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I thought i would give the news of how well I did at the North American Finals. I have won the race and I have earned the privilege of competing in the Tamiya World Championship in Shizouka City, Japan! I now have earned a shot at at the world title! I will finish the race report as soon as I can.

Alright guys. I am almost finished with my sloppy copy of the North American Finals race report. After that I will be doing a lot of editing and reediting so it will be ready to read. So keep tuned!

Ok everyone, my sloppy copy for the Tamiya North American Finals race report is finished. Now i will be doing editing-reediting very soon, I will be posting updates on how much i have completed on editing-reediting. Thank you.

I am almost done with checking spelling on the race report and after when i am done with checking spelling, I will go right to editing and reediting. Thank you for your patience.

One more update. I have finished spell checking on the North American Finals race report. I decided to spend a little more time finishing checking the spelling. Tomorrow I will get to work on editing.

Good afternoon folks.

I have decided to move the start of editing to tomorrow. Just a heads up.

I have just started work on editing. I will let you know when the race report is finished and when it will be posted.

Update.


I have just finished the race report and now i will post it online in just a few minutes. Hold tight.

Ladies and gentleman welcome to my race report of the Tamiya North American finals!

The Tamiya North American finals is a race that is held in a small city in Orange County,CA every year in a city called Aliso Viejo. Many racers from around the continent of North America come to this race every year. (From all the way up in to the northern parts of Canada to way down south in Texas.) It is a two day event that crowns 3 champions to represent their country in the Tamiya world championship in Shizouka City, Japan. This race has been my ultimate dream to win since I was 11 years old.

The class that I am competing in is called the GT2 class; this is the second fastest class in all of the Tamiya North America finals and is a trip winning class. This class uses a carbon molded chassis with inboard front suspension and numerous aircraft aluminum and carbon fiber parts. It also uses a 17.5 brushless motor that is equivalent to that of a turbo charged V-6 engine (brushless means the motor has a special type of rotor to propel the car and does not use brushes that are on a conventional DC electric motor. These cars are 4WD drive and have 4 wheel braking as well.

Two days before the finals got under way, there were two days of practice for every one to get their car setup well before the big race. The first day of practice for me started out a little iffy. Me and my dad forgot the radio that controls the car before we had a first real practice session, so my mom had to bring it. My dad and I then charged up a battery to get ready for our first practice session. For the fist few laps my car was hooking up very well, however at the third lap as I was coming down the straightaway my car made a popping sound and jumped up a half of inch and then my car coasted off the track. My dad took our car off the track and brought it into the pits. We tried to figure out what the problem was and why it made the noise, my dad then felt the rotor of the motor and it had a little resistance and my dad and I realized that our motor was toast, Luckly we had a spare motor that was good and ready to go. My dad soldiered the motor in the car and we went out for another practice run and the car ran just fine.
My dad was counting my laps on a lap counter which is a little smaller than a envelope, I was turning good fast lap times however I had to slow down for other racers who were much slower than I was. There were way too many slower cars and I decided to pull the car off the track to avoid a pileup, and/or risk any damage to the car. As the day progressed, the track got a little less hectic and my dad and I went out for several more turns and got some faster laps times due to lesser traffic then called it a day.

The next day of practice there was a whole lot more racers who were practicing on the track and now I had to be a very careful on how to navigate through the traffic. However later during the day, we had something called ‘controlled’ practice. This is a separate group of racers in a class that get 30 minutes of practice time and when 30 minutes is up another group goes onto the track and so on. When it was my turn to head out on the track my car was hooked up well and I was doing fast lap times that of put on par with the GT-1 class that is the fastest class in the Tamiya North American Finals. As we got to the end of the practice day I wanted to try an adjustment on my radio. With only a few minutes to go in the practice session I tweaked the radio to the setting that I thought would be conformable to me. Then I pulled the car off. My dad was a little frustrated with me because he believed that the car was handling so well that nothing really should have been adjusted on it. After we got home, my dad convinced me to adjust the settings that I made out on the track with the radio, and told me that if the settings didn’t work out on the last practice session the next morning, I could adjust and/or change it back to what it was in yesterday’s practice.

The next day was the first day of qualifying; I took my car out onto the track for the last practice session of the race event, and drove it around to se how well the car handled with the new radio setting. I didn’t like how it was handling at first so I changed the settings back to where it was on the last day of practice and it was hooking up like magic. I then pulled the car off the track and got ready for the first round of qualifying. Before racing began we had a drivers meeting.

The race director gave out the rules and instructions on how the race was going to be run all weekend long. After the meeting, all the drivers headed back to pit area and got ready for the first round of qualifying.

Qualifying in the Tamiya North American finals works like this. Qualifiers are 5 minutes long with a staggered start, if your car is number 2, the race announcer will call your number. Then will call of the rest of the other racers. In qualifying you are racing against the clock and not each other, but being the fastest in your class is important. If you are the fastest in your class or where ever you may end up, you will be awarded points. It is the driver who has the fewest amount of points that takes the pole position or Top Qualifier (TQ) as RC racers call it. For first place you get 0 points second 2 third 3, etc. Your two best rounds count as well as your two best times added up. The driver who has the least amount of points and the two fastest combined runs at the end of qualifying is the Top Qualifier and will start on the front grid.


Qualifying, round one.

I found out on heat sheets (bulletin board of race times) that I will be starting 4th on the grid in my heat, usually the first heat mixes up racers on which starting gird because no one has made a qualifying run yet. On the drivers stand, where you start on the grid is where you have to be positioned during the race, however this was not the case, drivers could chose their position this race, however if one spot was filled in by another driver the position is taken.

I walk up to my position on the drivers stand, which is Number 2 which is the position on the drivers stand that I have been practicing on all year round. I take a few breaths say a little prayer then, the race begins.

As my car launched off the forth grid I shoot down the straightaway into the sweeper and around the hairpin into the infield as I get a feel for the car, I notice the car is very twitchy but it is very responsive and fast through the corners. The car to me was a little on the hairy side however I am able to drive it quite well. I take the lead on the 3rd lap and now I’m on a good TQ pace. I drive it smooth and cautious but also drive hard as well, as the seconds count down, I have a good lead on all my opponents in my heat and the previous heats as well. As the clock runs to zero, I take the first round TQ position and accumulate 0 points for my first race. - Yeah!


Qualifying round two.

This time I am on the first grid and I am a little calmer getting the jitters from the first round, out of my system. When the tone sounds my race immediately begins and I take off. The moment I hear the tone, I launch off the line and the second qualifier of my heat is underway. My car is still twitchy and I’m still a little nervous while driving the car due to the fact that I am afraid of turning the car too sharp into the curbs and rolling the car over. However my fear fuels me to keep it down the middle of the pylons, dots, and from danger. My opponents have a much better pace going then they did in the first round however I’m still gaining good ground on them and still pulling away every so slightly. The second round of qualifying ends. I now have two victories for my qualifying rounds. My two best races have 0 points and I am now starting to build a good lead.

Qualifying round three.

My dad told me that it would be a good idea to sit out the forth qualifier if I win the third qualifier due to the fact your best two qualifiers count but if I get three qualifiers that have zero points, nobody else can take my TQ positions away even if I break or crash in the forth qualifier and come last. So the heat was on for me to win the third qualifier and to seal the deal for the TQ spot.

Everyone got up onto the drivers stand and we tuned on our radios and took one practice lap the get accustomed to our cars. After that, everyone drove up to their qualifying grid spot and everyone tucked their heads in and got ready for the final qualifier of the day. As the tone sounded I wasted no time on the first lap and really started to drive hard. I was keeping it smooth an easy but I also was pushing myself to do better than my previous fastest time. Competition truly has heated up but so was I. I consistently was turning fast laps on everyone and keeping the car on all fours with the shiny side up. I was quite nervous due to the fact that I had not won more than two qualifiers since the 2000 nationals which I almost won when I was 15. With one minute to go, I was starting to feel the pressure. Dodging traffic and keeping focused was really starting to add up. With 30 seconds to go I could see the TQ in my sight. Time expires and I go on to take the TQ spot in qualifier number 3. I felt pretty dang good, but I also noticed that I had one more qualifier to go before the final main events tomorrow.

Qualifying Round four.

My dad and I discussed if I should sit out the fourth qualifier after we got home last night. My mom suggested that I should race in the forth round of qualifying even though I had three fast rounds under my belt, she suggested that I should keep my reflex sharp, so I decided to compete in the forth round, even though I had the top qualifier wrapped up, I still treated this race like I was going for the overall win.

When we got to the track, I did a quick practice run and then charged up our batteries for the last qualifier. I felt a little calmer but I also was still pretty nervous. As my round was called, everyone walked onto the drivers stand, grided up their cars and then waited for their name to be called. The horn sounded and I pulled the trigger on my radio with speed like a cheetah after a gazelle. On my first lap I was immediately the leader, I was driving hard but I also was making sure that I did not drive so close to the corners the I would roll the car over and would lose some serious time. I navigated my way through traffic and kept thinking positive thoughts and kept thinking to myself keep going “Lee you are doing great”. With one minute to go I was feeling the pressure just a bit but still I felt confident. As the clock wound down to 30 seconds then ten seconds and the final buzzers sounded, I crossed the finish line first in my final qualifying heat and first in my class, now I really could say I had TQ wrapped up but the biggest part of the race was yet to come. The A main finals.


A main #1

This was the most nervous I had ever been for a race in my life, I was at least two main finals away from winning the biggest race of my life. As our race was called, me and my father got the car ready and then I got up on the drivers stand. My dad wished me good luck as he passed the driver’s stand to tech. Everyone came out on to the track and put their cars down. I was praying heavily that I would have a good car and I would get off to a good start and not make any mistakes. My heart was beating at 90 BPM and I was really anxious to get the race underway and to drive my butt of. Everyone took a quick warm-up lap and then drove up to the starting line and got into their respective starting grid, I am sitting on the TQ position, I know that this would be the most intense a main finals in my life. Everyone was grided up and ready to go. I'm just waiting for the tone.

The tone sounds and everyone punches the throttle and makes a huge dash to the first corner. Coming into the sweeper as my finger was on the throttle coming around in the hairpin I noticed my car was not turning as sharp and pushed out wide as second place turned sharper into the hair pin and tried to get me on the inside. But I was able to get by him in the inner sweeper but not by much. My car had a huge understeering problem as we came around for the first lap. The second place car had a lot more steering than I had which meant he could get on the inside better than I could. However my car had a lot more grip and control but I was understeering horribly and was quite sluggish in the corners. While second inches up on me. Everytime I pull away from him in the corners, he’s able to catch up to me in the "S" curves and the infield. With 3 minutes into the race, second charges through the S’s and gets right up next to me on the backstretch. But I'm able to get some distance on him in the sweeper. With 1 minutes and 30 seconds into the race, second place rolls his car coming into the "S" curves and now I have a good cushion on him. I am careful not to cut the corners too close and be smooth on the throttle. So I don’t mess up. Time expires and I go on to win a main number 1.- Yeah!

A main number two.

This was the moment I had been waiting for all my life. I was 5 minutes away from achieving my life long dream. My heart was really pumping now around 93 BPM and I was feeling pretty anxious but I was very determined as well. I wanted my fear to fuel me in wining this race. Everyone took one practice lap before setting their car onto the starting grid. As everyone lined up to the starting line, I took a very, very deep breath and then prepared for the race of my life.

The tone sounds and everyone yanks their trigger and speeds into the sweeper. Into the hairpin I am able to get a tighter line on my competitors. However I go a little wide coming out of the inner sweeper and 2nd place floors it to get under me. Coming into the chicane I’m able to get in front of him and then the chase for championship begins. 2nd place is right on me trying everything he can to get under me and pass me, then with a minute into the race, 2nd place turns in a bit early into the “S”s and rolls over. 3rd place gets by and now he wants a piece of me. He inches up to me and begins his charge. My car is still pushing very bad but I’m able to get a little more steering on power. 2nd place at the 1 minute mark now has caught up to me. Just as quickly as he starts to reel me in, he rolls it over. Now I have a good lead on the field and now I have to bury my head down and push forward and never look back. My heart is starting to race just as hard as my car but I tell myself to not give up and keep off the dots, drive it smooth, and not look back. With 3 minutes into the race, there is no traffic in front of me with clear sailing ahead. I remind myself to keep patient and not overdrive the car as I drive through in the corners and the backstretch. I notice that I am still gaining ground on second place and now I am starting to feel a little more confident and calm. With one minute to go, I can feel it coming! I am starting to feel a little glee but I am still nervous. With 30 seconds to go, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I still am however jittered. 10 Seconds to go! I can see, touch, taste, smell and feel victory lane! Time expiries, I go through the S curves and down the homestretch and the 13 year journey, the dream, the adventure all becomes a reality. I roar across the finish line first and take A main # 2, the overall GT2 championship and my life long dream!

My quest for the Tamiya North American Finals and Ticket to Japan was at last, a blessed reality!



I was pumping my arm as I came on down from the drivers stand in wonderful ecstasy, Shortly after I came to the exit of the drivers stand, I had about 40-50 people swarm towards me giving me very huge hugs, one after another, from race officials, to drivers to past champions who had won the championship in years past. At last I could finally be part of the champion’s family.

Just after my race I got a call from my childhood and lifelong hero Scotty Ernst telling me that he was hugely proud of me and I worked very hard all these past 13 years. As a added bonus he said that while I was getting ready for my race, he was running and announcing another big race in my home track in Milwaukee WI that he stopped running the heat’s for a moment so he could broadcast the race over the loud speaker. After I won everyone went nuts and were hooting and hollering. I then told him thank you for giving me a dream to pursue and to never ever give up. I told him that I was thinking about him and I could see his face in the sky, before I started my final a main race.


I was really excited about my victory, however, I was calm as well due to the fact that I had been dreaming to win this race all my life. But for some reason it just felt different that what I expected when I was 11 years old, 13 years ago.

I watched the last main races of classes and then came the awards ceremony. I was waiting in anticipation for my name to be called up, as they shuffled through the class winners. Then…the moment I have waited for since childhood. My name being called to the victory podium as I receive my ticket to Japan. I climbed up on the Number 1 podium, receiving a whole barrage of flashes from the cameras. My parents and I headed on home with the winning trophy for the first time in my life.

Me and my friends (who came to stay with us during the week of the race), all went to Outback Steakhouse had a good dinner and talked about how their races ran and the glory days. Then we went back home and went to bed. The next morning my friends packed up and we all exchanged hugs and they headed home to Milwaukee. After they left I went out to the front porch a looked over to the nature park and smiled and then thought:

I did it… I finally did it.

Thank you so much for reading this race report, the next race that I plan to do will be the Tamiya World Championship in Shizouka City, Japan. I am very pumped up! Once again I welcome comments, and I will be more than happy to answer any questions about the awesome sport of remote control car racing.


Here is video of me winning the last two A main races.


Final two A Mains

The 2009 Tamiya World Championship is only 21 days away for me. I would like to take this time to explain what the Tamiya World Championship is and how it is run.

The Tamiya World Championship is the Olympics, Super Bowl, or World Cup of amateur Remote Control Auto On Road Racing. During the beginning of the Tamiya Championship Series season, which around January to March, There are regional races held in numerous towns and cities, around the world ,and in the United States. There are regional races held in countries such as Canada, England, The Philippines, Thailand, China, Japan, Hong Kong and even Lebanon has a TCS series and hosts regional races there as well. After when the regional season is over, the racing leagues around the world host their national/continental races to determine who will be representing their country and continental in the world championship. The Asia Cup, hosts national championships in Thailand, the Philippines and other countries in the Asia cup to determine a winner and representative for their country in The Asia Cup continental championship, The Winner of the Asia continental championship will go on to the Tamiya Worlds in Japan. The UK hosts their national race for the trip to the World Championship as well as North America. In Japan, where the Tamiya Championship Series was created, Hosts their "regional championships" all over Japan, and the winner of the regional competition in Japan goes on to the World Finals in Shizouka City, Japan.

Now, on to how the race is run.

The race is held at the Twin Messe Area in the Shizouka City area, the race is held on a 160X60 (I believe) Ozite Carpet track. Ozite is a type of carpet that is used for RC Auto racing. The race is 3 days long, the race this year will be from the November 20th through November 22nd. You get 3 practice runs, The track is very slippery and loose when run on for the first time so you have to be careful not to overdrive your car and be smooth on the throttle. Once the first three practice runs, the track usually get's a little more grip, and then the race moves on to "qualifying practice". Qualifying Practice has two rounds and are treated like qualifying to see who is fastest so far. The rounds are 4 minutes long and are determined by the fastest single lap in the round. The racer with the fastest single lap is considered the fastest racer so far. Up next is "qualifying". This time there are four rounds but still are four minutes long. Your two best single laps count and are added up, and the racer with the two fastest single laps is the Top Qualifier and will start on the front row in front of the grid. The top 12 drivers with the top 12 fastest "two" laps go on to the "A main", for 3 heads up rounds of racing, while the rest head to the B main which is one round of heads up racing.

The A main Finals is a 5 minute heads up on the tone start, which means once the tone sounds everyone takes off and the race begins. Racers are encouraged not to hit or spin anyone around or else they will be called for a ten second penalty. Which is very huge because a lap in the Tamiya World Championship is usually 16 seconds long and you will be down a lap if you don't behave on the track. The winner of the round is the driver who finishes ahead of his competition at the end of five minutes. The winner of the 3 rounds of heads up racing is decided by points. If you win your race you get one point if you come second, two, third, three and so on. Your two best races count, the racer with the least amount of points at the end of three rounds is the winner. The rules for the Tamiya World Championship will be released shortly.




Last year's world championship track layout



The pit area



The drivers stand

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9CHdyZ795U&feature=related[/youtube]

Video of one of the A main finals at last year's race

All right everyone. The rules for the 2009 Tamiya World Championship have been given to me and i would like to explain how the rules will work. Qualifying works a little different than what i have explained before. There will be 4 qualifying rounds, 3 of them will be on Saturday November 21st and the last one will be on Sunday November 22nd. After the last round of qualifying, the mains will start. For every qualifier you finish you get a point. If you come in first in one round of qualifying which is the fastest single lap. you get 0 point's, if you come in second you get 2 points, 3rd three points, etc. The racer with the two best combined lowest points at the end of 4 rounds is the Top Qualifier and will start on the front row. Another thing to mention is in the GT2400 class (the class that I will be competing in) will be running a lower downforce wing, or as they say it, they will not allow you to run a upgraded wing that they sell. It will have to be the wing that comes with the kit. Which happens to be plastic. The motor that will be used this year will be the (Formula Tuned 32T motor) 32T means how may winds are on the motor which is 32 turns. This motor is a little slower this year than last years motor.



Type of wing that has to be used for 2009 world championship in the GT2400 class.





Type of wings that cannot be used in the GT2400 class this year.



The motor that has to be used in the GT2400 class.

I thought I'd give an update on my racing. This last Saturday, I just won a road course, 6 round, national championship point series called the "MJGTC" or Mini Japanese Grand Touring Championship. Which happens to be based on the Japanese Grand Touring Championship, a full scale, real car racing league formed in Japan in the early 90's which is now called the Super GT series. These cars are a little smaller than the touring cars that I ran in the Tamiya North American Finals. They also run body shells that are based off of Toyotas, Hondas, Datsuns, Mazdas, and other cars that were raced in the 70's, 80's, 90's, and a little bit of the 2000's.







Body shells used in the MJGTC



One of the chassis run in the MJGTC

The race format works like a points system similar to NASCAR and F1. In every race/round there are 2 qualifier's, 5 minutes long which either are a staggered start, which you race against the clock and not other racers, or a heads up on the on tone girded start, depending on what the race director at the race venue decides to use. After the qualifiers a is a 6 minute on-the-tone race that decides the winner of the round. The series started in late July and ended this past weekend in November. This series was held all over the southern LA/Orange County, on many different surfaces indoor and outdoor. From indoor carpet to outdoor asphalt. You get points according to how well you finish in Qualifying and the mains. I you come in first in qualifying you get 100 point however if you com in second in the A main final you get 98 points, which brings your total to 198 points of the round. Points in the qualifiers and the mains start out from 1st being 100 points, 2nd 98, 3rd 96, 4th 94 and so on. Your four best races count, are added up and you have your two worst rounds thrown out if you have bad race or you missed the first two races. I missed two of the 6 rounds of racing, so the races that i did not attend were removed and my four best races were counted. I went on to win the second round in qualifying and the the mains at a indoor carpet track called OCRC raceway in Huntington Beach. My next round was in Gardena, CA (southwest LA) in a parking lot, where I won qualifying but came in second in the A main in a very grueling race for first. Then i competed in round 5 which was held again in Huntington Beach, California, this time in a parking lot in a sports complex. I came 2nd in both qualifying and the mains. The last round was held at a asphalt permanent racing track called Bending Corners Raceway in Orange, California. I came in second and lost to first in the second round of the qualifier's by more than a tenth of a second after five minutes of a intense battle. In the A main I managed to only come 4th due to the fact that my motor overheated a was very sluggish on top speed. However, I had already had enough points added up for me to become the MJGTC US Finals Expert Class Champion. This happens to be my second national championship this year and my fifth overall in my career.



Me leading the first round of qualifying of Round 5 of the MJGTC. (Purple/Green Miata)



Me battling it out with second place in the qualifiers of Round 6



Another shot of the battle in the same qualifier in Round 6.

I will be leaving for Japan for the Tamiya World Championship on November 17th and I will be flying into Japan on the 18th, it's going to be a long trip, but I welcome it because I like long flights. Another thing to mention is that I have been taking Japanese on Rosetta Stone which has helped me learn how to say some greetings and other words in Japanese.

In just 17 hours I will be departing for Japan, practice begins on Friday November 20 at 9:50am Japan time. I will start doing updates on how well I am doing in practice, qualifying and the mains. From November 20th (practice) through the 22nd (mains) I will give updates on how well I am doing in the Tamiya World Championship.

All right guys, tomorrow is practice rounds, right now it's 9:25 pm here in Shizuoka, Japan. I will be posting my times and how well I do in practice tomorrow.

-Lee

Konichwa everyone.

I had a little bit of a touch practice today, in the first qualifying practice round, i qualified last but in the second, I qualified 7th, I believe. Tomorrow is three real qualifying practice rounds. Wish me luck.