Sunday July 23rd started out as any other day in the hustle and bustle of a TCS race. Racers from across the United States gathered together with the local boys in the last regional showdown before the Nationals (August 19th and 20th). The line started up at the wee hours of the morning with an overcast sky around 6am, prior to the gate opening and practice session beginning at 7 am. The difference: a tropical wall of humidity that seemingly clung onto every surface and unseasonably high temperatures due for the middle of the day. There were even bolts of lightning in the skies a few miles away attracting the attention of the racers and the occasional wary look upwards. All the distractions disappeared once the portable generators, air compressors, and Fred Medel on the P.A. system started up their own routines for the day.
This was by far one of the largest TCS Regional events in the history of Tamiya America, Inc. There were 196 entries and 124 individuals total for the last qualifying event of the year. The result was a 22-heat qualifier round, with very interesting choices by the drivers for different setups. The top three most entered classes in order of popularity were correspondingly GT1, GT2, and GT3. The all new and dare I say cute, Suzuki Swift in the M03M chassis was exciting to watch in the M-chassis battles. One interesting note this year was the experimenting of different bodies to use for qualifying in the GT classes. The majority of bodies seemed to be the Nissan Skyline R34 (old and new type), but a few cars that went against the norm stood out also. One was Orlando Sherman with the new Audi A4 DTM body, which although unproven in R/C racing, was keeping him on a TQ pace during round 1 of qualifying. A few others ran the Porsche Carrera GT to a bit of success, one notable being Tony Tam and his 2nd place finish in GT3 with an orange Finding Nemo paint scheme. Traction was a big issue and racers were scrambling to figure out their own "TQ setup", especially with track temperatures at over 120 degrees Fahrenheit at 6pm! As always, it was exciting to watch the drivers try and take the TQ spot for their respective class. Juan Aveytia, a Northern California favorite, was nearly set off his TQ run in the 2nd round by two very talented young teenagers, Christian Lopez and Timmy Valles. With Mr. Aveytia's pride at stake, it was a breathless race as the two young men put themselves at a TQ pace several times but slipped away in the closing laps of their qualifying run.
By the time the 2nd round of qualifying was over, darkness was starting to set in. That is when things started getting interesting as each round of the Mains got less and less light until finally we had to lug out our lone spotlight in an attempt to light our enormous track. The last 10 heats raced practically in complete darkness, with only a random fluorescent pit lamp or faint LED from an ESC to guide their way. It was quite amazing watching the racers negotiate the low light track conditions. Surprisingly, all the racers managed quite well in the dark and actually adapted quite well, a true sign of skill and past experience parking lot bashing. All in all, it was a fun event and we would like to thank everyone for their support and staying with us to play until the very end. Please come join us at the Nationals for more fun and special event sales!!
R3_Race_02_Spec_A_Main.pdf
R3_Race_03_GT-3_D_Main.pdf
R3_Race_04_GT-3_C_Main.pdf
R3_Race_05_GT-3_B_Main.pdf
R3_Race_06_GT-3_A_Main.pdf
R3_Race_07_Formula 1_A_Main.pdf
R3_Race_09_GT-2_D_Main.pdf
R3_Race_10_GT-2_C_Main.pdf
R3_Race_11_GT-2_B_Main.pdf
R3_Race_12_GT-2_A_Main.pdf
R3_Race_13_Mini M03_C_Main.pdf
R3_Race_14_Mini M03_B_Main.pdf
R3_Race_15_Mini M03_A_Main.pdf
R3_Race_17_GT-1_D_Main.pdf
R3_Race_18_GT-1_C_Main.pdf
R3_Race_19_GT-1_B_Main.pdf
R3_Race_20_GT-1_A_Main.pdf
R3_Race_21_F103 GT_A_Main.pdf
R3_Race_22_Mini M04_A_Main.pdf
