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Wetman

I've done something silly

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And proper gone down the racing rabbit hole. To cut a long story short I won a raffle at my LHS for a Tamiya Tankpool Merc on the Tt01e chassis and was goaded into racing it at my local raceway Tamiya truck night. I came absolutely nowhere but had a grin on my face a wide. I'm now also racing my Cossie in torque tuned but apart from bearings I'm still kit standard. Rules don't allow for the full set up, wishbones, different pinions etc only turnbuckles on steering and hopped up driveshaft and half shafts to keep costs down and accessible to everyone rather than the plastic missile touring cars in national classes

So don't be surprised if I start asking for tips, stuff like what shafts and turnbuckles are everyone using? 

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They are cool looking trucks, I was tempted to get one has a hauler for my 1/14 collection. At least the rules mean you can only upgrade so much, and it was free! 

 

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Never a silly decision to start racing!

Sounds like you are involved in a couple of simple, low-cost classes that will make it easier for you to get experience.

Just remember that driving practice is worth more than anything else, and that the right tyres are 90% of car performance. Don't get stressed about the expensive accessories other people may have.

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I have recently met up with a few people who do Car Park racing in TT01 cars. I only have an Egress and Top Force to use, so have also entered the Rabbit Hole. Went to TJD Models to get a couple of better steering servos and a couple of bits, and came out with the 2004 Mexico Subaru on the TT01E chassis too. Last in stock for £109. Now I need shocks, and other bits. And a receiver. And batteries. And tires. And time to build it. 

 

 

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The TT01 truck class is a great place to start racing.  At my closest club, it's also the class where all the people who raced for many, many years and got fed up with Keeping Up With Touring Cars have gone, so it's a class full of skilled and competitive drivers who just want to have a laugh.  That makes it a great place to learn, because

a) you're not having to avoid other novice drivers constantly bouncing off the barriers

2) you're not having to deal with those who are desperate to break out of the novice bracket and want to race really hard to prove themselves despite still having a few skills to learn, and

iii) if you become a road block or take out the race leader you're not spoiling anyone's race since they're not taking it too seriously

Pre-pandemic, my favourite tactic for overtaking was to reach out and tickle the guy next to me until he crashes.  Try doing that in the boosted touring A heat!

If you're racing your Cossie as well then you're in two classes?  A few of us used to do that back in the day, more track time will probably help build your skills but keep an eye on it, make sure you're still enjoying it and not over-stretching yourself.  I find evening race clubs can be so quick-fire there's barely time between racing and marshalling for anything else.  If you run just one car you can spend more time analysing your race, watching other drivers, talking and making friends and making setup changes (although there's not much to change in a stock class).

Can you change tyres in the truck class?  My club insists on running kit tyres only to level the playing field, and gluing the tyre shoulders is banned.  Other clubs allow this and it makes a massive difference - put a bead of superglue around the outside shoulder of the front tyres and it will reduce the tendency to tip over in corners.  At my club we found the stock tyres would be pretty bad for a few weeks but gradually get better and better as they wear in.  They're quite hard so they last ages.  Eventually you'd have an epic set of tyres with loads of grip and control, then all of a sudden they'd wear out and you'd be back to square 1.  To in a curious twist of fate, the challenge to reduce costs and level the playing field results in some cars handling much better than others because the tyres have reached that sweet spot, and if you have the money you can buy several set of wheels and tyres and use the newer ones in the practice and first two heats to get them to towards the sweet spot, then switch to your older, grippier tyres for the last heat and final.  That way, when one set of tyres wears out you've got another set that are just about ready, and you don't have to languish at the back of the field for a few weeks while your new tyres come in.

Oil shocks were allowed at my club, but there are oil shocks and there are oil shocks.  Most racers were using TRFs, which aren't cheap.  The Tamiya on road spring set gives you various options but you'll probably end up running the same as everybody else.  I once thought I'd try going much stiffer on the front to lower the front grip and try to combat grip roll, but bizarrely it made it worse.

It's definitely worth getting a good servo.  If your servo is too fast you can always slow it down from the transmitter, if it's too slow you'll roll into corners too late and not be able to change direction in the twisties.  It makes a big difference on tighter indoor tracks.  You don't have to spend a fortune - I use Savox 0254MGs on my race cars.  The quoted speed isn't as fast as the comparatively-priced Alturn servos, but I find the Savox to be faster and more consistent in the real world.  A non-Tamiya servo saver makes a difference too, the standard one has a tendency to stick open when used with metal-splined servos.

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4 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

The TT01 truck class is a great place to start racing.  At my closest club, it's also the class where all the people who raced for many, many years and got fed up with Keeping Up With Touring Cars have gone, so it's a class full of skilled and competitive drivers who just want to have a laugh.  That makes it a great place to learn, because

a) you're not having to avoid other novice drivers constantly bouncing off the barriers

2) you're not having to deal with those who are desperate to break out of the novice bracket and want to race really hard to prove themselves despite still having a few skills to learn, and

iii) if you become a road block or take out the race leader you're not spoiling anyone's race since they're not taking it too seriously

Pre-pandemic, my favourite tactic for overtaking was to reach out and tickle the guy next to me until he crashes.  Try doing that in the boosted touring A heat!

If you're racing your Cossie as well then you're in two classes?  A few of us used to do that back in the day, more track time will probably help build your skills but keep an eye on it, make sure you're still enjoying it and not over-stretching yourself.  I find evening race clubs can be so quick-fire there's barely time between racing and marshalling for anything else.  If you run just one car you can spend more time analysing your race, watching other drivers, talking and making friends and making setup changes (although there's not much to change in a stock class).

Can you change tyres in the truck class?  My club insists on running kit tyres only to level the playing field, and gluing the tyre shoulders is banned.  Other clubs allow this and it makes a massive difference - put a bead of superglue around the outside shoulder of the front tyres and it will reduce the tendency to tip over in corners.  At my club we found the stock tyres would be pretty bad for a few weeks but gradually get better and better as they wear in.  They're quite hard so they last ages.  Eventually you'd have an epic set of tyres with loads of grip and control, then all of a sudden they'd wear out and you'd be back to square 1.  To in a curious twist of fate, the challenge to reduce costs and level the playing field results in some cars handling much better than others because the tyres have reached that sweet spot, and if you have the money you can buy several set of wheels and tyres and use the newer ones in the practice and first two heats to get them to towards the sweet spot, then switch to your older, grippier tyres for the last heat and final.  That way, when one set of tyres wears out you've got another set that are just about ready, and you don't have to languish at the back of the field for a few weeks while your new tyres come in.

Oil shocks were allowed at my club, but there are oil shocks and there are oil shocks.  Most racers were using TRFs, which aren't cheap.  The Tamiya on road spring set gives you various options but you'll probably end up running the same as everybody else.  I once thought I'd try going much stiffer on the front to lower the front grip and try to combat grip roll, but bizarrely it made it worse.

It's definitely worth getting a good servo.  If your servo is too fast you can always slow it down from the transmitter, if it's too slow you'll roll into corners too late and not be able to change direction in the twisties.  It makes a big difference on tighter indoor tracks.  You don't have to spend a fortune - I use Savox 0254MGs on my race cars.  The quoted speed isn't as fast as the comparatively-priced Alturn servos, but I find the Savox to be faster and more consistent in the real world.  A non-Tamiya servo saver makes a difference too, the standard one has a tendency to stick open when used with metal-splined servos.

Yeah I'm running in torque tuned and truck class. Rules are kit tyres only inserts if wish and glueing is allowed to the rim but not the actual sidewall or shoulder and needed to be fair I didn't glue mine and spent the entire first night refitting tyres. The guy from our LHS who races the same place suggested a fix for truck rolling involving putting foam tape on the top of the chassis where it hits the bottom arm to give it a sort of pre damp and it seems to have worked. Minimum amount of hop ups but oil shocks and oiled diffs are allowed as are bearings and CVD's to combat the TT02's dislike of carrying its own dogbones for more than 5 laps!! 

Already upgraded the radio to a Sanwa MX6 and surprised at how much it has made an improvement being able to turn full speed down or up and the amount of servo up or down. And am looking at better servos and servo savers as mine are only cheapys bought for bashing round the yard. 

Got to admit I'm finding marshaling fun and they are a friendly bunch, happy to have a word or let you see what they're using. I'm told that's not always the norm in a lot of places. Owners are decent as well and are happy to give advice on race etiquette such as letting faster cars through without panicking and messing your own run up and how to do it. Anyway got a practice session then racing on Saturday night so I'll see how it goes

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7 hours ago, FoxShot said:

I have recently met up with a few people who do Car Park racing in TT01 cars. I only have an Egress and Top Force to use, so have also entered the Rabbit Hole. Went to TJD Models to get a couple of better steering servos and a couple of bits, and came out with the 2004 Mexico Subaru on the TT01E chassis too. Last in stock for £109. Now I need shocks, and other bits. And a receiver. And batteries. And tires. And time to build it. 

 

 

Yep thats how it looks

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1 hour ago, Wetman said:

Got to admit I'm finding marshaling fun and they are a friendly bunch, happy to have a word or let you see what they're using. I'm told that's not always the norm in a lot of places. Owners are decent as well and are happy to give advice on race etiquette such as letting faster cars through without panicking and messing your own run up and how to do it. Anyway got a practice session then racing on Saturday night so I'll see how it goes

That's the best kind of club to be in, I sometimes go along to my local club just to say hello to everyone and catch up for an hour or two.  I like the social, I can take or leave the roundy-roundy bit these days

Some clubs are less friendly but that tends to be the national-level clubs and big events, I've met one or two grumpy racer types but never had a bad experience at a club, I found even the Competitive Dad types are weren't too bad once I got to know them :) 

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Brill. I started my enjoyment of racing this year by stepping down from 17.5 TC (where I sucked) to a torque tuned tt01e porsche in iconic. Slower speeds and less thing to fiddle with really got my groove and people in the class being supportive and friendly was ace. Really happy to hear another on the same journey. 

No idea how the truck body affects things, but a found some thick grease or diff oil in the front diff calmed down the steering, and I put super soft springs out back. Have fun! 

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1 hour ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Brill. I started my enjoyment of racing this year by stepping down from 17.5 TC (where I sucked) to a torque tuned tt01e porsche in iconic. Slower speeds and less thing to fiddle with really got my groove and people in the class being supportive and friendly was ace. Really happy to hear another on the same journey. 

No idea how the truck body affects things, but a found some thick grease or diff oil in the front diff calmed down the steering, and I put super soft springs out back. Have fun! 

Yeah I've put Core 300000 silicone oil in the front diff of the cossie and it makes a difference to the steering

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Some good little tips there to "get the edge". 

Shocks are going to be top of the list

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11 hours ago, matisse said:

But the bouncy shocks are so much fun!

hey have got a big wheel night with Pumpkins and Lunchboxes etc over a rallyx course. Might have a blast one night to see how much fun bouncy springs can be

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1 hour ago, Wetman said:

hey have got a big wheel night with Pumpkins and Lunchboxes etc over a rallyx course. Might have a blast one night to see how much fun bouncy springs can be

Yeah do it. The club I go to runs the trucks with the alloy center shaft as the only allowed hop up, although we are gonna play with Schumacher rally blocks for tyres and mixed surfaces…

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