Dear Racers,
The next stop on our racing tour was Omaha, Nebraska. The site was Hobby Town, Hobby Plex. The race you ask was to be the US ROAR Carpet Nationals. As you arrive at the location the building itself was massive. The hobby shop was very complete from trains & planes to cars. They simply had everything a hobbyist would ever want.

The track was a good size and there were plenty of pits to accommodate all the entered racers. The carpet was freshly laid and would prove to be a bit to fresh. The layout had a variety of turns with an exceptionally tough chicane just after a short straight away. There was a combined variety of classes and it proved to be one of the largest ROAR carpet nationals to date. The hottest class seemed to be 1.12 actually. The cars are very simple and cheap to get into. You do not have to buy as many cells and tires last a fair amount longer than TC.

In any event, I planned on feeling out the track until the carpet grooved up. Then once the track was grooved, i then could begin testing the setup from the Snowbirds. I ran a few times, testing different springs and shock locations, but continually always went back to the spots I had liked before. I tested different gear oils and decided that 3000 was simply the best and would not ever need anything heavier on carpet with foam tires. The car handled really well, felt plush, smooth and quick in the turns. However, for as good as my car was, there were a couple of guys that really had it together. Barry and Paul, were able to turn really fast lap times and I knew they would be hard to beat. As the race progressed the track was taking its toll. I was having a difficult time keeping the car together for 5 minutes for the practices and even in the Qualifiers. I did though get in one good run and in that run I had a body tuck that costed me 5 seconds, which happened on lap one. That time put me 7th in the main however, could have easily been 3rd. So, I was going to have to settle for a back of the pack start, although the car was much better. As the mains were run, the car was so much better than most of the cars ahead of me, but with no places really to pass and a track that was unrelentless on the car, I was simply not able to improve my positions. In the end, I finished 6th overall, however, the car was truly without a doubt a 3rd place car. With the unfortunate qualifiers and the lack of good starting position I was unable to show what the car was truly capable of.

In the end, we still have work to do. It seems as if the final .2 seconds per lap on best laps is very hard to find. I have tried so many things, but continue to come up short. I do think though that if we can find the small speed in lap time we are missing, we can win any race hands down.

Keep your heads up, test, test and test some more. In order to win, we must not give up.

Sincerely,

Billy Easton

Serpent, Speed Passion, LRP