Drifting Newbie

[BigSteve 149]

Hi all so I've picked up a nice tt-01 drift spec with a locked rear diff and a couple of pairs of wheels/tyres. Can someone explain the different drift tyre compounds, the different wheel types and the whole 'offset' thing.

The one set of wheels that came with it have what seems like hard plastic tyres and the other set of wheels have soft spongy like tyres fitted. I intend to mainly drift practice in car parks an would appreciate any wheel/tyre combination recommendations for this type of use. One other question if I unlock the rear diff can it also be used as a standard street car.

Many thanks Steve.

[WillyChang 1814]

Offset makes track(width) wider to better fill your body's wheelwells.

Yeah you can open rear diff but there's no huge difference for just running around anyway, rubber will run fine.

Any markings on the tyres, or any indication what TT01D set it started life as?

I think some of the earlier sets (Coppermix) came with hard rubber Type-D tyres,

later sets got the DriftSpec hard plastic tyres.

For an electric 4WD car, HPI T-Drifts all round are a good starting point.

[ChrisRx718 4470]

The harder the tyre, the less grip you'll generate. Harder tyres will mean less traction, so the car will slide easier. This is ideal for smaller spaces and doesn't require huge power (in the form of a fast motor).

I find really hard tyres / ABS rings too hard / slippery for road surfaces, it seems a little unrealistic - the car will slide the moment you pull the throttle. On carpet tracks however, the harder tyres come into their own.

If you're using it outdoors in car parks you'll probably want something with some grip, so you can 'decide' when the drift starts by careful throttle control, rather than the ice rink like characteristics of the harder compound tyres.

I hope that wasn't too boring!

[BigSteve 149]

Hi is it worth fitting the tt-02 speed gearing set to a drift car.

Steve.

[GregM 1109]

Hi is it worth fitting the tt-02 speed gearing set to a drift car.

Steve.

I did this with my TT-01E, choosing the smallest spur and largest pinion combination officially available by Tamiya. The stock gearing is very conservative and set for high torque, low top speed, to cope with a wide array of motors while still avoiding the risk of overheating the motor.

The reason I chose the high top speed gearing was 1st curiosity and 2nd running on a plain silvercan motor with NiMH and hard Tamiya drift tires.

My car did fine, the batteries and motor were quite warm but still in a reasonable temperature range. But to be honest a slightly faster motor and/or a LiPo coupled with the standard (or slightly taller than standard) pinion would have done a better job for both acceleration, top speed and drift length.

There's an article by Jang where he talks about his TT-01 drift car project:

http://ultimatetamiya.com/projects/the-major/

[BigSteve 149]

I did this with my TT-01E, choosing the smallest spur and largest pinion combination officially available by Tamiya. The stock gearing is very conservative and set for high torque, low top speed, to cope with a wide array of motors while still avoiding the risk of overheating the motor.

The reason I chose the high top speed gearing was 1st curiosity and 2nd running on a plain silvercan motor with NiMH and hard Tamiya drift tires.

My car did fine, the batteries and motor were quite warm but still in a reasonable temperature range. But to be honest a slightly faster motor and/or a LiPo coupled with the standard (or slightly taller than standard) pinion would have done a better job for both acceleration, top speed and drift length.

There's an article by Jang where he talks about his TT-01 drift car project:

http://ultimatetamiya.com/projects/the-major/

Thanks for the info and that's a really interesting article.

I'm struggling a bit at the moment with the whole drifting thing. As a buggy enthusiast I'm used to using powerful motors and small pinions to keep motor and esc temp down. Is there an optimum motor turn and pinion choice/set up.

Steve.

[ChrisRx718 4470]

Gearing really depends on the track and surface - all my drift cars are geared quite low since high wheel speed is not necessarily ideal. Certainly with drifting a lot of torque is handy for quick throttle response rather than high RPMs. That said, people have become very talented with just stock gearing and a silver can motor whilst others choose to fit extremely powerful brushless setups (which rarely see full throttle...go figure) it all depends on your preferences as a driver. I certainly wouldn't say a fast motor is crucial to drifting 4wd.

[BigSteve 149]

Is there such a thing as a hybrid drift/std on road tyre. I have a couple of sets of wheels with the dedicated hard plastic drift tyres but I'm looking for something with a bit more traction/grip.

Steve.

[ChrisRx718 4470]

Hpi T drifts are good, as are a certain Kawade tyre I run (can't remember the name now)

This is the downside of not being able to examine things in a hobby shop

[danb1974 93]

Plastic drift tires come in a range from soft to hardest, have a look here for an example http://www.maxspeedtechnology.co.uk/csr-tyres.html

Want more grip, get softer, want less grip, get harder. Even surface temperature changes grip.

There is a form of speed drifting with hard rubber tires, but that's not what's usually referred as drifting

As very general rules. Rear diff locked (no other options here). If getting serious, besides a real drift chassis (forget tt01), look for sensored brushless combo (10.5T is a nice starting point), front oneway diff. Then decide if you want to go CS (a belt chassis helps, since changing CS is easy).

[Dojo Dave 889]

Hey Steve,so it all depends on how crazy you want to get, im not that knowledgeable about the drift stuff, but for fun I would take your tt01 to the track or where ever you're going to drive with a couple of sets of tires and experiment. Thats half the fun of the thing is seeing what works for you... I have an oval island in from of my house that I play around. Never too serious.