Wright and Reel roll through Socalrcrc "Pre-season"

TLR drivers Jake Wright and Mark Reel set the tone for the 2011 season by dominating the Socalrcrc "Pre-season" event held last weekend. This event is designed to give competitors a chance to test and tune their crawlers for the 2011 season which kicks off on January 29th. If this event is any indication of things to come, TLR is in for a great year on the rocks!

1st round 1/8 electric indoor winter series.

Delta RC started off the 1st round electric winter series. I ended up TQ in the 1/8 scale electric with my 8ight-E buggy. My buggy was fast and easy to drive with Losi Green King Pins. In the main I pulled away from the field and kept a tight line on the small course. Lap times were getting down to the 18 seconds. I finished a full lap on the rest of the field. It was a great turn out for the first round and the track crew did a great job on the track layout. This weekend is the first round of 1/8 nitro, but I will be heading down to Revolations Raceway for the Toys For Tots race and have some fun with the So Cal boys.

Phillip Atondo

Fall Classic

Drake doubles up in 1/8th buggy and 1/8th truck classes at the Kyosho Fall Classic.
Racing in Southern California is always very competitive and it was no different at last weekends Kyosho Fall Classic hosted by Revelations Raceway. The event had over 120 entries. Adam Drake and newly crowned 1/8th Buggy World Champion Cody King were on hand and battled in the 1/8th buggy class. Adam Drake driving his Nova Rossi powered, Team Losi Racing 8ight 2.0 and 8ight T 2.0 was in top form all weekend and TQ’ed every round in both classes. In the 1/8th truck class Drake lead from start to finish and took home the victory by two laps in the 30 minute final. The final event of the weekend in the 1/8th buggy class, Drake got a clean start and Cody made a few mistake early in the final which allowed Drake to pull away early. Cody continued to push hard during the final, but Drake’s pace and consistency paid of and Drake won the 30 minute final by just over one lap.

1/8th Truggy Expert A Main
1. ADAM DRAKE (TQ) – 8ight T 2.0/Novarossi
2. ANTHONY HOWARTH – Kyosho/Orion
3. AARON HUERTA – Mugen/Novarossi
4. CHRIS NUNEZ – 8ight T 2.0/Novarossi
5. RICKY RACER – Kyosho/Novarossi


1/8th Buggy Expert A Main
1. ADAM DRAKE (TQ) – 8ight 2.0/Novarossi
2. CODY KING – Kyosho/Orion
3. CHAD NEVIN – Xray
4. ANDREW SMOLNIK – Agama
5. COLIN HERZIG – Kyosho
6. RONDA DRAKE - Mugen / Novarossi

XXX-SCT TAKES VICTORY

XXX-SCT takes victory at the 2nd annual Short Course Turkey Shootout at Hemet. Team Driver Kevin Gahan would TQ and take the win in 2wd Mod Short Course with his new XXX-SCT. (Kevin- the new 2wd XXX-SCT was really easy to drive and with the amount of corner speed the track has it really allows you to make less mistakes do to not having to drive the truck hard. I was really shocked how well the truck jumped. Everyone knows how Short Course trucks like to kite in the air and the new XXX-SCT does not seem to have this problem.) Kevin Gahan also TQed and won the 4wd mod Short Course class with a Losi prototype truck. Kevin powered both of his trucks with Xcelorin electronics and AKA Gridiron tires. The big talk of the weekend was the Stock short course class witch Losi drivers Richard Trujillo (Taking TQ) and Steve Westfall would take the top to spots on the podium. Also- The team of guys over at Hemet did a really fantastic job putting on this race and if you haven’t made it out to his Friday night races, you should.

A Month of Domination on the Rocks!

A Month of Domination on the rocks!

Team Losi’s rock crawling drivers have been on a roll throughout the month of November! Across the country, competition has been heating up as temperatures cool down. Jake Wright started the winning trend by claiming the 2010 Utah State Championship with his Team Losi Comp Crawler. Jake battled his way to the top spot against a field that featured drivers from all over the world, including the 2009 Utah State Champion, Mike Thompson. This year, the Utah State Championships is part of the USRCCA qualifying series. By winning this event, Jake has earned an entry to the 2011 USRCCA Nationals!
Continuing the winning trend, Team Drivers Jay Robinette and Nabil Jamali both claimed impressive series wins in Colorado and San Diego. Our newest team member, Mark Reel of Upland, CA, claimed his first ever Pro 2.2 class win in the 1st Annual SoCal Cash Comp held in Apple Valley, California. Great job Mark, and welcome to the team!

Wrapping up the month, Jake Wright traveled all the way to Alabama to attend the 2010 Vanquish Products Turkey Crawl. This year’s Turkey Crawl featured a new class, 2.2 Sportsman. The sportsman class challenges Pro drivers to navigate courses with shaft-driven vehicles and a two-channel radio limit. With no “dig” or “rear steering” Sportsman drivers must rely on nerves of steel and pinpoint accuracy to succeed. Throughout the day, a fierce battle unfolded between Jake Wright, 2010 National Champion Austin Dunn, and New Jersey’s James Caruso. Top drivers Scott Syjut, Trace Hillburn, and Team T1E’s Andy Zuber were all within striking distance. In the end, Jake Wright piloted his modified Night Crawler to an impressive victory, with a 17 point margin over 2nd place. Jake credits his win to his Red Compound Boss Claws and smooth 4-link suspension.
In the 2.2 Pro Class, Jake would once again do battle with defending Champion Austin Dunn. Both drivers traded the lead all day, posting extremely low scores on the gravity defying courses. In the end, Jake landed in 3rd place overall, a very impressive finish against the World class talent in attendance.

Until next time, have a Happy Holidays! See you on the rocks!
-Jake Wright

Final day of qualifying

Yesterday was the final day of qualifying. Team Losi Racing is looking strong going into the semi finals with six cars in. Team Losi Racing qualifyed in this order. 3 Adam Drake, 5 Billy Fischer, 9 Miguel Matias, 10 Mike Truhe, 12 Darren Bloomfield, 13 Yannick Aigoin. We Also have Dakotah Phend and Matt Castellano that just missed out on making the semi finals and have a really good chance to bump up. Most of the team has the day off today to get ready for a hard race tomorrow. the track is getting really bumpy and hard to drive. they did some work on the track last night but i don't think it will hold up with all the races that will run today. Look for more updates tomorrow.

Pic's of the day

Pic's from final day of Qualifying

Pic's of the day

Pic's of the day

Pic's of the day

First day Qualifying

Today was the first day of qualifying and we had are ups and downs. Adam Drake put in to solid runs giving the runner up spot going into tomorrows two rounds. Young gun Matt Castellano also put in two good runs to put himself in the fourth spot after two rounds giving himself some room to play with some setup changes tomorrow. Mike Truhe will have some work to do tomorrow after some problems today with a flame out in round one and a really bad marshal in round two. Mike is looking really fast and should have know problems tomorrow. overall Team Losi Racing is looking really strong at this point with six drivers in the top 15. Look for more updates tomorrow.

Day 3 Pic's

Day 3 Pic's

Day 3 Pic's

Yannick Aigion

Yannick talking tire setup with Martin Bayer.

Chassis wear

Here is a photo of Mike Truhe's chassis after 4 practice runs. The chassis was new at the start of the event. Notice the steel skid plates made especially for this event.

Some new parts for the shocks

We made a few new parts for the cars this week. Check out the aluminum shock cups and shock ends. These are only prototypes at this point.

The Todd Report Day 3 Cont....

Overall the team ran well today. Matt Castellano set the fastest time of practice by laying down a 43.8 fast lap time and the only one running 14 laps with his Nitrotane powered 8IGHT 2.0. Matt is running strong with the likes of his other teammates Mike Truhe, Adam Drake, Yannick Aigion, Billy Fischer, Dakatoh Phend, Taylor James and Martin Bayer.

Tomorrow starts qualifying for rounds 1 and 2. Here are some photos from the day.

The Todd Report Day 3

Well today was the last day of practice. Drivers qualified themselves into their heats tomorrow by running their faster three consecutive lap times for tomorrows qualifying.

Race #1 was a bit of a debacle as the track had been freshened up with concrete and oil. Now one would think that the oiling the track is a problem but by days end it proved to be the right move by the race organizer as the track held up superbly all day.

Pic's of the day

Pic's of the day

Pic's of the day

Day 1 at World Championships

Today was the first day of scheduled practice for the 2010 Worlds. The first round of practice was a straight forward 15 minute run allowing the drivers to get accustomed to the track. The second round was run with a 5 minute warm-up, timed by the announcer, and a 10 minute simulated race which was a great opportunity for our drivers to asses their run time. Dakota Phend, Taylor James and Darren Bloomfield looked strong and showed great speed for their first time running on the track as they did not attend the warm up race a month earlier. Our equipment is working well and we are finalizing our set-ups goining into qualifying. Some interesting notes: The track is a very hard pack surface with used motor oil sprayed onto it. As the day went on, the grip progessed to a medium bite. Run time does not seem to be quite as good as it was last month for the warm up race. The looser track conditions are most likely the culprit. Adam Drake and Mike Truhe seemed to have picked up where they left off and showed great speed. The biggest question is who will try to go the full 10 minutes for the qualifiers????

Overall it was a great first day. We will finalize set-ups and double check runtime and head into qualifying. We will keep you all posted as practice winds down.

The Todd Report Day 2

The first day of practice is over. The team looked rather well today and were definitely getting faster each run. Drake, Truhe, Aigoin, and Bayer look fast. Phend and Castellano were also running very well. Our UK Champ Darren Bloomfield looked to be getting faster after each lap as this is his first time to the Pattaya track.The track is very challenging to do fast consistent laps. The triple double section in the center of the track will make or break your run. This track is going to show who is the best of the best this week. I have never seen a track that is so challenging with off camber turns, large jumps, a very high speed sweeper and different track surfaces that consist of oil sections, loose sections where oil was not applied and the concrete areas. At first looking at the track yesterday I was envious of my team mates who are racing but then after watching the skill this track takes I am glad to be helping in the pits :-)

We have two controlled practice runs tomorrow. CYA tomorrow.

WC Schedule

Monday-2 Practice Rounds
Tuesday-2 Timed Practice Rounds
Wednesday-Round 1 and 2 Qualifying
Thursday-Round 3 and 4 Qualifying
Friday-Round 5 and 6 Qualifying
Saturday-Mains
Sunday-Semi-Mains and A-Main Event

VIP

Adam is our VIP. This photo was taken in the van that took us from Bangkok to Pattaya.

What flavor do you want?

Would you like Grilled Shrimp flavored Pringles or Seaweed flavored? I stuff with the original flavored.

some of the guys have rented motor bike to get around the town. it is pretty funny watching these guys ride the bike. i may have to get one to get around looks like a good time.

The Todd Report

Well the team made it to Thailand safely. The first flight from LAX to HK was 15 hours then we flew from HK to Bangkok which was another 2.5 hours then a car ride of 1.5 hours to our hotel. Total travel time from door to door was around 27 hours and for me the jet lag was not too bad.

Sunday was the first day we made it to the track to get cars teched and setup pit areas. The Pattaya track is huge and it gave me goosebumps looking at it. This track will be a true test of the drivers talent and concentration. They ran a practice run today for racers who have not qualified for the event and they will run a 30 minute race tomorrow for these drivers. One participant in this race is Surikarn Chadisuryia (probably mispelled). I am not sure how many spots are open but they will race for these final positions to compete in 2010 WC.

As for the racers who are already qualified they will run two 10 minute practice runs tomorrow. One in the morning and one in the afternoon. Truhe is up in race 1 and I think Drake is in race 3 or 4. The track is really green right now and has been oiled so it will probably take most of tomorrow to get the track run in.

Check out some of the photos from our travels to and from the track. A few of the guys rented scooters for their local transportationl. $30 for a one week rental.

The first few pics are of us trying to figure out how to get all of us and luggage to the track. We ended up getting a 3rd van to take our baggage and I had the joys of riding with the driver who spoke no english. To say the least it was a very long and quiet drive. The small pickup truck is our taxi to and from the track.

A few more photos to follow with random stuff I have seen.

here are some pictures of the track. it looks like they have put some oil down but not a lot. i am not sure what this well mean but we will find out soon. this track is really nice and looks like it is going to be a good track for racing.

Pictures of the hotel we are staying at!!!!