Florida RC Championship Round 1 Deans All Out RC - Apopka, FL

2023 Florida RC Championship Round 1 kicked off at Deans All Out RC in Apopka, FL. Roughly two hours from Tampa nestled off a two lane road is Deans All Out RC. The layout was decently challenging and had good flow. I really liked the various types of jumps: high elevation doubles, big triples, table tops, and step ups! Variety is key to a fun and challenging track!

Where the challenge really came in was the surface. From what I was told and what I could observe. The track is composed of two sections of different clay put together. The challenge begins!

We arrived on Thursday evening and dropped off the trailer and checked into the hotel. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn, I HIGHLY recommend staying here. Super nice hotel with restaurant and bar. Reasonably priced and only a 15 minute drive to the track. I came into this race knowing my Tekno ET48 2.0 was in need of maintenance. My Tekno EB48 2.1 was good to go just need setup changes for the track.

Whats that thing hanging??? - Rando in the elevator.

I finished my breakfast and fired up the truck on this very brisk Friday morning. At sunrise it was 48 degrees and had winds around 8 mph. Got to the track and began tear down of the truggy. At noon it was 60 degrees and 13 mph winds. Brisk for this Florida man! But the sun was shinning and we were RC Racing! The track was damp, cold, and loose. I knew if the sun stayed out and we put down some serious rubber we could turn it around. I softened up the shock oil on both the truggy and buggy to compensate for the cooler weather and low traction surface. I hit the track for practice and found my setup was pretty spot on for both!

I knew tire choice was going to be tricky. I ran Super Soft ProMotion Talons for both truggy and buggy practice.

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Talons felt great with tons of forward bite and good side bite without being too edgy. As practice went on holes began to form all over the track. Holes big enough in size and deep enough to toss you all over. I felt good with my setup and decided to call it a night and grab some dinner.

Saturday rolls around and at 0230 ish I woke up in the hotel room with a gnarly headache, sinus pressure, sore throat! I had finally fallen to the illness that was being passed around! Either way I jumped back in the truck and hit the track at 0700. The weather had warmed up by 10 degrees but the wind was still there to some degree. But it was overcast with little sun poking through the clouds. The track was going to remain moist and cold. Track crew patched the holes overnight which was a blessing but any racer knows they will reform as time goes on.

I switched to ProMotion Raptors in Super Soft for both buggy and truggy. My first round of qualifying went decent in buggy and truggy. My first round I try for a smooth run and then in round 2 I try to turn up the speed. Doesn’t always work out this way but at least with a plan you have something to shoot for. Round 2 of qualifying went well with me landing 1st in my qualifier for truggy.

ProMotion RC Raptor — Promotion RC Raptor

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Made the A Mains in both Open E Buggy / Truggy. I knew I had my work cut out for me. Between the track and how I felt battling the illness, it was going to be a rough road! I ran ProMotion Super Soft Raptors on both buggy and truggy for both of my mains. Felt great but in hindsight they may have had too much side bite for how big the holes ended up. I should have ran a more forgiving tire on that surface like a ProMotion Spitfire.

ProMotion RC Spitfire — Promotion RC Spitfire

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Either way after both of my A Mains in Buggy I landed with an overall of 8th. The second main is what hurt me the most. We won’t talk about the turn marshal issue I had……. Truggy I landed in 9th overall. Had decent runs both times with my second main being my best.

Overall I had a blast! My favorite thing about FRCC is traveling around to the different tracks and overcoming the adversity. Its easy to dial in your car to your home track then focus on going fast. When each month brings different dirt, layout, and weather. Thats when the fun begins. As always Lance ran an amazing program! Fast paced and professional at all times. See everyone at Round 2 in February at Triple Nickel!

2023 Florida RC Championship Round 1 - Deans All Out RC Apopka, FL

2023 Florida RC Championship Round 2 Triple Nickel - Bartow, FL