Top Notch Tour Round 4 Revelation Raceway 2017

I attended the Top Notch Tour round 4 race at Revelation Raceway on Nov 18, 2017. I have been getting into Nitro racing over the past several months and I have to say that this race got me hooked.

I decided to race E-Buggy and Nitro Buggy, I have recently decided Nitro buggy is my favorite. 

Here is a shot of my TLR 8ight 4.0 Ebuggy and 3.0 Nitro Buggy.

The track was very challenging with many off camber jumps, blind turns, and split sections. Here is a shot of the two sets of off camber double doubles.













Here is a shot coming out of the doubles and into the blind turn. There was also this berm that lead into the front straight away. Many racers flew off that berm multiple times... including me!

 Here is a shot of the far side of the track. There was a two doubles, into a table top, then around the corner into a huge double and then to the choice sections. You could chose to 180 off the big double into a straight away, or you could turn and hit a double double instead. Tough choices...

Here is a shot of the front straight away. At this point in the day the mix of dust and fumes was very heavy. It almost looks like there is fog on the track!

This race was rough for me... 

 First I melted my screwdriver with my soldering iron on accident... Womp WOmp...

Then I burned up my Savox Servo. It was locked up solid. The upgraded A6300 Spektrum servo I replaced it with definitely took me by surprise. I have all the steering power now!



















Finally, after a year and a half of punishment, one of my 4 cell batteries shorted on me... It was a sad day...

 Now for some good news... I was able to bump up from the B main after not being able to run my second qualifier. I was so stressed out on my final lap but I was able to pull myself together for the last few turns and make the cutoff.











In the A main I started dead last. I was very patient for the first 5 min of the 30 min race. I was able to keep a good pace and avoid getting taken out. Several racers broke their buggies during the first 5 min. After traffic thinned out a little, and I got around several pileups, I started to get on the throttle and push through the pack.









In E-buggy I had a tough time to say the least. My buggy was not set up properly and I was bouncing everywhere. I eventually compensated and tried to put down some clean laps. I ended up in a 10 min battle royale with Buddy Blacksmith, a fellow AKA teammate. I had so much fun battling with Buddy, but he was on point this race and ended up pressuring and overtaking me on the last lap for the 1v1 win. I cant wait to see him again at the next race.

I ended up running AKA GridIron II SSLW on both buggies and I was super happy with the traction. Overall I ended up 5th in gas buggy and 9th in E-buggy.

A huge thank you to Oscar Lopez, Buddy Blacksmith, and Lance Hubbard for all of your help at the track.

Thank you AKA and Team Trinity for all of your support with keeping my tires, motor, and batteries dialed.

-Matthew Garcia