KO Propo Nitro Grand Prix, February 24-27 2011
I would like to take this time to introduce you to the world of radio control nitro powered on road racing. This form of radio control car racing is much different than that of electric powered racing. These cars use engines powered by hobby grade nitromethain fuel, they use two speed automatic transmissions that shift down the back straight at 60 MPH. A clutch that is built between the engine and the gears can be used to adjust the how fast the gears shift down the backstretch. You don’t want the car to shift gear too early or too late, you want the car to shift at the right time. The car I am running is the nitro powered touring car class, which is similar to the electric touring cars that I run. However these cars are wider, are heavier, and use a little more aggressive down force. These cars also use spongy-rubber type foams tires that can wear down very quickly. There is a lot more maintenance on these cars that of one that is electric. These cars need to be cleaned thoroughly when brought home and the engine needs to be oiled up when not in use.
How a nitro powered car starts up is much different too, unlike electric where all you have to do is plug in the battery and flip the switch, you have to plug in a battery, which controls the servos that control the throttle and steering. The next thing you have to do is place a device over the top of the engine called a “glow plug starter” which helps in getting the glow plug fired up, and then you have to put the car over a device called a “starter box”. This is a box that has a battery and electric motor, which helps power a flywheel that helps rotate the engine’s flywheel when pressed down. This help fire the car up, but when the car is fired up, you have to warm the engine up by applying he throttle a quarter of a way in order for it to stay running or else the car will stall. Once the engine is warmed up you have to rev the engine every two seconds in order to keep it running or it will stall as well.
Now I will explain how the racing is run. Just like in electric racing, qualifiers are 5 minutes long, however drivers are given threes minutes to warm up their cars by taking practice laps around the track. When there is 45 seconds left, the drivers will come into the pit area for refueling, by their pitman that they chose to help them out today. They then will drive slow out of the pits and conserve fuel before the horn goes off. Some drivers will just wait at the line before the scoring loop is live, and when the horn goes off, and they cross the starting line, their race begins. The racer to complete the most amount of laps in five minutes is the top qualifier, and starts at the front of the grid. There are six rounds of qualifying and the driver’s fastest qualifying round determines where he ends up on the grid.
Qualifier’s 1-2
My car was not handling as well, It was a little loose on throttle turning right, my first qualifier was ok, but my second qualifier didn’t go as well, at the end of the second qualifier, I was sitting 15th overall in the B main (AKA top 20 racers).
Qualifiers 3-4
My car was still continuing to be ill handling in the 3rd round. My dad then checked to see if there were any other problems with the car, He noticed that one of the suspension arms were binding up and he fixed it, still in the 4th qualifier the next day the car still was very loose on power turning right. My dad then took a look at the car again, and found that one of the shocks was binding up as well too. Dad fixed this problem, which I hoped that this would help my car handle much better in the 5th and 6th qualifiers
Qualifiers 5-6
This time, my car was on the ball. I could drive more aggressive turning right, which allowed me to push the car harder. I was coming up on a driver who was not letting me by and being very stubborn, it is considered common courtesy to let the driver who is faster than you are by in qualifying. I accidentally hit him from the rear end causing his car to go flying; he was very upset about it while yelling at me on the drivers stand. After that I continued to drive a clean and fast race with me ending up tenth overall and improving my time by over a lap. I decided not to talk to the racer that I took out on the track, and apologize to him because I know he would of said something very harsh, or respond to the action in a bad way, I decided not to talk to him and let him cool down. The last qualifier was my best run which I improve my time by four seconds which put me solidly in the top ten. The top 8 are the racers is the cutoff for the A main. I am sitting 2nd in the B main but I have a chance to make it to the A main, I will explain how.
In the race the C main (which is the top 30 racers) and lower is 15 minutes in length. The B main is 20 minutes in length and the A main (top 10 racers) is 30 minutes in length. The top two in all the mains (except the A main) bump up to the next main (i.e. B main, A main, Etc). How the race is run is that a driver has 3 minutes to warm up his car and take practice laps around the track, when there is 45 seconds to go the cars will go in for fueling, and their pit-man will walk the car to the backstretch and a man with a flag will walk to the starting line and as the drivers rev their engines, the man will raise his flag or stick over his head which means the pit-men will have 5 seconds to refuel their cars, after 5 seconds the man will lower his flag/staff to the ground and pit men will put the cars on the ground, once the flagman lifts the flag off the ground, or the tone sounds, the race begins.
During the race, a tank of nitro RC car fuel usually last about 5 minutes, so you have to enter the pits and refuel every 5 minutes until the end of the race. I was a little nervous before my first race but I still felt a little confident
B main
I took my 2-minute warm up period around the track then pulled the car in to the pits to refuel and then my pit man walked my car to the straightaway and got ready for the race while I was revving my engine. Once everyone got to the backstretch the flag man raised the flag over his head, everyone fueled up, the flag man lowered his flag, the tone sounded and the race began. For the first three laps I was swiping places back and forth between 1st and 3rd and I almost got caught in a wreck, by the 5th lap, the first place driver and I began to break away from the pack. As 5 minutes passed I go in for my first pit stop, I drive my most consistent and try not to cut the corners so tight where I would break my car, I do my refueling stops when my pit man calls me into the pits and refuel as best as I can. During the end of the race, I feel calmer and I am able to drive the car with more confidence. As the race ends I take 2nd in the B main which gives me the 10th and final spot in the A main.
A main
Before the race begins there is a short drivers introduction. After that everyone fired their car up on their respective starter boxes, I had trouble trying to fire mine up but I was able to get my car running after a minute. I then took some practice laps then pulled it in to the pits and my pit man walked my car over to the backstretch, after that the flag man raised the flag, then lowered it, the cars were lowered to the ground, the horn sounded and the race was underway. There were a few cars that rolled over at the beginning and I was able to get by. With 15 laps into the race I began to settle in and let faster traffic by as much as I could. I went in for my pit stops when I was called upon to; I let faster drivers by when they were coming up upon me, which I did for pretty much the entire race. Halfway thorough the race, It was getting a little exhausting letting other racers by, but I still marched forward. I went in for my last pit stop with 3 minutes to go. A minute later, the two race leaders who were battling it out for the win were coming up on me and I got out of their way immediately. Time expired and I would go on to place 7th in the A main in my first ever nitro powered touring car race. I was feeling pretty good.
After the race, I helped tear down the track and helped put away the boards into the trailer truck, then my team and I went to a Peruvian restaurant to celebrate our accomplishments that night.
Thank you for reading my race report of the KO Propo Nitro Grand Prix, I will let you know when my next race is when I get the chance.
04 Mar 2011, 12:59 am
