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DT-02 racing noob at your service

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I'm glad you find my first foray into racing helpful GP. The screw pins backing out are a well known issue with the DT-02 chassis. There are 2 possible fixes from everything that I've read. The first is to replace the screw pins with shafts. I learned this off the very excellent RCRacer website. You can see how my son and I did it here or you can read his article here. The other option can be found in the Tutorial section here which involves using a small amount of wood good on the threaded portion of the screw pin as a sort of thread lock. I can't for the life of me find that post right now to give you a link, sorry. :huh: If you're running the friction dampers then yea, CVA are in order. They're surprisingly affordable. I've found that the stock springs are a little stiff and the stock rear springs are little soft so I got the hop-up spring kit and put the blues on the rear and the reds on the front. That seems to have sorted out my sons car.

Good luck with your DT-02. Keep us posted on what you do with the screw pins and how it works out for you.

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Another option for the front lower arm mounts is to use some 3mm steel rod or welding rod, and bend it to U shaped brace. Similar to the front suspension arm fixing of the TL-01B and DF-02. I did this to all my DT-02 cars.

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Another option for the front lower arm mounts is to use some 3mm steel rod or welding rod, and bend it to U shaped brace. Similar to the front suspension arm fixing of the TL-01B and DF-02. I did this to all my DT-02 cars.

Could you please post the measurement lengths of the 3 portions of the "U" and maybe a pic of your mod?

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Here are some pictures:

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=67145

The important length is that from arm mount hole to arm mount hole. Depending on what tools you've got at your disposal, getting the rod bent to that length can involve some trial-and-error. The ends of the U-brace can be cut down later on to fit.

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i just bought the tl-01 pin set and some trf spacer kit job done

Do you notice a smoother suspension action?

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yep a lot better and no screw pins coming loose plus i run the aeration dampers run all the hop-ups i can plus a few spacers under front of gearbox to give it some sort of anti squat .. and under front of front bulkhead to help with turn in .. and flipped front arms round so wheel base is a bit longer ..

have a look at old man racing in forum .. or pm me .. am on iconic rc on facebook under my real name Andy Wade

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I was racing at the local club again at the weekend, well I say again this was the first time i'd got to race myself (last time was lots of practice as numbers were too low for actual racing and the previous time I spent looking after both my boys cars). I did suffer with several things,

1. The car was too fast for my skill level on the track, I didn't have the laptop to program the speedo and slow it down until after lunch.

2. Wow, talk about pressure on the rostrum, it took me 3 heats to zone out and forget about it.

3. As I was slow I let people by, this can throw you badly and I'm not sure if I should have done this at all.

4. I kept breaking the top desk rear support on the Cougar, got some repair advice now so hopefully it won't happen again.

I had the comment about the car being too fast for me after the first heat by a guy I didn't know and he came across as a bit of an arrogant so and so. Most of the problem was the pressure and me allowing people by as I didn't allow myself time to get into a rhythm and I kept losing the hand eye co-ord with both steering and throttle. I did however flash the speedo down to stock settings (taking out all timing advance, setting low punch and no turbo) which meant I didn't have to be as cautious with the throttle.

I quite enjoyed myself but I still feel I need to replace my Flysky GT3b radio gear with something from Futaba (ideally a 4PLS) or Sanwa/Airtronics (more likely and MX-V) mainly down to ergonomics and weight (although the lipo for the flysky should be here this week so we'll see how that works out).

I found 2 (5300mah) lipos is more than enough for the day, giving them 2 heats and then charge works out just right.

I was dead last but I improved from 10 laps per heat to 11 by the end of the day.

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This coming weekend will be our first race day. We're getting hammered with rain this spring and races are canceled every weekend. This weekend is an indoor track so yay for that! I'm not expecting my 201 to be finished so it'll likely just be my son with his DT-02.

Kinda rude of that guy to comment on your car being too fast for you. I like to think that experienced drivers would be welcoming to new people at the track. Even if it was too fast, there are certainly ways to approach a new racer so they feel like they're being helped rather than criticized. I've tried emailing this indoor track and their reply was, "Come to a race and ask in person." Pft, it's like a 90 minute drive for me. Just answer my questions so I can show up prepared.

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What is it about the ergonomics that you don't care for on this controller?

112957.jpg

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You both have my sympathies.

One of the reasons my RC race career never progressed beyond "bunch of guys in a carpark" level was the attitude of the experienced racers at the nearest "proper" club (also about 90 minutes drive away). Their combination of arrogance, hostility and downright rudeness made sure our first appearance there was also our last.

Luckily a great deal of fun and friendly competition can be had with a bunch of like-minded enthusiasts in a carpark or similar open space. Temporary tracks can be marked out using various means (we used wooden battens as one of the guys worked at a lumber merchant and got them free), and there are many old-school alternatives to electronic timing.

So perhaps the answer is to start a racing group of your own? Who knows - it may grow into a club in its own right! :)

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This coming weekend will be our first race day. We're getting hammered with rain this spring and races are canceled every weekend. This weekend is an indoor track so yay for that! I'm not expecting my 201 to be finished so it'll likely just be my son with his DT-02.

Kinda rude of that guy to comment on your car being too fast for you. I like to think that experienced drivers would be welcoming to new people at the track. Even if it was too fast, there are certainly ways to approach a new racer so they feel like they're being helped rather than criticized. I've tried emailing this indoor track and their reply was, "Come to a race and ask in person." Pft, it's like a 90 minute drive for me. Just answer my questions so I can show up prepared.

He was the only one, a couple of the fastest guys at the track I have struck up a good rapport with and just said it 'will take time to get into the groove again' and 'just smash it' (as in go for it and learn from your mistakes). They all knew exactly where I was coming from and weren't critical, like I said this guy just came across as being a bit funny, advice was sound just delivered in a condescending way.

As for my controller, it's an older one that takes 8xAA's and obviously makes it heavy which you start to feel when you are on the rostrum, I can cure that with a lipo conversion which I have already ordered. The parts I can't fix are that the grip is just hard plastic and isn't particularly nice and nor is the hard rubber on the wheel, foam is reckoned to give nicer control here and I'm sure my old Acoms Technisport MK1 was easier with it's foam wheel. Also the display is near impossible to read outside so I can't make fine adjustments to trim or EPA. etc easily.

Systems wise it doesn't glitch though even with lots of other systems in use and I didn't experience any control issues with it.

It's still better than my younger boys FS GT2 so with the lipo conversion so it's a bit lighter he can have it until I can afford Sanwa MX-V's all around.

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It's still better than my younger boys FS GT2 so with the lipo conversion so it's a bit lighter he can have it until I can afford Sanwa MX-V's all around.

That Sanwa MX-V looks like a great racing transmitter!

MX-V.jpeg

I really like the multi-model capability with naming. That's important if you plan on racing more than one car. No need to have a controller for every car! Reading down the technical specs it looks very similar to the Futaba 3PL that I'm using. I think the Sanwa has the more attractive design though. The 3PL only uses 4 AA batteries and I think I could upgrade to a LiPo pack for it if I wanted.

futk1300.jpg

My son is using the simpler 3PRKA. It has a nicer aesthetic than the 3PL but he has trouble going full brake. His hand is too small to comfortably extend his finger forward. :o Not sure how I'm going to handle that one...

futk3100.jpg

Finally, I got my daughter a Spektrum DX4C. It was more expensive than I would have preferred to spend but I *really* wanted her to have AVC. Worst case is she doesn't get into it and I move this controller to a different car. I've always bought Futaba so this Spektrum is uncharted waters for me. So many people here seem to like them though so that helped my comfort level going non-Futaba. :D

dx4c-glamour.png

If I enjoy and am competitive with my TRF 201X at the local track, I can see myself getting a Futaba 4PX someday. Droooooool...

7803499_74f35536f2_o.jpeg

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You could put some foam tube over the brake but to help his fingers reach.

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My main problem is that I have 5 models and receivers for Sanwa are eye wateringly expensive ($100 per) and I can't find any compatibles from other brands. Both Spektrum (sadly only DX3 series though) and Futaba have compatible receivers for only a few dollars from Orange which would be fine for bashers (saving the official receiver for the race car).

I was considering Spektrum but the DX3 series look cheap and by all accounts feel it too (not sure about the DX4 as it looks better) and wouldn't be a massive upgrade in quality over the FS. I used Acoms and Futaba in the past and liked both so I got a 2.4ghz Technisport ages ago, but we now get glitch issues with it at the track and the build is cheap compare to the oldskool stuff.

That 4PX looks the nuts my budget won't stretch to the 4PLS let alone that. It's a tough choice but I think the Sanwa MX-V will be ok and I'll keep the FS for the bashers until I can afford 3 other receivers.

The local hobby shop has the Sanwa with 2 receivers for £90 (that's about $140) which is a great deal so I might just get that, not sure how to sneak it in past the mrs though :)

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You could put some foam tube over the brake but to help his fingers reach.

Good idea! I'll have to hunt down something that'll work...

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My little nephew had the same finger-reach issue, and we overcame it quite easily, by recalibration of the ESC.

When doing the whole "pull full throttle, push full brake then return to neutral" procedure when calibrating his ESC, we simply gave him the remote. He pushed the brake as far as he could, and the ESC now registers this as full brake, even though there is further mechanical movement available on the trigger.

(If the trigger is pushed as far as it will go, this causes no issues - the brakes just stay full on until the trigger comes back past the nephew-compatible setpoint.)

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I was considering Spektrum but the DX3 series look cheap and by all accounts feel it too (not sure about the DX4 as it looks better) and wouldn't be a massive upgrade in quality over the FS. I used Acoms and Futaba in the past and liked both so I got a 2.4ghz Technisport ages ago, but we now get glitch issues with it at the track and the build is cheap compare to the oldskool stuff.

Have you considered trying a cap to smooth out the glitching? I've seen a few from different brands available. They're supposed to help with servos that draw too much power at once temporarily starving the Rx of power resulting in glitchiness. They're quite cheap so could be an interesting experiment for you.

spm1600_1.jpg

I'll let you know how the DX4C feels once my daughter unboxes it at her birthday party this weekend. :D

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My little nephew had the same finger-reach issue, and we overcame it quite easily, by recalibration of the ESC.

When doing the whole "pull full throttle, push full brake then return to neutral" procedure when calibrating his ESC, we simply gave him the remote. He pushed the brake as far as he could, and the ESC now registers this as full brake, even though there is further mechanical movement available on the trigger.

(If the trigger is pushed as far as it will go, this causes no issues - the brakes just stay full on until the trigger comes back past the nephew-compatible set point.)

So elegant and simple. Why didn't I think of this on my own? :blink:

Thanks XV!

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Oh hey, one thing that is nice with the DX4C is that according to the CSR at Spektrum it ships with 2 Rx. Once "standard" Rx and one AVC compatible Rx. That could certainly help offset the cost of the Tx package. You'd only need to by 3 more Rx for your fleet. While the AVC compatible Rx are spendy, the basic jobbers are down right cheap! Here's a simple SR201 2-ch Rx for $15 US! If you elect to go with Spektrum keep in mind that AVC will oly work with a digital steering servo. ;)

Correction. It's the DX4S that comes with the 2nd Rx. One little letter can make the world of difference!

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Oh hey, one thing that is nice with the DX4C is that according to the CSR at Spektrum it ships with 2 Rx. Once "standard" Rx and one AVC compatible Rx. That could certainly help offset the cost of the Tx package. You'd only need to by 3 more Rx for your fleet. While the AVC compatible Rx are spendy, the basic jobbers are down right cheap! Here's a simple SR201 2-ch Rx for $15 US! If you elect to go with Spektrum keep in mind that AVC will oly work with a digital steering servo. ;)

Correction. It's the DX4S that comes with the 2nd Rx. One little letter can make the world of difference!

And about 100 bucks :) let me know on the spektrum and how it compares with the futaba kit. My assumption is that futaba, sanwa and ko are of similar build quality.

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Excellent, you've found your club rival!

Club rivals make you a better driver and give you something (someone) to aim for. Focus on eventually kicking his behind on the track and then casually wandering over to them and saying, "I think my car is a little too fast".

Dorvack.

You sir are a genius!

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I used Acoms and Futaba in the past and liked both so I got a 2.4ghz Technisport ages ago, but we now get glitch issues with it at the track and the build is cheap compare to the oldskool stuff.

Since the Acoms 2.4GHz receivers lack BEC, what ESC were you using back then with the 2.4Ghz Technisport that glitched on you?

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Since the Acoms 2.4GHz receivers lack BEC, what ESC were you using back then with the 2.4Ghz Technisport that glitched on you?

An eBay special with built in BEC, it also glitches with the current Hobbyking 60A x-car ESC which has BEC and the other X-Car 45A ESC with built in BEC.

With the ebay special it would power up fine and when you gave it a squirt of throttle it would spin up and would drop connection then reconnect about 5 seconds later. I plugged in an FS receiver and it worked fine. Currently it gives the odd random squirt of throttle with the 60A x-car ESC, where mine with the FS receiver is rock solid. They are the older DR-224 micro receivers.

Love the quotes about the club nemesis :) I will remember that advice and line but I fear it maybe sometime before I get to use it.

Also good to get some feedback on the MX-V, Sanwa seem to be the preferred brand at the club and they've been around sometime but I've never owned anything of theirs.

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We drove the 90 minutes down to the big R/C track. They have a great 8th scale outdoor track and a beautiful 1/10th scale indoor track. It's a blue groove clay surface with a pretty decent layout. We got there with about an hour to an hour and a half of practice time available. One nice gentleman was kind enough to lend my son a transponder. We're gonna have to get 3 of those, and they aren't cheap. :o Can you guess which one is my son? Next time we'll bring him a stool to stand on!

05.30.2015-17.04.png

So my son was driving the Gator around and it seemed he spent more time smacking the lane barriers than actually driving on the track. Every time he'd hit, I'd flinch. Eventually all this abuse took it's tool on the poor car and he twisted the right-front upright.

05.30.2015-16.43.png

Closer view:

05.30.2015-16.44.png

It's really too bad to because he was definitely getting better with every lap. Once he damaged the upright it kept getting sucked into the barriers so I pulled the plug on the Gator for the day. With no spare uprights, it was benched. I brought the new loaner/basher Arrma Fury SCT to the track as well. I let him run that around but the left-front steering arm keeps popping off. Look at it sideways and POP. So he ran it until practice time was up. He did get the arm to completely pop off at one point. Not sure what the deal with that is. I guess I'm going to have to replace the ball ends on the steering arm. The Gator was also noticeably faster with it's Sport Tuned motor vs the Fury which is currently equipped with a Dirt Tuned because the 15T Arrma Mega motor that it shipped with died after 2 battery packs. The Dirt Tuned is running WAY cooler than that Mega ever did so I think I just got a bad motor. It's fine though. I think the Dirt Tuned is a nice match for this SCT and it's lot in life as a loaner/basher.

Everyone at the track was super friendly and welcoming. I'm glad we went, even if I wasn't able to race and Garrett damaged his Gator during practice. I learned how it all works, got to see the track first hand, and he had a blast.

Some pics of him running the Fury:

05.30.2015-17.06.png

05.30.2015-17.07.png

05.30.2015-17.07.png

He caught some pretty good air on that last shot!

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