2023 Florida RC Championship Round 3 Callahan RC - Callahan, FL

Callahan RC

Thursday afternoon I set off to Callahan, FL for Round 3 of Florida RC Championship. Callahan Off Road RC Raceway is just a tick over 3 hours from Tampa, FL. A super easy drive up I-75 to 301 and boom you’re there. When you arrive at Callahan Raceway you are immediately greeted with this epic clay go kart track! Along the track is concessions and bathrooms. A nice addition to RC racing as we always seem to be lacking those things on campus. But Lance of FRCC does a killer job of working that out by bringing in food trucks or whatever, so as always props to him!

After you round the corner of the go kart track you can see the medium sized RC Track. The layout had an awesome flow with various challenges.

Callahan RC

After dropping my trailer I headed back to the hotel. We stayed just outside of the Jacksonville Airport. This was the prime location as we had everything we could ask for in super short distance. A Longhorn restaurant was literally a 30 second walk from the hotel! Little did I know that I would be eating steak with my hands for the next few nights as the provided plastic junk wasn’t working. But hey, you’re gonna have that!

Friday morning arrived quickly and as always I am hyped to hit the track. That is one thing I absolutely love about FRCC, a new track, dirt, layout, etc. every month! I went into this race well prepped and ready to go. Track had decent moisture in the am and was well packed. I decided to thicken up my diffs as I have ran them pretty light for the past few races. Few other minor tweaks and by mid day both felt really good and I was on pace for E open class lap times. I left the track on Friday to make it to the hotel for dinner time. I felt good with my setup and understanding of the track layout and surface. Then Saturday hit….

Tekno NB48 2.1 Nitro Buggy

Sworkz Nitro Buggy

Tekno NB48 2.1 Nitro Buggy

Kyosho MP10 Nitro Buggy

I got to the track at the tail end of practice on Saturday morning. I was comfortable qualifying with Friday’s setup and only those few warm up laps before your round starts. Boy was I wrong! Apparently from what I was told It rained overnight and soaked the track. I changed my tire choice and compound and was close but not where it needed to be. Softening the rear sway bar would have been a good move on buggy for sure.

Qualifying Round 1 E truggy I would start 9th and finish 10th. Not a good showing in any form. E buggy I would start 7th and finish 8th. Again falling one spot and struggling to keep up. Traction had come down from the day before making my cars difficult to drive. Running a few laps of practice would have allowed me to recognize this issue and make adjustments. Shame on me as Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Now on to Round 2…

Qualifying Round 2 Etruggy I would start 6th and finish 2nd. I didn’t change setup at all on truggy. I was betting that the traction would return for round 2. I did return and allowed me to click off consistent laps at a fast pace. E buggy I would start 1st and finished 4th. Some crashes cost me some time as I was traction rolling in certain spots. It was my first time running Promotion MIG tires. MANNNN soooo much grip!!! Not blaming but wow all the grip! A harder compund would have been money but shame on me for underestimating the traction level of the MIG!

It is now main event time!!

E truggy I will start 1st in the B Main and finish 8th. I fell so far because I had a tire blow out on the right front! Happened early in the race but I didn’t back down and pushed on with the blown tire and the foam wrapped around my control arm. Turned pretty decent lap times given the challenges. I managed an average lap time 30.989, not bad. Ultimately it is my fault as I missed a tire that was coming unglued. Those little checks and touch ups of CA are important! This one stung, as it is goal #1 just make the A Main.

E buggy I would start 6th in the B Main and finish 6th. I struggled so hard with traction rolling. I mean it’s a good problem to have this much traction. Soft long wear MIG still had too much grip. Again my fault for not picking the correct tire and compound, it happens but still gotta say MIG is Money!!! But I am still disappointed in my performance for still failing to make the A Main. But that is racing still had a blast! Lance always puts on an awesome event.

Speaking of awesome…. Every race Lance holds a raffle to support something/someone in the RC community. Every race I buy tickets just to support the cause. I race Tekno and love the platform and product. Nitro has always been my jam. Nitro stadium truck & 8th scale buggy were all that I ran back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. I race electric for the ease and not having to bother anyone to be my pit dude. This year I bought a Tekno NB48 2.1 that plan to race at club races over the summer and transition back to nitro only. Naturally that would require me to purchase a Tekno NT48 2.0 apples to apples right.

This raffle Lance was raffling off a Tekno NT 48 2.0! What perfect timing! My intuition told me to buy 3 tickets so I bought 3. Not only is this one of the 3 divine numbers of the universe but its also round 3. Remember there are no coincidences! Either way I will cut to it as I won that raffle!!!

Tekno NT48 2.0

I chalk up my poor race performance to the fact that my energy was used to win the kit. Or maybe that is what I tell myself so I can sleep at night…..

Either way another epic Florida RC Championship Round in the books. Awesome track with tons of grip. Smooth event and always a good time by Lance. He does so much for our sport/community!