5280 Raceway

This past weekend we held the Mile High Indoor Champs at 5280 Raceway, here in Denver, Colorado. Dave Ehrlich and I were both racing VBC Lightning 12s in Mod 12th, albeit on slightly different setup paths. With this being my home track, my car was pretty good right from the start, so much of my time was spent trying different tire compounds and minor tweaks to caster.

I ended up qualifying 5th and finishing 4th in the A-main. Changes from my 'normal' setups include the following:

• Pro-One R/C Blue fronts

• Xenon front end, 10 degree reactive, big shim back.

• Slightly smaller rear tire (41 mm) than my usual 41.75/42 mm.

I wish I had something for Paul in the quals and the main, but it didn't work out that way. Oh well, time to take some time off and then start preparing for worlds.

With mod 12th I was really keen on getting a result, as it is the car I have the most experience with. The weekend started out good and I was always in the top-5 in the quals, but I never had the pace to be competitive with any of the big names. Josh’s car was on a different level and while I thought I might have something for Paul, it didn’t really work out that way. With the 12th scale the car was good from the beginning so most of my changes were pretty minor and predominately focused on trying different tire combinations. I used mainly blue rears, but tried all sorts of fronts. Magenta, Blue, Pink, Team Purple, XH, and some JFT fronts (shoutout to Teru!) are all on the list of what I tried, but for the last qual and the main I settled on blue fronts with blue rears. I also tried the Xenon front end for the last two quals and the main, but will need some more time testing back-to-back with the standard front end to really feel the difference and see what I like/don’t like. First impression is that it is incredibly well-made and the TiNi kingpins are awesome! Really looking forward to trying out the various inserts and improving the car!

The 12th main was a really good race and I put together a decent run. I started 5th on the grid, behind Josh, Keven, Paul, and Dave. Right off the start Ryan B got a pass on me, but I think I got it right back in the next corner! Unfortunately on the second lap there was a big pileup in the center chicane and I ended up back in 6th place, with Bodine and Ryan B in front of me. I knew my car was better than theirs though, so I started pushing and was able to get past Brian pretty quickly, but then really had to work hard to get Ryan. I was finally able to get him on the inside on the sweeper, coming into the infield, and then did my best to run away. I then held 4th and finished just off of the podium. Would have been nice to make the podium, but considering the only people in front of me are multi-time national champs, I am happy with the result!

Source: Chris Hillier