i wasn’t expecting today to turn out the way it did. i suppose that’s how life is – one minute you’re under a dark, rainy cloud and the next the sun is beating you down like a stepchild – wait…. anyhow, let’s just say today turned out well, the best turnout of all club races this year with 9 drivers qualifying for a position in the final. Joe came in with his family, Olaf brought two friends and the rest of the gang came to play, but we all struggled to get good qualifying times on F1R, now running clockwise in the last month of this layout. we all discussed how the surface felt rather slow and all agreed the WD-40 we’d been using as a traction compound was ultimately making the circuit slick and so, its now banned as a traction compound at nanotrax. nonetheless, we had a very competitive qualifying session but since i was the only one that got in real practice this week in the new direction, i took the top spot @ 9.13 seconds. this -of course- is meaningless in the final, the qualifying actually sorted out who would be in the Main B fighting for a spot in the Main A. Olaf & Slim immediately fell to Main B due to a car change during qualifying along with Joe and Yerky (sp). Joe and Olaf graduated to the Main A and it was a close one to say the least.

Main A began and after only a few laps, i lost a tire and moments after that, had to change from an under performing battery which dropped me down to last place. Olaf had taken charge but quickly lost the lead to an inspired Hugh, dashing ahead with Dahm and Ian close behind. Joe was struggling to keep pace and his problems only continued as his car setup contributed to tire troubles that eliminated him as a factor. i quickly got back into the game and slowly moved thru the ranks, battling for most of the race to catch Hugh and finally moved into chasing Olaf. Ian lost pace after having to make a battery change late in the race but was still close behind Dahm and Hugh, the three separated by only 2 laps. i was pushing hard and grabbed the lead from Olaf but lost pace on a crash and mistakes that left me trailing by 2 laps. Olaf felt me breathing down his neck and with a 2-lap lead, he felt it best to make a battery change and that was my chance. i caught him during his break and took the lead in the last 2 minutes. thereafter, i kept pace just behind him to insure the victory. this was definitely a tight, gut-wrenching, intense race for all participants and that’s the way we like it, the competition is real and loads of fun. if you’re in the area, we hope to see you in to watch or to participate and around the world, i hope you’ll have the chance experience micro rc racing the way we do @ nanotrax! here are the final results:

Championship Points (Season 3): Ian = 173pts, Olaf = 143pts, Hugh = 99pts, Dylan = 85pts, Calvin = 67pts, Robby = 40pts, Slim = 15pts, Vincent = 15pts, Ek = 10pts, Doug = 10pts, Ryan = 8pts

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time for a new ride and i’m not talkin’ about the one sitting out in front of the house.  i’m talkin about the ones i can own that i can’t own in real life and even if i had the money to buy them, i wouldn’t anyhow but since they’re tiny, i can and i do.  now i’m bored with my Lamborghini Countache LP500S, i decided to dismantle it along with my Porsche 911 GT3, then use the required parts to build the Ferrari F40.  its performance is still in question since none of the club members has tried it in competition, but we’ll see how things go at this week’s club race.  in other news, we’re making our move towards expansion and that means adding more items, from a variety of brands that produce high quality aftermarket parts for dNaNo and Mini Z.  view the gallery of latest items here and visit the online shop to browse our entire catalog of chassis sets, option parts and replacement parts for your dNaNo.

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the shop has been pretty flooded recently with visitors and members enjoying race practice and the new items that have recently arrived into the shop. today was no different but we also took in some fresh new, hot release items from the Kyosho Mini-Z Auto Scale Collection. be sure to get your hands on these items quick as usual, our stock is limited and these beauties won’t last long. every item in the gallery is now available in our online shop.

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to everyone who has visited & continues to visit our site, i want to say thanks!  just over a week has passed since we launched it but somehow, we have managed to make a profound impact on the growth of interest in dNano R/c racing.  i humbly request your feedback & comments as your thoughts & opinions are equally as important as the ones we express here at NanoTrax.  in the future, we hope to be a direct line from worldwide customers to the makers of dNano in the effort to expand communication & interest in this exciting hobby.  as always, its been a busy couple of days so let me get into the recap…

PRC dNano Race 2, Season 1
on thursday, we visited the Pattaya RC Powerboat park for the 2nd dNano race of the year.  the number of participants increased with top world drivers Meen Vejrak & Charlie Phutiyotin bringing their dNano’s to compete in the field of over 10 drivers.  i was unable to race cuz my rear tires on both cars have been depleted.  most others are still running on their original set but i’ve summized that is because while running on carpet risks fibers getting into the cars working parts, it saves tires.  running on rubber will eat dNano tires as if they were full size tires running on asphalt which is definitely a problem while we’re in a supply shortage.  Joom‘s Porsche still has a bit of tread left but i’m just getting to the diff upgrade today so i figured it would be best to skip this meet.  Meen ended up as the winner of this match which was sort of expected since he’s the only driver running with a gyro and cuz he’s arguably the best R/C driver in Thailand.  i’ve got some video but we left before the real action so i’ll edit it into another update.  it includes some footage of Ms. Nanotrax (Joom) so you won’t want to miss that!

Moving Forward
last night, we picked up a gift & visited PRC for a birthday party.  while there, i had a chance to speak with Charlie who informed me that our site work has helped to increase his workload which is good and bad i guess… he didn’t seem too upset about it – lol.  unfortunately, he told me that our dNano Online Sales have to be limited to Thailand only.  unless you’re in this country, we can’t sell you a dNano model, parts or accessories.  in time, we may be given extended rights but at the moment, Kyosho apparently has a plan for dNano and it doesn’t include extensive online marketing.  after getting that news, i discussed the shop opening & he was already aware of our supply issues.  i also talked him about possibly stocking Mini-Z but he advised against that and invited me to visit Hong Kong where we could directly address our inventory problem.  we definitely don’t have enough parts, models, accessories and supplies to open the shop at the moment even though we’re less than 3 weeks away from our planned opening time.  we’re working on getting the interior designer in this week for showroom layout construction & filing for the necessary permits that are required for music, beer & exterior signs.  official move-in date is around the 15th but we should get in and start on the new track construction a couple days before then.

Track Plans & Upgrade
i’ve got the final sketch completed for the showroom track.  we have about 9mx6m of space to work with so we’ll probably make the track 8mx4m.  it’ll be wide enough to comfortably race up to 9 cars at once and with the new design, we’ll be able to easily develop and implement new course layouts.  as i’ve said before, we’ll spend a lot of time on decorations with the hope of making the track feel as if its “real world” racing.  i would get into specifics about upgrading my wife’s dNano Porsche 911 GT3 but, i can’t do much testing without a good set of tires.  i’m putting in a Ball Differential only.  when i finally get new supplies, i’ll put on white wheels & probably make this the first car to receive a gyro and motor upgrade.  don’t forget to post comments, good or bad, thai or english… Joom will be adding the Thai versions of my posts over the next couple of days.  see ya!

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