasn't able to try to correct it and Spencer got by me and I had to settle for 2nd and he took the win and the overall. In A3 I was able to lead out for the first 3 laps but i'm pretty sure another tumble this time early in the daytona knocked me to 2nd and again on lap 8 and I fell to 4th. Super disappointing in my final result as I was competitive in the class all week but just couldn't hold it together in the finals overall finishing 4th.
In buggy A1 it was just tough in that midpack battling it out and I fell to 8th and then had a rough landing on lap 7 and broke the servo linkage rodend ending A1. A2 was much better and I moved up to 3rd on lap 1, but a crash on lap 6 dropped me back to 5th. I was able to recover one position on lap 9 and finish in 4th, +1 from where I started at least, but I just didn't have the pace or comfort in the class that I needed. In A3 I decided I just wanted to try something different and I went with Pink compound instead of the SSLW I had been running. Didn't really make a difference with my fast lap still being the same as I had with the SSLW so I didn't get any improvement. Race wise it aws a struggle with a long crash on lap 1 and into 11th and only recovering to 9th by the end. Overall with the two I finished I would take a disappointing 9th.
For sure not the results I would strive for but still some positives to glean including the TQ in Etruggy. Also dialing in the use case for the new KPI hubs for the truggy will be beneficial moving forward. And learning more about my tires and looking forward to some new treads we are working on in the coming months! Good things coming!
As far as set-up sheets. Truggy was the same as last year with SSLW Mach One tires with FDJ red sauce and Buggy I wasn't comfortable all weekend so I would also defer to last year. (It's possible, at least for me that the KPI hubs weren't ideal in buggy on this track for me either. Though I never tried without them. So many things to try, and just not enough time to do so!
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