What's up, everyone! If you caught the latest video, you already know this one wasn't part of the plan. Wednesday night, the call came in: "Hey, you're running 2WD Modified Buggy this weekend." That was the entire heads-up window for JConcepts ONS Round 2, the first time we've ever raced 1/10 scale on our outdoor track, and the first time hosting the series outdoors, period.
No prep car, no real practice, and a forecast that couldn't decide if it wanted to rain on us for six straight days or not. So we borrowed a buggy, threw some changes at it the night before, and went racing. Here's how it actually went.
Qualifying: A Rough Q3 and a Wholesale Rear-End Rethink
Q3 was, in a word, ugly. A traction roll sent the car into the pipe, the marshals missed it, and the session was effectively over before it started. Once the result was out of reach, the session turned into practice, including a couple of attempts at the left-side tabletop just to start dialing in confidence on a section that would matter a lot more later in the weekend.
The bigger issue all weekend was roll. As the track gained grip session over session, a car that was originally dialed in for a lower-grip setup started to feel increasingly out of its element. So before main day, the rear end got a near-total rework:
- Arm position: 4mm of spacing moved to the front of the arm, pushing the arm itself further back toward a more kit-stock position on the -3 chassis. This pulled some bind sweep out of the geometry while standing the shock up slightly for a touch more front-to-back weight transfer.
- Camber link: 2mm balsa washer added to the outside to level things out and take roll out of the chassis.
- Spring: Switched to a white rear spring.
- Anti-squat: Moved from a flat arm / max toe setup to max toe / max anti-squat.
Some of those changes add grip, some smooth the car out — and with zero practice time before A1, there was no way to know how it would all balance out until the tone sounded.
A1: A Quiet, Consistent P7
Starting P7, the goal was simple: don't throw it away. An early wreck from another driver moved the order up a spot, setting up a long, clean battle for position with JConcepts' Jason Ruona. The new rear-end setup made an immediate difference in confidence behind the wheel — but matching Jason's experience on the racing line proved to be the real challenge. He never gave up the line, and despite a few attempted moves, A1 finished exactly where it started: a solid, consistent run with no drama, which on a day like this counts as a win in itself.
A2: The Last-Lap Tabletop That Made the Whole Weekend Worth It
A2 had more back-and-forth than A1, with both drivers trading small mistakes throughout. A clean shot at fourth place evaporated when a mid-pack incident closed the door — pure racing luck, nothing to be done about it.
But the moment of the weekend came on the literal last lap. Nose-to-tail through the left-side tabletop chicane as the tone sounded for the final time, there was one shot to make something happen: send it over the tabletop, land it tight in front of the competitor's shock tower, and hold the line through the back straight chicane without looping out. It worked — and that single pass was enough to lock in P5 for the main.
A3: Best Points of the Weekend, Worst Driving of the Weekend
Grip came up more than expected for A3, which favored the modern-geometry cars on track — but it also exposed two wheelie moments, one early and one mid-race on the back side of the track, that cost real track position. Take those out and the result likely climbs a few spots. Even so, A3 produced the best points total of the entire weekend, which is one of those strange racing outcomes where the roughest-feeling run on track turns into the best one on paper.
Final tally for the weekend: a 5 and a 4, good for 7th overall — one spot behind Lee Setser. Considering this was a borrowed car, a single night of setup work, and zero laps of practice heading into a brand-new class on a brand-new surface for the team, that's a result to be happy with.
Event Recap: Hosting JConcepts ONS Round 2 Outdoors for the First Time
Stepping back from the driving side, this event was a milestone for Adrenaline RC. Six straight days of rain leading into the weekend meant the original plan, running indoors with the camera and banner setup already built out, got scrapped overnight in favor of moving the entire program, VIP tent included, out to the outdoor track. The crew pulled it off without a hitch.
It was also the very first time 1/10 scale buggies have raced on the outdoor track at Adrenaline RC, which meant nobody — pro or amateur — had any prior data on the surface. That leveled the field in a way that doesn't happen often, and it made for a genuinely fun, low-pressure weekend even with serious racing on the line.
Huge thanks to Lance, Danny, and Pat for running such a smooth program under tough circumstances, to Lee Setser for the work put into prepping the outdoor track in the mud, and to the full JConcepts crew for trusting us to host a round of the series for the first time. We're already wondering whether outdoor 1/10 scale racing deserves a regular spot on the event calendar, more on that as it develops.
What's Next
Next up: the Party Rock race at LCRC, which means swapping gears from 2WD mod buggy back to the usual program. If you want to follow along with what we're racing, building, and testing next, subscribe to the channel and keep an eye on the blog.
Want to check out the gear and setups behind weekends like this one? Browse our full JConcepts lineup, dig into Lee Setser's race setup sheets, or stop by our Winchester, VA location to see the outdoor track that hosted it all.