Pace myself with one of the regulars? Ummmm.... No.
To be fair, I managed one whole clean lap whilst going easy on the throttle but never two at a time and I am not even sure I nailed 2 corners in a row, whilst giving it the beans. When it came together (rarely), it seemed quick.
My inputs just aren't refined/ delicate enough. I do wonder if I should go back to sticks but I'll persevere for now. It's very early days. It has been 20yrs since I had a Mardave Cobra for racing and a stick transmitter! Brushless motors and these trigger/ wheel transmitters are a whole new world!
The actual car performed very well IMHO. It jumped nicely (when positioned correctly pre-jump), was fast on the straight and seemed pretty smooth (considering it was running a sensorless setup). I've got a sensored setup (or will when the postman delivers it) but I might leave this for now and get used to the car as it is.
I was getting a lot of understeer on corner entry, which surprised me as I am running a shorty LiPo, down the chassis, as close to the front as possible. However, I was possibly running a little high with a little too much toe-in. I set it up 'by eye' with a view to it hopefully being easy to drive and taking a few hits. That didn't necessarily work out to plan, as the heavens opened up and there just wasn't enough steering.
Perhaps the Schumacher Yellow Mini Darts (and medium inserts) were wrong for the track/ conditions as well. I'll need to buy a bit of a selection, I guess.
Lots of oversteer/ fishtailing coming out of corners on the power. I think we can put that down to the driver and a lack of delicacy on the trigger and the steering. Possibly I could tweak the ESC modes/ settings as well.
So, lots to learn on the driving front and some set up to play with. I'd like to try it in the dry, as it is, however just to see where the chassis/ grip/ setup is before I go fiddling too much.
Spoke with MB Models and they should have my pivot cup things in by Fri/ Mon so I should be good to head down the next practice Tuesday. I might pick up some more parts in the next order 'just in case'.
However, the car itself seems excellent and I have no doubt a seasoned driver there would have made it look very good with some minor tweaks. I certainly don't think I need spend more money on chassis/ motors/ batteries/ electrics/ chargers etc as my budget set up seems to offer way more than my skills and it'll take a good while to catch up and know what I am doing.