Florida RC Championship Round 4 Mills Pond RC, Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Thursday hits and its time to roll out to Round 4 of Florida RC Championship at Mills Pond. Mills Pond is located in Ft. Lauderdale, a little over 4 hour drive from Tampa. We hit the road and after punching through a thunderstorm and a pit stop at a gas station with the tightest lot for a truck & trailer, we arrived. This track is located inside of a gated park surrounded by various sport fields similar to how Lake Park is setup. I dropped the trailer, checked out the track, and then headed out to the hotel. The hotel wasn’t far from the track, just takes 30 mins to get there with traffic lights every 3 meters.

Florida RC Championship Round 4 at Mills Pond RC

It’s Friday and its time for open practice. The track had a lot of moisture in it and was creating a lot of loam with every lap outside the groove. I decided to go out on Soft (S) Blackbirds for buggy and they worked really well. The alternating pin size pattern really made buggy feel good.

Buy Blackbird Here

Truck I went out on Soft (S) Talons and it was ok. They got packed very easily and were not predictable. Next time out with truck I ran Soft (S) Spitfires and they worked much better as the pattern allowed the tire to clean very easily. As the day went on and the track dried out and it slowly got faster and faster. Towards the tail end of my day I was running Raptors on both buggy and truggy. Key here was to stay in the groove at all times. Outside the groove was this thick very loose clay that was like a sand trap! Smooth and consistent was the name of the game. I left Friday feeling pretty good as usual. I seem to find myself feeling good and doing well with lap times in practice. Then I guess I fall apart for qualifying and especially mains! I think the mains just have to do with the timeline. Im old and tired..

Buy Talon Here

Buy Spitfire Here

Saturday kicks off qualifying and mains. I am up first with E Truggy followed by E Buggy. Both my Tekno rides were feeling good and ready to go. Truck I decided to go with Soft (S) Raptors which ended up working great, I started 11th and finished in 4th. Buggy I went with the same tire setup and started 9th and fell to 11th. I made some mistakes in my run and needed to tweak a few things on buggy as the track was coming up in grip. Always have Round 2 of qualifying to make some progress.

Buy Raptor Here

Round 2 of truck I started 11th and finished 5th. I went out on the same tire setup as before but it was getting to the point where the Soft (S) compound was a bit tough to drive. Buggy I started 9th and finished 6th. The minor tweaks I made helped and I went with the same tire as truck as well. After qualifying the track was developing a groove and was becoming bumpy.

Mains I would be up first with truggy in position 6 and finish dead last. I made the wrong tire choice with Soft Longwear Raptors (SLW) and had little traction which made the truck hard to drive. Buggy I would start 10th and finish 10th. I was inconsistent and was over driving the car due to my frustration. At this point it was late and I was super frustrated with my performance. But I think all of that was fueled by my exhaustion. I had several photo and video projects I was working on at the same time, my mental capacity was simply drained.

I decided to pack up and leave before the end due to those circumstances. It was the right call but still sucked regardless. Mills pond was a cool track and location. Hopefully this location is on the map for 2024 race season. Big thanks to Lance and the entire crew of Florida RC Championship for another awesome event.