AMS 9.0…What an event! Last weekend, I traveled to Cullman, AL for the 9th running of the Alabama Manufacturer Shootout. As always, the Race Time crew put on a heck of a race. I made my return to 1:8 racing after a one year break. I had a blast, enjoyed the racing, saw some old faces, and got to meet some new ones. I raced in the Open E-Buggy and Open Nitro Buggy classes.
Depending on ambient temperature, M3 or X3 Slide Locks were the tires of choice for me for most of the event.
I was able to qualify my Team Associated RC8B3.1 straight into the Open Nitro Buggy A-Main, starting 7th. I was able to quickly work my way up to 4th closing in on the Top 3, but I would have a throttle servo fail early in the 30-minute Main, and would have to settle for a 10th place DNF.
In Open E-Buggy, I had a little work to do after qualifying. I had good pace, but struggled to put in clean runs. Starting 5th in the B-Main, I was able to drive a smooth race with my RC8B3.1e and finished 2nd to bump up into the Double A-Mains. In A-1, I started 13th and would put in a solid run and finish 2nd. In A-2, I couldn’t find a good rhythm, and would finish 8th. In the end after the final scoring, I finished on the podium in 3rd place. All in all, it was a solid weekend.
-Hal Martin
