IFMAR WC - Thornhill

Here is my 2026 Worlds Setup. I Qualified P54 and finished P16

I’ll try to run you through my setup evolution and discuss some of my issues during the event and how I was able to finish much better than I qualified.

Practice started decent and I had some speed early, but I wasn’t able to drop my lap times as the track became quicker. I started with 2.0 gears, 15/15/6 and 1.4 wire springs, Tekno 68 green front and Kyosho 78 grey rear. I tried Tekno 75mm 1.6 wire springs, I moved my front shock to the outside position on the arm, I also tried 2.1/2.2 diff gears with 10/10/5. Nothing really helped, and I wasn’t comfortable. I was also moving my rear pivot around some. Out C/Center D and Center C/Inside D. Last seeding I ran 2.0 gears with 30/30/7 and was 34th.

For tires, I ran S Sahara, Clay Sahara, and Clay Tokyo. In practice. S compound before the track really grooved in. I sauced with PB Blaster in practice and then TDK Gen2 in qualifying and the mains. I ran Clay Tokyo and our new test Clay compound in qualifying and only the test Clay compound in the mains. I ran 1 set of tires in my 1/16, 1/8, and 1/4 finals, then used a set of tires from Chase that had 2 or 3 qualifiers on them in my 1/2 final and LCQ. When the rain and colder weather came, I smoked my tires on a drill with a micro fiber rag after saucing.

Qualifying I kept the 2.0 gears with 30/30/7 and with 1.4 wire springs. Ride height was 21/27 for most of practice, then I settled in at 20/26 during qualifying. I wasn’t worried about running the qualifier without pitting, as my fuel mileage was around 10:30-10:45 during practice. I was upper 30’s but crashing and off pace. For Q2 I put on Xray 1.6 wire springs and dropped my front diff to 20k. My car was good on most of the track, but drove way different in the whoops, and I crashed through them. I thought the springs were a little too soft, especially the rear, but Xray didn’t have any stiffer. I tried a 2.6 rear bar in Q3, but the bar seemed to keep my car stuck leaned over more, so that wasn’t great for me. I also changed my engine some, a 7mm to 6mm Venturi and leaned my engine more. The feeling was actually better, as the power was more crisp being tuned leaner, but the power was more manageable with the smaller Venturi. I made the qualifier without pitting, but crashed 3 times at the very end of my run. My fuel mileage was 12:30. I also switched to the RC Project Shock Caps, possibly for Q3 or Q2, I can’t remember. I used the yellow honeycomb bladder, and I thought that was a pretty good improvement. Made my car roll a little less and have some added corner speed. I think it really started to help when I was driving better in the mains.

Last day of qualifying. I put on the 5mm hinge pins without the bushings and 5mm pill inserts. I spoke to Maifield and he said he preferred those. I’m not sure if I really noticed any difference, hard to tell. I was having my best qualifier, then had a failure in my engine, and DNF. Thankfully my engine was terminally damaged, and Nova fixed it for Q5. I was running my shock outside on the front arm, with the (5) JTP 6H piston and 600 oil. I switched to the inside, swapped the piston to the (4/5) with 650 oil. I had a terrible qualifier, crashing and driving bad. Q6 I had nothing to lose, and everything to lose at the same time. I had a 34/39/47, so I needed a top 20 to race on Saturday. I was the last race, so I had a TON of time to think. I decided to go back to my original, pre-race setup plan. I put on the Tekno LF 75mm 1.6 Orange springs. The fronts had 2 coils cut off. I ran the 2.5 rear bar, I ran the Center C/Inside D rear pivot, 20/30/7 2.0 gears, front shock inside position, flattened my front arm, I was Center A/Up B and switched to Down A/Up B (removed a shim under my steering link on the outside) and put on the lexan wing with smaller holes in the back wicker. I was running the plastic airflow wing (large holes). My car was good, I was driving better, leading most of my heat. Unfortunate crashes on the last lap dropped me from 17-20 for the round to 39th.

That night I watched a bunch of film. I had video of Ongaro, Ronnefalk, Fuller, and Canas. Then I also had a bunch of video of me, thanks to my kids I noticed that I wasn’t as far off as I thought, I was just missing my apexes slightly in almost every corner. Loosing .1 in every corner added up to my 1.5 per lap I was off pace by. I was feeling uncomfortable, so I was giving myself room on the inside, which in turn didn’t give me the grip I needed, and made me feel uncomfortable. At this track, running the turns as tight as possible gave you the most grip.

Friday mains, I only changed two things. 2.3 front bar to 2.2 and rear diff from 7k to 6k. I told myself to aim at touching the curbing in EVERY corner!!!! My car felt amazing in the 1/16 final and my confidence grew with every lap. I FINALLY FOUND MY PACE!!!! I also was able to pit safely at 10 minutes, which was really nice and quite an advantage until the semi finals, when most drivers were pitting at 10. I made no setup changes or tire changes during my finals, except I lowered my car to 19/25 for the 1/4 and 1/2 finals. My car felt great and I was finally driving the track properly.

This sheet is how I ended the event! I hope you have enjoyed this crazy journey