After over a year of trying to get down to what is apparently "God's gift to RC", I finally made it to the Jackson Pits. I can now attest that it is, indeed, God's gift to RC.
The Kraton made it a solid hour and 4 batteries through before two fatal breakages occurred that I was unable to fix. A broken rear driveshaft (unfixable due to a lack of parts and being absolutely packed with sand) as well as a detached ESC. I need to find a better solution than double-sided Gorilla tape to keep this thing stuck down as this has happened before. Some sort of zip tie solution may be the right move here.
It was raining before I arrived and it carried on raining for most of the time I was there, turning the sand into a grippy yet very sticky consistency that kept jamming up the servo and my hubs. The car sounded like hell and was already in need of a full rebuild, and this trip cemented that fact! Nothing but squeaks after only about 15 minutes of running.
The one thing I found interesting and unexpected was that while the car performed very well, the uneven terrain proved challenging and rough on the suspension, and getting up to speed was tough to pull off without getting bucked around. This is 8S (or gas) territory, without a doubt. The K4 is a big truck where I live but at a place like this, bigger is just better. The problem I kept running into was that I tried to give it throttle, but the sticky sand kept sending it into wheelies, and then a few bumps would send it cart-wheeling, so I had to go real easy on the throttle.
Anyway, enough rambling - this place is SICK and you need to make to trip. Next time down here I'm rounding up some guys and taking on this place in a group for sure.
18 сен 2024
