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lukej

Building My First Race Car: TT-02 Spec Racer

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Morning all,

First thread here, and I've decided to bring over what I started on RCTech. It'll probably be quite bland compared to some of the TT-02 builds I've seen by others like WTCC's TT-02KR

Anyway, having messed around with RC cars back in my teens, I decided I need an outlet that combines my job (motorsport) and my hobby (also motorsport), at a price point that I can justify - first mistake was thinking this would be inexpensive...

Having visited Sidcup RCC last Friday to see how their meetings run, I committed to building a TT-02 for their Tamiya Touring Class, picking up a used kit from the local shell painter (Basil Airbrush) that I planned to run at close to stock spec whilst I wait on other parts to arrive, the only problem there being that the parts I need first are the ones I can't get!

As of last weekend, everything was pretty box stock, but here are some photos from George (Basil) of the kit I picked up from him as it was, and a photo of the car on my dining table as I rebuild it following a tear-down and check of all the parts:

hZTvJ7i.jpg
A Will Gollop RX inspired design.

HEkyAdW.jpg
The Marlboro inspired Yaris WRC.

hOw04GM.jpg
As it stands today mid rebuild. Hop-Ups fitted are Tamiya aluminium propshaft (54501), propshaft cups (54502) and Fastrax aluminium motor mount (FTTA020B).

At this point I flew off to Prague for work, and on arriving home last night the first of a few deliveries had arrived. Excited is an understatement.

Cheers!

Luke

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I spent yesterday exploring Prague, and obviously that meant trying my luck at the MPM, a the local model store where I was told they would have a good selection of the hop-ups I cannot find in the UK just now. Unfortunately, after a 40 minute walk across the city, I discovered that their address had not been updated on Google, and I was 8 miles in the wrong direction!

Anyway, unsuccessful trip to MPM aside, the car build can continue now I'm home. I've opened up the first packets to reveal these from RCbearings:
EyloPcB.jpg

and these from Stephen Dunk (of Modelworld, Sittingbourne):
bPVrs2R.jpg

That's 3 sets of ballraces and 3 MRT transponder mounts Stephen has 3d printed for me. Ordering more than I need should make sense once you've read on, but I also like having spares of things that could ruin an event for me if I damage something during a race.

On another note, I decided whilst I was away that once Chassis #2 is in service, I will rebuild Chassis #1 to Eastbourne KoC indoor spec. The rulebook for this series is a bit more prescriptive than over at Sidcup, so whilst I can do more to the car, it is very exact and I probably need those hard constraints on what I'm doing or else I'll get into trouble with my interpretation of the regulations. An example of that is the difference between the body shell rules for both as below:

SRCC
"Any shell supplied with the Tamiya kit or bodyshell that has a real likeness of a real road car, GT, saloon or rally car."

EECC
"
Only Tamiya 1/10 Scale Body Shells can be used. BRCA Approved Touring Car Body Shells are strictly prohibited"

Under the wording of SRCC, I would argue that a BittyDesign Seven20 is legal, as it has a real likeness to the McLaren 720 GT3, but at EECC it is clearly not allowed. With that in mind, I think I need to stick to Tamiya shells for both cars, does anyone have any recommendations on shells that race well?

Thanks,

Luke

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No sooner had I hit enter on that last post, than the doorbell rang with another delivery from Tony's Tamiya Parts (TTP Models on Facebook). This one's quite a haul, and I spent a good chunk on it but it's for both cars so...

RvkNljk.jpg

Adding to the 3 sets of ball races and the transponder mounts are some TRF and Tamiya Hop-Up line parts. There's some hints at the direction I want to take the cars, particularly the Eastbourne chassis including shock selection and servo mounting. I have the TT-02 Aluminium servo mount already fitted to Chassis #1 for example, but I want to run the car both with that and with the TB-03 servo mounts to see if there's a performance difference between the options.

Looking forward to getting the build back underway again this evening!

Luke

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Looking good. Great chassis, what motor are you going to use?

tamiya 53824 Body

I run this on my trf419xr and all of my other touring cars that I race. It meets all the requirements and is aero dynamic!

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1 hour ago, Turbotom said:

Looking good. Great chassis, what motor are you going to use?

tamiya 53824 Body

I run this on my trf419xr and all of my other touring cars that I race. It meets all the requirements and is aero dynamic!

Hey Turbo!

I have to use the stock Torque Tuned for SRCC with either the kit ESC or a Hobbywing Quicrun 1060, for EECC I’ll be using a Hobbywing Xerun XR10 Juststock ESC with a Hobbywing Xerun Juststock G2.1 17.5 Fixed Brushless motor.

Thanks for the advice on body shells, I’ll take a look at that one now!

Luke

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Hi luke, on the motor esc side, I take it your in a blinkey mode? Personally go for the xr10pro and a g4 hobbywing motor (17.5t?)

There are more adjustments you can have and still be in the blinkey mode.

Hope this helps.

Tom

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11 minutes ago, Turbotom said:

Hi luke, on the motor esc side, I take it your in a blinkey mode? Personally go for the xr10pro and a g4 hobbywing motor (17.5t?)

There are more adjustments you can have and still be in the blinkey mode.

Hope this helps.

Tom

Hey Tom! Unfortunately we’re restricted by the regs to certain motor and ESC combinations or else I’d have more freedom

Best,

Luke

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Started in third and finished in second, just one and a bit seconds off first! I just needed one more lap lol.

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51 minutes ago, ThunderDragonCy said:

Nice! Stock racing was my way into enjoying racing after getting thoroughly miserable jumping straight into 17.5TC initially. A popular body in the iconic classes is the L and L models Mondeo 2000. I have one on my TA04 and it runs very nicely. 

https://landlmodels.co.uk/products/tc056-mondeo?_pos=2&_sid=b231cb67b&_ss=r

That’s cool! I’ll give one a go!

Luke

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Maximum commitment to the “super touring smooth boiTM”

Will see how slippery this guy is very soon…

Luke

F814A050-CED6-4FEC-9CE3-DDE427D44BF8.jpeg

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1 minute ago, Turbotom said:

20200919_160647_copy_6936x5202t_copy_1734x1301t.jpg

Got 2 of those on order too! I’m going to lend a client one of my cars at Eastbourne so they’ll both have the Subaru shell on there! 😉

Luke

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A couple of extra bits arrived today, only small things but exciting nonetheless…

Luke

BEBqTRD.jpg

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Evening all,

A few days since I've had a chance to tinker, and a few more bits have arrived but there's still lots of delays in shipping as I'm sure a few of you have experienced.

Anyway, aside from some wheel nuts and a set of Tamiya Craft Tools (I was annoyingly missing the one screwdriver I needed), there's not much change.

I've set myself up at the dining table this evening as my OH has gone to bed. She doesn't care much for RC but she humours me...

H9SBUTo.jpg

Tonight's tasks were to fit the low friction suspension balls, transponder mount and servo step screws. Not big tasks, but it feels like progress.

TAmdrv9.jpg

I also threw on the rear body posts and the carbon fibre front bumper support for good measure. There's lots of screws left to replace with hexes and blue things later on, but for now it'll do!

Z1IvKUB.jpg

Anyway, that's about it for additions just now. Based on some advice from you guys, I have the two L&L Mondeo BTCC Shells coming for the SRCC Car, and some Tamiya Subaru Legacy shells on their way for Eastbourne/King of Clubs.

Lastly, because it was a badword of a feeling, here's the finishing order from a karting day with some of my drivers last Thursday...

zVYsQAg.jpg

I've driven a kart only once prior to this since I retired from kart racing back in 2008. Felt good to be on the pace with active drivers after a shaky first few laps!

Anyway, that's a wrap for tonight.

Luke

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Cool builds. Do the front suspension metal friction balls sit nicer in the arms than the plastic? I find the plastic really loose in the arms causing loads of play. 

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1 hour ago, Scottrc said:

Cool builds. Do the front suspension metal friction balls sit nicer in the arms than the plastic? I find the plastic really loose in the arms causing loads of play. 

Certainly feels a lot nicer, the movement is smooth and the notchyness of the kit ball joints is gone.

I actually ended up building it per the kit instructions in the end so bar the dampers which I’m waiting on, it’s pretty close to being run.

Luke

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So I’ve had a less productive week on this, the LiPos I’d purchased were legal for SRCC but not EECC so they’ve been returned to Modelworld and will be replaced by a smaller mAh model.

In the meantime, my L&L Mondeo shells arrived as you can see below. Even though I’ve started playing with paint ideas, I think it’s best left to the pros, so these will go off to Basil soon and somehow match my upcoming race helmet also shown below.

In the background you’ll also see that I built up other bits on the car, this was just to inform myself on how it goes together and how many screws I need to turn blue!

I also took delivery of a thread forming tap so hope this helps with the screws on the next chassis.

That’s all for one evening.

Luke

ltCqCGA.jpg

D77BB492-8548-4C4A-83DC-60C722B1DACD.jpeg

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Off to my second SRCC event this evening, and with no time to practice because the car isn’t done, I’ve decided I’m just going to marshal again.

I guess the other benefit for me in this is that I can absorb as much information about going racing as possible - I’m still a novice.

So, without any parts to fit, and with an anxiety to always be achieving, I set about marking a body last night to get an idea of what my paint scheme might be. Constructive feedback welcomed…

1GdPTom.jpg

l6I8DIs.jpg

Luke

 

 

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So racing on Friday night at SRCC was cancelled (on Thursday evening) - I really should keep an eye on the FB page more! Unfortunately one of the guys running the evening fell sick, so I hope whoever it was that was ill recovers quickly!

Not racing, it turns out is worse for my bank account than racing, and I've spent an exorbitant amount of money on Tamico to prepare the second chassis for Eastbourne/King of Clubs. No photos of what's on order just yet though, because it should arrive tomorrow! B)

Anyway, a little update tonight was all, but I'm a very excited boy. See you tomorrow I guess...

Luke

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You seem to be having a lot of fun (even if it is a lot of expense) ;)

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1 minute ago, GeeWings said:

You seem to be having a lot of fun (even if it is a lot of expense) ;)

Hey GeeWings, thanks for the comment, I’m having so much fun!

For me, RC was always just as much about the build as the driving, and I work crazy hours so don’t mind investing in my happiness.

Spending time building a spec I like and making a car my own was what hooked me when I was a kid, and coming back to that is making me reminisce about street bashing my TL-01 with my mates, it feels good to get back to that!

Luke

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19 minutes ago, lukej said:

Hey GeeWings, thanks for the comment, I’m having so much fun!

For me, RC was always just as much about the build as the driving, and I work crazy hours so don’t mind investing in my happiness.

Spending time building a spec I like and making a car my own was what hooked me when I was a kid, and coming back to that is making me reminisce about street bashing my TL-01 with my mates, it feels good to get back to that!

Luke

Yes, I'm with you on that. I've certainly spent longer building, hopping-up and tinkering than driving!

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Morning!

That thing I said was arriving, it arrived. Early morning deliveries are the best, but they can also the worst if you know what I mean? I must resist the urge to start building when I have actually client work to do...

CDaGoQ7.jpg
First delivery from Tamico, a second order for some bits I forgot is being placed imminently.

Side note this ESC is no longer legal for the EECC/King of Clubs series because the 2022 ruleset was updated between the point of order and today's delivery :mellow: If anyone needs a Hobbywing XERUN XR10 JustStock ESC (Product Code HW30112000) this NIB one will be up for sale shortly.

Now, off to do some work and pretend I don't want to be building Chassis #2.

Luke

 

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