February 18, 2016

Chassis Focus – Ryan Maifield

Thurs-MaifieldTrug-9

Chassis – TLR 8ight-T 4.0
Engine – Reds R5 Team
Tyres – JConcepts Reflex green
Fuel – Sidewinder
Radio/Servos – Airtronics/Spektrum
Body – JConcepts Finnisher

Remarks – Having been testing the all new 8ight-T 4.0 from TLR for a few months now, Ryan Maifield already has a base setup for the car in these conditions. The car, which is 11mm narrower than its predecessor, has only had some minor changes made to its setup with the Arizona native using softer springs front and rear. A result of the new driveline being straighter than the 3.0 he has had to go up in the centre diff oil from 10K to 15K to get more drive to the rear wheels.

Image Gallery

PostBDNC

February 18, 2016

Chassis Focus – Ryan Cavalieri

Thurs-CavRC8T-1

Chassis – Associated RC8T3
Engine – MX B2R
Tyres – AKA Grid Iron soft
Fuel – MX Racing Fuel
Radio/Servos – Airtronics
Body – Kit body

Remarks – Ryan Cavalieri is making his race debut with the newly released RC8T3 from Team Associated and took the top spot after seeding. Essentially the final kit car he has opted to used Factory Team rear aluminium hubs and because the car is underweight is using 100 grams of weight in the rear of the car. Arriving with a base setup on his car he has mostly made changes to the roll centres and damper oil changes to compensate for the higher temps in Arizona.

Image Gallery

PostBDNC

February 18, 2016

Chassis Focus – Ryan Lutz

Thurs-LutzTekno-1

Chassis – Tekno RC NT48.3
Engine – Alpha Plus Dragon 3
Tyres – AKA Grid Iron soft
Fuel – Byron Fuels
Radio/Servos – Futaba
Body – Kit body

Remarks – Running the kit standard truggy from Tekno Ryan Lutz started practice with the same setup he used at the US Open race at this same track back in November. Back then the track was smoother so he has made the diffs a little lighter to handle the bumps better and to compensate for the heat he has run slight stiffer oil. Other changes include using the 1 stop stiffer than kit springs all round and for aesthetics Ryan likes to use the version 2 rear wing mount which is slight taller than the latest version.

Image Gallery

PostBDNC

February 18, 2016

Track Focus – Dirt Nitro Challenge (Fear Farm)

thu_track

Track Name – Fear Farm
Organiser – Joey ‘The Dirt’ Christensen
Country – USA
Location – Phoenix, Arizona
Direction – Anti-clockwise
Surface – Dirt
Previous DNC hosted – 2012, 2013, 2014 & 2015

The Fear Farm, so named after the themed haunted house that is located on the grounds of this large sports complex, plays host to its 5th Dirt Nitro Challenge with this being the 17th running of the Joey ‘The Dirt’ Christensen’s signature event.  Having based previous builds on a theme which in the past have included ‘Burm’ and ‘Triples’, Joey has themed this year’s track ‘Dub Step’, the key feature being two big step ups.  With Joey’s normal signature of being ‘big jumps’, this year he said he has gone for a more European style track and rather than move dirt to create big jumps he has more went with the natural elevations that exists from previous track builds.  Describing it as fast he has focused on more sweeping corners in combination with the elevation changes.  He is particularly proud of his two ‘flat lanes’ in the centre of the track which he said ‘is unusual for (him)’ but planning to use this as the starting grid, 10 cars on one lane and 5 on the other, he said this should make qualifying more important.  Describing the overall look of the layout as ‘not intimidating’, he said initial feedback from drivers was that it ‘looks easy’ to which he replied ‘ovals look easy too but its not easy to win in Nascar’.

Defending DNC Buggy Champion Ryan Maifield said the ‘layout is cool’.  The TLR driver said the surface is already super gnarly making the it ‘pretty technical’.  A super hot day in Phoenix yesterday, the Arizona native said the dirt which is old farming soil needs a lot of water to bind together and rain prior to the event is usual a big bonus but that didn’t happen and only having a water truck to wet the track yesterday in the hot temperature the single round of practice has already taken a toll on the surface.  He added that with the surface as it is it is good that the track is not as ‘crazy’ as previous years in terms of the layout.  He said the double after the finish line dropdown is one area he is finding a little tricky due to its position from the drivers stand but pointing to the double straight section he said ‘the flow of this centre section is rad’.

Image Gallery

PostBDNC