They say that history repeats itself, and that seems to be the case in R/C racing as well. In 2012 we saw the Hot Bodies and Pro-Line driver, Ty Tessmann, sweep nearly every 1:8 offroad race he entered. In 2013, he is back and faster than ever. With wins this year already including the ROAR Truggy National Championship, The Dirt Nitro Challenge Pro Truggy title, and most surprising was his clean sweep of the 1:10 Worlds Warm-Up.
The “Canadian Crusher” is back for 2013 in full-force, and with his ongoing success heading into the upcoming 1:10 World Championships, we’ve sat down once again to “Talk-It-Out” with Ty Tessmann!
LiveRC: Welcome Ty to another edition “Talk-It-Out Tuesday”! You need no introduction, so lets start off talking about the Pre-Worlds. The industry is in awe of your performance dominating BOTH 2wd and 4wd classes. How long had you been preparing for that race?
Ty: Thanks. I was very fortunate to be able to practice this past winter in the basement of one of our local furniture stores on a carpet track with wooden jumps, we (my Dad and I) got creative with different tires to simulate different traction situations and worked on setups for these conditions.
LiveRC: There was some “controversy” over whether the Pre-Worlds track should be sugared or not. What are your opinions on sugar coating tracks?
Ty: When we got to the Silver Dollar track it was very loose and would not have been good for anyone, with 2WD cars it was almost impossible to go in a straight line. The decision to sugar was unanimous except for one manufacturer, in my opinion though it was definitely the right decision. the track had good grip, but from what I was told not near as much as other sugared tracks but for me if a track can be that consistent for the whole weekend it is the most fair way to run a big race, no one has an advantage or disadvantage depending on what time of day or what qualifier you get stuck in.
LiveRC: Do you hope to see the actual Worlds track sugar coated?
Ty: Yes, the reason being the pre – worlds track was excellent, super consistent and everyone that spent a lot of money to go to the pre – worlds went there to learn what the dirt and conditions would be like, if you change that now those people pretty much wasted their time and money.
(Sugar made for sweet traction at the Silver Dollar R/C Raceway.)
Photo courtesy of A Main Hobbies
LiveRC: What are your thoughts on mid-motor vs. rear motor?
Ty: If it was ideal conditions for both, I would choose mid motor, I prefer how the mid motor car drives and feels, but if we need to go to the rear motor we have a good setup for that as well.
LiveRC: HPI Racing/Hot Bodies does not currently make any competion 1:10 offroad vehicles so you have chosen to run the Kyosho RB6 2wd and Team Associated B44.1 4wd. Why these cars?
Ty: As far as the 2WD goes we tested several of the top cars on the market and for me the Kyosho RB6 suits me the best. For 4WD Hotbodies is currently working on a 4WD and we will be running that for the nationals and the worlds so our choice to run the AE 4WD was strictly based on running what I was familiar with. It has always been a good car for me and I am very familiar with setups that work.
(Tessmann’s 2wd and 4wd buggy at the Silver Dollar R/C Pre-Worlds)
Photo courtesy of A Main Hobbies
LiveRC: You chose to run the B44.1 with the smaller shocks, and short chassis. Why the B44.1 over the B44.2?
Ty:Although we had the B44.2 from the Reedy race when Hotbodies started to develop their 4WD we fully expected to have it for the pre- worlds so I had returned my B44.2 back to Associated, but things didn’t work out as planned with the HB 4WD, which needed more development, so I ran the car that I had from 3 years ago which was the B44.1
(Tessmann’s B44.2 at the 2013 Reedy International Race of Champions)
LiveRC: One week after your 1:10 domination at the Pre-Worlds you headed south to the ROAR 1:8 Fuel Offroad Nats where you won yet another National Championship. What adjustments do you have to make in your driving style going from 1:10 electric to nitro 1:8?
Ty: I find it pretty easy to go from 1/10 to 1/8, in 1/10 scale I have to be a lot more careful and precise with my car so when I then go to 1/8 scale it makes me a lot smoother and I think faster. I can tell you what is difficult is going from 1/8 scale to touring car, I found that very challenging a few years back when I ran touring car.
LiveRC: In the buggy mains you and Dakotah both had serious misfortune at the 1:8 Nats. Many racers would have thrown their radio, screaming, and yelling with the lead you had when the car broke in the final. You and Dakotah both handled the situations very calm and more mature than most veteran racers. What is it that makes you “kids” so much more mature than many grown adult racers?
Ty: I don’t think that it necessarily has to do with maturity, I think it has to do more with my personality and the fact that I knew that I had done everything that I could, I never over drove my car, I never abused my equipment, we did all the maintenance on the car before the race and before the semis and the main and for whatever reason a part failed that shouldn’t have failed. It is just one of those things that can happen, unfortunately for me it couldn’t have happened at a worse time. There is no question that I was extremely disappointed but I knew that there was nothing that I could have done differently to prevent it. I have been extremely blessed to this point to finish a very high percentage of my races but unfortunately this one wasn’t meant to be.
LiveRC: Of all the classes you have raced, what do you consider to be your favorite?
Ty: My favorite class is 1/8 buggy.
LiveRC: The 1:10 ROAR Offroad Nationals and 1:10 IFMAR World Championships are not far off, both at Silver Dollar R/C Raceway. Who do you feel are your biggest competitors at each of these events?
Ty: There are too many to name, there are so many great racers out there and the competition is going to be extremely high at both those races, to win either of these races is going to take a lot of hard work and determination, I am determined and I am not afraid of hard work, unfortunately there are a lot of other people that want to win as bad as I do.
LiveRC: You guys have experienced some SERIOUS flooding lately in your hometown. With your home track under water (literally), how has this effected your training/practice routine?
Ty: Well our track is definitely under water, fortunately for us though it will only be a couple of weeks and we will be ready to race and practice again, this will give me the opportunity to work on all my cars and get everything ready for the upcoming races and maybe even squeeze a few more hours in on my pre runner build. Even though our track is flooded my thoughts and prayers go out to those people that have had their homes affected by the flood.
LiveRC: How many times per week do you practice?
Ty: In the outdoor season I go to the track an average of 4 days a week.
LiveRC: Of all the wins you’ve achieved over the years, which is your most memorable?
Ty: I would have to say that my most memorable win was winning the truggy championship at the 2010 Dirt Nitro Challenge, I battled with some of the best drivers in the world and came out on top, it felt really good to get my first big US win.
(Ty Tessmann celebrates his 2010 Dirt Nitro Challenge Truggy class victory.)
Photo courtesy of TyTessman.com, provided by NeoBuggy.net
LiveRC: Thank you for taking some time with us today Ty, we wish you the best of luck at the upcoming races! Is there anything you would like to add?
Ty: I have been with Hotbodies for 9 years now, Tatsuro Watanabe the owner of Hotbodies/HPI took a chance on a kid nobody knew from Canada and for that I will be forever grateful, I could never have come this far without the support of all of the great companies that sponsor me, Hotbodies/HPI, Proline, OS, PM Hobby, Muchmore, Lunsford, Avid, Savox, Upgrade, Nitrotane, Kustom Rc Graphics, Tekno, Tekin, Thunder Power, MIP, Zig Racing, Dialed Inc., LiveRC, RedRC, and Neobuggy. I also would like to thank my Dad, Mom and sister, Jesse without their support and sacrifices over the years I couldn’t have done what I have done. Thank you Mike and Live RC for giving me this opportunity and most importantly I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ without him I wouldn’t be where I am today.
