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Tamiya Mini Racing

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Grip seems to have been the big issue for many of us, I too had lots of understeer & drifting wide in corners.

I had lightly scrubbed M grips all round, but my ESC trim was a little off & I had no brakes, so I was carrying too much speed into the corner.

A switch to well scrubbed Xpress front & resetting the ESC made the car much more controllable, but M grip rears were still allowing the back end to slide a little.

While my results haven't improved, my driving was visibly better :) .

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I want to change out my fixed turnbuckles for some adjustable ones. I know that the steering rod is 3x10 but what sizes do you use for the front and rear camber? Also where can I find these online. Already the only company that makes the smaller sizes is Duratrax which is only 3x18 and thats to long.

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I want to change out my fixed turnbuckles for some adjustable ones. I know that the steering rod is 3x10 but what sizes do you use for the front and rear camber? Also where can I find these online. Already the only company that makes the smaller sizes is Duratrax which is only 3x18 and thats to long.

Have a search on Ebay. 3Racing do a set of adjustable rods for the M03

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Ok. New tyres for this weeks racing. I borrowed a set of x-press mini tyres the other week and they were a dream till i shreaded them. I have now got myself a brand new set so hopefully this week i will drive better round the track.

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I am leaving my main racer as it was last time - it went so well!

Bringing a mate along who is borrowing my spare car too

Also got something vintage to try out and I may try a heat with it which should give away what it is!

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Anyone heading to the Mini GP later in the month?

where is it being held?

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I am leaving my main racer as it was last time - it went so well!

Bringing a mate along who is borrowing my spare car too

Also got something vintage to try out and I may try a heat with it which should give away what it is!

Glad to see your still racing Skip665 and now taking along mates too! Someone told us it was going to be addictive ;)

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About 2 years ago the missus bought me a M03M Swift which got me back into RC after a 15 year break. Within 6months, Dad and brother had bought a TT01 and TL01.

6months later they had minis.

Within the last month my brushless swift is now mini and we all have a mini each now and have standardised on silver cans. We race togther in a car park on a sunday, with tracks made of fire hose.

We are now looking at a proper local club who race on a friday night....

Its funny how things progress... I am looking forward to the race banter that I have been looking on from a far for some time.

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Also got something vintage to try out and I may try a heat with it which should give away what it is!

Well that was a total surprise! The old M01 was fitted with my now favourite S-Grip front/Xpress XPA-118 rears from my usual M03 racer and totally rocked! Three heats tonight as it was a busy one and was 2nd in all three and went on to win the B final - bumped up to the A final but the skills are good there and I started and finished last but held my own I think.

Lots of positive comments about the old M01 - the steering is sloppy as you like but it just seems to work - very nice turn in and stable too. Its going to become my new racer for a while to see how it goes.

The M01...

DSC01095Medium.jpg

Glad to see your still racing Skip665 and now taking along mates too! Someone told us it was going to be addictive ;)

Yup and still loving it! :D

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What a turn up for the books !!, Skips M01 was awesome & my performance came out of nowhere.

I tried a different setup for my ESC tonight, setting the neutral point into the braking zone - What a difference !!! :D

I finished 2nd in all 3 heats, qualified 2nd for the B final & finished 2nd in that ;)

Other than the ESC setup I've done absolutely nothing to the car since the last meeting 2 weeks ago & I suddenly had grip, turn in, brakes (maybe a little too much, I'll turn it down a notch) & it was like a totally different car, predictable, no grip roll & SO MUCH EASIER to drive.

As Ian said to me "Whatever you've done to that car - DON'T change it"

I have to say though, the general standard of racing tonight was the best I've seen, the heats were particularly clean & there were only a few crashes in the finals, strangely, the A final was the messiest of the lot.

A good evenings racing, I'm well chuffed.

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Russ both you and the car drove very well last night. (I'm gonna have to watch my back now)

My car seems to be settling in a bit now, started 3rd in the A final and finished 3rd due to my bad driving at the end of the race. Nearly had second but i messed up. I think i need to clean the motor out as i dont seem to have the acceleration in the straights like the race leader did in the A final.

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What a turn up for the books !!, Skips M01 was awesome & my performance came out of nowhere.

I tried a different setup for my ESC tonight, setting the neutral point into the braking zone - What a difference !!! :o

I finished 2nd in all 3 heats, qualified 2nd for the B final & finished 2nd in that ;)

Other than the ESC setup I've done absolutely nothing to the car since the last meeting 2 weeks ago & I suddenly had grip, turn in, brakes (maybe a little too much, I'll turn it down a notch) & it was like a totally different car, predictable, no grip roll & SO MUCH EASIER to drive.

As Ian said to me "Whatever you've done to that car - DON'T change it"

I have to say though, the general standard of racing tonight was the best I've seen, the heats were particularly clean & there were only a few crashes in the finals, strangely, the A final was the messiest of the lot.

A good evenings racing, I'm well chuffed.

I didn't get much chance to watch you Russ unfortunately but the results spoke for themselves! Glad to see you are now in the hunt - you were only one place behind me in overall qualifying - I will be watching my back! ;)

Still cant get over how good the M01 was - I fell asleep thinking about it last night! Pity there is nothing I can buy to improve the sloppy steering - old Tamiya hop-ups are long gone - thankfully I have a whole car as spares.

My mate Paul did ok for a first time out - probably not helped by a fairly tight ball-diff in my spare chassis - he wont be able to come very much but I will make sure a more "standard" chassis is available for him to use.

Roll on two weeks!

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Roll on two weeks!

Have to agree with you there. But it gives me time to sort the motor out and get a new pinion.

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But it gives me time to sort the motor out and get a new pinion.

You are always tinkering with it! Whats the matter with the motor and pinion in it? It seemed to be going well last night?

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You are always tinkering with it! Whats the matter with the motor and pinion in it? It seemed to be going well last night?

I cant help myself lol. The motor just needs a clean as it's full of tyre rubber and carpet fluff. The pinion is one of the rubbish Tamiya ally ones. Just ordered the hardened steel ones from demon.

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Still cant get over how good the M01 was - I fell asleep thinking about it last night! Pity there is nothing I can buy to improve the sloppy steering - old Tamiya hop-ups are long gone - thankfully I have a whole car as spares.

Roll on two weeks!

I got some offcut bodyshell flat lexan and cut two large 'washers' tofit over the plastic posts and under the steering arm caps. Then I got a tiny turn buckle from the DS steering and changed the balls and rod ends to the new 5mm tamiya ones. Presto, almost all the slop gone for no cost. :D

I am sure you could do the same. I agonised over finding the old 'hop up' steering options but this worked perfectly and maybe even better?

;)

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Hi all,

Have read through this thread and gleen a lot of useful information from it so far, thanks!

I have just bought myself and 'wifey' a new M03L each to play with at the Worcester RC club that has been mentioned before within this thread.

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a cheap, yet long lasting tyre and insert combo for indoors (carpet with additive)??

Im not really fussed about "pushing for podiums", im more after some fun that isnt going to cost me a new set of tyres every fortnight!

Also, do you guys glue the tyres to the rims or not? From what ive read I couldnt figure out whether you are or not.

Thanks in advance :mellow:

Cris

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With the Xpress tyres we run at Weeting, I found they must be glued, otherwise they get pushed off the rim easily. Our tracks are very tight & twisty.

I have no experience of using additives, our club doesn't allow it.

Regarding tyre life, the Xpress tyres seem to be lasting 3-5 meetings on my car, but based on the tyre wear I get quite a lot of wheelspin out of corners.

They wear fast on the inside edge of the front tyres, almost like they have too much negative camber.

The best advice as always, is to talk to the other racers at your club & see what they use.

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First time I went (I race at the same club as Blacque Jacque) I had the kit tyres on the front and Tamiya S-Grip tyres on the rear - it went quite well and didnt have any characteristics that caught me out. Unfortunately the front tyres were history after only 2 meetings (the foam started showing through!). I am now using half worn Xpress XPA-118s on the rear and half worn Tamiya S-Grips on the front - this combination has instantly pushed me further up the rankings (although some new drivers would hide this fact as they are better than me!) and seem to be lasting much better. I have noticed in the past six months that with an M03 the tyres need to be a little worn to work best - so either sand them down lightly or take it outside and wheelspin everywhere on a rough surface.

Good luck :mellow:

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Thanks for the replies, much appreciated :mellow:

Where abouts are you buying your tyres from then? Everyone is after the cheapest price, right? lol

Ive also heard of tyres from Sweep and Ride. Any opinions?

Thanks again :o

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Thanks for the replies, much appreciated :mellow:

Where abouts are you buying your tyres from then? Everyone is after the cheapest price, right? lol

Ive also heard of tyres from Sweep and Ride. Any opinions?

Thanks again :o

No worries - RCMart in Hong Kong are the cheapest place to get the Xpress tyres - I cant comment on any other brands as I havent used them or heard of them to be honest!

This is a good resource... www.rc-mini.net

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Hi c0sie,

As you've probably read I'm also running at WMCC (White/Red chequered Fiat 500)

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a cheap, yet long lasting tyre and insert combo for indoors (carpet with additive)??

Im not really fussed about "pushing for podiums", im more after some fun that isnt going to cost me a new set of tyres every fortnight!

Head over to RC Mart and buy any of the smaller 50 profile tires with a 30 in the title. Seriously everyone is running something different Much Mores, Spices, Tamiya, etc. It comes down to the individual driver and the chassis your running as to which tire will suit you (so this is pointless advice). I’m running Spice 32Rs which have lasted me about 4 months now with hard front and soft back inserts. The fronts are beginning to a little thin on the outside edges so will need replacing soon but the rears still have the mould line in them!

Personally I found the really open tire rules at WMCC a real pain in the ******* as a beginner, especially when similar rules for the Touring cars classes are much tighter. My suggestion is run the kit tires for a few weeks while asking around for advice and possibly borrow a few different sets to evaluate before committing to a set that just won’t suit you.

Jack the gripper worked for me or whatever Antics have in stock at the time LOL.

Also, do you guys glue the tyres to the rims or not? From what ive read I couldnt figure out whether you are or not.

Yes or, talking from experience, you’ll look like a noobie fool! LOL

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