Starting indoor racing and want car advice, which to buy?

[ssvoc]

My neighbour races at a local village hall and I am tempted to go along to race there. I only have a choice of 2wd off-road cars, so I am thinking of getting a second-hand 4wd road car.

 I am looking at getting a Schumacher Mission and then slowly adding hop-ups to it, is this a good car to get for indoor racing?

 

Any other suggestions would be helpful.

 

Also, would a midnight pumpkin shell fit to it if modified?

 

Thanks.

 

[jozza]

I've been racing Missions for 2 years now, not had a problem with them. They are quite expensive to hop up unless you can find the bits second hand. Good worthwhile hopups are the aluminium diff holders, aluminium spur gear posts, and the aluminium spur gear adapter is useful too. The only other hopup I'd heartily recommend is to upgrade the diff pulleys to the RW versions, they cost about 8 quid each and make a major difference to the freeness of the drive train.

The Mission can be a bit fiddly to set up, but I've never had trouble setting them up. It's a tough car, can take knocks with no adverse affects. 

Oh, and if you are after a cheap second hand one, let me know ;-) I've got a spare Mission complete with a load of spare bits which I will sell for a good price

[ssvoc]

Thanks, very useful!

 I have sent you an email with regards to your Mission, let me know if you get it.

 

Thanks again.

 

[_miga_]

 

the most important thing 'bout racing is learn to drive steadily.[]

the second important thing 'bout racing is learn to drive steadily.[]

the third mportant thing 'bout racing is learn to drive steadily.[]all i want to say: there is no need in such a chassis, like Mission, TRF, Cyclone , when you never have challenged a race.

there is one important thing about racing cars: check the availibilty of spare parts for it, otherwise a race can quickly be over for you.

If you can drive steadily and have constant laptimes, then it's time to get a TRF or Cyclone or Mission[H]

 

[ssvoc]

A lot of the drivers at the club are doing it for fun and I need a car suitable to start off with, so it seems to make sense to get a Mission second-hand,

Otherwise its on-road wheels on my Cougar 2000 or Fireblade 2000. 

[terry.sc]

The Mission is a good choice, a decent club racer at a bargain price the basic Mission kit is a great beginners car that has all the adjustments you need so you can learn how to set up the car. Spares are readily available, even direct from Schumacher if you can't find them in hobby shops. Don't bother with any hop ups for it, apart from the RW diff pulleys mentioned above none of the other hop ups (including all the alloy parts) will make any difference to your performance on the track. When you feel your driving is being held back by the car you will be better off buying a more up to date car than spending money on upgrading the Mission as the performance difference is so small to almost not be noticed. Make sure the reason you can't go any faster is the car and not you, I regularly get asked by other club members to try their car because they think their uncompetitiveness is the car. Sometimes they need tuning and setting up, quite often I can run faster with the setup that is already on the car.

When the time comes to replace your car you should have more experience of what cars work well on your local track (all the fast guys will be using them!) so you will be in a better position to decide what to buy.  

[straightspeed2]

I have always advocated, buy a car you can get spares for, and one that fellow club members race so you can get help and advice on set ups etc. That said, parts over the web are easy to obtain, for any popular chassis. Dont waste money on hop ups for the chassis until you have invested in decent cells and motors, and the right equipment to maintain their performance. Do invest in a chassis set up system, and any guide's, books etc that can instruct you in the fine art of tuning the car. Also, buy a strong car []

The advice about learning to drive first is spot on, even if you've "bashed" or raced in another discipline, indoor TC's will be different.

I have run Associated TC3 and TC4's for both my son and I. They're competitive, cheap to buy second hand, parts are easy to get, and (my personal preference) they're shaft driven.