# What's the "duh"mest thing you've done...



## RCMits (Jan 1, 1970)

With the new year rolling close, it's time to reflect on the years past and the dumbest things you've done in RC this year? It's the "DUH" moment to reflect on and laugh about... while sharing it for us to smirk and go "Hey I've done that!".

_Examples: dead battery, forget to tighten down wheel nut, forget to change crystal, realize Spektrum doesnt need crystals, superglue hands to chassis..._


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## RCMits (Jan 1, 1970)

I'll start:

1. I was trying to set toe-in toe-out with a gauge, and was adjusting the camber rod intead wondering why it wasn't getting straight only to realize one tire was MASSIVELY tweaked with negative camber!










2. Wasn't done *this* year but I've actually soldered a motor backwards in the rush of a qualifier that came up faster than I could imagine. My TC3 shot backwards from the pole spot to last place in a matter of seconds. Talk about a "hole" shot....











What's yours?


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## HPIFreak (Feb 17, 2003)

i qalified like 6th in the truggy A Main in an Ohio RC Pro series race. started my car, had my pit man get to my grid spot. 5 seconds to start and it flames out! we pull it off the track and spend about 5 minutes trying to start it before realizing that it was just out of gas!!!!! forgot to fuel up before going out to the track. that wont happen in 08 ill tell ya that!


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## OvalmanPA (Mar 21, 2000)

Not this year but the DUHmest thing I believe I've ever done is completely rebuilt a Emaxx. Put the rear differential case back in and went to run it. Front wheels went forward, back wheels went backward.  Good thing I tried it before it was time to race that weekend.


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## AJS (Mar 21, 2002)

OvalmanPA, did the about the same thing with a pulling clodbuster, soldered the rear motor in backwards, set it on the track and all the tires spun, but it took a little bit to realized that they were turning in opposite directions. LOL


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## ScottH (Nov 24, 2005)

I cycled a pack of batteries that we run in our BRP cars.

I charged it at six amps and discharged it at 30.

That would not have been a problem if they were not AA's.

DOH!!

I know a couple of guys that forgot to put fuel in their cars before running a Nitro race. :wave:


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## L4OvalRacer (May 27, 2007)

2 4200mah 6cell batteries touching in the trunk of a 2003 Dale Earnhardt EDI Monte Carlo. Catching fire to everything except the car.

Tire Traction
Motor spray
3 L4s
3 Brushless sustems
all 25 NIMH 4200mah batteries
a small Lipo pack (was not very cool!)
One of a kind Dale Earnhardt body

Luckly the car was fine and we are all still alive.

Only out $1000.00

Now thats stupid!!!!


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## Kenwood (Oct 18, 2004)

Ive done the motor backwards thing...more than a few times...Funniest was in columbus when the horn sounded in 19T the car ripped backwards hitting and ramping over the second place qualifier and launching over #3 and hitting qualifier #4...LOL...We could not recreate that if we tried...


Another was at Akron running one of the hangover races....I ran 19T and stock.... Dumb luck I was back to back mains...anyway I was peaking my 19T car while racing stock main...When I came back I was in a rush to swap x-tals..and wipe tires..I grabbed the car and when I did my finger knocked the charge lead into a dead short against the peaked battery.....with my thumb resting on it... The clip was glowing red and burnt my thumb beyond recognition...Looked like a hot dog left on the grill.... Anyway... I raced the 19T main by pressing my palm against the steering wheel...Somehow I managed to run the race and not crash anyone...But the line was very inconsistent..LOL..Im a lot more carefull now...


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## PD2 (Feb 27, 2003)

It's been a long time since I raced offroad nitro, but, I'd say the DUHmest thing I've ever done was at a local race, during the qualifying rounds, I had to do some work on the truck and had pulled the engine out. It was a very dusty track so one of the things I was trying to do was clean the airfilter. I had yanked it off and in my haste did not put the stupid thing back on. Rank my qualifier and noticed something was getting seriously wrong with my truck and its performance. Started out really hot and fast and ended up doggin. 5 minutes later, I'm out a nearly $200 engine! I NEVER did that again!


PD2:thumbsup:


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## trailranger (Feb 9, 2006)

In past years, I have done the dead short aligator clip and burn thumb, reverse motor wires, forgot to tighten timing/endbell, reverse battery leads, bought a TC3 instead of Xray DOH!, forgot my Transmitter at home charging, forgot car at home but brought car hauler. 

This year I have been lucky for the first 49weeks, wahoo!


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## RCMits (Jan 1, 1970)

*lol* i did that about 4 years ago. all hyped up to race, drive 2 hours to a track, get there... and.. uhm.. where is my radio! CRAP!!


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## jenzorace (Dec 23, 2005)

I was just breaking in a stock motor,,, when my mullet got caught in the fan blade. My buddy says hey watch your hair...


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## trailranger (Feb 9, 2006)

Lucky me, I forgot my radio and the drive was only 15mins there,...then 15 min back, and I was hungry so I got a burger too.


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## Promatchracer (Sep 28, 2001)

I have forget teh radio thing to but most of you guys know I have a ton of stuff so I just grabbed one of my extras and reprogrammed it 

Before I had all the extra stuff I went 3 hours to a race and forget mine and my brothers truck bodies Luckly the hobby shop had something I could paint and toss on there


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## irvan36mm (Oct 2, 2001)

We had a guy a few years ago that did,not only the DUHmest thing..but probably the most dangerous thing (next to exploding batteries):

On one cold night,the thing to do back then was to apply tire traction,usually suntan lotion or Paragon, then warm the tires (foams) just before a race. A lot of us used heat guns,hair dryers or TC tire warmers. This particular guy used a lighter. He also had a "secret" tire sauce that he used on his tires,and used to warm the tires w/ the lighter to get the "sauce" and tires nice & sticky. The "sauce" turned out to be NAPA Rubber Cement. Bad thing was that he also forgot that he just sprayed-out the motor (still in car) w/ motor spray and the whole rear pod was still dripping wet. You can probably guess what happened next when he decided to "Flame On". When the flames erupted,the next DUHmest thing he did was to try and blow-out the flames like a birthday cake. Luckily,the guy pitting next to him got a rag & put the fire out. Yes,the car was still intact. Can't say the same for the tires!

Some of us still talk about that deal to this day..even laugh about it! But it could have been very tragic.

-George


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## DARKSCOPE001 (Jun 14, 2006)

well i did it i just did the dumbest thing ever in my rc carrier. last night I was drilling a hole in the side of a trinity r minus plug so that it could be mounted at a 90deg angle to the wire. and It started 6off I knew that I should have just waited until I could use my grandfathers drill press for the job. so I start out with a 1/16" drill bit chucked into my dremel. and away i go. finally I get the hole started and after about 10 min of ultra slow drilling im thru. then I switch over to a bigger bit. and i start drilling and it gets stuck because it bit into the metal. so instead of doing the smart thing and turning off the moto tool. i let go of the part, well I had put the battery tube on the end to hold it. and so after a few seconds of spinning I get nailed in the goggles HARD WHAMMMOO! (yea i was smart enough to where goggles) and i noticed the thing was spinning much faster. the battery tube had just been launched into the time space continuum and i was never to see it again


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## tweakedt3 (Aug 12, 2004)

The dumbest thing I ever did was get out of the hobby. Sold everything off but my tools. Boy was I an idiot.


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## RCRacer45s (Oct 22, 2002)

For all you motor backwards guys, dont you guys do hot laps? Or at least set the car down to see if it goes the right way?
Not too many dumb things on my part this year. Probly the dumbest things was using a spring that i thought was copper but really wasnt. Ended up using a 16lb spring instead of a 12lb. Another dumb thing was putting golds on the rear of my car for tires. About 15shore harder durometer wise then what i had previously been running. It ended up pushing like a dumptruck?...weird.


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## RCMits (Jan 1, 1970)

sometimes, when your rushing to get to the line, you solder everything up, run to the line adn drop the car on the spot and run up to the stand while everyones grumpy at your for holding up the race.. hahaa....


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## 420 Tech R/C (Sep 15, 2006)

once I was building 3+3 saddle packs for a kyosho mini-inferno the night before a dirt race and wired 3 of the cells in the pack backwards. No explosion , but killed 3 brand new cells before they were ever run when I tried charging at 1:00 in the morning. and just last weekend was soldering batteries into 1/12 car and realized the neg. lead needed re-tined, had about 5 min till race the main, couldnt find the wire strippers ,so I went to cut the old wire off with a razor knife, My 11 yr old boy asked me a ? just as the knife cut through the wire and I split open the end of my right thumb.I still made the race, but couldnt feel the wheel of my transmitter because there was 4-5 band-aids on the thumb of my steering hand. No stitches needed, but it still sucked cause I had to replace the wheel foam on my m-8 cause by the end of a 8-min. main the band-aids were no longer keeping the blood contained. Still placed 3,rd. and hey i found the damn wire strippers laying under my tire rag when I got back to the pit area!! : - )


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## trailranger (Feb 9, 2006)

I have one to add to the list, I was in a rush and put the front diff on my RC18T backwards. I did a test spin in the air just to check for any bad noises and placed it on the starting grid. Sure enough buzzer went off and my little JohnDeere Oval car just bucked inplace asfront tires were figting the rear tires.


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## omnis85 (Sep 26, 2005)

Things you do when your in a hurry and you pay big time for it.

Sent an Q2 esc to LRP to be fixed, got it back wired in wrong and blew it on the bench, nothing like seeing 185 bucks up in smoke after waiting several weeks for it in the mail.

Blew to CE gfx's at last year by hooking them up backwords then pressing charge.

Last year I was in a point series race going for the title.

After tq'ing and having a lap on the entire feild only to race the main without a transponder. NOW THAT SUX ASS!!! Ive done that twice.

Stupid stuff but ya learn. LOL

Good thread for sure. Fun to laugh at one another.


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## The Jet (Sep 25, 2001)

Hay's can attest to this...

Charged a receiver pack at 6.5 amps...*KABOOM!!! *Those little packs make alot of racket :freak:


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## wait a minute (Oct 11, 2001)

ok..how about this charge a receiver pack in a 1/8th nitro buggy with an old style class charger and bump the sensativity up to 5 from 10 and watch the fireworks.


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## trailranger (Feb 9, 2006)

So the first 49 weeks I did alright no DOH's but today during the 1-Hour enduro, I forgot my transponder. My team did a great job to cut down the 16 laps I lost to just 2 laps then I was up again I was fast and not losing ground and I knew the laps were just a matter of the other team taking a driver switch. Then the I heard on the PA that we were down again by 15 laps. DOH....Double DOH, I forgot the transponder again. All-in-all I know my team won despite the printout on the results. The results would have been around 15~20 lap lead for my team if not for my oversight. I have some excuses for fogeting the transponder but who wants to hear those?


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## lumberjak (Apr 5, 2006)

My was while servo taping in the recever i cut the tape and the ANTANIE.


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## BoneSpec (Dec 2, 2007)

my best from two decades ago, the servo mount/tape had failed due to impact, so I fixed it, still had TQ pole. Throttle check (seen too many go in reverse......like Sean)

.......but never checked the steering......I'd forgot to plug the servo back in.

Full throttle holeshot head first into the wall for turn 1-2.


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## wade (Mar 7, 2002)

Some years back. Went to a big race , had a couple guys from the local track 
with me who had never competed in a big race.
Got our first qualifier done, I kept telling them "check the board" "check the board" With bump up's every round your transponder or frequency will change. Plus the race director was not giving any grace for frequency conflict. 
Finished 2nd qualifier, same thing "check the board" 
Finished 3rd qualifier Ditto 

Now I'm ready for my Main. I'm on the stand, my buddy turns on my car and away she goes!!! Frequency conflict, plus I'm the one who was to change. Boy did I look like an IDIOT. I did'nt run the main. 
For months after that my buddies would say "check the board" "check the board"


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## blade (Oct 1, 2007)

Just this year with my old buggy, was rebuilding the diff's and forgot to put the o-rings on. I had filled to much fluid in it also so my center diff blew out about 1.5 mins into the race


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## BoneSpec (Dec 2, 2007)

Ok, I just about did a ID10T move.

Put my first sticker on a Bolink Legends body, 37 C Coupe. I did notice the blue tint of the lexan before painting, though nothing of it.

When did they start putting protective plastic on the bodies? Nice touch though, I only wasted ONE sticker.

DEE de DEE!


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