2013 NAMBA SAW Time-Trial - November 8th, 9th & 10th at Legg Lake!

[thomaslambo]

Well, they've changed the weather report for the weekend every day for the past 3 or 4 days but it looks good now (no rain, low winds and mostly sunny).

I've replaced 2 of my Cats and the fleet has never been better prepared for an event....bring it on guys

[RaceMechaniX]

This is going to be a great event particularly if the weather holds. I expect we will have 6-8 boats consistently running over 100 mph and several should be near the high water mark set by Joerg.

I managed to get all my boats prepped over the weekend and a reasonable kit of spares amassed for the inevitable.

I will be out at the lake around 5AM Friday to start setting up signage and safety lines to keep spectators at a safe distance.

Just a reminder, every competitor should have a fire extinguisher and have safe charging practices in place. We don't want to see anyone overcharging, over cooking or generally taking unnecessary risks. Also make sure your boats are legal, this includes NAMBA numbers and applicable rules for certain classes. We will have a short drivers meeting Friday morning to review the procedures as I know several new faces will be at the lake. I am going to also ask every competitor to grab a spotter/caller before their run to have an extra set of eyes for safety. There will be plenty of us available to assist.

See you guys at the lake!

TG

[Darin Jordan]

Well, they've changed the weather report for the weekend every day for the past 3 or 4 days but it looks good now (no rain, low winds and mostly sunny).

I've replaced 2 of my Cats and the fleet has never been better prepared for an event....bring it on guys

Boyd, You always have 1st class stuff!

Which Cat classes are you attacking? Looks like all of them!

[thomaslambo]

Boyd, which Cat classes are you attacking? Looks like all of them!

Well, I'm focused on P, Q, S and T as usual. I replaced two of my Cats this year and upgraded the others...but as you well know, it's always a crap shoot with dual motors and speeds over 100 MPH.

Thought I'd also take a stab at N-2 if time permits.


Tyler, thanks for the mindful eye and all the work you do at these events....and I'll see you at 5:00am Friday morning

[Darin Jordan]

Just a reminder, every competitor should have a fire extinguisher and have safe charging practices in place.

Good Call, Tyler... Is there a particular Type we should have??

[properchopper]

Well, I'm focused on P, Q, S and T as usual. I replaced two of my Cats this year and upgraded the others...but as you well know, it's always a crap shoot with dual motors and speeds over 100 MPH.

Thought I'd also take a stab at N-2 if time permits.


Tyler, thanks for the mindful eye and all the work you do at these events....and I'll see you at 5:00am Friday morning

Mee Too. Boyd : remember the donuts.

And, back by popular demand due to the extreme level of aspiration of this race, my Psychiatric/Grief Counseling booth will be available once more with the usual fee of .05 cents per minute or occurrence

[properchopper]

Never mind my e-mail; my spare will go to Jay


Just a reminder, every competitor should have a fire extinguisher

[RaceMechaniX]

Good Call, Tyler... Is there a particular Type we should have??

A standard ABC should be sufficient.

[RandyatBBY]

Good luck every one! I will not be there sorry

[Darin Jordan]

A standard ABC should be sufficient.

Perfect... I'll make sure to have one there...

[keithbradley]

Best of luck guys. Looking forward to seeing some big speeds posted!

Boyd: The cats all look good, but I'm afraid the batman cape on each one in that pic might add some drag and slow them down...

[thomaslambo]

Boyd: The cats all look good, but I'm afraid the batman cape on each one in that pic might add some drag and slow them down...

Keith,

Ah yes, the Batman Capes.

And thanks for all your help over the past few months, I always appreciate input from a world class competitor

Wouldn’t that be something else if you were here this weekend to dice it up with all the "Heisenberg’s" !!!

Boyd

[Darin Jordan]

Weather is lookin good thus far!

S_El_Monte_Weather_91733.jpg


Is it LUNCH TIME YET??

[properchopper]

Lake's looking good. Not much wind today. Just spent a bunch of hours [Mark G., Mark F., Boyd, Roger & Kendt + Me] manicuring the launch and retrieve areas - Brush-clearing weedwacker worked fine (after my second trip to Home Depot to get the right attachment) so don't bring down the goats. Scooped up lots of flotsam. Water is curiously denser Tick-Tock......

[Darin Jordan]

Just a reminder for everyone attending.... BRING YOUR NAMBA CARDS, or, as in my case where I can't seem to find mine, PROOF of your current 2013 Membership. NO Membership, no "smoking"... if you get what I'm saying.

I'm heading South in a bit here this morning to meet up with Brian, so I'll be offline for a bit. Safe travels everyone and I look forward to seeing you all there!

[RaceMechaniX]

Tony and gang,

Thanks for helping the manicure of the SAW area.

Much Appreciated.

TG

[madmikepags]

uh hum???????? any info guys????????????? records? fights? blown up equipment? food critique? ANYTHING!!!!!!????????

[BILL OXIDEAN]

20131110_150852.jpg20131110_150845.jpg793818_10152014904287148_921620931_o.jpg20131110_154711.jpg

uh hum???????? any info guys????????????? records? fights? blown up equipment? food critique? ANYTHING!!!!!!????????

Dude, I wasn't gonna' post, but I just spit my sandwich out laughin' so hard lol! All I can say is all of the above lol!

I'm not that good at posting results from these events, folks say I'm "Tooting my own horn" if I compliment anything, but I'll tell you this Mike, it was better than any "Nationals", regional "Turkey shoot"
or any other "Clam bake" for that matter. It was BIG CAT DIARIES. FIERCE cats and a Lot of 'em. Guys came in from Germany and Austria and didn't disapoint anyone.

Mike, they brought a cat that had to be all of 6-feet long that runs on 98 count 'em 98 cells. They didnt get to run it due to NAMBA insurance.
Too much went on down there for one guy to report, after the rest of the boys make it home and get rested you will see some INCREDIBLE posts.

[properchopper]

uh hum???????? any info guys????????????? records? fights? blown up equipment? food critique? ANYTHING!!!!!!????????

As you know, it takes a few days to unpack/debrief/ return to reality (I'll only go as a tourist). I'd imagine that Tyler will post the official results soon. Ten new records. I have dozens of vids to sort/upload.

Here's a teaser :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbx_qe0Le50

Quick pit tour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQYKYAOZhVc

[disclaimer : the 92" HPR was for DISPLAY ONLY - did NOT get wet]

Pictures/vids will be posted soon. As for the carnage : It seems that due to an apparent geothermal tectonic plate shift the center island had moved closer to the center of the course. Jay (and Darin) found it. Don't EVEN ask Brian about his Brand New T-Rigger and the Legg Lake/Bermuda Triangle/Club Archimedes on one end of the course

DSC05102.JPG


Fortunately preparations were in place for such occurrences

100_0191.jpg

[BILL OXIDEAN]

I hope no one is disapointed, but EVERYONE got along VERY well down there.
Best one I've been to in years literally (not that theres ever much nonsense down there)

[madmikepags]

ah thats a bummer i was hoping for a fight!!!! LOL

[RandyatBBY]

Put up more vids Tony, I love it. I just spoke with Darren he was ripped excited about the SAW's!

[RaceMechaniX]

Here are the official results of the recent SAW event at Legg lake. Congrats to all those who posted new records and thanks to everyone for making this a safe and always fun event. If you were not there you really missed out on some great water and even better food. I'll follow up with some reflections in another post.

Fastest one way pass was a 135.679 in T Hydro over Brian Neal's 135.460 in T Cat.
Other notable speeds: Mark Grim went 109.4 with his G2 hydro, Steve O'Donnell ran 101 mph with his A hydro, Darin ran a little over 70 mph with a one cell M2 hydro.

In no particular order:

Record Type: Heat Racing - Straight A-Way Record,
Class: Q CATAMARAN
Name: MANUEL WENNY
Date: 11/10/2013
Seconds: 2.146
MPH: 104.846
Engine/Motor: TP 4050 "L"
Hull: PROTOTYPE
Prop: OCTURA X447/ANDY BROWN
BATTERY TYPE: SLS 5000 HTRON
SPEED CONTROL: TURNIGY T180A


Record Type: Heat Racing - Straight A-Way Record,
Class: T SPORT HYDRO
Name: JAY TURNER
Date: 11/08/2013
Seconds: 2.710
MPH: 83.026
Engine/Motor: NEU 1521
Hull: AEROMARINE
Prop: ABC/SHOLUND 1816
BATTERY TYPE: DINOGY 5000
SPEED CONTROL: CASTLE 240

Record Type: Heat Racing - Straight A-Way Record,
Class: T CATAMARAN
Name: BRIAN NEAL
Date: 11/10/2013
Seconds: 1.686
MPH: 133.452
Engine/Motor: LEHNER
Hull: HPR 135
Prop: OCTURA
BATTERY TYPE: 1000
SPEED CONTROL: SCHULZE

Record Type: Heat Racing - Straight A-Way Record,
Class: N-2 CATAMARAN
Name: DARIN JORDAN
Date: 11/10/2013
Seconds: 3.447
MPH: 65.27
Engine/Motor: NEU
Hull: PRO BOAT MYSTIC "MINUS-TWO"
Prop: ABC 1818
BATTERY TYPE: THUNDER POWER
SPEED CONTROL: CASTLE CREATIONS

Record Type: Heat Racing - Straight A-Way Record,
Class: P HYDRO
Name: BRIAN BUAAS
Date: 11/10/2013
Seconds: 1.892
MPH: 118.922
Engine/Motor: HET
Hull: RAPTOR SAW SPECIAL
Prop: ABC
BATTERY TYPE: GRIM RACER
SPEED CONTROL: CASTLE CREATIONS

Record Type: Heat Racing - Straight A-Way Record,
Class: P LIMITED MONO
Name: TONY HELLER
Date: 11/09/2013
Seconds: 4.020
MPH: 55.970
Engine/Motor: AQ2030
Hull: JETCHOPPER 30
Prop: ABC 1618
BATTERY TYPE: DINOGY45 5000
SPEED CONTROL: TURNIGY 120

Record Type: Heat Racing - Straight A-Way Record,
Class: P LIMITED CATAMARAN
Name: TONY HELLER
Date: 11/08/2013
Seconds: 3.400
MPH: 66.176
Engine/Motor: AQ2030
Hull: H & M
Prop: ABC 1618
BATTERY TYPE: DINOGY45 3700
SPEED CONTROL: TURNIGY 120

Record Type: Heat Racing - Straight A-Way Record,
Class: P CATAMARAN
Name: BOYD MARSHALL
Date: 11/10/2013
Seconds: 2.187
MPH: 102.881
Engine/Motor: LEHNER
Hull: FCR 32
Prop: ABC DASBOATA
BATTERY TYPE: DINOGY
SPEED CONTROL: HW 180

Record Type: Heat Racing - Straight A-Way Record,
Class: S CATAMARAN
Name: BOYD MARSHALL
Date: 11/10/2013
Seconds: 2.059
MPH: 109.27
Engine/Motor: LEHNER
Hull: RADTEK 45
Prop: FCR
BATTERY TYPE: DINOGY
SPEED CONTROL: HIFEI 300 PRO

Record Type: Heat Racing - Straight A-Way Record,
Class: M-2 CATAMARAN
Name: BILL OXIDEAN
Date: 11/10/2013
Seconds: 5.347
MPH: 42.080
Engine/Motor: NOVAK
Hull: BBY
Prop: OCTURA 35
BATTERY TYPE: 5000 VENOM
SPEED CONTROL: NOVAK

Record Type: Heat Racing - Straight A-Way Record,
Class: N-1 CATAMARAN
Name: BILL OXIDEAN
Date: 11/09/2013
Seconds: 6.061
MPH: 37.123
Engine/Motor: NOVAK
Hull: BBY
Prop: ETTI 35MM
BATTERY TYPE: 5000 VENOM
SPEED CONTROL: NOVAK

[B Neal]

Thanks for the results Tyler, and the amount of time put into running the program.

You could have added the fact your Sunday after the race dinner tasted better than mine by 0.2mph ��

[Darin Jordan]

You could have added the fact your Sunday after the race dinner tasted better than mine by 0.2mph ��

Hahaha... that's funny, Brian! Nice one! :)

[Darin Jordan]

Still working on recovering from 20-hours of driving home from this event, but already working on plans for the next opportunity to do this again!

First, I'd like to thank Mark and Kim Grim for all the time and effort and energy they put into these events. It wouldn't happen without them and their efforts are very much appreciated by those of us who LOVE to do this. Also, thank you to Mark and Kim for putting me up for the weekend! Brian and I had some last minute change of plans that made it necessary for me to stay with Mark and Kim, and it was a very comfortable stay! Thank you, Grims!!

Thanks to Tyler for putting so much time into the details of the event, especially the safety barriers and signage and also the improved teching and record keeping. Seems to be getting better all the time and it was NO small effort to do all of this, AND prep boats to go well into the 130's. Thank you, Tyler!

Thanks to Tony Heller and all of the gang down there that took their own time during the week to go prepare the sight. They cut back the shoreline reeds that seem to be taking over and totally prepped the site for this event. NO small task! Thank You, Gang!!

And we can't forget to single out Kim Grim for her AWESOME, as usual, Lunch cooking, which is an event all unto itself! That alone is worth the trip.

Probably more I should be thanking, but they are giving me the cue to cut it short...

I had a great time, despite doing some pretty major damage to my Lynx during a P-Ltd OPC record attempt. After having blown it over on a few previous attempts, and having already made a couple of successful 65mph test passes, I was getting very close to the right setup. On Friday evening, I put the boat in the water and was making a first pass. The boat took a BEAUTIFUL set and looked to be heading for half of a quality record setting run. I was focusing on the hull, watching to see what it was going to do as it approached those magic numbers. Unfortunately, this means I wasn't watching it's line as carefully as I normally would, and I got a LOT too close to some overhanging bushes on the back side of the Legg Lake course... The damage was not too terrible, considering how hard it hit, but the impact did tear off my outdrive, sending it to live with the crawfish at the bottom of the pond... Gotta give Fred a call today and order a new one. I talked to Carl on the way home Monday and after seeing the pictures, he thinks I can repair it and it should run right again. Breaks my heart that this happens (this is my all time favorite RC boat!), but this happens from time to time. Will repair it and move on!

So, having brought two other boats, I turned my attention to running my N2 Catamaran. Made a few quality passes as I was getting the ride attitude and setup working. Went for it on Saturday and made a pair of 65.xx mph passes, which simply established a new N2 Cat record. Since the class didn't exist prior to this event, I was the "record" holder by default. Boyd made a couple of passes with is N2 Cat, but it wasn't really setup so nothing spectacular there, and he was focused on much bigger stuff, so at this point, that record stands. I did put in a different setup later in the day, which should have put me into the 70's, but a failure of the speed control on the way out to make the attempt burned the inside of the boat up pretty badly. The ESC failure cause was figured out on Monday on the way home, (we had two of these fail this way this weeekend), and it was NOT something that WE did. More on that another time, but I would attempt with that setup again in a heartbeat once the ESC issue is resolved. This record is VERY soft, and should be closer to 80mph, so it's a record, but a pretty soft one. I will likely be going for this one again at future events.

SO, that left me with ONE boat to run... My M2 Hydro (M2 = 1 cell, ANY motor)... In previous SAWs, I've tried this and the best I've been able to achieve was 68mph on one pass. That happened rarely, with 65-66 being the norm. The record is 71.xxx, set by Bill Oxidean, who has only achieved those speeds once himself.

Well, after having about the same luck with my M2 Hydro on Saturday, I decided to make some major changes. Changed ESCs, and started playing with it on Sunday. The new ESC was showing a LOT of promise, so I started playing with props. Changed props and went out in a tad questionable conditions, which for this tiny little rigger means pretty much anything other than pefect glass. Ripped off a 70, 72, and 71mph pass! This was the norm for the passes I made the rest of the day!! I missed the record run by just a few tenths, but I was now consistently in the 70's! On ONE CELL!! Pretty cool stuff (for me, anyhow). As Sunday wained on, I starting the prep work for that ONE final set of passes that would net me the record.

Unfortunately, after an entire weekend of REALLY good water ALL DAY, about 2pm on Sunday afternoon, the conditions INSTANTLY changed! Wind picked up. Mark Grim said that the humidity went from 20% to over 40% in a matter of minutes, and basically, the day was over. Blew right up until sunset.

I did get ONE final set of passes, almost completely void of light! I couldn't even see the boat for the return pass, other than a slight ripple in the water as I tried to line it up for the return pass. Got a 71 backed up with a 69, and it was over. Will have to wait until the next time, but I'm FIRED UP to build a new M2 Hydro boat. What blast to do that on 1-cell! Definitely not an easy feat.

Well... that's part of my story from this event. Much more to tell.

Thanks again to all of those that helped make this event happen! I look very much forward to the next time we get to do this!

Here are a couple of pics of the damage to my stuff.... Hopefully Tyler or Tony or ?? will post some more fun pics of stuff actually running and looking good!

[Fluid]

Here are a few shots taken over the weekend. I'll have some videos up in a few days.

Darin Pits.jpg
Darin's Pit

FE Pits 2.jpg
The FE Pits

Manuel and Marco.jpg
Manuel (with magic hat) and Marco
Boyd's RUn.jpg
Boyd's record run

Count the Cells.jpg
Count the cells!



.

[Fluid]

More.

BIG Cat.jpg
Gorgeous BIG cat.

IMG_0916.jpg
Ooops!

IMG_0903.jpg
Tyler's Pits

Wilmer 1.jpg
Wilmer ready to rock....

IMG_0845.jpg
Tyler running the timing equipment.
Marco checking his VERY fast Q-powered M1 SuperCat - lots of passes over 100 mph.


.

[Fluid]

My Q Sport Hydro had very little tuning prior to leaving for the event....not much flat water in Texas this time of year. The very first two passes of the event gave me the T record running 6S, and I then tried for the Q record. Sadly I had trouble equalling my first two passes (?). Eventually I stuck in 8S and tried for the S record, but silly me put the boat into the island and destroyed it. They call it target fixation...at least I'm in good company. Do not try this at home.

This wasn't the first boat I've lost at Legg Lake, but I was pretty disappointed since the GPS showed 89 mph and I wasn't pulling very many amps when I hit the brush. Next year.....

IMG_0822.jpg
My Q-S-T Sport boat

IMG_0851.jpg
Afer the island was finished with it

IMG_0858.jpg
It would not stay in the garbage can!



,

[Darin Jordan]

... but silly me put the boat into the island and destroyed it. They call it target fixation...at least I'm in good company. Do not try this at home.

Apparently, we both found out that this racing line doesn't quite have the results we were looking for...

That said, it was REALLY great getting to know you a bit better this weekend, Jay! You are a true gentleman and an excellent racer! Thanks for all the information and advice this weekend.