Midwest Motiv Carpet Indoor Race #2

Last weekend, I went to the second race in the Midwest Motiv Indoor Carpet Series.

170 miles of driving, to go to a r/c race.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Company/MOTIV-presents-the-Midwest-All-Star-Carpet-Series-102677532856/

Amusingly, something like 1/3 of the drivers were people I know and drive with at WindyCity.

So lets start off with the track.



I got to talk with Bill, the race organizer before I got to get in and run.  The building is from the 1890's, and... shows it.

It's hard to see, but the floor isn't flat.  Like.. at all.  The back straight waves a little, and the floor has bumps by the pillars.  Cars would lift tires, would rotate more, or less, as they went around the infield.

The race track is over the hobby shop.  The hobby shop has 15' ceilings, and tin tiles.  It's awesome.  ... it's heavily weighted towards supporting the dirt oval.  I was looked at a little funny asking about Tamiya parts.

Speaking of the dirt oval.  The pits and track are in a newer building attached to the back of the HobbyTown USA shop.



I did not get to run on the oval at all.  But it seems that most of the cars they run there are slash based.  My education on dirt oval stuff is to say the least, lacking.

As much as WindyCityRC is a destination track, so should be Revolution Raceway in Oshkosh.

My question at the shop, regarding Tamiya parts stems from this.

I brushed the inside of the sweeper and the car got directed straight to the outside of the track.  My wonderful PSM chassised TA-07 slammed into the outside wall and broke some parts.

The track felt tight.  Some spots on the track were quite narrow.  For instance the gap you see on the right side of the picture below, is smaller than 5'.  

It's tight here too...

Happily I took to the track rather quickly.  I was very concerned about being ready for the track.  I showed up at 7:40am. (Yes, this means I left my house at 4am..)

I got batteries charged, motors swapped, weights setup, and the cars going.  Then I got a solid hour of practice before the racing started.

My pit technique needs some work.

When I stepped out for lunch, I saw this nutjob.  I expect it's a DUI-cycle.  But kudos on anyone for scooting around in the snow and slush.

In an effort to be 100% legal, I did a 5 minute project on my VTA car.  Koro Sensei drives my Baracuda.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_Classroom

I did catch some people running on the oval track.  Seems lap times are in the 3.5 to 4.5 second range.  

I'd like to try it sometime.  I should have asked if I could have run my VTA car.  Hah. 

So how did I do?  I wasn't last in VTA, but my USGT car was definitely not served well by my driving.

How was the racing?  The racing was great.  Adam Ska is doing a great job making this race series happen.  The race day goes fast, races are happening on time.  Cars are getting teched and not holding things up.



I got caught in tech for being light!  That was an easy fix... but still, effective teching is lovely to see.  Mike did a great job at the tech bench.

I'd go again. Sadly, the next race in the Motiv series syncs up with the Tamiya Championship Series race in Chicago, so I'll be missing that race.

As usual, here's the rest of the pictures I took.

Maker Knife - The best utility knife.

So, my favorite, maybe second favorite sweede is this guy named David Windenstal.  I got introduced to him through the great people at Flite Test.  Following his things on youtube, lead me to find out about this guy Gaico Whatever. 

.....  Well Gaico and David did a thing.  A kickstarter came up a few months ago, about a new kind of utility knife.  One that locks out positively, easily retracts, swaps blades easily, and well... does all the things right that Stanley doesn't. 

My knife arrived.  I suspect it's Gaico's who's the artist here, and the artsy vibe drips off this product, everywhere.  The first example is this, the bubble packing:

Inside the bubble packing, I got a whole lot more than I was bargining for.  I expected the well packaged knife, but it also came with some stickers.  The best one is the gift sticker.  An offical transfer of ownership. 

And.. that might actually mean something given how well this thing is made.

Ok, onto the packaging.  

The red seal "might" be the best part of the packaging.  "Make your last, bad, cut here"

Clean, well made box, with proper labeling all over.  Lets go inside.

Opening the box, you get the foam cradle for the kinfe, and, foam glued to the top of the box.  Usually the foam bit is a separate piece.  I like that it's glued.  Attention to detail is everywhere.

Giving credit where credit is due.  A nice touch.  I keep saying that.  I guess that's because this thing is covered in nice touches.  

Speaking of which, they give you a screwdriver to take care of the adjustments on the knife.  I think the worst thing I can say, is that there's three kinds of fastener head on the knife.... 

Under the foam tray, you get the instructions, some spare screws, and a band-aid.  Again, a thoughtful touch.

So lets look at the knife.  

The actuation is with the ring in the handle.  It slips in and out with all of the satisfying click of a well worn in lockblade knife. 

Mine had some trouble...  and needed tuning beyond the two adjustment screws, but in the end, I got mine working properly.  Gaico's support was helpful, and while not "fast" there is no such thing as a utility knife emergency that's not best fixed with a trip to the hospital. 

I'd totally buy one again.

At some point, I'll show how the locking mechanism works.  But I'll give that a while :-)  It's clever, I like it.  Kudos to Gaico and crew for doing that so well.