Club 380 - RC Buggy Racing

[JimBear]

Keeping it here, no point in making another thread for a short question:

The TT02 can be setup for the 380, but what about the TT-01E?

[JimBear]

The latest iteration of the Wilhelm "Willy" Schrott Junkyard Racer. Maybe Schrott Jr will have to be the driver for this one, we'll see.  Gathered up a bunch of things from around the house (Brat rims/tyres, Rising Fighter body, M3 thread, leftover servo etc). Then Junior and me put it all together on the kitchen table when the wife was off on other adventures. Took it out for a spin at dusk and it all felt great. 380 Haircut Motors, yay!

I like the stance and the body, not sure about the wing; I think it sits too high - would like it a bit lower. Or maybe some other body - it'll have to take its own course.

 

[JimBear]

@El Gecko - I know you are running a Brat with a 380 (a vintage one without a diff?) but perhaps you or someone else here have an idea? I am thinking of putting a 380 ST in my re-re one (with the diff). It's running a 540 with the standard 18T. 

Is it better using that one (gear ratio 7.3:1, 50T spur) or using the 10T (8 teeth down, sounds like quite a drop, at 5:1 with the 50T spur)? I don't want to ruin the motor ...

 

[El Gecko]

29 minutes ago, JimBear said:

@El Gecko - I know you are running a Brat with a 380 (a vintage one without a diff?) but perhaps you or someone else here have an idea? I am thinking of putting a 380 ST in my re-re one (with the diff). It's running a 540 with the standard 18T. 

Is it better using that one (gear ratio 7.3:1, 50T spur) or using the 10T (8 teeth down, sounds like quite a drop, at 5:1 with the 50T spur)? I don't want to ruin the motor ...

 

I just run the 10t pinion on any/all 380 size motors regardless of application. So far it's done fine in the Brat as well as the GH2 and original Grasshopper. With the torquey 390 the top speed was severely limited, but the other (apparently sport-tuned) 380 still hits nearly the same top speed as some of my silvercan 540s with 18t pinions.

I would think the 380 would burn up using a 18t pinion in the GH chassis, and it seems even more likely with the heavier Brat. These small motors have no problem spinning fast, but if you put too much of a load on them at lower RPMs, they will fry.

[JimBear]

1 hour ago, El Gecko said:

I would think the 380 would burn up using a 18t pinion in the GH chassis, and it seems even more likely with the heavier Brat. These small motors have no problem spinning fast, but if you put too much of a load on them at lower RPMs, they will fry.

Thanks - then I'll have a try with the 10t. I'll have to wait a day or two until I can get to putting the motor in and test.

[Mad Ax]

I had my first proper Club 380 race at the weekend.

It all worked out nicely for me.  The event was held at Bingham Model Raceway, near Nottingham, which is a good 3+ hours from home and over £100 in fuel to get there and back, but I had booked myself a walking holiday in the Peak District for the week leading up to the event.  In fact I booked the holiday long before the Club 380 calendar was announced, so it really was plain luck that I happened to be in the right area at the right time.

I took nearly 70 photos, so if you are just here for the pics, you can see them all here: https://tcphotos.net/album/znWt

I arrived at the track just before 1pm, the sun was shining and the place was already buzzing with activity.  BMR has a proper astroturf buggy track with big jumps, a timing system and a rostrum on top of a cargo container, but Club 380 have been given a small section of flat crass in the corner to use.  Being a small track, with rope for track boundaries and some small ramps to add to the excitement, there's no need for a tall rostrum - just a small plinth is enough.

After introducing myself and paying my £10 race fee (£5 for BMR members), I got my pit table set up and then went to take some photos.

My F150 Baja.  I took this to get some running on grass to see if it would make a fun class.  More on that later, in the F150 thread.

The Novafox was my weapon of choice.  It's mostly stock, but with softer rear springs, and a slightly modified battery tray to fit a square lo-profile LiPo.  Also the rear spoiler mount is custom, as I don't like how the Fox spoiler fits to the body.

Some other attendees had brought a collection along to display and run in between heats.

The DT-02 is a popular choice, as it's cheap to buy, well-specced, easy to convert to 380 power, and looks like a real buggy.

[Mad Ax]

Some other cool cars from the event:

I love this

Fantastic colour coordination on the DT-03 Hornet tribute.

[Mad Ax]

[toyolien]

Wow, you took a pic of my Scorpion on my table. No idea someone else from Tamiyaclub was also there. Good event isn't it?

[Mad Ax]

The race format was great fun.  I think the heats were mostly done by lottery, but as everyone was only there to have fun, it didn't really matter.

Although there are brackets within the 380 format (depending on the year / configuration of the buggy) this didn't seem to be a consideration in heat setting or overall points - but again, that didn't matter.  The racing was actually very close across all the classes.

There were 5 or 6 cars to a heat.  There are 3 lines of bunting arranged over the track (see below) to mark out the grid positions.  For the first round, everyone in the heat pulls a number from a bag to determine their starting position, and lines up accordingly.

The race official counts down the start manually, then honks a hooter to start the race.  Every driver tries to complete 3 laps (drivers have to count their own laps), then lines up against a flat at the end of the pit straight denoting their finishing position.  i.e. once you have completed 3 laps, you line up at the first available flag - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6.

It's really simple, apart from remembering to count your laps!

For subsequent races, the start order is a reverse of the finishing position, i.e. faster drivers at the back, which makes for a much more exciting race.

[Mad Ax]

2 minutes ago, toyolien said:

Wow, you took a pic of my Scorpion on my table. No idea someone else from Tamiyaclub was also there. Good event isn't it?

OMG that was you!  Yes, it was a fab event, I'm really glad I went.  It was a bit of a challenge as I'd already been away from home for a week but I pulled some strings and made it happen.

[Mad Ax]

There are 3 rounds overall (I think, it all happened so fast), and then the points are added up to determine the finals.

Finals are run exactly the same as the qualifiers, except there are 3 finals run back-to-back.  So, if for example you make the B final, you do one race, then immediately go back to the start to do a 2nd race, then immediately go back for a 3rd.  3 lap races are kinda short, so having 3 races back-to-back at the end of the event makes for a memorable climax.

The overall winner of the 3 races will bump up to be a wildcard entry in the next final.

Of course, the other important point is that there is no marshalling - if you crash, you're stuck.  Although in some races, one competitor would help to free another stuck competitor, and in some cases a crash would accidentally knock a stuck car back into the race.  These "zombie cars" make for fun wildcards as they are often a lap or two down.

Anyway, enough waffle - what about the pics?  There are loads of them in the link above, but I've picked out the best ones.

[Mad Ax]

 

[Mad Ax]

Race away!  In this shot you can just about see the 6 flags at the end of the start straight.

finishers line up

[Mad Ax]

 

[Mad Ax]

[Mad Ax]

[Mad Ax]

So, how did my racing go?  In a word - epic!  I got lucky in my 3 qualifiers, I was involved in a few tangles but the Fox always stayed on its wheels.  I played it safe, took it steady and kept away from the barriers.  I felt a little bad because I think there was another car who came off worse and went upside down after tangling with me in every race.  I was trying to race clean and not tangle with anyone, but it's a narrow track and so hard to judge in the corners.

I qualified in the B final, which I was happy enough with.

It's hard to remember now exactly what order things happened in, but I think I flipped upside down after a jump in final 1, so I was out of the race and finished last.

I got away clean in final 2 and managed to get around a crash in the first corner, which put me in the lead.  After that I had a clean race and if memory serves, I came in first.  But my memory is failing me and I might have that wrong.

Final 3 was a close one, but eventually I came in 2nd.

The points were very close but I came in 3rd overall.  The top 2 actually tied on points, so they had a 3-lap race to determine who would bump up to the A final.

All in all, it was a superb event - very well organised and loads of run.  Everybody had a smile on their face.  There were some very experienced racers there, including one of my fellow Dell's Racing Products team drivers, plus quite a few who had never raced before, including some juniors.  It was great to see everyone getting involved and having a good time.

There's another round later this month and it lands on a Saturday when I'm free - it's a lot of money to spend to go in the van, but I could always stow my car in the throwover panniers and go on the motorcycle, or maybe even give the 3-wheeler scooter a good long run to clear out the cobwebs.

[MadAnt]

58 minutes ago, Mad Ax said:

So, how did my racing go?  In a word - epic!  I got lucky in my 3 qualifiers, I was involved in a few tangles but the Fox always stayed on its wheels.  I played it safe, took it steady and kept away from the barriers.  I felt a little bad because I think there was another car who came off worse and went upside down after tangling with me in every race.  I was trying to race clean and not tangle with anyone, but it's a narrow track and so hard to judge in the corners.

I qualified in the B final, which I was happy enough with.

It's hard to remember now exactly what order things happened in, but I think I flipped upside down after a jump in final 1, so I was out of the race and finished last.

I got away clean in final 2 and managed to get around a crash in the first corner, which put me in the lead.  After that I had a clean race and if memory serves, I came in first.  But my memory is failing me and I might have that wrong.

Final 3 was a close one, but eventually I came in 2nd.

The points were very close but I came in 3rd overall.  The top 2 actually tied on points, so they had a 3-lap race to determine who would bump up to the A final.

All in all, it was a superb event - very well organised and loads of run.  Everybody had a smile on their face.  There were some very experienced racers there, including one of my fellow Dell's Racing Products team drivers, plus quite a few who had never raced before, including some juniors.  It was great to see everyone getting involved and having a good time.

There's another round later this month and it lands on a Saturday when I'm free - it's a lot of money to spend to go in the van, but I could always stow my car in the throwover panniers and go on the motorcycle, or maybe even give the 3-wheeler scooter a good long run to clear out the cobwebs.

That seems like epic fun! I wish we had something like that in my part of the world.

[Mad Ax]

8 hours ago, MadAnt said:

That seems like epic fun! I wish we had something like that in my part of the world.

The real beauty of this kind of racing is that all you need is a patch of grass, a mower, some rope and some cones.  No timing systems, no computerised scoring - you don't need a dedicated RC race venue to host these events.

[MadAnt]

6 hours ago, Mad Ax said:

The real beauty of this kind of racing is that all you need is a patch of grass, a mower, some rope and some cones.  No timing systems, no computerised scoring - you don't need a dedicated RC race venue to host these events.

Umm... yeah we don't have grass that fine around here.🤣 Cut it that short and it's burned, so most of the time it's cut at 1.5-2.5 inches everywhere. Lol, it's like the grass has mutated over time to be thick and harder to cut, which is also too much for those little electric lawnmowers to handle. Lol, those electric lawnmowers are actually less eco friendly because they will likely keep going in trash for being trash from day one, which is why we are still using "vintage" mowers built from the 60's, 70's, 80's and early 90's . Heck, some new landscape commercial machines have not changed much in the past 20 or so years too.

Sorry for the ramble about lawnmowers🤣.

[JimBear]

I just wanted to show a quick photo but since it still doesn't work  ...

...you have to take a look at the 44 minutes video instead!  Some pretty amazing ideas out there, really. I found this one over at the Pine Beach Raceway blog. 

 

[JimBear]

A hundred years later (it feels like, grey haired and tired) - it was this screenshot that I wanted to show: 

It is a DT-02, with a Rock Socker body and Kyosho rims - very cool. Not mine, but I wish ...

[JimBear]

I often go to the RC Team Chonmage videos for a bit of healthy (sukoyaka) spirit, and as is often the case with Tamiyaclub, the variety and wealth of ideas astounds me: 

This one is as far as I can see a Yokomo 870c body on a DT-02, and referencing Mr. Hoonigan himself - quite the mash-up.  And I am a fan of this particular body, just love the lines of it. 

[Andreas W]

@JimBear. That looks good. Kind of reminds me of my brothers Yankee Europa Racing 91.