AMain.com and Pro-Line Racing Driver Chad Bradley has raced all over the world and has competed at the highest levels of competition. During his 20 plus years of racing Bradley has had to prepare for all types of racetracks and conditions. He’s also proactive in that he gets everything ready before he ever shows up to the race.
“Being prepared ahead of time will greatly lessen the stress during the event and will help make the race more enjoyable and will definitely help in your end results.”
Here are his top five things to do before heading to a major Nitro race:
1. I like to create to create a check list of all the necessary equipment to bring (tools, chargers, option springs and fluids, pit accessories, etc), good selection of tires that work at the track the event is being held at and back up components (engine, electronics, plastics, etc.).
2. If your building or rebuilding a new kit, its good to do a couple club races or a good practice day or running to ensure that your new or rebuilt kit doesn’t fall apart unexpectedly during the event.
3. Make sure your engine has a race tune on it before you leave for the event, this is critical because of limited practice we typically see at events these days. Before practice begins I like to find an area to recheck the tune on my engine, because different altitudes and outside conditions could be greatly different than where the engine was initially tuned in at.
4. If the track is somewhere I’ve never been to before, I like to do a little research on the Popular Tires that work at that track. Mounting your tires beforehand (which is harder to do these days because of the higher selection of tires) will free up time on either relaxing or working on your cars.
5. Try to find some race videos of the track, this could help you better anticipate setups and tire choices as well as visualizing the track you’re going to be racing on.
