lately, its really all about the various faces that walk through the door and almost none of them familiar. i’m not sure where all our members went but after Songkran, the shop got quiet and has stayed that way since. i’ve had to re-evaluate our presence in Pattaya and some have suggested a move to Bangkok. the tourist crowd here is here for… let’s say ‘something else’, the locals have limited discretionary income and ex-pats like myself are often distracted with many concerns that eclipse their desire to kick it at a boutique mini R/C shop. nonetheless, i still enjoy the shop and i’ll enjoy it while it lasts… life in Pattaya isn’t exactly normal and an usual place like Nanotrax should probably be in a more ‘normal’ place to attract necessary support but we have some time before a decision must be made about ‘the situation’.
we have visitors from Bangkok and some closer to home who visit occasionally to buy parts and marvel at the biggest tiny R/C shop in the world. they’ve graciously given permission to post their pics on my blog and i don’t want to disappoint them so i’ve posted them just below. Joom’s had much more time to do nails for the ladies who visit, you’ll note its her work – not mine – in those photos. the most notable recent visitor is Greg Degani, 2002 IFMAR Off-Road Buggy World Champion and winner of a recent race meet @ Pattaya RC Powerboat, the location of the 2010 Worlds. he did a few laps with my McLaren (by X-Power) dNano and recorded some nice times considering it was his first run in micro R/C. speaking of the McLaren, we received disappointing news that the current run is the last so if you haven’t ordered one yet, only Yellow remains available and it arrives on Tuesday. the good news is many other items including Mini Z Auto Scale Collection items and optional parts for Mini Z AWD are still available so stop by our online shop for the latest info.
there’s been very little interest in racing in the lounge for a long while… it took a while to figure it out, but as i pulled apart the layout and prepared to install the next, i finally saw it: with the same flooring as F1R, F2L was too similar in look and feel. it was like F1R’s little brother who just couldn’t live up to the feats of the elder. what it needed was its’ own ‘personality’. with this in mind, i decided to go ‘retro’ and installed the black tiles, giving it a unique surface. the black tiles have been in warm storage, and therefore have become very hard and smooth. this of course forces one to tune differently for optimal handling. at first, i couldn’t figure out what was happening when driving on the new layout but after installing a soft suspension setup on my F40, i could see that the sweeping curves forced it to ‘power slide’ its way around the circuit. i could hear the diff working hard and feel the ‘slide’ as it hit the tighter corners. this is exactly what F2L needed! Hugh, Tony, Boris & Dahm stopped by for a few practice races and were instantly excited about the new look and feel. 3 days of creating my latest masterpiece for the moment it could bring joy to those who appreciate it – that makes every drop of sweat & every second spent worth it = life is good.
a consecutive F1 Sunday meant early action for the Malaysian Grand Prix and it all started @ 3pm, followed immediately by our club race. Hugh made his first appearance at a club race and qualified at under 12 seconds but had a previous engagement so he couldn’t stay for the final. Olaf grabbed the TQ spot with his R8 and i picked off 2nd with both of us downgrading to stock motor. Vincent arrived late so started at the back of the grid for the final. after moving up 3 spots, he was in a battle with Ian for 3rd throughout the race. Dylan had tire troubles again and Marlowe’s Corvette just hasn’t been the same since removing it’s spoiler. consistency is improving as everyone finds the line, but we’ll be on a break for the coming holidays and will wait to see who will come back & ultimately master ‘Strata’.
Results for Season 2, Week 14 – April 4, 2010
Main A Final (30 Mins):
1 – Q’on / Nissan Fairlady Z (152 Laps)
2 – Olaf / Audi R8 (148 Laps) +15
3 – Vincent / Corvette C6-R (137 Laps) +11
4 – Ian / Aston Martin Racing DBR9 (136 Laps) +8
5 – Marlowe / Corvette C6-R (128 Laps) +6
6 – Dylan / ENZO Ferrari (113 Laps) +5
— Top Qualifier = Olaf / Audi R8
NanoTrax DCP Standings
Olaf = 161 pts
Marlowe = 138 pts
Vincent = 134 pts
Ian = 101 pts
Dylan = 92 pts
Erwin = 44 pts
Brian = 15 pts
Calvin = 11 pts
Doug = 10 pts
Marc = 10 pts
Johnny = 5 pts
Hugh = 5 pts
originally, we planned to close the shop today since the last time we changed the layout, it took 8 hours. this was obviously because there were only 2 people (myself & Calvin) who worked to do it and we did it all at once. this time, we had F1R cleared to a bare floor before closing the shop, so the only thing left was to lay down the lining, rocks and clean the floor. Vincent came thru at our normal opening time to help out so we wrapped up everything by 3pm. we opened the shop with a new layout in place and invited members in for ‘practice & beer’ to celebrate. i’m proud of all the work we do here as its more than a ‘normal’ mini-r/c circuit; its a work of art and there’s nothing else like this in the world. i believe our members take pride in that as well and appreciate the opportunity to enjoy this hobby in such a unique place. in the midst of turmoil throughout the world, at least at nanotrax, they can find ‘joy’.
we all took our test runs on ‘Strata’ until closing time, discovering that we’ll have to prepare ourselves for high speed and chaotic collisions that will make our club races very interesting for the next 3 months. i figured it was time for an upgrade to the Mazda 787b, so i threw on some PN Racing ‘Double Star’ Aluminum Wheels and an X-Power ‘Hot’ Motor, just so i can be ready for Olaf in the next club race… he’s outta control! i’ll post pics of the new look soon on the nanotrax micro r/c forum, join us there for more ‘dNaNo discussion’ and more. see ya next time! ;)
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today we had our first busy practice at NanoTrax. 6 cars on the track handled by guests, members & one NanoTrax girl. from noobs to skilled drivers, we all felt good about meeting a new challenge and enjoyed the day racing on F1R. for a more detailed account, check out the race data output from our Kyosho Lap Counter (Home Edition). our most recent club member, Chris, jumped right into the action with his Porsche 911 GT3. after seeing the performance of Joom‘s dNaNo, he was set on getting the same one with all the trimmings. i was surprised at how quickly he got a handle on driving but maybe he just had a good teacher? ;-) … finally, our friend Charlie Siribodhi (President of RCCA & owner of Pattaya RC Powerboat) came by to drop off some needed parts and visit NanoTrax for the first time. tomorrow, we’re planning to start race day at approximately 2pm with 1 hour of practice before qualifying begins at 3pm. this is the official beginning of our racing season where members will begin to collect NanoTrax Driver’s Championship Points. we’ll also begin dNaNo & Mini-Z Sprint Heat & Collector’s Competition as well. for more details, visit the NanoTrax Forum to participate in the discussion. remember, even you have already logged into the blog, you have to login to the forum separately to post or reply. use the forum password recovery link to reset your password if you’re having problems logging in… or just send me an email for personal assistance.
วันนี้เป็นวันแรกสำหรับวันที่ซ้อมเล่นรถ ของทุกวันวันศุกร์ ก็ดีใจที่มีลูกค้าสนใจและเข้ามาร่วมทำการซ้อม ก็มีทั้ง Member และลูกค้าใหม่ ทุกคนก็สนุกและรู้สึกดีที่ได้ทำการท้าทายกับผู้แข่งท่านอื่น เราก็ได้ทำการบันทึก เกี่ยวกับวันที่เล้น ถ้าสนใจก็เข้าไปดูได้ที่ รายละเอียดการแข่งขัน สำหรับร้านของเราก็มีชาวต่างชาติที่มีการติดตามทางเว็บของทางร้าน มาตลอด เมื่อเข้ามีโอาศมาเมืองไทย เขาก็เข้ามาเล่นที่ร้าน เมื่ออาทิตย์ที่แล้วนี่เอง คือ Robby DV มาจากประเทศ Belgium เค้าได้นำรถของเข้ามาเล่น คือ Mazda 787 เหมือน ของพี่ขวัญ แล้วพอถึงวันที่กลับประเทศเขาก็ได้ ซื้อ Ferrari F40 กลับไปฝากเพื่อนที่นั่นด้วย แล้วเมื่อไม่กี่วันที่ผ่านมา ก็มีMemberใหม่เพิ่มอีก 1 คน คือ Chris ได้ชื้อ Porsche 911 GT3 เหมือนของ จุ๋ม ตอนนี้ทางร้านก็มี Member เกือบ 10คนแล้ว เรารู้สึกดีใจมากที่มีหลายท่านก็รักการเล่นรถเหมือนกับเรา เรารู้สึกมีความสุขเมื่อได้เห็นพวกเค้าเข้าเล่นที่ร้าน สำหรับท่านที่ยังไม่เคยเข้ามาเล่น หากได้มีการผ่านมาที่พัทยา ทางร้านเนโนแทร์กยินต้อนรับ และยิ่งช้วงนี้หน้าฝน หากท่านต้องการเล่นกีฬาในร่ม ก็ขอเรียนเชิญท่านที่ร้าน เพราะที่ร้านเรา แอร์เย็นสะบาย มีทั้งอาหารและเคื่องดื่มอีกมากมายไว้ลองรับทุกท่าน หากท่านต้องการถามเส้นทางหรือ รายละเอียดเพิ่มเติมก็ติดต่อได้ที่ – joom@nanotrax.net
