markbt73

I have always been a fan of sprint cars and dirt oval racing, and so I appreciate the art of driving sideways. What you have to realize is that in some circumstances, a loss of traction is the fastest way around the track. A sprint car, drifting through a turn, is "handling well." And I think it's cool to see RC driving going in the direction of driving skill and not just flat-out speed, and both drifting and rock-crawling are great examples of this. It amuses me that so many young kids think that driving style was "invented" in Japan no more than ten years ago. It's not like rear-wheel-drive cars oversteering is some great revelation; it's as old as automobiles themselves. And I'm extremely appreciative of RC drifting if it keeps those same kids from trying it in a 1:1 car on a public road. Every small RWD Japanese car around here has a noisy not-muffler and sits about two millimeters off the ground, and the stupid teenager behind the wheel insists on "drifting" (usually just jerking the steering wheel hard enough to squeal the tires) around every on-ramp. So if we can encourage them to try it with a small vehicle, away from public rights-of-way, I'm all for it.

There's always the REALLY cheap way: Wrap electrical tape around an old set of tires. I did this with my old Grasshopper ages ago, when it still had the 380 motor. Too bad it didn't catch on - I could have started the drifting craze in 1987.

My Falcon made a decent dirt-oval racer. Lower it by putting tubing in the shocks (about 1/4" in the front and 1/2" in the rear), which keeps the dogbones from popping out and lowers the CG to keep it from flipping, add pre-load spacers to the right side, and Wild One rear wheels/tires. I ran in stock class with a Twister stock motor, and I did okay in the B-mains. Even won a couple heats. The A-mains were all Ultimas and RC10s, so I didn't stand a chance.

One month from today, my wife and I will be leaving the sunny insanity of southern California for the greener pastures, slower pace, and cheaper rent of Portland, Oregon. We've already started packing, starting with the "non-essentials." Sadly, my RC cars were among these. My entire involvement in the hobby is packed away in a big plastic tub until we get up there, get moved in and settled. I'm already going through withdrawal...

Starting from zero, it could easily take a couple grand to duplicate the feat with the DI. That's hardly a stock vehicle, and it sounds like he fried parts left and right in his pursuit of speed. LiPo batteries and their specific chargers are pricey, too. And you'd be nuts to try it with a basic AM radio, so there's more expense. I didn't say it was impossible; I said it was very very difficult, and would cost a lot more than just a motor and ESC.

A Kimbrough servo saver drops right in in place of the stock one, and takes most of the play out of the steering. Lasts longer, too. Though I've noticed on mine that the area on the chassis where the servo mounts is starting to look like it might crack. I'm going to work on a reinforcing plate when I have time.

Let's try this one more time, because I'm bored and I have the time: An HPI Sprint 2, straight out of the box with the included motor and ESC, probably goes around 25mph. With a little tuning (and by the way, "tuning" does NOT mean "bolting on a bunch of shiny junk"), you can probably add 5mph to that. And that's about the best you can realistically do with that, or any other inexpensive touring car. If you really want to go 60mph reliably with an electric RC car, you'll need several thousand dollars worth of equipment, and enough knowledge, skill, and wisdom to use the high-level stuff properly. You'll need to understand, at a bare minimum, chassis tuning, gearing, aerodynamics, and electronics well enough to not need to ask which specific stuff to buy. You'll need to know precisely how each change you make to the car affects its driving. And your driving skill will have to be superb. I mean, able to compete in major races. If you're not "the fast guy" at your local track, you're not a good enough driver to handle a car going that fast. You'll need a top-of-the-line radio, and know how to use every setting on it. You'll need extensive knowledge of battery tech, and the best batteries and chargers you can get. You'll need a programmable ESC, and knowledge of how to program it. You'll need to test different bodies for aerodynamic characteristics, and choose the one that's the lowest drag and the most stable, not the one you think looks the coolest. You'll need to understand motor technology well enough to know why certain winds/turns are used in certain circumstances, so you'll be able to choose the right motor to reach your goal, instead of just grabbing the "fastest" one on the shelf. Then you'll take the car to the biggest open space you can find, and test and test and test some more, trying different tires, gearing, spoiler angles, suspension settings, and all sorts of other variables, changing one thing at a time and taking pages and pages of notes so you know wat did what, and you can go back to an earlier setting if you mess up. And occasionally you'll wreck, because everyone does, and you'll have to repair the car or replace things that wear out, because the wear and tear on the components at those speeds is unbelievable. You'll go through tires like mad. You'll hit a slight dip in the pavement you didn't see and the car will flip over and your heart will skip as you watch parts go flying off it. And the next day, after you've repaired it, you'll be back out there again, chasing after your goal. And when you finally see that speed on the radar gun, you'll take a photo of the reading, and you'll video the run and post it here or somewhere else, and you'll have a real sense of accomplishment. If that's what you want to do, then that's awesome. I'd do it if I had time and money. But that's what it is going to take.

What scares me is that I'm sure that there are plenty of drivers here (Los Angeles) who would act just like that if they thought they could get away with it. A car shouldn't be a weapon, even if it's armed.

So that's all the bump-steer kit is, is just longer ball studs? The idea is to make the angle of the tie-rods as close to the angle of the suspension arms as possible, and that makes the bump-steer go away?

If you're going to do that, start with a Hornet chassis; it's already the right length, and all the suspension parts are the same. The rear wheels from a Blackfoot/MB/Lunchbox will bolt right on, and the fronts only need a change to Lunchbox axles. Add some tall body posts, and you're in business. You might want to gear down with the Lunchbox pinion gear and motor mount, too, and then throw as much power at it as you want. The sky is the limit with that gearbox. I remember seeing in someone's showroom a Hornet with a Blackfoot body and wheels, if you want to see how everything lines up.

I believe Robinson Racing makes them. They call them "metric 48 pitch."

Well, my wife just "happened to mention" a bracelet she wants, so I countered by mentioning a Parma Hemi Coupe... I guess we'll see.

You can't really "pack" the Hotshot diffs. There isn't a diff housing like there is in more modern cars; the bevel gears just sit in slots in the spur gear. The whole gearbox is enclosed, but the diffs are open to the rest of the box. Coating the gears with Tamiya AW grease or Associated black diff grease (both of which are sticky, so they stay put) is about all you can do.

I know it, but I'll hold off and see if anyone else does.

Interesting... I was thinking along the same lines a while ago, but I was going to use aluminum tubing and tap the ends for screws instead of using body clips. It seems like I so rarely remove the LB's body that it would be more secure with screws, and look cleaner, too.

Check all the connections, then go through the ESC setup procedure (the instructions on the sheet in the bag the ESC came in, not in the main instruction manual).

Looks sharp - I love the old Z cars. You should trim those "goal posts," though.

It doesn't need much... ball bearings are a must, and add the tubing above the front springs as suggested to eliminate the positive camber. If you're going to do the 3rd shock, add it during assembly, because it takes a LOT of unscrewing to remove the gearbox after it's assembled. A better servo-saver (Kimbrough or similar) will take almost all the play out of the front end, and make the steering much more precise. And I'd suggest you see how you like it with the pogo-sticks and 540 motor before you mod it any further. The 540 is actually pretty peppy, and a battery lasts forever with it. And the bouncy suspension is part of the fun.

Wow, my collection is tiny... Re-releases, all runners: Grasshopper Hotshot Lunchbox x2 (one with an original Pumpkin shell) Modern Tamiya: Alfa Romeo GTV M04 chassis (never run) Associated: RC10LSO SS (my old oval racer, and my all-time favorite car, now retired to the shelf) RC10GT with OS .15CVR engine (currently non-op; stole the receiver and one servo for the Hotshot) HPI: Micro RS4 Porsche 911 ...and enough bits and pieces to build a couple other Frankenstein pan-cars (Bolink and Parma parts, mostly)

The huge caster angle on 2wd buggies is there to make them more stable in a straight line, and make the steering less "twitchy" around center. And it actually improves the contact patch of the front tires in a turn. Try turning the wheels, then lean the buggy in the way it would be leaning under a high-speed turn, and you'll see the outside front wheel (the one that does all the steering) gets closer to vertical the more you lean the car. If you want to add steering, do it by decreasing front toe-in (or even going a degree or two toe-out); it's much more effective than decreasing the caster. Did wonders for my old RC10, which had 30 degrees of caster. I don't know why 4wd cars have only a few degrees of caster; my guess is that they're inherently more stable in a straight line, with the front tires tending to pull them into understeer, so they don't need the help.

Arrgh, I knew that one was too easy. "It's got a cop motor, a 440 cubic inch plant. Cop suspension, cop tires, cop shocks. It's a model made before catalytic converters so it'll run good on regular gas. Whaddaya say, is it the new Bluesmobile or what?"

I'd never buy an XB, because I love building kits. But I have been tempted by the kits with the pre-finished bodies, especially for runners. I tend to bang my cars up pretty good, and I hate spending a lot of time on bodywork only to see it get mangled. If I was building one for the shelf, I'd want to do every inch of it myself. But for a runner, I'd let someone else paint it, so I could get on the road faster. I just wish they would offer more than one color scheme. I don't want the same yellow Corvette or blue Subaru as everyone else.

My grandpa was a Studebaker and Rambler nut... I think he had a car like that. The shape of the dashboard clued me in. Let's try one from the other end... HINT: it's a movie star.

The Big Bear is 1/12 scale, and has a really short wheelbase. I'd say M-chassis, or maybe Lunchbox?

That Neo Falcon looks like the old Cox Bandito. And that's not a compliment.