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Sideways-King

My First Nights Racing......

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dude it's time you apply to get a column in an rc mag

:D Ha thanks Mr. ED, I do tend to waffle on a bit so there probably wouldn't be enough room for me to do a review!

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:D Ha thanks Mr. ED, I do tend to waffle on a bit so there probably wouldn't be enough room for me to do a review!

I was thinking more along the lines of what you write here: something which makes us feel good about being in this hobby. Kind of like the backlot of rcca back in the days.

Thanks for writing and keeping this going.

I've by the way subscribed for a big event early 2010. Last year I entered unkowing about the level of the event and was real surprised to see international drivers show up. Even more surprising was how my YZ-10 based buggy did pretty well in its shake-down. Sure some things broke but I managed to finnish all but one heat over the 2 days and that was a huge accomplishment given my old electronics, total lack of practise and very mimited experience with huge indoor jumps. The track was a kind of-carpet/artificial lawn and had the works: doubles, triples, racketboard, tabletop and a couple single jumps.

This year I'm going for 2WD; not sure which car it will be yet but it's gonna be vintage and I'll try and write a bit onhere. I'll make sure to post a link in this thread.

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I was thinking more along the lines of what you write here: something which makes us feel good about being in this hobby. Kind of like the backlot of rcca back in the days.

Thanks for writing and keeping this going.

Thanks for that. It was always my intention to get others who may have been shy like me at first to give it a go and a few guys have contacted me to say they have so thats good. Personally I feel the grass roots club level should be about fun and learning and embracing the whole hobby.

I've by the way subscribed for a big event early 2010. Last year I entered unkowing about the level of the event and was real surprised to see international drivers show up. Even more surprising was how my YZ-10 based buggy did pretty well in its shake-down. Sure some things broke but I managed to finnish all but one heat over the 2 days and that was a huge accomplishment given my old electronics, total lack of practise and very mimited experience with huge indoor jumps. The track was a kind of-carpet/artificial lawn and had the works: doubles, triples, racketboard, tabletop and a couple single jumps.

This year I'm going for 2WD; not sure which car it will be yet but it's gonna be vintage and I'll try and write a bit onhere. I'll make sure to post a link in this thread.

Well done for entering the top racing. I quite like the appeal of buggies and jumps, especially this latest Short Course craze (i've been waiting for Tamiya to do one but I can't wait any longer!). The only buggy club around is an outdoor nitro club. A chap from work who has now started up following my ramblings at a different club says they mix it up at the end of every season with a drift night or endurance night which sounds like fun. After all variety is the spice of life.

I've got a vintage 2wd Schumacher Fireblade Evo which I recommend. Very competitve.

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Thought I would drag this old thread up as it was the one that inspired me to have a go at racing in the first place :)

Decided I wanted to try my hand at a spot of Touring Car racing - I had heard that the Norwich RC club was all brushless/lipo and very serious but I gave the guy who runs it a ring and he said whatever type of touring car I had would be fine to use - looking through my box of old spares I found some Schumacher Mini Pin tyres which the club use - was well pleased as it meant I could go and try it out without spending any money!

Only touring car I had ready was my TA03F - it has been used a drifter since I have owned it but it was raced as a touring car by the previous owner - I realised that I may get laughed at for using something so ancient in a sea of Schumacher, XRay, Corally type chassis but I was hoping that it would be more of a novelty for them than a reason to point and laugh! Checked it over - put my fastest brushed motor in (an old 21t Orion Pilot) and chucked my 9T eZrun brushless in the spares box just in case and we were good to go! Their rules are 10.5 brushless running 2S lipo.

Well what an experience it was! Was one of the first to arrive at about 16:50 - the hall is Norwich City Football Clubs old indoor training ground - a huge sports hall with an astroturf/carpet type flooring. No tables or chairs so everyone took their own - I didn't have one so was confined to the floor! There are only 2 or 3 single wall sockets too but luckily I was next to someone with a 4 way adaptor so could hang off that to charge my batteries. Bit of a different setup to my usual Mini racing - there were 30 racers for a start! Cost £5 to race - 3 heats and a final - no bump ups either. The track is just randomly laid out in whatever shape they decide on the night - probably about 2.5 times the size of our usual Mini layout - with one long straight down one side. Had a wander around the pits and noticed that every single person had a "proper" touring car chassis - they all look the same to me but apparently most people had a Schumacher Mission chassis. Also every single person had the Mazda 6 body! Felt a bit of a plum pulling out the TA03F and my Corolla drift body but all the people I spoke too were very welcoming and from the comments I got I think it was a bit of a nostalgia trip for them! Some people started to practise while I was setting up - jeeeeeez how fast is a 10.5 brushless running on 2S lipo!!!! ;) Realised that my old 21t and NiMh batts was going to be hilariously slow in comparison but thought oh well I will give it a go.

Lined up for the first heat and realised that there were a couple of people with slower cars (when I say slower I still mean decent 19t and lower brushed motors!) and a couple of very young kids who they obviously put in this lower heat (heat placings are done on placings in previous meetings to keep good people together) Lined up on a staggered grid and off we went - the poor old TA03F was a proper snail down the straight but I kept it clean and neat and hit most of the apexes wherever I could in the twisty infield section - realised after a couple of laps that it was a case of "slowly, slowly catchy monkey" as I was in the lead! Everyone else in my heat just didn't seem able to cope with the speed of the cars and were crashing all over the place! Managed 16 laps in the 5 minutes and my fastest lap was an 18 second I think.

Marshalled for the next heat and then got talking to the guy next to me and I decided to try and give the car a little more speed - I had bought a funny pitch .6 mod 16 tooth pinion for the race Mini last year which didn't fit it properly - it however slotted into the TA03F nicely (was running the kit 14t in the first heat) - there were 5 heats altogether so it was quite a wait between heats - lined up for the 2nd heat and off we went - definitely had a little more speed on the straight but I was still massively slower than everyone else but once again I kept it tidy and brought it home in 2nd place out of 5 :)

Third heat was only 3 of us and the other two hadn't charged their batteries properly so about half way through the race they started slowing and I was able to lap them twice! So that was another win! Instead of 2 heats counting like Mini racing your best heat lap count in whatever heat was what positioned you in the final - I had managed 16 laps in all 3 heats - getting a little quicker each time - looking at it I was about 3 seconds a lap slower the the midfield guys and overall about 6 laps down on the top guys. Still my clean driving had lifted me out of the E final and into 4th place in the D final - something I was properly proud of given how slow the car was!

Decided that it was time to break out the eZrun - fitted it and tested it using the 14t pinion (a Tamiya soft cheese one - already a bit hooked) - whoa thats a bit more like it down the straight !! Highlighted the slightly iffy handling a bit but worst of all it started to sound a bit mangled in the gearbox - pulled the pinion out and it had stripped a few teeth on the spur gear :( Talking to the guy next to me and he said he thought the eZrun would be ok with the 16t pinion as the motor wasn't too hot after my 3-4 minutes lapping with the 14t so I threw caution to the wind and fitted it. A quick blast down the straight how showed that I now had some proper straightline speed - still not quite as much as everyone else but much more comparable. Final started and I was able to keep with everyone - yes they were faster in a straight line (not by a massive amount though) and yes they handled much, much better but a bit of clean driving saw me mid-field for the first couple of laps - the new found speed gave me a problem though at the end of the main straight as I turned into the corner the car would dig in causing massive grip roll and flinging me at the wall - so had to watch out for that - but it was going well and I felt at least a little bit competitive. Disaster on lap 5 though - a faster car coming up behind me didn't allow for me being a bit slower cornering and just rammed me in the side really hard which totally smashed a wheel off the hub - car sat still and the wheel went flying :( End of race for me! Still I managed to end up 5th due to a DNS from another guy which means I was 24th out of 30 - not bad at all all things considered!!

It was a fun night - but without a proper chassis and brushless setup and a decent shell with a rear wing I was never going to be competitive. I was at a huge disadvantage - it was a bit like using a normal road car to go Touring Car racing in 1/1 scale!

Regarding the TA-05 this is an excellent club car and one that is often over looked by people I think due to its tub like - novice looking - chassis. Shame really cause most people get on really well with them and they are strong.

I bought a TA05 from eBay last week (before I went racing) so will be fixing it up to use - wont be able to go every week but it would be nice to have something usable for when I do go - want to stick with Tamiya - well, just because :D

So on reflection - I need to take the TA05 (from a gearing and handling point of view) and they are all fine with me using the 9T eZrun with the Nimh batteries - according to a guy I know (works here and races there) no one will have a problem with the 9t eZrun as long as I am not obviously faster than everyone else and don't start hassling for the A-final - highly unlikely if you saw the speed these guys can go!

Sorry for the essay but I thought you might like to share in my experience :)

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Nice one skip another good read fella and good luck with the next race! ;)

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Nice one skip another good read fella and good luck with the next race! :blink:

I might have to pop to the norwich track when i an next down that way.

If you are racing the ta05 with a 9t ezrun a good base setup is

6-1 gear ratio

Blue front springs 50wt oil

Yellow rear springs 40wt oil

Medium front (yellow) stabiliser soft (red)

5mm ride height all around

A little droop (1-2mm) all around

If you have the lit silver springs they are actually quite good (they are rated between the blues and yellows) just put a spacer on each of the front 2 shocks

If its a large and fast track you might want to look at getting a spool at some point.

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I might have to pop to the norwich track when i an next down that way.

If you are racing the ta05 with a 9t ezrun a good base setup is

6-1 gear ratio

Blue front springs 50wt oil

Yellow rear springs 40wt oil

Medium front (yellow) stabiliser soft (red)

5mm ride height all around

A little droop (1-2mm) all around

If you have the lit silver springs they are actually quite good (they are rated between the blues and yellows) just put a spacer on each of the front 2 shocks

If its a large and fast track you might want to look at getting a spool at some point.

Cool thanks for that - this TA05 has the yellow stabilisers front and rear but I don't have the other ones to try unfortunately. Main thing I am confuzzled about is gearing - how do you work out the ratio based on your pinion/spur combo?

Found this http://www.rcuniverse.com/community/gearwizard.cfm but I don't know what the TA05 transmission ratio is?

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Cool thanks for that - this TA05 has the yellow stabilisers front and rear but I don't have the other ones to try unfortunately. Main thing I am confuzzled about is gearing - how do you work out the ratio based on your pinion/spur combo?

Found this http://www.rcuniverse.com/community/gearwizard.cfm but I don't know what the TA05 transmission ratio is?

Yellow stabilisers are fine just loosen the one at the rear he you want to make it softer.

The ta05 fdr is 2.25 so you calculate your gearing like this

(spur / Pinion) * 2.25

Cheers

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Yellow stabilisers are fine just loosen the one at the rear he you want to make it softer.

The ta05 internal-ratio is 2.25 so you calculate your gearing like this

(spur / Pinion) * 2.25

Cheers

fixed it... ;)

Skip:

The internal-ratio is determined be the diff pulleys divided by the center pulleys (or 36/16=2.25). If you have different pulleys than standard, then your internal-ratio will be different and so will your final drive. Tamiya makes 35T, 36T & 37T main pulleys, as well as 16T & 18T center pulleys. All of which fit the TA05.

You did get my response via PM correct?

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Yup ir not fdr what can i say too much beer by the pool ;)

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fixed it... ;)

Skip:

The internal-ratio is determined be the diff pulleys divided by the center pulleys (or 36/16=2.25). If you have different pulleys than standard, then your internal-ratio will be different and so will your final drive. Tamiya makes 35T, 36T & 37T main pulleys, as well as 16T & 18T center pulleys. All of which fit the TA05.

You did get my response via PM correct?

I did thank you yes - its all standard regarding pulleys etc - I counted the teeth last night. Another result - went to rebuild the front diff last night and was confused as I couldn't find how it came apart - then I realised that its actually a one-way unit - result!

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A one-way will make a huge difference in how the car behaves. Weather it's good or bad will depend on the track. You should see what the fast guys at your track are using up front (diff, one-way or spool), and run the same. Each track is different and it will be hard to compete without the optimum front drive....

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A one-way will make a huge difference in how the car behaves. Weather it's good or bad will depend on the track. You should see what the fast guys at your track are using up front (diff, one-way or spool), and run the same. Each track is different and it will be hard to compete without the optimum front drive....

One-ways are good for flowing fast tracks.

For tight tracks technical tracks they are not ideal as they take away 2 wheels from your braking,

and you will find that the car will want to swap ends if you brake hard whilst steering.

A spool gives you 4 wheels for braking but you loose a little cornering ability as the front is totally locked. (as opposed to a one way that is free)

The advantage of both is that they give more bite when accelerating

On a small technical track (or ones with a large and very technical infield) their negatives can out weight the advantages and people run diffs

As mentioned see what people run at the club from your description it sounds like oneways or spools could be popular.

If you haven driven with a one way before just remember braking with the wheels turned is a no no. You just need to race-brake-turn

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As mentioned see what people run at the club from your description it sounds like oneways or spools could be popular.

Funny you should mention that but EVERYONE runs a front spool! A guy I spoke to said that a one-way was a good halfway house but spools roool! ;)

Got on ok for my first night with the TA05 - I used the 9t eZrun and my NiMh batts - nowhere near as punchy or fast as the 10.5/lipo boys but still fast enough to be competitive(ish) and have fun. Have invested in a camber and toe-in gauge as I had to get someone to set it up for me on the night - made a night and day difference compared to the setting in the TA05 manual!

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Loved this thread.

I was very apprehensive about trying out a track here in Bangkok (the new white guy with no experience with on road racing) but after a couple of hours I felt very relaxed. The guys were friendly and offered their advice whenever they could.

That was 4 months ago, Im a regular at the track every weekend now with my HB Cyclone TC and HPI Cup Racer and I love it. Made lots of new friends and had some fantastic advice. It offers a chance to find like minded people around your area and have fun on a regular basis.

We dont race seriously, just 4-5 guys with similar spec cars and similar skill levels, its great close racing and a great laugh. Gets expensive though!!

The track is excellent, it's used for the TITC races and has a bar upstairs...which is nice. Search for RC Addict on youtube.

Cheers,

Steve

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i just returned to racing after a 17 year break.

i was nervous at first but i quickly calmed down whe i remembered the old saying "slow is fast".

and my slow is deffinetly fast. lol

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i recently went racing with a mardave v12, blimey!

luckily biggusditchus was around to offer helpful advice tips and pit support, and within the nights racing (4 x 5 mins) i went from being wobbly and uncontrollable to having a car that was still not 10% happy, but usable to the last race of having OTT front grip and bouncing on the roof after any reasonable push of the brushless!

but i will be back next time, and brushless, hmm, cheap setup one for my basher truck maybe in the future as the speed is so different!...

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After reading this thread (several times i found it funny but yet a very good read) Im going to my first race on saturday, really looking forward to it. Its only a practise/fun day before the winter series kicks of in 2 weeks time so it should give me a chance to change anything or order stuff that might help for the new series. Just out of interest is everyone still racing that posted their experiences?

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Yup I still race the Mini - I am even on the committee now for the club I race at! Tried touring car racing a couple of times but to be honest I prefer the Minis...

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Yup I still race the Mini - I am even on the committee now for the club I race at! Tried touring car racing a couple of times but to be honest I prefer the Minis...

Yup, never stop me racing.. (Although the wife tries)

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Yup I still race the Mini - I am even on the committee now for the club I race at! Tried touring car racing a couple of times but to be honest I prefer the Minis...

Its supposed to be minis im racing tomorrow though it will probably be more crashing than racing. Its a pretty stock class with the option of using a black can motor aswell but ill stick to the silver can till i can make it round without hitting too much :lol: , ive even pre glued my tires tonight ( i really did read the thread a few times ) everythings packed and ready, batteries, charger spare batteries for the hand set, so hopefully ill have my own wee story to add and become another convertie because of this thread B) .

@ Qatmix no wifey to stop me racing thankfully though i have a physio that wont let me race 1:1 cars till next year so i need my fix :)

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2nd nights racing tonight :unsure:

Front end fiddled with (now about 3mm of spacers) and put Red springs (no idea if they are any harder, but have read somewhere they may be, spoiler painted and will be fitted later...

:P

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