Radio Control Car Action and RC Madness hosted the 3rd Annual RC Monster Madness Race in Enfield, Connecticut on August 13th and 14th. Tamiya America's TRF drivers Jimmy Jacobson and David Jun have once again demonstrated the full potential of the TNX Monster truck by winning their second major monster truck race of the year.
Earlier this year, Jimmy Jacobson and David Jun finished 1st and 2nd place at the 5th Annual Pro-Line Maxx Challenge Race respectively in the Small-Block class and now for the second year in a row have also finished 1st and 2nd at the Monster Madness race. Once again, a one two sweep of the podium and five laps over third place. The truly remarkable occurred when the two TRF drivers also finished 1st and 2nd in the big-block class, four laps ahead of third, using the same trucks and the same engines! The TNX dominated both classes this year with good chassis tuning and some new option parts that are going to hit the market in the coming month. The TNXs that both drivers used were prepared with some easy to install options. The options our TRF team used were the following:
Pro-Line Powerstroke shocks.
Pro-Lines newECrime-fighter tires
Tamiyas New Blue anodized main aluminum chassis
MIP/Tamiya Blue CVDs
New David Jun designed Ball Pivot Suspension
Tamiya Titanium Screws
The stock O.S. designed Tamiya FS-18SR engine was used because the stock engine is more than suitable for racing purposes as it has plenty of power for the Small-Block classes and evidently has more than enough power to take on the big boys of the Big-Blocks classes as well. Typically the Big-Block class monster trucks use engines of .21 size or greater. Many of the racers at the event could not believe the power of the Tamiya engine and as David Jun explained to curious competitors, his secret was the break-in procedure and tuning of the engine. The stock Tamiya starter was removed to save weight and was replaced with the Roto starter. This Roto starter can be used in many of the popular .15-.18 engines and it sure helped keep our teams engines starting effortlessly every time.
The RC Monster Madness III race had three qualifying rounds in total and each round was run in the traditional IFMAR format. David Jun took the Top Qualifier position by edging his team mate out by two tenths of a second and both were the only drivers to complete ten laps during qualifying. Ordinarily Jimmy Jacobson puts on a good qualifying performance as he is typically the better of the two in off-road as David is typically better in on-road, but it was not meant to be as David held on to his TQ all weekend until the 35 minute main event where Jimmy finally passed David after six minutes of close racing. Both the Small-Block and Big-Block classes had 35 minute main events and the Tamiya pit strategy paid off as their pit men were able to quickly get them in and out with minimal delay. The RC Madness track layout proved to be challenging and at the same time fun for all competitors. It was Tamiyas debut of the new TRF Pivot Ball Suspension and its design proved to significantly improve traction, stability and steering as it now allows drivers the ability to adjust caster, camber and a multitude of dampening rates to adjust for changing track conditions.
Congratulations to Jimmy and David for a great performance and we will be posting detailed pictures of their winning trucks shortly along with set up tips and tuning advice.