mud4fun 1696 Posted October 24, 2020 13 minutes ago, Ferruz said: I like my cones for the track, too bad they get shot far away every time the cars hit them. A good improvement in my case would be to somehow anchor or nail them to the ground, maybe next time I will. Glad you enjoyed yourself!! Yes we feel the same, it has lifted the hobby enormously for myself and my children. Our cars are also now looked at as potential 'race cars' rather than bashers. To be fair we had been racing amogst ourselves for many years on garden tracks BUT this lifts it to the next level. The cones are an issue. We started with the small plastic cones but they kept getting knocked miles when we hit them so we switched to larger cones that I fitted with heavy rubber pads. These worked amazingly well in the sense that they wouldn't budge when hit BUT had the rather nasty side affect of launching any car that hit them into the air - at high speed this resulted in alot of damage! So we now use flat rubber discs for markers on the fast sections and the rubber footed cones on the tight slow bends. The markers rarely move now even when driven over and the cones stop corner cutting on the slow bends while the flat discs are zero risk to vehicles at higher speeds. We use the FORZA flat disc markers (heavy rubber) and the FORZA training cones. The rubber discs and cones have 3 holes drilled in them equispaced around the circumference so they can be wired together with garden wire when needed but because the cones are quite shallow angle I would not recommend them for faster sections as the cars will ride up them (once weighed down by the heavy rubber feet) instead of knocking them out of the away. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Re-Bugged 10150 Posted October 24, 2020 15 minutes ago, mud4fun said: The cones are an issue. We started with the small plastic cones but they kept getting knocked miles when we hit them I was having the same trouble with the small flower pots I was using. Fortunately I had a roll of masking tape in my toolbox at the time so I just stuck an X on the ground so i could still see a marker. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ferruz 11702 Posted October 25, 2020 @mud4fun thanks for the tip, and glad you and your girls share the feelings about the cars I am using dollarstore cones (literally, as they come in 4-packs that are 4 $ each) with chalk markers under them so that I can quickly locate their place when knocked over. They are great for visibility but quite light and brittle, when hit by the cars they get knocked far away but in a way this is also an incentive for me to drive more precisely! But yeah it does get quite annoying when you hit one towards the end of the run and have to lose precious seconds to place it back! I'm having second thoughts about nailing them down, I think I'll try to weigh them down instead and see how that goes. They are hollow, so that will be easy to figure out. 2 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Re-Bugged 10150 Posted October 25, 2020 It hasn’t rained for months, so I charged 2 batteries and the heavens open 🙄. So with a reluctant trip to Bunnings with Mrs RB I only really had one thing on my mind. With some knowledge gleaned from the extensive research done for the ideal track marker I came across some heavy rubber door mats for 6 bucks. So cutting around a paint tin making a hole for a zip tie and super gluing chopped up reflective material from an unused cycling band I now have these.... I’m just hoping the rain will stop (unlikely) or else there maybe a covered in car park I could use. 8 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Carmine A 2046 Posted October 25, 2020 6 hours ago, Ferruz said: ...Funny how I suddenly see my cars from a completely different perspective now that the are...ehm... "racers" and not just weekend bashers... they somehow get more respect Is it the same for you?.... ABSOLUTELY!! I used to Race Professionally in the 80's and 90's. But this is different. It's FUN. Except for the Camera (😭😖), nothing has broken, knock wood. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Carmine A 2046 Posted October 25, 2020 .... I see that several of you also have trouble with markers. The Food Cans worked - were humorous but actually DENTED my CRX, hitting one!! 😖 I followed @Re-Bugged's lead, and simply used Duct Tape "X's". They work, are easy to see on Tarmac, and hurt nothing when run over! 😉 I'm sticking with that. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TurnipJF 9192 Posted October 25, 2020 My track markers have followed a similar evolution, starting out as rubber cones, moving to cones on duct tape markers, and now consisting of duct tape alone. This way I feel more confident about running cars with nicer/rarer bodyshells, but it also means that I have to be extra vigilant/honest about corner cutting. 3 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mud4fun 1696 Posted October 25, 2020 1 hour ago, TurnipJF said: My track markers have followed a similar evolution, starting out as rubber cones, moving to cones on duct tape markers, and now consisting of duct tape alone. This way I feel more confident about running cars with nicer/rarer bodyshells, but it also means that I have to be extra vigilant/honest about corner cutting. We've been using the rule that as long as at least one wheel goes the correct side of the marker then fair enough but they docked me a lap because all four of mine came the wrong side, we're only taking 0.3 seconds gained but with five cones per lap that is actually an extra lap or two over the 5 min race, we've really noticed this now we are using the blasted lap timer. Never would have noticed when we just had people manually counting laps..... sort of shot myself in the foot there 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Re-Bugged 10150 Posted October 25, 2020 Yay, it stopped raining enough to get out for a drive, and the new markers worked a treat. (sorry video is a bit on the long side 😬) 5 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mud4fun 1696 Posted October 25, 2020 29 minutes ago, Re-Bugged said: Yay, it stopped raining enough to get out for a drive, and the new markers worked a treat. (sorry video is a bit on the long side 😬) That was brilliant! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Carmine A 2046 Posted October 25, 2020 That was smooth, @Re-Bugged!! 👏👏👏👏 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
EvilSpike 294 Posted October 25, 2020 I managed to get a go at this yesterday and it was a lot of fun, if somewhat frustrating! I thought the carpark at the end of the road was smooth asphalt, and that running a 4wd car without the propshaft in 2wd mode with road tyres would be ok. Unfortunately the carpark was actually broken asphalt and concrete with lots of gravel and clumps of grass cuttings. Oh, and it was damp too. So every time I used more than half throttle the car swapped ends in a heartbeat. I could have moved the cones (well, blocks of wood) around a bit to make sure that they weren't right next to patches of gravel, two of the five were and I found it difficult to change how I made the turn on different surfaces. What I should have done was pop the pinspikes back on, and reinstall the centre propshaft to go back to 4wd mode. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to do it and then compare the two runs. My guess is I'd probably get another 20% more laps in. Means I'll just have to try it on the next race! 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jupitertwo 1484 Posted October 25, 2020 Managed to make it out to my car park venue. All three kids in the car, so my run time was limited by the attention span of a 10 month These three protagonists for today. TA06R, M07 with untrimmed body posts as I'm still checking the ride height, and the F104 Pro II. TA06R is a veteran of TC speed runs a few years ago, and hasn't run since a 3S destroyed it's Super Stock motor in my nievity (still smells a bit of burnt motor too). New body though, which did look good under the flourescent lights. M07 is freshly built, so first run for this one. F104 Pro II has been mostly built for a couple of years, so a but of sticking body work on (but no driver head :D) and we're ready to rumble. Having never run an F1, I got that going first. Lots of end swapping at first as I started to realise that full throttle was not required at all. Nice feel to it, be great to have more time. A few issues with leaves getting stuck under it, but not enough to stop it. M07 up next. I started to notice tyre temperature with this one. Not great at first, but once we got going it started to go a lot better. I think I'll need to spend more time with this one to start to love it, as when the run was done I wasn't ready for another. TA06R - wow. After the M07 it felt so nice, sooo smooth. A few donuts to generate a bit of heat and then it just got better and better. Perhaps the tyres are better suited for the concrete. As you can see from the photo it's not the smoothest or cleanest of surfaces, but it is level. I might have to try round 2's track with this one, and see how I do against the TA02SW I ran for that. Small hiccup mid run, when the spur worked loose (it's normally the pinion right?), but back in action soon enough. Motor was quite hot at the end, so some learning to do there on the gearing with a silver can. Glad I managed to get out, and pleased I remembered to bring snack to keep the little uns occupied for the 3.5 runs Lap wise I'm only a litle bit further down the road than my wet grass buggy runs, so I'm looking forward to see how the timing board shapes up with everyone's entries. 7 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mud4fun 1696 Posted October 25, 2020 4 hours ago, jupitertwo said: Lap wise I'm only a litle bit further down the road than my wet grass buggy runs, so I'm looking forward to see how the timing board shapes up with everyone's entries. I tried a few of my buggies on grass but even with large spikes they still came in a lot slower than my tarmac runs. However, when I say grass, it was more like mud plus some grass tufts scattered around and it was very wet (it was even muddier when I'd finished). My Avante2001 got especially dreadful lap times on the grass, bit bizarre really because even running with large spikes on tarmac it could do better lap times, I think because I could slide the back end around the markers on tarmac it actually resulted in faster laps but the spikes just bit into the muddy grass and it would roll rather than slide. It DNF'd the tarmac attempt because it broke again and it barely scraped a full 5 mins on the grass because it overheated plus a nasty roll broken it a 2nd time in 2 days (4th time in 2 rounds)..... All our Thundershots annihilated the Avante class in this round, no breakages, quicker times and 10x more reliable especially in the wet with their better weather protection and less fragile chassis. The sort of car you can just pickup off the shelf, fit a battery and run a race, hose down afterwards and put back on shelf. The Avantes are more like an F1 car level of prep and maintenance......(and cost LOL) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jupitertwo 1484 Posted October 25, 2020 7 minutes ago, mud4fun said: I tried a few of my buggies on grass but even with large spikes they still came in a lot slower than my tarmac runs. However, when I say grass, it was more like mud plus some grass tufts scattered around and it was very wet (it was even muddier when I'd finished). Hehe, yeah, there’s a track layout carved in to my garden now too! I found the turning circle for my Avante and my Top Force was too much for the tight course and my tight garden. Whereas the Optima with 2.2s was much more willing and able. Perhaps if my garden was wider I could accommodate the bigger arc and be smoother, such as was possible with the F1 in a car park. All good fun though, I do feel I’m starting to understand differences in car behaviour better, even if I’ve yet to learn if it’s good or bad, or what to do about it 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mud4fun 1696 Posted October 25, 2020 4 minutes ago, jupitertwo said: I do feel I’m starting to understand differences in car behaviour better, even if I’ve yet to learn if it’s good or bad, or what to do about it hehe, same here! All I know is that after the changes to my Thundershot this round it ran superbly on tarmac, better than any other car we own BUT I was a complete idiot, I made all the changes in one go without testing each one individually so now I have no idea which change made the biggest (or any) difference for this particular design of track ARRRGGGHHH! I made the following changes for round 3: Fitted shorter firmer springs lowered buggy to just 12mm ground clearance modified chassis to fit a lightweight 2S LiPo in instead of the heavy 8.4v NiCd swapped motor from the Reedy19T to a 22T Kyosho truck motor changed pinion size from 14 to 13 tooth added masses of negative camber used carpet tyres So take your pick, which ones made the difference??? I should have gone and done some runs with the lap monitor timing it after each change. sigh. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mud4fun 1696 Posted October 25, 2020 and yet still youngest mudlet came within 0.5 second a lap of my times running a bl**dy silver can!!!!! aaaarrrrggghhhhhh EDIT: I'm not sure if it is my driving that is especially bad or her driving especially good - I like to believe it is the latter...... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mud4fun 1696 Posted October 25, 2020 Oh and you want to know the worst - youngest mudlet proclaimed today that she hadn't really pushed that hard because she didn't want to risk crashing and scratching her shell again....... <sobbing> EDIT: You have to put this in context, imagine the scene, there I was racing on the ragged edge of out of control, pushing so hard to gain an extra 0.1 seconds per lap that I would merrily risk total destruction of my buggy..... and youngest mudlet turns up, drives around like on a 'sunday drive' and on one lap actually got within 0.3 seconds of me...... EDIT2: I think I may just give up on the buggies, buy a tank and race that, at least I'd be in a class of my own and they can;t afford a tank and it is way out of their xmas budget LOL 1 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ferruz 11702 Posted October 26, 2020 Took a couple more runs today. The Hornet, even if just by a few seconds, achieved the same amount of laps as the Manta Ray 🤔 3 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TurnipJF 9192 Posted October 26, 2020 Laps: Participant: Chassis: Motor: Battery: Surface: Weight: Best lap: 64 Carmine A TT-02S SM RRRR GT4 Reedy 17t 3S LiPo tarmac 1648g 49 Carmine A M-05 (225mm) Torque Tuned 3S LiPo tarmac 1429g 40 TurnipJF F103RS 21.5t Trackstar 2S LiPo tarmac 6.9s 36 Team Nessie (DayRider) M-06 Torque Tuned 7.2V NiMH tarmac 35 TurnipJF Thundershot GT Tuned 2S LiPo tarmac 8.3s 34 jupitertwo TA-06R Silver can 2S LiPo concrete 33 Mud4fun Thundershot "Stig Eater" Kyosho Magnetic Mayhem 22T motor 2S LiPo tarmac 1387g 8.26s 32 Youngest Mudlet Thundershot Silver can 7.2V NiMH tarmac 1558g 8.7s 31 TurnipJF TT-01 Rally 13.5t Bluebottle 2S LiPo tarmac (W) 31 TurnipJF M-03 Wide Torque Tuned 7.2V NiMH tarmac (w) 31 Fabia130vRS F103 (F104 conversion) 13.5t Trackstar 2S LiPo tennis court 31 jupitertwo M-07 Etronix Brushless 3450kV 2S LiPo concrete 30 jupitertwo F104 Pro II Silver can 2S LiPo concrete with leaves 29 Fabia130vRS F103LM 10.5t LRP 2S LiPo tennis court 29 Middle Mudlet Terra Scorcher Reedy 19t 7.2V NiMH tarmac 1606g 9.4s 29 Re-Bugged Wild One 13.5t brushless 2S LiPo concrete (w) 27 Re-Bugged Kyosho Javelin Scorcher 13.5t brushless 2S LiPo grass (W) 27 Ferruz Manta Ray 13.5t Bluebottle 7.2V NiMH cracked tarmac/gravel 9.68s 27 Ferruz Hornet Sport Tuned 7.2V NiMH cracked tarmac/gravel 11.07s 26 Mud4fun Thundershot "Stig Eater" Kyosho Magnetic Mayhem 22T motor 2S LiPo grass (W) 1387g 10.27s 26 Mud4fun Vanquish 13T Dyna Run Super Touring 7.2V NiMH grass (W) 10.5s 26 Middle Mudlet Thundershot Tamiya Super Stock RR 7.2V NiMH grass (W) 25 Mud4fun Avante 2001 13T Dyna Run Super Touring 2S LiPo grass (W) 9.9s 25 jupitertwo Optima re-re Le Mans 490 2S LiPo grass (W) 25 TurnipJF TT-01 Rally 13.5t Bluebottle 2S LiPo cracked concrete/gravel 24 Fabia130vRS M02 13t brushed 2S LiPo tennis court 22 Ferruz Kyosho Big Boss Le Mans 05 Stock 7.2V NiMH cracked tarmac/gravel 12.49s 21 TButton TL-01 Rally Silver can 7.2V NiMH cracked concrete/gravel 21 jupitertwo Konghead 15.5t brushless 2S LiPo grass (W) 19 jupitertwo Top Force Sport Tuned 2S LiPo grass (W) 19 EvilSpike Terra Scorcher Sport Tuned 7.2V NiMH cracked tarmac/gravel (w) 1725g 18 Mr Sooty TL-01B 19t brushed 7.2V NiMH cracked concrete/gravel An amazing result from @Carmine A and his TT-02S SM RRRR GT4 with an average lap time of 4.69s! It looks like all the effort with slop reduction paid off. Or perhaps it is all the R's! And of course well done to all of the individual class winners! 8 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Carmine A 2046 Posted October 26, 2020 Holy CRAP I didn't think it was THAT Good!!! 😲😲😊 I credit both Cars with lack of any appreciable SLOP - and lots of Grip. I'd give high Speed only a secondary role, as there was very little Straight Runs... I'm literally floored! 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Carmine A 2046 Posted October 26, 2020 @DayRider and I didn't do so well in the last one - but did great on this one... It should be obvious, but I think we're all going to find one Track configuration more suited to our skill and style than others. I've discovered something about myself. I did bluddy awful on the last run, because of my reaction times - which have always been fast... Custom made for this short, twisty Course. However on the last run, with the REALLY long straights, I kept overreacting! My Mind wanted that Turn, and kept constantly reacting BEFORE the Turns! Really killed my overall performance. .... I did however have a whole lot more grip and control than I had anytime before. It's at least proof that my silly tricks actually WORKED! 😉 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fabia130vRS 2098 Posted October 26, 2020 I am happy to be a step away from the top 10. Next track I will try many more times and put in more effort in the F1 class 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mud4fun 1696 Posted October 26, 2020 Many thanks again @TurnipJF for organising and compiling the results. (and for getting a thundershot so high up the table!) A seriously eclectic mix of cars this time! Shows how demanding (as against outright speed) round 3 track was that we have silver cans relatively high up the results table 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mud4fun 1696 Posted October 26, 2020 7 minutes ago, Fabia130vRS said: I am happy to be a step away from the top 10. Next track I will try many more times and put in more effort in the F1 class You were in top 10 if you say you were joint 9th Seems 27-31 laps was quite popular - four cars on 31 laps, three on 29 laps and three on 27 laps. Most of our attempts fell into that band, we only managed to just better that on a couple of tries out of literally dozens and dozens of attempts. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
