Sakura D4 + Usukani + Punisher S13 @ Tri Acres

I have been posting about my D4 RWD recently with all the Usukani parts installed, and have been talking about how I am loving the way the car runs. Finally I got a chance to put together some video of it in action at Tri Acres RC Drift Circuit. Here it is in the current state of tune.

The Punisher Comes out at Night...

Took the Punisher S13 to the track for a little night drift session this past Sunday.  It sits on the new Sakura D4 chassis, which I am still enjoying and tuning.  It made it through the maiden voyage with only a couple of bumper scuffs from some wall taps.  It looks pretty menacing at night.

My buddy Patrick shot a little bit of video and put together a short clip of it in action.  The backfire unit looks awesome at night!

Sakura D4: First day on track

Our local track was open yesterday and I was able to get the D4 out for it's first test.  Things did not go very smoothly at first, as I was fighting a car that seemed erratic and did not handle well.  Several changes made it better, but far from good.  Then, a breakthrough... the gyro started freaking out and the steering servo started moving on it's own.  The Yeah Racing gyro apparently was not working; possibly from the beginning.  I had a spare MST gyro in my box and switched over to that.  Suddenly the car was transformed.  It was pretty balanced and hooked up, only requiring a few more changes for good results.  I will be doing a few more tweaks to get it dialed all the way in, and plan on publishing my setup info in the blog soon.  But I left yesterday feeling pretty good with the progress.  This is a solid chassis out of the box.

Here is some video with the progress of yesterday's tuning:

Tri Acres RC Drift Circuit: A new life for the Charlotte, NC drift scene

It has been a while since I have made a new blog post.  Between being busy with other things in life, and the fact that the local track at Hobbytown USA closed in April, there has not been much of a drift scene here locally.  But thanks to the efforts of Patrick Salazar, we now have a new, and very nice drift track in Concord, North Carolina.  The Tri Acres RC Drift Circuit is officially open and is proving to be a great spot dedicated to RC Drift.  The surface is smooth epoxy and runs very nice.  Setups have been tricky for most so far, because this surface requires more balance, and a precise setup compared to the carpet we were running on.  Everyone is getting up to speed, and the cars are starting to get a lot closer.  Time to start working on some trains!

The layout is fun and challenging.  Patrick has made it look nice with barriers and some Eagle Racing curbs.