Audi Quattro Rally tips

[yankee(2) 0]

I have a few tips on improving the Audi Quattro Rally that take care of all the "poor handling" complaints I was reading about on another site. I'm a newbie to this site, however, so if the Audi owners out there already have things figured out, or if this is not appropriate in this space, please let me know before I post. If tips are better left somewhere else, please let me know that as well.

Regards from the other side of the pond,

Yankee

[DJTheo 2]

No, don't remember any AQ tips in the boards and anyway all tips are welcome, even if they just slightly differ, they may also give impulse for more ideas...

http://www.vintagetamiyarc.com/

[yankee(2) 0]

DJTheo (and others):

I'm scanning back 15-20 years in my memory banks (Audi Quattro was my first R/C when I was about 12-14), but as I recall, here's what I did:

Battery location: Plenty of room up front, using black wire tie straps (zip ties) to hold it (on a slight angle, as I recall) on top of the front bumper mount. Note that this was an old 7.2-volt with a hump, and it fit invisibly behind the body with no problem. Wires reached fine and connected neatly. This not only dramatically lowers the center of gravity, but better equalizes the weight distribution to improve steering on and off road.

Springs: factory front springs are much too soft (even before moving the battery they bottomed out at the slightest jolt), and rears are much too stiff (car bounced like it didn't have a suspension in the rear when it hit a bump). Used adjustable rear spring stops to level the back end, and experiemented with hardware store springs (hey, there weren't all those hop-up parts available in those days, so you had to make your own) until I found a nice balance.

Tires: Square edges led to rollovers. I put each tire on an axle and ran them on a table-mount belt sander at a slight angle. It sounds barbaric, but I only put enough pressure to slightly bevel the edge of the tire more like a real tire. It left a nice smooth finish that looked like it was made that way. (Of course, with all the tire selections available now, you could probably just buy better tires.)

Result: Car handled beautifly, winding through a pavement slalom course with neutral handling, taking brutal changes in direction without rolling, and still having enough suspension travel for mild off-road excursions and courses with jumps in them. In short, a true multi-purpose vehicle!

Hope this helps,

Yankee

[DJTheo 2]

Thanks for the great ideas!

http://www.vintagetamiyarc.com/