Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Age: 38 Gender: Male Posts: 575
04 Nov 2013, 12:56 am
Hello everyone. It's been awhile since I wrote on this thread so I thought I would give an update.
This fall season I have won the Ultimate Formula One Summer Series and I have become the first driver in this league to win the championship 3 times and to win both the the Summer and Winter series. My dad and I were not expecting to win the summer championship this year but somehow we prevailed and had enough points accumulated to sit out the final round.
But the most important thing is yet to come. In more than a week I will be flying to Japan, with my dad and my USA team to Shizuoka City, Japan to race in the Tamiya World Championship for the second time in my life. I leave November 12 and return November 19. The race is November 15-17. Almost four years ago, I reported the Tamiya World Championship to you with all the results, qualifiers and what was happening during the Championship. After missing the A main, by less than a blink of a eye, I have been hungry to make it back to the Tamiya World Championship and to redeem myself ever since. I have been studying the Japanese language at My local community colleges for the past two years and I have been learning a lot more ever since. This hopefully will help me do better at the worlds and get help from the local racers. I do want to perform much better at the worlds this time around than the last, but more importantly, I want to converse with the Japanese and make many more friends over there. If you want to know how I am doing, my facebook address is https://www.facebook.com/lee.passehl
I thank you all for reading my thread and I am honored to be your reporter.
Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Age: 38 Gender: Male Posts: 575
28 Nov 2013, 11:15 pm
Well Hello everyone.
I just came back from the Tamiya World Championship two weeks ago. I qualified 3rd. I had a shot at winning the world championship but I got taken out but the 4th qualified driver from Switzerland. I had to fight all my way from last of both mains but I ended up finishing 4th in the entire world. However. My teammate from the US, who ran the Formula 1 class won the World Championship! He is the first driver to win the Tamiya World Championship in 14 years, since 1999. I had a great time and made many new friends.
Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Age: 38 Gender: Male Posts: 575
17 Feb 2015, 9:34 pm
Hi guys and girls. It's been awhile since I posted on this thread.
I'd thought I would give an update on what I have been doing these past 15 months after my last post.
Last year I competed in the 2014 Reedy Touring Race of Champions in the Modified division at my home track in Aliso Viejo,CA. I placed 4th.
A couple months later I ran in the "Big Fat Turkey Race" in Camarillo, CA and won the Modified division for the first time in my life. Here are some videos of my mains. I am the green car.
A Main 1
A Main 2
During July, my dad and I went down to Kissimmee Florida to compete in the ROAR (Radio Operated Auto Racing) On Road Paved Nationals. I didn't do as well and took 16th. Later in October I competed on the biggest stage of Radio Control car racing. The IFMAR (International Federation of Model Auto Racing) Electric Touring World Championship. It was a dream I had to compete in this race since I was 19. Even though I didn't place well (81st out of 93 drivers) I am glad I did it and lived my dream of competing in that race.
In between that time. My dad and I helped out one of our friends from Wisconsin win the Tamiya national championship for the first time in his life. My dad helped set up the car for him and he piloted to victory. He placed 8th in the Tamiya World Championship this November.
Also, I have been continuing to take Japanese at Irvine Valley College and I am now at the highest level of Japanese offered at the school.
Now since 2015 is finally here. my dad has told me that I now have to start working on my own RC car and learn how to build one as well as set it up well. This January, I built my first RC Car, the Tamiya 419. It is the latest electric touring car offered by Tamiya. (A japanese RC car company)
I am also going to be writing some race reports again to get this thread back under running again after seeing that I have 75,000+ views for this thread. I would like to thank you for that.
First...I will be competing in the Reedy Touring Race of Champions again this year, this May at Tamiya America Raceway. Also in September at the same track will be the ROAR paved nationals where I will be running the Modified class again. I will write race reports on those two races.
Lastly, I have started to fly quadcopters near my local park near my house and I have been getting decent at it. I have been doing it for two months now and it helps relax me.
Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Age: 38 Gender: Male Posts: 575
23 Feb 2015, 2:29 pm
Humanaut wrote:
Is there any tuning involved like adjusting camber, ride hight, suspension stiffness, etc?
Leester wrote:
I have started to fly quadcopters near my local park near my house and I have been getting decent at it.
Check out this concept:
Yes Humanaut, the cars use all sorts of adjustments such as you discribed above and even more so. Such as droop, ackerman, shock oil, shock piston holes, wheelbase and so much more.
As far as the video goes, I saw that and I would love to try that FPV style type of flying. Way too cool! Looks expensive though. But worth a try. Thanks for sharing!
...all sorts of adjustments such as you discribed above and even more so. Such as droop, ackerman, shock oil, shock piston holes, wheelbase and so much more.
It has much in common with real racing then.
Quote:
I would love to try that FPV style type of flying. Way too cool! Looks expensive though. But worth a try.
The concept will hopefully become commercially available as a kit. Putting the camera in the nose of a steerable amateur rocket sounds like too much fun.
Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Age: 38 Gender: Male Posts: 575
26 Feb 2015, 6:00 pm
Humanaut wrote:
Leester wrote:
...all sorts of adjustments such as you discribed above and even more so. Such as droop, ackerman, shock oil, shock piston holes, wheelbase and so much more.
It has much in common with real racing then.
Quote:
I would love to try that FPV style type of flying. Way too cool! Looks expensive though. But worth a try.
The concept will hopefully become commercially available as a kit. Putting the camera in the nose of a steerable amateur rocket sounds like too much fun.
Yes it is almost. You can be the driver and the pit man all at the same time.
This is what I use for a quadcopter right now.
I plan on improving my skills so I can be able to upgrade to more sophisticated models.
Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Age: 38 Gender: Male Posts: 575
15 Mar 2015, 5:05 pm
This March 21st is the Tamiya America Grand Club race. I will be racing in the Modified class. Yesterday was practice and my dad and I got some reasonable time in to set up the car. Can't wait!
Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Age: 38 Gender: Male Posts: 575
23 Apr 2015, 9:57 pm
I noticed I had a lot of grammar issues with my most recent race report so I had to delete it, edit it, and post it again. Here it is
Tamiya America grand club race 3-21-15
The track was very well prepped today. There was an overcast of clouds in the morning and the track was a little cold the car was handling decent in practice. After practice I start to get ready for my first round of qualifying The sun peeked through, melted the clouds away, became warm and then the traction really start to come up.
I was mostly working on the car by myself but my Dad would help me out a little bit. I did most of the work.
The first qualifier didn't go as well. There were faster cars than I was when and when I let them by they always made a mistake I have to let them by again which slowed down my fastest time. With two minutes and 30 seconds into the race I got taken out by one of the leaders from behind and my transmission broke. I had to retire for the round.
The second round was much better I had a good battle or my friend Julian who is 14 years old is going on 15 this year and would beat me by seven tenths of a second. However I would make the A main.
I got off to a good start in the A main. There was no trouble and there were no collisions. I was able to move my way up the pack quite a bit. One of the best drivers in the nation was hounding me for 4th. I was able to hold him off for just a little bit but he made a very good pass on me in the hairpin. Then I had my big battle with Julian. Who for 3 minutes tried to get by. He was much faster than I was, he tried getting by me but I was able to hold him off and take 5th place. I enjoyed today and I had a lot of fun being with my dad.
Thank you for reading my race report pf the Tamiya America grand club race. My next race is the Reedy international touring car race of champions. May 21-24 2015.
Joined: 11 Jan 2008 Age: 38 Gender: Male Posts: 575
18 May 2015, 11:50 am
This week is the Reedy International Touring Race of Champions. I will be competing in the open modified class. The race is May 21st through May 24th. I have my final Japanese oral exam on the 20th of May. After that I go racing. I will keep you updated.
27 Jul 2013, 11:12 pm
