#mini_z

Plenty has happened which I haven't yet written about, but the single most important thing was that on Wednesday (May 14th) we started an open event dubbed "BR Race Days".

It's essentially an organised practice session, where friends can gather and race their Mini-Z's. It's free to participate, and the fun is tremendous.

Since it's for practice, we decided to add a bit of an extra difficulty factor, making the finals 2x15 minutes races - instead of a single 15 minute.

Full gallery of the first event here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.450707118406484.1073741829.442019055941957&type=1

Videos are on our new Youtube channel here: http://bit.ly/BRRaceDaysVideos

Full Results are here:  http://bit.ly/BRRaceDaysResults

I've started my first ever Mini-Z Body Paint Job, and I'm documenting every step of the way.

Battery Management

Taking care of your batteries is probably the most tedious of all RC tasks. And we all know that proper battery management extends battery life and performance. Charging is one part. The other is actually managing the batteries.

I'm going to discuss how I manage my batteries, store them and use them while at the track. I have the Atomic Battery Box, which stores the batteries horizontally. I'm sure my method works great for any battery box though...

And when I say "my method" I just mean it's how I do it, without full knowledge about how everyone else does it.

For starters - and I will elaborate in another post - I create matched sets for my batteries, and always pack those together. I assume all my packs can be in either one of the three states: Discharged, Used or Charged.

Charged: Ready for Use

Used: Have been used (unknown remaining power)

Discharged: Have been fully discharged

In the image above you can see how I store the batteries in order to quickly identify in which state each pack is.

Hellenic Mini-Z Cup 2014, Round 6

What started as a small driver turnout, quickly became an amazing race. A few factors came into play but the most important was the new track layout. From the first timed practice sessions, we all could see that it was a pleasant and fast to drive track.

With little to no delays, the 1st qualifier started. To my disappointment (and lesson to be learned) I softly tightened my diff right before the Quali started. This basically made the rear end of the car very "nervous" and I was very careful on hitting the power on every corner exit. Of course, this basically destroyed my attempt.

On the 2nd qualifier, I tuned everything back to how I liked, tested and made sure everything was right. And the results do tell the right story. I came in second, only after the unbeatable Valerio, and my best lap was pretty impressive.

Now for the mains. I'm not sure what went wrong, but the rear end started acting up again towards the end of the race. I couldn't quite put the motors' power down at all. Again, It was a disappointment. And if it wasn't for a crash in the final laps (Permetis) I would have finished 5th.