Guitar Test
Sunday, 3 January 2016
Monday, 23 November 2015
The End of Another Year
With the last couple of race meetings for the year coming up and feeling weirdly guilty about not posting anything for months, I thought I'd write a little year wrap-up and share some thoughts.
The year, for the most part has follow the pattern of the last few - fully intending to race a LOT more than I actually end up doing, It certainly wasn't helped by the major health scare with my partner in July (and the ongoing ramifications of that) but you have to play with the hand you are dealt so I am not going to complain to much about that. My Australian Titles dream will have to wait another year but that's as it is.
Probably the biggest single things I did this year was FINALLY get one of my home built projects on the track and racing. The FWD project was something that sat around idling for the better part of 9 months while I dithered and fiddled trying to see if I could make things with the sort of accuracy I wanted to achieve. In the end it went from a few CAD drawings and an initial mock-up of the donor parts to a working car in 9 days. As you can probably imagine they were pretty intense days as I tried to get all the custom parts together to try and do a test run at a club day, but I didn't quite get there. The car was basically finished but in my rush I had mucked up fitting some of the electrics and it was too difficult to correct at the track. So the first actual run came during Friday practice at the QLD Titles. While it turned in an impressive performance (not improved by yours truly behind the sticks) it has some practical issues that need to be addressed in the long term.
The sway bar mount (while being a simple solution) is a pain if you want to service the shocks; the motor mount can tweak in an impact and is nowhere as easy to access as I first envisaged, but then that's partly because, in my rush to finish, I used a traditional shock and spring combo, rather than what I had planned (its still on the list of changes to make). Also, having a mostly metric screws etc but being forced to use the imperial axles of the donor car was annoying - luckily some HPI parts turned out to be essentially the same but metric so I have since changed that. I am also in the process of changing the source of some of the suspension parts (namely front hubs and rear uprights). I tried some 3Racing parts but they had to much play in the bearing mounts and this induced a "chatter" into the front end. I've now ordered some composite Tamiya parts to try. I am also trying a few ideas to improve the gearing as I totally over estimated the gearing range I thought I could get away with.
F1 has been a pretty hit and miss affair all year. I bought the new Tamiya TRF102 and I think its a pretty amazing car (again only let down by yours truly trying to drive it). It has a couple of weak points - most notably the t-bars which seem to break at the slightest, unplanned impact, and it has the least adjustable standard front end of all the current crop of F1 cars, but there is no denying its potential. The first time I put it on a track, with kit setup and old tyres, it was a full second a lap quicker than I'd ever managed with the F109. It is much easier to drive generally and I can see why they think the t-bar design works better for rubber tyres on the lower grip tracks. Again, its just a lack of chances to go racing that have held it back and QLD Titles turned into a bit of a personal farce trying to run 2 classes.
As for 1/12 - well the less said the better. I managed to get to 1 meeting with the group at Trackside/Brendale but every other opportunity has been rained out or sabotaged by some part of fate that hates me racing the class I probably enjoy the most of any I've tried in electric cars.
This brings me to my first little aside - why is 1/12 such a hard class to get interest in? I've pondered this a bit over the past year and I've come to one generalisation - most people that run 1/12 are weird! Their fascination with savings 3grams by changing the brand of wiring they use, or espousing the amazing handling change they discovered by removing and extra 0.1mm from their tyre diameters, I think, leaves the majority of RC land shaking their heads and feeling just a tiny bit sorry for them. There are other factors too - the bodies are woefully unrealistic (something the class shares with 1/8 on-road) - so much so when someone had the gall to release an unrecognisable body and named it after the Toyota TS030, even some seasoned 1/12 runners had to question if it had gone to far. In some places, particularly America, it is seen as an indoor class only and when the occasional suggestion or question is presented about running the cars on asphalt they are mostly ignored or at best palmed off with suggestions to "see what the locals are doing". Lastly, there is the reliance on foam tyres - probably the single most polarising factor in RC racing during my time racing.
There is more to the "problem" I think. The class borders on the ludicrous to what people say and do with car prep and especially tyre prep. I recently read a forum post where I one 1/12'er espoused the benefits to his car's performance of a tyre prep routine that took 45 minutes! I've not visited many clubs or even events where there is THAT much time between rounds. Another post I stumbled upon had a 1/12 racer claiming that he could feel 1/1000ths difference in the length of his steering arms. Now lets look at that - this person is claiming that he can feel the difference of less than half the thickness of a standard piece of paper and that it makes a noticeable difference to the performance of his car on the track. Now I know 1/12 because of their size etc you need to make smaller adjustments etc but really?
Overall 1/12, I believe, is seen as a complicated, expensive, finicky and generally difficult class and most clubs and the people who organise events etc simply don't want the bother and I can't say I blame them. I think the biggest "nail in to coffin" came at the most recent worlds held in America - originally supposed to be held outdoors at the same track as the 1/10, but so many (mostly American from what I read) racers kicked up a stink about it that they rushed to find an alternate venue, which they then complained about so much that the majority had left before the end of practice, leaving the usual cast of European and Asian racers to fight it out. From the blogs and forums that I read only 1 American made it into the top 20 or so. At the same time, at a time when people constantly make comments about lack of numbers and generating interest, there is a whole group of racers etc that, if people could just change their thinking a tiny bit (and I am meaning clubs here as well as 1/12'ers) could bring a nice influx of people.
Anyway - time to move on from that. What does 2016 have in store? Well more racing hopefully - now that the FWD is a going concern I want to see how far I can develop that before someone decides to ban them again. I think in the lower spec classes like 21.5 it could be quite competitive and with a bit of work and some luck even 13.5 might be a possibility, though I think I'd have to work on the electronics side of things to make that a genuine possibility. I've run faster motors in FWD before and once you get over the initial traction issues the car pace is very similar, its how you go about getting the lap time that's a bit different.
I'd also like to say I will run more F1 but at the moment I am not convinced of that. My resources seem more and more stretched every year and as I get older I take longer to get into the rhythm of racing etc, especially with the whole once a month thing I am in now. I've never been very good at running multiple classes one the same day so it will make sense to pick the class I can more regularly run.
... and there is always that 1/12 sitting on my desk glaring at me...
The year, for the most part has follow the pattern of the last few - fully intending to race a LOT more than I actually end up doing, It certainly wasn't helped by the major health scare with my partner in July (and the ongoing ramifications of that) but you have to play with the hand you are dealt so I am not going to complain to much about that. My Australian Titles dream will have to wait another year but that's as it is.
Probably the biggest single things I did this year was FINALLY get one of my home built projects on the track and racing. The FWD project was something that sat around idling for the better part of 9 months while I dithered and fiddled trying to see if I could make things with the sort of accuracy I wanted to achieve. In the end it went from a few CAD drawings and an initial mock-up of the donor parts to a working car in 9 days. As you can probably imagine they were pretty intense days as I tried to get all the custom parts together to try and do a test run at a club day, but I didn't quite get there. The car was basically finished but in my rush I had mucked up fitting some of the electrics and it was too difficult to correct at the track. So the first actual run came during Friday practice at the QLD Titles. While it turned in an impressive performance (not improved by yours truly behind the sticks) it has some practical issues that need to be addressed in the long term.
The sway bar mount (while being a simple solution) is a pain if you want to service the shocks; the motor mount can tweak in an impact and is nowhere as easy to access as I first envisaged, but then that's partly because, in my rush to finish, I used a traditional shock and spring combo, rather than what I had planned (its still on the list of changes to make). Also, having a mostly metric screws etc but being forced to use the imperial axles of the donor car was annoying - luckily some HPI parts turned out to be essentially the same but metric so I have since changed that. I am also in the process of changing the source of some of the suspension parts (namely front hubs and rear uprights). I tried some 3Racing parts but they had to much play in the bearing mounts and this induced a "chatter" into the front end. I've now ordered some composite Tamiya parts to try. I am also trying a few ideas to improve the gearing as I totally over estimated the gearing range I thought I could get away with.
F1 has been a pretty hit and miss affair all year. I bought the new Tamiya TRF102 and I think its a pretty amazing car (again only let down by yours truly trying to drive it). It has a couple of weak points - most notably the t-bars which seem to break at the slightest, unplanned impact, and it has the least adjustable standard front end of all the current crop of F1 cars, but there is no denying its potential. The first time I put it on a track, with kit setup and old tyres, it was a full second a lap quicker than I'd ever managed with the F109. It is much easier to drive generally and I can see why they think the t-bar design works better for rubber tyres on the lower grip tracks. Again, its just a lack of chances to go racing that have held it back and QLD Titles turned into a bit of a personal farce trying to run 2 classes.
As for 1/12 - well the less said the better. I managed to get to 1 meeting with the group at Trackside/Brendale but every other opportunity has been rained out or sabotaged by some part of fate that hates me racing the class I probably enjoy the most of any I've tried in electric cars.
This brings me to my first little aside - why is 1/12 such a hard class to get interest in? I've pondered this a bit over the past year and I've come to one generalisation - most people that run 1/12 are weird! Their fascination with savings 3grams by changing the brand of wiring they use, or espousing the amazing handling change they discovered by removing and extra 0.1mm from their tyre diameters, I think, leaves the majority of RC land shaking their heads and feeling just a tiny bit sorry for them. There are other factors too - the bodies are woefully unrealistic (something the class shares with 1/8 on-road) - so much so when someone had the gall to release an unrecognisable body and named it after the Toyota TS030, even some seasoned 1/12 runners had to question if it had gone to far. In some places, particularly America, it is seen as an indoor class only and when the occasional suggestion or question is presented about running the cars on asphalt they are mostly ignored or at best palmed off with suggestions to "see what the locals are doing". Lastly, there is the reliance on foam tyres - probably the single most polarising factor in RC racing during my time racing.
There is more to the "problem" I think. The class borders on the ludicrous to what people say and do with car prep and especially tyre prep. I recently read a forum post where I one 1/12'er espoused the benefits to his car's performance of a tyre prep routine that took 45 minutes! I've not visited many clubs or even events where there is THAT much time between rounds. Another post I stumbled upon had a 1/12 racer claiming that he could feel 1/1000ths difference in the length of his steering arms. Now lets look at that - this person is claiming that he can feel the difference of less than half the thickness of a standard piece of paper and that it makes a noticeable difference to the performance of his car on the track. Now I know 1/12 because of their size etc you need to make smaller adjustments etc but really?
Overall 1/12, I believe, is seen as a complicated, expensive, finicky and generally difficult class and most clubs and the people who organise events etc simply don't want the bother and I can't say I blame them. I think the biggest "nail in to coffin" came at the most recent worlds held in America - originally supposed to be held outdoors at the same track as the 1/10, but so many (mostly American from what I read) racers kicked up a stink about it that they rushed to find an alternate venue, which they then complained about so much that the majority had left before the end of practice, leaving the usual cast of European and Asian racers to fight it out. From the blogs and forums that I read only 1 American made it into the top 20 or so. At the same time, at a time when people constantly make comments about lack of numbers and generating interest, there is a whole group of racers etc that, if people could just change their thinking a tiny bit (and I am meaning clubs here as well as 1/12'ers) could bring a nice influx of people.
Anyway - time to move on from that. What does 2016 have in store? Well more racing hopefully - now that the FWD is a going concern I want to see how far I can develop that before someone decides to ban them again. I think in the lower spec classes like 21.5 it could be quite competitive and with a bit of work and some luck even 13.5 might be a possibility, though I think I'd have to work on the electronics side of things to make that a genuine possibility. I've run faster motors in FWD before and once you get over the initial traction issues the car pace is very similar, its how you go about getting the lap time that's a bit different.
I'd also like to say I will run more F1 but at the moment I am not convinced of that. My resources seem more and more stretched every year and as I get older I take longer to get into the rhythm of racing etc, especially with the whole once a month thing I am in now. I've never been very good at running multiple classes one the same day so it will make sense to pick the class I can more regularly run.
... and there is always that 1/12 sitting on my desk glaring at me...
Thursday, 13 August 2015
Sometimes RC racing just isn't that important
Regular visitors ( I know, you never miss it right?) will have noticed its been 3 months since I posted anything here. To be honest there has been a lot happening and this has just fallen by the wayside. It's more for my own personal presence that I write this thing anyway. The main factors that have kept me away have been (from least important to most) -
1) Its been too cold to go and race.
2) I've gotten bored racing 5+ year old cars.
3) My partner was diagnosed with cancer.
As you can imagine the last one was a bit of a biggie, and while I am not going into details here, it was a quite intense and life confronting period of time. Thankfully, the initial outcome has been relatively good, but there still might be other less good times ahead, but we just have to make the best of what we have.
OK, back to lighter things.
My slow moving (almost glacial) FWD tourer project is still progressing slowly. I've spent some time learning more about CAD and milling and I believe I am a few steps closer to achieving the end goal - a drivable car. I've found a more reliable source of various thickness CF sheet to make a chassis out of and I should be at the stage where I can get the motor mount done (finally!!) and continue mock-up. The goal is now to have the car ready and race-able before the end of September so, given its mid-August, I need to get a hurry on.
The other big news (for me at least) is that I finally bought a new F1! After a couple of years of umming and erring over the releases of other brands, it was Tamiya's TRF102 that finally drew the credit card out of its sleeve in my wallet. I've only built the basic chassis so far but I've been impressed. The rear suspension is far smoother and free-er than any link car I've built or felt recently and reports from other users have postulated on the amount of rear grip the car has out of the box. Given that rear grip is always at a premium with F1's and RWD pan cars, this could be a good choice for my heavy-throttle-finger driving style.
I'll be writing up a build post once I have it ready to race. Until then...
1) Its been too cold to go and race.
2) I've gotten bored racing 5+ year old cars.
3) My partner was diagnosed with cancer.
As you can imagine the last one was a bit of a biggie, and while I am not going into details here, it was a quite intense and life confronting period of time. Thankfully, the initial outcome has been relatively good, but there still might be other less good times ahead, but we just have to make the best of what we have.
OK, back to lighter things.
My slow moving (almost glacial) FWD tourer project is still progressing slowly. I've spent some time learning more about CAD and milling and I believe I am a few steps closer to achieving the end goal - a drivable car. I've found a more reliable source of various thickness CF sheet to make a chassis out of and I should be at the stage where I can get the motor mount done (finally!!) and continue mock-up. The goal is now to have the car ready and race-able before the end of September so, given its mid-August, I need to get a hurry on.
The other big news (for me at least) is that I finally bought a new F1! After a couple of years of umming and erring over the releases of other brands, it was Tamiya's TRF102 that finally drew the credit card out of its sleeve in my wallet. I've only built the basic chassis so far but I've been impressed. The rear suspension is far smoother and free-er than any link car I've built or felt recently and reports from other users have postulated on the amount of rear grip the car has out of the box. Given that rear grip is always at a premium with F1's and RWD pan cars, this could be a good choice for my heavy-throttle-finger driving style.
I'll be writing up a build post once I have it ready to race. Until then...
Sunday, 10 May 2015
Club Meeting - 02/05/15
The weather was a bit iffy in the morning after a couple of days of heavy rain, but as the day progressed everything dried out and racing was on. It almost wasn't as a lot of people were very "late" to front - 4pm is supposed to be setup time and most didn't arrive much before 5pm. With winter getting closer and the track in a very exposed and cold location, I hope people might consider starting a bit earlier, but we'll see. The track was also surprisingly dirty in a few places due to dried puddles depositing lots of little stones etc.
I decided to leave the F1 on the bench this week and do something a little different. I had put back together the faithful M03 but at the last minute I decided to buy the extra bits to make it an FF02. This tourer sized version of the M03 chassis is a bit unloved and some of the TL01 parts required to make one up are getting a bit rare but, for me, its a bit of a toe in the water to see if I want to go the FWD tourer path. I've said since QLD Titles last year that I am done with 4WD tourers but the reality is that, given how (understandably given the current RC market etc) tourer-centric most clubs are, if you don't have something that fits into a 190mm tourer shell then you really don't have many options to race.
With track laid out and everything in place I took the car out and was immediately struck by just how much steering it had and how much pace it could maintain through the corners. We only run 21.5 now as our main class so even as a FWD it isn't going to be overwhelmed by horsepower. Gearing is a bit limited - despite fitting a 3Racing speed gear set - so straight line speed is a little down and certainly would be massively underwhelming on a long straight like at Logan, but on our dual tennis court straight it didn't lose too much.
The reality was that in the heat of racing the FF02 was pretty unstable in the rear. I had been aware this was a possibility given the layout (high CoG etc) and reading other people's experiences with them. It took me a couple of races to find a reasonable solution. When I had built it I didn't really have an idea of what sort of setup to start with so it was sort of a mix of proven M03 ideas and a couple of assumptions. I had given the front more up travel than I would with an M03, mostly because of the larger tyres. That was a mistake and when I took that away it became much better. The rear seemed to hang on much better (still don't really understand why) and if it did start to slide a bit of throttle and the FWD pulled it back into line. It also seemed the Ride 32 tyres liked the conditions better than Sorex 32's.
In the final I held onto 2nd place (about 1 lap down) for most of the race against a couple of regulars and their XRays until the borrowed battery (I only had one stick packed that still worked) dumped with about a minute to go and I made a mistake trying not lose any speed, pulling the body clips out on a track barrier.
I've already made one, and have planned a few more, modifications for the next time I race -
1) Modified the battery area to allow regular sized LiPo's to fit rather than be stuck with stick packs - basically lots of filing. This will also raise the weight but it was miles under the 1380g limit anyway before the lead supplies came out.
2) Swap some plastic parts for alloy - mostly in the front - M05 knuckles replace the old style M03 which required a special long and sometimes, fragile, ball stud. M05 knuckles have a different steering arm position. Will also replace the C hub and a few other bits. In the rear will switch to M05 uprights and try to get rid of some of the slop in the rear arm mounts.
3) Swap the old SP 1.1 ESC for my Tekin RS.
4) Hope its not too cold by the start of June (it probably will be).
Or I just may buy a 3Racing Sakura FF2014... or but a CRC F1... or take up spelunking... or...
I decided to leave the F1 on the bench this week and do something a little different. I had put back together the faithful M03 but at the last minute I decided to buy the extra bits to make it an FF02. This tourer sized version of the M03 chassis is a bit unloved and some of the TL01 parts required to make one up are getting a bit rare but, for me, its a bit of a toe in the water to see if I want to go the FWD tourer path. I've said since QLD Titles last year that I am done with 4WD tourers but the reality is that, given how (understandably given the current RC market etc) tourer-centric most clubs are, if you don't have something that fits into a 190mm tourer shell then you really don't have many options to race.
With track laid out and everything in place I took the car out and was immediately struck by just how much steering it had and how much pace it could maintain through the corners. We only run 21.5 now as our main class so even as a FWD it isn't going to be overwhelmed by horsepower. Gearing is a bit limited - despite fitting a 3Racing speed gear set - so straight line speed is a little down and certainly would be massively underwhelming on a long straight like at Logan, but on our dual tennis court straight it didn't lose too much.
The reality was that in the heat of racing the FF02 was pretty unstable in the rear. I had been aware this was a possibility given the layout (high CoG etc) and reading other people's experiences with them. It took me a couple of races to find a reasonable solution. When I had built it I didn't really have an idea of what sort of setup to start with so it was sort of a mix of proven M03 ideas and a couple of assumptions. I had given the front more up travel than I would with an M03, mostly because of the larger tyres. That was a mistake and when I took that away it became much better. The rear seemed to hang on much better (still don't really understand why) and if it did start to slide a bit of throttle and the FWD pulled it back into line. It also seemed the Ride 32 tyres liked the conditions better than Sorex 32's.
In the final I held onto 2nd place (about 1 lap down) for most of the race against a couple of regulars and their XRays until the borrowed battery (I only had one stick packed that still worked) dumped with about a minute to go and I made a mistake trying not lose any speed, pulling the body clips out on a track barrier.
I've already made one, and have planned a few more, modifications for the next time I race -
1) Modified the battery area to allow regular sized LiPo's to fit rather than be stuck with stick packs - basically lots of filing. This will also raise the weight but it was miles under the 1380g limit anyway before the lead supplies came out.
2) Swap some plastic parts for alloy - mostly in the front - M05 knuckles replace the old style M03 which required a special long and sometimes, fragile, ball stud. M05 knuckles have a different steering arm position. Will also replace the C hub and a few other bits. In the rear will switch to M05 uprights and try to get rid of some of the slop in the rear arm mounts.
3) Swap the old SP 1.1 ESC for my Tekin RS.
4) Hope its not too cold by the start of June (it probably will be).
Or I just may buy a 3Racing Sakura FF2014... or but a CRC F1... or take up spelunking... or...
Sunday, 26 April 2015
2015 Interclub Round 1
Its been a while since I posted anything here but with some actual racing to go to I decided to blather on a bit. An alignment of the stars meant that there was a meeting at Trackside (1/12) on Friday night and the interclub round (F1) at Logan on Saturday. The other half said go and stop complaining about the lack of local racing. So with accommodation booked and a bunch of of old cars to race I packed the Renault (the Chev currently a smoking POS) and headed down the range.
Friday night was good but nothing special as far as results are concerned. It was the first time in almost 12 months that I had put the RM-01 on a proper track and it showed. Setup was all over the place and getting to Brisbane a couple of hours later than I planned meant I had little practice time to really do anything with. I stripped some servo gears early on and that required a servo change and as I could only tape it to the chassis I think this introduced a "vagueness" I couldn't really get on top of in the time I had. I didn't bother with trying traction sauce until after racing was finished and I will say straight out I didn't see the point - it certainly didn't transform the car in anyway that would justify the extra cost and mess. In fact, the set up change that brought about the biggest change in car behaviour was lowering the front ride height.
I've always been of the opinion that traction compounds and treatments should be banned and nothing has change my mind in this area. IMO it simply adds a level of "voodoo" to car set up and tyre choice that the sport just doesn't need.
I was up early Saturday and arrived at Logan at 9:30am to find the track buzzing with people practicing etc. I'll admit I was a little surprised given the entry form said practice didn't start until 9:30, but it was what it was and I set up and got myself organised. A couple of quick practices had me focusing on gearing to maximise Logan's new longer straight and dealing with general under-steer. I was told that the track grip would be consistent as the day changed from day to night so I wasn't worried to much about that aspect.
Qualifier 1
Not bad but not great. With Corey Broadstock running an XRay F1, the goal posts have moved a bit and he really is in a class of his own. Even so I was 3 seconds per lap slower and I was having to wait so long for the car to turn into the apex I could've stopped for a drink.
Qualifier 2
Ride tyres are noted to induce under-steer in a lot of situations. I had some Sweep tyres in my parts bag so I decided to try them. The car was more consistent but even slower. They were Extra Hard compound so not a surprise.
Qualifier 3
I perused through some setup guides and decided to make some camber changes and it was at this point I realised I'd dropped the ball quite badly. When I measured the camber I found 4 degrees on one side and 0.5 degrees on the other. When I had fitted the Exotek arms, I had forgotten to adjust them correctly thinking I would do it at the next club day, which didn't happen due to the weather. I set them both to 2.5 degrees, also made sure the ride heights were set correctly and refitted the Ride fronts. The result was a car that was a full 2 laps faster than the previous 2 qualifiers, but still 1-2 laps off the race pace.
Final
A 15 minute final and a long wait as the event cycled through other class finals and a 20 minute gas final. Just a quick aside - it was great to see a field of gas runners and they do add a certain ambiance to an event, but the 20 minute final was, for me and I stress that bit, a bit boring with the noise of the cars drowning out the race announcements so there was no idea of who was leading etc.
As for the F1 race - I did briefly consider changing the gearing again but I felt I had the diff settings perfect and changing the spur gear upsets this so I left alone. I didn't change anything else either and so the race started and I immediately found that my car was almost impossible to see under the lights. I did the best I could but by the 10 minute mark the lack of blinking and sweating hands from the concentration level led to a few mistakes and possibly cost me another lap overall. 6th was the result. Surprisingly I had the slowest fastest lap but 4th best consistency.
There wasn't much to take away from the weekend. The racing at Trackside/XRay raceway was good and they guys there were friendly. Racing indoors is always a challenge.
Saturday I had a look at an Exotek F1R2 chassis and they are just as nice in the flesh as pictures, and the combination of t-bar and side links seems to becoming a trend given the limited information about the upcoming Tamiya TRF102. The XRay dominated pace wise, but that could be as much the quality of the driver as an any chassis advantage. I do think the rules at the moment provide a very even racing class. For example I was using a 6 or 7 year old chassis design with the car itself heading for 5 years old, a SP motor of similar vintage (no timing etc) and with only minor upgrades to a F104 front and with a couple of repeat visits and maybe an upgrade to a slightly better motor I don't see any reason why it couldn't be in the mix, results wise. Could it win? Unlikely but I doubt I have the consistency in my driving any more to win regardless of what I had for equipment.
Now its a couple of week wait for club racing and I am hoping to get to Logan again before the truely cold weather sets in. I've decided, after last year, that racing at night in winter is just stupid and so I will sit this winter out.
So till next time....
Friday night was good but nothing special as far as results are concerned. It was the first time in almost 12 months that I had put the RM-01 on a proper track and it showed. Setup was all over the place and getting to Brisbane a couple of hours later than I planned meant I had little practice time to really do anything with. I stripped some servo gears early on and that required a servo change and as I could only tape it to the chassis I think this introduced a "vagueness" I couldn't really get on top of in the time I had. I didn't bother with trying traction sauce until after racing was finished and I will say straight out I didn't see the point - it certainly didn't transform the car in anyway that would justify the extra cost and mess. In fact, the set up change that brought about the biggest change in car behaviour was lowering the front ride height.
I've always been of the opinion that traction compounds and treatments should be banned and nothing has change my mind in this area. IMO it simply adds a level of "voodoo" to car set up and tyre choice that the sport just doesn't need.
I was up early Saturday and arrived at Logan at 9:30am to find the track buzzing with people practicing etc. I'll admit I was a little surprised given the entry form said practice didn't start until 9:30, but it was what it was and I set up and got myself organised. A couple of quick practices had me focusing on gearing to maximise Logan's new longer straight and dealing with general under-steer. I was told that the track grip would be consistent as the day changed from day to night so I wasn't worried to much about that aspect.
Qualifier 1
Not bad but not great. With Corey Broadstock running an XRay F1, the goal posts have moved a bit and he really is in a class of his own. Even so I was 3 seconds per lap slower and I was having to wait so long for the car to turn into the apex I could've stopped for a drink.
Qualifier 2
Ride tyres are noted to induce under-steer in a lot of situations. I had some Sweep tyres in my parts bag so I decided to try them. The car was more consistent but even slower. They were Extra Hard compound so not a surprise.
Qualifier 3
I perused through some setup guides and decided to make some camber changes and it was at this point I realised I'd dropped the ball quite badly. When I measured the camber I found 4 degrees on one side and 0.5 degrees on the other. When I had fitted the Exotek arms, I had forgotten to adjust them correctly thinking I would do it at the next club day, which didn't happen due to the weather. I set them both to 2.5 degrees, also made sure the ride heights were set correctly and refitted the Ride fronts. The result was a car that was a full 2 laps faster than the previous 2 qualifiers, but still 1-2 laps off the race pace.
Final
A 15 minute final and a long wait as the event cycled through other class finals and a 20 minute gas final. Just a quick aside - it was great to see a field of gas runners and they do add a certain ambiance to an event, but the 20 minute final was, for me and I stress that bit, a bit boring with the noise of the cars drowning out the race announcements so there was no idea of who was leading etc.
As for the F1 race - I did briefly consider changing the gearing again but I felt I had the diff settings perfect and changing the spur gear upsets this so I left alone. I didn't change anything else either and so the race started and I immediately found that my car was almost impossible to see under the lights. I did the best I could but by the 10 minute mark the lack of blinking and sweating hands from the concentration level led to a few mistakes and possibly cost me another lap overall. 6th was the result. Surprisingly I had the slowest fastest lap but 4th best consistency.
There wasn't much to take away from the weekend. The racing at Trackside/XRay raceway was good and they guys there were friendly. Racing indoors is always a challenge.
Saturday I had a look at an Exotek F1R2 chassis and they are just as nice in the flesh as pictures, and the combination of t-bar and side links seems to becoming a trend given the limited information about the upcoming Tamiya TRF102. The XRay dominated pace wise, but that could be as much the quality of the driver as an any chassis advantage. I do think the rules at the moment provide a very even racing class. For example I was using a 6 or 7 year old chassis design with the car itself heading for 5 years old, a SP motor of similar vintage (no timing etc) and with only minor upgrades to a F104 front and with a couple of repeat visits and maybe an upgrade to a slightly better motor I don't see any reason why it couldn't be in the mix, results wise. Could it win? Unlikely but I doubt I have the consistency in my driving any more to win regardless of what I had for equipment.
Now its a couple of week wait for club racing and I am hoping to get to Logan again before the truely cold weather sets in. I've decided, after last year, that racing at night in winter is just stupid and so I will sit this winter out.
So till next time....
Saturday, 3 January 2015
Bloggers Guilt
After posting my last post I had posters guilt that this is all a bit negative - Really bugs me I come across like that, because I don't think I am like that generally. I certainly don't try to be but this blog writing stuff seems to bring it out of me. Feel free to ignore any of what you read below as the ravings of a nutter if that works.
I also came across a new price for the XRay F1 - not $400 but still over $300+freight
I also came across a new price for the XRay F1 - not $400 but still over $300+freight
Monday, 17 November 2014
The count down is on
Its not long now till the racing season is over for 2014. For some, that will mean break that extends well into 2015. For others it will last just long enough to pacify the Christmas demands of partners, wives and children and then it will be on again.
I made some major changes to the F1 for this meeting and for the future. I converted it back to 190mm and updated it a few areas. Keen readers of this blog (yeah right) might remember I tried running the F109 in 190mm guise before and wasn't keen on it. This time however, it was a completely different beast, but I can't tell you why. Certainly some areas are different (different side spring arrangement, RM-01 steel axle), but it was only a tenth or so slower than the 17.5 TC's and was easy enough to drive for my consistency to be consistently around 0.4 for the first time in AGES. It wasn't perfect - it was a little unstable on highspeed turn in - but over all it was probably as good as its ever been, especially on the slippery Toowoomba track. As always, repeat-ability will be the gauge of real progress, so here's hoping for the next meeting in 3 weeks.
The only disappointment was the Sweep tyres. I tried the V2 Super Soft rear with the Hard front. The balance was no where near as good as the Ride R1's, with a lot more initial and mid-corner steering followed by a loose exit. It also wanted to swap ends at high speed with any more than slight steering corrections. As I didn't have time to do any testing with different combos (eg Ride fronts/Sweep rears) I am reluctant to make any definitives about which was causing what. However, over all I am not impressed with the Sweep tyres - the inserts are a pain - they need cutting to size and who has ever glued inserts to the rims first?? I never have with an on-road tyre in my experience.
The fronts are also super tight on the recommended Tamiya rims (I had to use a small screwdriver to force the bead into position) and if the inserts were glued to the rims first I think it would be almost impossible to fit them. Yes they are significantly cheaper and have a better scale appearance than the Ride tyres, but the convenience alone makes the Rides a better option. I have read that Sweep is currently working on pre-mount versions with (possibly) some compound adjustments. If the price stays low they might be worth playing with some more but only time will tell.
I've also been letting a few things churn around in the brain that I might put down on cyber-paper before the end of the year. I should be safe - don't think I'll be bumping into anyone important before the new year
Meanwhile, the Toowoomba club has been trying to make up for meetings lost due to weather. There is a lot to chose from here when it comes to which weather causes a meeting to be cancelled. There is something slightly masochistic about racing at night when its 1Deg C. Maybe next year we'll try a few day time meetings when it might be a touch warmer.
This week's meeting was the exact opposite -
. The forecast was for 37Deg and the outside temp gauge in the car read a balmy 38 as I drove to the track. Numbers were down a little, even compared to normal, but there was 4 cars in each class so a track was set up (slightly simplified to reduce the work load) and racing commenced. All considered it was a good night with some close racing amongst the TC's and the Mini's being a little more restrained for a change. Lap times for the TC's were in the low 10s range. My F1 was in the TC mix just to make it interesting for everyone.
. The forecast was for 37Deg and the outside temp gauge in the car read a balmy 38 as I drove to the track. Numbers were down a little, even compared to normal, but there was 4 cars in each class so a track was set up (slightly simplified to reduce the work load) and racing commenced. All considered it was a good night with some close racing amongst the TC's and the Mini's being a little more restrained for a change. Lap times for the TC's were in the low 10s range. My F1 was in the TC mix just to make it interesting for everyone.I made some major changes to the F1 for this meeting and for the future. I converted it back to 190mm and updated it a few areas. Keen readers of this blog (yeah right) might remember I tried running the F109 in 190mm guise before and wasn't keen on it. This time however, it was a completely different beast, but I can't tell you why. Certainly some areas are different (different side spring arrangement, RM-01 steel axle), but it was only a tenth or so slower than the 17.5 TC's and was easy enough to drive for my consistency to be consistently around 0.4 for the first time in AGES. It wasn't perfect - it was a little unstable on highspeed turn in - but over all it was probably as good as its ever been, especially on the slippery Toowoomba track. As always, repeat-ability will be the gauge of real progress, so here's hoping for the next meeting in 3 weeks.
The only disappointment was the Sweep tyres. I tried the V2 Super Soft rear with the Hard front. The balance was no where near as good as the Ride R1's, with a lot more initial and mid-corner steering followed by a loose exit. It also wanted to swap ends at high speed with any more than slight steering corrections. As I didn't have time to do any testing with different combos (eg Ride fronts/Sweep rears) I am reluctant to make any definitives about which was causing what. However, over all I am not impressed with the Sweep tyres - the inserts are a pain - they need cutting to size and who has ever glued inserts to the rims first?? I never have with an on-road tyre in my experience.
The fronts are also super tight on the recommended Tamiya rims (I had to use a small screwdriver to force the bead into position) and if the inserts were glued to the rims first I think it would be almost impossible to fit them. Yes they are significantly cheaper and have a better scale appearance than the Ride tyres, but the convenience alone makes the Rides a better option. I have read that Sweep is currently working on pre-mount versions with (possibly) some compound adjustments. If the price stays low they might be worth playing with some more but only time will tell.
I've also been letting a few things churn around in the brain that I might put down on cyber-paper before the end of the year. I should be safe - don't think I'll be bumping into anyone important before the new year
Sunday, 9 November 2014
I know what I did last weekend...
... or how to destroy an F1 car in 3 easy steps
1) Drive it on a track which has a weird surface/grip level, gets no prep other than track barriers to mark it out, and the grip varies wildly from one meeting to the next - not much can be done about this. Its the same for everyone but it does make it particularly hard on the RWD cars. In fact at one stage I was something like 6 laps slower than I had been the meeting before. A few radical setup changes got that down to, a possible, 3 laps slower before disaster struck.
2) Drive with a bunch of touring cars - Again no ones fault, just what happens in smaller clubs with fewer numbers. Actually, its partially my fault for doing 26-27 laps the meeting before, only 1-2 slower than the 4WD tourers, so we thought it was better to put the F1 in with them, rather than the smash up derby that is the Mini class.
3) Hit a steel pole at near full throttle - not as simple as it sounds and contact with a tourer a lap or so previous probably helped by knocking out a side spring, making the car a bitch to drive, even more than it already was.
It must be some sort of fate thing. I've hit those poles 2 times since I've been racing here, and both times I've destroyed, or done major damage to a car. The first time was the LCG which split the chassis in half across where the servo mounts and this time it destroyed the pod plates, diff hub etc. Given the F109 is now a good 6 or 7 years old as a platform and well and truly superseded (3Racing just announced an updated FGX), chassis parts have pretty much dried up. Luckily, I did buy 2 of them, and while one was cut up to do the 1/12 thing, luckily I kept the original pod plates as well as making one that was 1/12 specific. I am going to try both just as an experiment.
Fortunately, everything else I need is still available from them Tamiya parts line or I have parts I can use. I've decided to try the 190mm option again, so that takes care of a few parts and I am going to try some of the V2 Sweep tyres as I search for options that better suit the Highfields track. I am also going to try one of the new Exotek one piece diff axles to see if improves anything. It is supposed to be significantly lighter than the Tamiya original which is a 2 piece arrangement.
I've also been continuing work on my FWD project. CAD work as stopped on my original idea as I was looking at the old LCG chassis a few weeks ago and suddenly wondered if it was possible to fit a standard spur to the diff rather than the original diff pulley. To my surprise it does (it needed a Tamiya F1 spur adapter). This got me curious about how much the layout could be changed and pretty soon a direct drive FWD setup was laid out. I am going to mock it up on a piece of 3mm MDF first (not drivable obviously) as everything pretty much fits except for the front shocks. Thats a fairly large issue, but I've gotten to a point I just can't visualise the amount of space available without something physical to hold and look at. I am also trying to fit it all onto a 300x100mm piece of CF that I can get rather more easily than anything else. Fortunately (using that word a bit this post), the motor mount can hang partially in mid air with a separate bumper piece around it to help protect it a little, so all the important bits can fit inside that 300x100 shape.
But first I need so low tack craft glue...
1) Drive it on a track which has a weird surface/grip level, gets no prep other than track barriers to mark it out, and the grip varies wildly from one meeting to the next - not much can be done about this. Its the same for everyone but it does make it particularly hard on the RWD cars. In fact at one stage I was something like 6 laps slower than I had been the meeting before. A few radical setup changes got that down to, a possible, 3 laps slower before disaster struck.
2) Drive with a bunch of touring cars - Again no ones fault, just what happens in smaller clubs with fewer numbers. Actually, its partially my fault for doing 26-27 laps the meeting before, only 1-2 slower than the 4WD tourers, so we thought it was better to put the F1 in with them, rather than the smash up derby that is the Mini class.
3) Hit a steel pole at near full throttle - not as simple as it sounds and contact with a tourer a lap or so previous probably helped by knocking out a side spring, making the car a bitch to drive, even more than it already was.
It must be some sort of fate thing. I've hit those poles 2 times since I've been racing here, and both times I've destroyed, or done major damage to a car. The first time was the LCG which split the chassis in half across where the servo mounts and this time it destroyed the pod plates, diff hub etc. Given the F109 is now a good 6 or 7 years old as a platform and well and truly superseded (3Racing just announced an updated FGX), chassis parts have pretty much dried up. Luckily, I did buy 2 of them, and while one was cut up to do the 1/12 thing, luckily I kept the original pod plates as well as making one that was 1/12 specific. I am going to try both just as an experiment.
Fortunately, everything else I need is still available from them Tamiya parts line or I have parts I can use. I've decided to try the 190mm option again, so that takes care of a few parts and I am going to try some of the V2 Sweep tyres as I search for options that better suit the Highfields track. I am also going to try one of the new Exotek one piece diff axles to see if improves anything. It is supposed to be significantly lighter than the Tamiya original which is a 2 piece arrangement.
I've also been continuing work on my FWD project. CAD work as stopped on my original idea as I was looking at the old LCG chassis a few weeks ago and suddenly wondered if it was possible to fit a standard spur to the diff rather than the original diff pulley. To my surprise it does (it needed a Tamiya F1 spur adapter). This got me curious about how much the layout could be changed and pretty soon a direct drive FWD setup was laid out. I am going to mock it up on a piece of 3mm MDF first (not drivable obviously) as everything pretty much fits except for the front shocks. Thats a fairly large issue, but I've gotten to a point I just can't visualise the amount of space available without something physical to hold and look at. I am also trying to fit it all onto a 300x100mm piece of CF that I can get rather more easily than anything else. Fortunately (using that word a bit this post), the motor mount can hang partially in mid air with a separate bumper piece around it to help protect it a little, so all the important bits can fit inside that 300x100 shape.
But first I need so low tack craft glue...
Saturday, 18 October 2014
F109 Side Spring Mod
Its been a while since I've posted anything F1 specific - been spending to much time and angst switching between TC, F1 and 1/12, but I DID do a little mod to my trusty F109 a little while back and thought I'd finally post it.
The kit side springs in the F109 are woefully soft, the 3Racing option springs not much better, and the other side spring mods I've seen make it too easy to loose the springs. I was going through my parts box from my RM-01 and I found a spare set of the side spring retainers from that car (also on the F104 VrII). I'd read somewhere that when people use Team Associated side springs on the RM that the retainer doesn't hold them, but I decided to see for myself anyway. Turns out I must have different springs to everyone else or they are doing something wrong because every set of Associated springs I had clipped on securely. So I decided to see if there was a way to use them.
First thing was to remove the kit spring collars from the rear pod. They are of no use from now on so either chuck them in the bin or the spares box. Next I had to remove the grub screws that hold the pivot pins for the top/battery deck and remove the arms and pins. With the pins removed the grub screw hole goes all the way through so a long grub screw is required. I had some 25mm ones in my spares. This allowed me to screw it all the way through and then screw the retainer onto the end. Just be careful you don't over tighten the plastic retainer. Clip the spring onto the retainer and the easy bit is done.
The next job is to shorten the 2 pins that the "battery arm" and thus the top deck mounts on. The Dremel came out for this job. Thinking back on it, its probably not necessary to cut them at all but it looks neater if you do.
With the long screws going all the way through where the original grub screw was, there is no way to hold this pin so the only solution is to glue it. There is plenty of plastic for everything to grip to, so some Loctite Superglue did the job. So far its held fine despite being battered around in the combined Mini/21.5 TC class I have to run in to get some F1 track time. Put everything back together making sure that nothing binds and its pretty much done.
The long grub screws now serve as tweak screws so I adjusted them as required. On the track everything is working together fine and no lost springs as of yet.
Its hard to say if this mod has helped the car other than for convenience because I've also changed to using longer links. As it stands the car is hooking up nicely with Shimizu F3 fronts and R1 rears on the grip challenged home track. Usually I've been using TRG Superion rears that offer more grip, so something is working right.
The kit side springs in the F109 are woefully soft, the 3Racing option springs not much better, and the other side spring mods I've seen make it too easy to loose the springs. I was going through my parts box from my RM-01 and I found a spare set of the side spring retainers from that car (also on the F104 VrII). I'd read somewhere that when people use Team Associated side springs on the RM that the retainer doesn't hold them, but I decided to see for myself anyway. Turns out I must have different springs to everyone else or they are doing something wrong because every set of Associated springs I had clipped on securely. So I decided to see if there was a way to use them.
First thing was to remove the kit spring collars from the rear pod. They are of no use from now on so either chuck them in the bin or the spares box. Next I had to remove the grub screws that hold the pivot pins for the top/battery deck and remove the arms and pins. With the pins removed the grub screw hole goes all the way through so a long grub screw is required. I had some 25mm ones in my spares. This allowed me to screw it all the way through and then screw the retainer onto the end. Just be careful you don't over tighten the plastic retainer. Clip the spring onto the retainer and the easy bit is done.
The next job is to shorten the 2 pins that the "battery arm" and thus the top deck mounts on. The Dremel came out for this job. Thinking back on it, its probably not necessary to cut them at all but it looks neater if you do.
The long grub screws now serve as tweak screws so I adjusted them as required. On the track everything is working together fine and no lost springs as of yet.
Its hard to say if this mod has helped the car other than for convenience because I've also changed to using longer links. As it stands the car is hooking up nicely with Shimizu F3 fronts and R1 rears on the grip challenged home track. Usually I've been using TRG Superion rears that offer more grip, so something is working right.
Tuesday, 30 September 2014
Done and Dusted
Well QLD Titles is over for another year and part of me is glad it is. It was a great event on a really challenging but fun track. It was good to catch up with a few people and good to be on a totally new track, but given how little I get to race these days, all tracks are unfamiliar to some degree.
I did intend to be more detailed with a race report etc. I took pics of most of the results sheets and kept notes on my car changes, but as I drove home on Monday I started to realise that it was just going to become a "coulda, shoulda, woulda" type thing and that didn't interest me much and I didn't think it would interest anyone else either.
Practice went reasonably well given the 4+ hour drive before hand and a bit of laziness on my behalf with car setup before I got there. I also wasn't sure the old, but unused, set of Sorex's I'd dug up as practice tyres were part of the issues or not. On the setup board back at the cabin that evening and I'd been trying to run with no rear toe and that obviously wasn't a good idea. I also wasn't happy with the diff action but I discovered I'd forgotten to bring all of my oils with me so I left it alone.
Saturday qualifying and I was mildly excited at the prospects of what was to come and a quick morning practice showed a proper setup was making a positive difference. However the first actual qualifying run lasted exactly one lap before a massive change in car handling surfaced. Back at the table and it was clear the front belt had flipped off the tension-er and because the belt is so loose without it, instant 2WD. Now I had flirted with running a 2WD car for the whole event but that's a bit different to suddenly switching from one to the other mid lap. I adjusted the belt tension-er a little tighter and waited for round 2.
That lasted just 3 laps with the exact same result and problem. As I inspected the car back in the pits again, I noticed that the custom tension-er was flexing as the motor spun. This had NEVER happened running 17.5 and I was struck by how difficult it must be for manufacturers to develop cars to cover all classes. At this point I honestly thought the weekend was over as I wasn't sure how to fix the problem with out access to all my bits and pieces at home, but I was instantly pissed at the idea of sitting and watching for 2 days. It was obvious I needed to come up with some sort of brace but with only what I could find in my toolboxes. An old plastic servo mount from and MO3 and a hand drilled hole added to it let me mount it between the motor mount and the carbon tension-er mount. The result worked well and I didn't have any more issues with the belt for the rest of the weekend.
Qualifiers 3-5 - Not much to say other than if I could've combined my fastest laps with my best consistancy I "shoulda" been in the 20 lap bracket pretty easily. Not bad considering everything but I didn't so I wasn't. Handling was a mix of good low speed steering but with high speed under-steer and just a touch of rear instability in the transition from high speed to low speed corners. A few changes to droop and rear springs helped but I think the diff action needed addressing sooner than I eventually did. The single biggest change that had a positive effect was moving the body forward 5mm. This helped the high speed under-steer very obviously.
An offer of a Reedy Sonic 13.5T had me changing motors and fitting a fan on Saturday night. Another debate with the diff ensued but I didn't do anything about it then, Sunday morning and a wet track held things up for about 3 hours. Practice once the track dried out and I finally succumbed to my doubts and decided to refill the diff. However some locally sourced oil that was supposed to be 3000Wt definitely wasn't and totally screwed the handling. Because I'd forgotten my own 3000Wt oil I was forced to used 2000Wt which ALSO changed the car handling.
Finals - Probably the less said the better. 2 DNF's and a DNS rounded the finals out. The car was fast but I felt the lighter diff oil made the car balance change as the tyres cycled during the run. The change in motor from the $40 Turnigy Trackstar to a $100+ Reedy also didn't deliver any obvious improvement in the time I had with it.
On a personal level though, I have reached a bit of crossroads. As I've detailed in my writings before I've debated how long I can sustain my interest in 4WD touring cars. Sunday afternoon and before the 3rd final it became very easy to decide not to run. There was nothing to be gained, either personally or results wise, and any excitement from Saturday was long gone. Maybe if the 2WD car had worked better in Friday practice or if I'd decided to run F1 as well/instead, I'd feel a little different. All I know is that from now and for the imaginable future I will not be running 4WD touring cars again. I will turn my attention back to F1/LM and 1/12 where possible and I might also continue work on my FWD project. I have also decide that, again if possible, to go to the Australian On-Road Titles in 2015, just to say I've been. How I will achieve that I have no idea yet.
I did intend to be more detailed with a race report etc. I took pics of most of the results sheets and kept notes on my car changes, but as I drove home on Monday I started to realise that it was just going to become a "coulda, shoulda, woulda" type thing and that didn't interest me much and I didn't think it would interest anyone else either.
Practice went reasonably well given the 4+ hour drive before hand and a bit of laziness on my behalf with car setup before I got there. I also wasn't sure the old, but unused, set of Sorex's I'd dug up as practice tyres were part of the issues or not. On the setup board back at the cabin that evening and I'd been trying to run with no rear toe and that obviously wasn't a good idea. I also wasn't happy with the diff action but I discovered I'd forgotten to bring all of my oils with me so I left it alone.
Saturday qualifying and I was mildly excited at the prospects of what was to come and a quick morning practice showed a proper setup was making a positive difference. However the first actual qualifying run lasted exactly one lap before a massive change in car handling surfaced. Back at the table and it was clear the front belt had flipped off the tension-er and because the belt is so loose without it, instant 2WD. Now I had flirted with running a 2WD car for the whole event but that's a bit different to suddenly switching from one to the other mid lap. I adjusted the belt tension-er a little tighter and waited for round 2.
That lasted just 3 laps with the exact same result and problem. As I inspected the car back in the pits again, I noticed that the custom tension-er was flexing as the motor spun. This had NEVER happened running 17.5 and I was struck by how difficult it must be for manufacturers to develop cars to cover all classes. At this point I honestly thought the weekend was over as I wasn't sure how to fix the problem with out access to all my bits and pieces at home, but I was instantly pissed at the idea of sitting and watching for 2 days. It was obvious I needed to come up with some sort of brace but with only what I could find in my toolboxes. An old plastic servo mount from and MO3 and a hand drilled hole added to it let me mount it between the motor mount and the carbon tension-er mount. The result worked well and I didn't have any more issues with the belt for the rest of the weekend.
Qualifiers 3-5 - Not much to say other than if I could've combined my fastest laps with my best consistancy I "shoulda" been in the 20 lap bracket pretty easily. Not bad considering everything but I didn't so I wasn't. Handling was a mix of good low speed steering but with high speed under-steer and just a touch of rear instability in the transition from high speed to low speed corners. A few changes to droop and rear springs helped but I think the diff action needed addressing sooner than I eventually did. The single biggest change that had a positive effect was moving the body forward 5mm. This helped the high speed under-steer very obviously.
An offer of a Reedy Sonic 13.5T had me changing motors and fitting a fan on Saturday night. Another debate with the diff ensued but I didn't do anything about it then, Sunday morning and a wet track held things up for about 3 hours. Practice once the track dried out and I finally succumbed to my doubts and decided to refill the diff. However some locally sourced oil that was supposed to be 3000Wt definitely wasn't and totally screwed the handling. Because I'd forgotten my own 3000Wt oil I was forced to used 2000Wt which ALSO changed the car handling.
Finals - Probably the less said the better. 2 DNF's and a DNS rounded the finals out. The car was fast but I felt the lighter diff oil made the car balance change as the tyres cycled during the run. The change in motor from the $40 Turnigy Trackstar to a $100+ Reedy also didn't deliver any obvious improvement in the time I had with it.
On a personal level though, I have reached a bit of crossroads. As I've detailed in my writings before I've debated how long I can sustain my interest in 4WD touring cars. Sunday afternoon and before the 3rd final it became very easy to decide not to run. There was nothing to be gained, either personally or results wise, and any excitement from Saturday was long gone. Maybe if the 2WD car had worked better in Friday practice or if I'd decided to run F1 as well/instead, I'd feel a little different. All I know is that from now and for the imaginable future I will not be running 4WD touring cars again. I will turn my attention back to F1/LM and 1/12 where possible and I might also continue work on my FWD project. I have also decide that, again if possible, to go to the Australian On-Road Titles in 2015, just to say I've been. How I will achieve that I have no idea yet.
Tuesday, 23 September 2014
QLD Titles Prep - Pt3
Just 3 days now till I leave for Friday practice. Pretty much everything important has been done. A new body is painted up and ready to be fitted on Friday night. I am still intending to try both chassis on Friday practice and decide which one to use before Saturday The Mi1.5 is pretty much as good as it's going to be and I think it will do reasonably well if I drive it half decent. The last time I ran a decent sized event with it was Bayside interclub last year and I've improved it in a couple key of areas since then. The drive line is more efficient than the original layout and a modern motor will make a big difference on its own but its also a big unknown for me. I've driven faster motors and faster cars but rarely have I raced them at this level of competition.
The LCG-R is still on the bench - I'd forgotten just how light this thing was even as a 4WD and now, with a front diff etc missing and using short packs, its nearly into F1 territory. I am glad I bought a regular weight body this time as I would have no hope of finding enough chassis to put lead on. As it is I need to put at around 160 grams on it. I am also still trying to come up with some sort of sway bar arrangement. I tried one idea last night and that failed miserably. I've now come up something based on some ideas I saw after a late-night search through pictures of sway bar mountings. Time for a major modification is starting to run a bit slim however.
On a personal note I've made a few decisions on my future direction but that's for a different day...
The LCG-R is still on the bench - I'd forgotten just how light this thing was even as a 4WD and now, with a front diff etc missing and using short packs, its nearly into F1 territory. I am glad I bought a regular weight body this time as I would have no hope of finding enough chassis to put lead on. As it is I need to put at around 160 grams on it. I am also still trying to come up with some sort of sway bar arrangement. I tried one idea last night and that failed miserably. I've now come up something based on some ideas I saw after a late-night search through pictures of sway bar mountings. Time for a major modification is starting to run a bit slim however.
On a personal note I've made a few decisions on my future direction but that's for a different day...
Thursday, 18 September 2014
QLD Titles Prep - Pt 2
With
just over a week to go, I am focusing more of my free time on getting
things ready. So far all the spare parts boxes have been stock
take-d, tyres are glued and ready to be packed and the Mi1.5 has had
new bearings fitted as well as a general clean and inspection of
drive shafts, suspension pins, pulleys etc.
The long winded battle with the Mi5 center pulley adaption continues with the discovery that the 13.5T puts more pressure on the current arrangement which forces something to spin that wasn't supposed to, which kept changing the spur/pinion mesh. I stripped it all down, AGAIN, and the only option I could come up with was to stop one set of bearing from being able to turn but still be removable, so I now have 2 perfectly good and near new 8x5 flanged bearing that have been filled with superglue. When everything is put together now its impossible for anything to spin other than the parts I want to spin so HOPEFULLY it will work.
IF I go for the 4WD option that is. I am busily trying to come up with a way of mounting sway bars to the 2WD LCG just in case they make a significant difference. I fitted up the same body I have been using on the Mi1.5 (and is my choice for the titles as well) and the wheel cutouts match surprisingly well and I always knew I was going to need to make new post holes. At least this way I can practice with both chassis before I make holes in the new body but I can take it with me painted and pre-marked.
I also have to say that the closer the event gets, the more disappointed I am that I am not running F1 but the logistics of getting a car together now, with just 2 days before entries close, just aren't worth stressing over. Maybe it is a reflection of the level of my disappointment, but I find the whole "blinky" thing, while supposedly creating a "level playing field" on the one hand, also creates a bit of a crutch that organisers can fall back on when they can't be bothered, on the other. How can a 7 or 8 year old ESC, regardless of its quality then, be better than what is currently available given the advances in both FET and processor technology? It's size and weight alone would hardly be an advantage. As long as I can prove I am not using Dynamic Timing (ie boost), which would be almost impossible to hide from observers anyway, I really can't see why the pedantism over a demo class.
“The saddest people I've ever met in life are the ones who don't care deeply about anything at all. Passion and satisfaction go hand in hand, and without them, any happiness is only temporary, because there's nothing to make it last.” ― Nicholas Sparks
Saturday, 13 September 2014
QLD Titles Prep - Pt 1
The Queensland Electric On-Road Titles are less that 2 weeks away and I am starting to get my stuff together.
Accommodation is booked - I am sharing with a few people coming from the Gin Gin club. I am still a member there so will be great to catch up with a few of them. I also had to hire a car which seems to be a more and more irritating experience every time I have to do it, but with the Chev still a no go for long distance, and my partner needing her car that weekend, it was the only option. For a few days I did seriously consider pulling out altogether, but a bit of fiddling with my schedule and deciding a few things regarding the budget, I am still in.
RC wise I am still debating the 2WD vs 4WD options so I am prepping both cars for Friday practice. I just can't help it, I like being different. The biggest thing is that I STILL haven't managed a lap with the Trackstar 13.5T so I still have no idea on how it will feel, gearing or performance. I've switched back to the Tekin RS but I'll have the HW Extreme Stock available as well (again another reason why I decided against F1). I am sticking with my current fave LTC-R body but I may have to mark it for both cars - just in case. The worst job facing me is gluing tyres. I did get a REALLY good deal on a package for tyres, but just means I have to do some more work.
to be continued...
Accommodation is booked - I am sharing with a few people coming from the Gin Gin club. I am still a member there so will be great to catch up with a few of them. I also had to hire a car which seems to be a more and more irritating experience every time I have to do it, but with the Chev still a no go for long distance, and my partner needing her car that weekend, it was the only option. For a few days I did seriously consider pulling out altogether, but a bit of fiddling with my schedule and deciding a few things regarding the budget, I am still in.
RC wise I am still debating the 2WD vs 4WD options so I am prepping both cars for Friday practice. I just can't help it, I like being different. The biggest thing is that I STILL haven't managed a lap with the Trackstar 13.5T so I still have no idea on how it will feel, gearing or performance. I've switched back to the Tekin RS but I'll have the HW Extreme Stock available as well (again another reason why I decided against F1). I am sticking with my current fave LTC-R body but I may have to mark it for both cars - just in case. The worst job facing me is gluing tyres. I did get a REALLY good deal on a package for tyres, but just means I have to do some more work.
to be continued...
Monday, 8 September 2014
To 2WD or not to 2WD?
With the entry list for QLD Titles growing and the quality of the drivers entering quite high, the chances of myself achieving a significant result is getting pretty slim. I would be hard pressed to call myself A main material at the moment anyway so the main point of attending is more about personal satisfaction. This also forms part of the reasoning as to why I've decided not to go to the extra expense of entering F1.
On a whim before the last local meeting (which was cancelled again because of the weather) I threw together a slightly different car. I still have my Tigermoth LCG laying around as well as a decent assortment of parts. I had broken the chassis which had made me switch to the Mi1.5 project but on the Friday before racing I suddenly had an idea on repairing it and putting it back together - maybe as a bit of a different car for the Holden v Ford series I am hoping to attend at Logan after QLD Titles. Then, for some reason, possibly my well documented non-love affair with 4WD TC, I decided to convert it to 2WD...
... and fit the 13T HW setup from my M03, and the shocks and springs.
Now I know what most will think, but I have to say that, for most of my differing careers and interests, I've not been one to follow the easiest path. I enjoy the challenge of seeing how far I can achieve using less obvious or less accepted means. What's more the current ORRCA rules allow 2WD touring cars with the obvious requirements that will rule out pan car style chassis.
There are obvious disadvantages to a 2WD car and 13.5T might just be enough power to make them untenable, but with modern electronics and radios there might just be enough adjust-ability to minimise them. There are some advantages as well, it is just a case of deciding if one outweighs the other enough to make a firm decision. Thats where I am now.
Despite racing being cancelled I did manage about 20 minutes of track time with it. Now keep in mind I did NO setup to the car at all. Everything was as it was the last time I raced it in 4WD form except the shocks and springs which were taken directly off my M03 with no changes or modifications. Motor gearing was a best guess based on the knowledge that M chassis cars are massively under-geared and even the ride height was a estimation without a battery actually in the car. The track was also very dusty and cold and it was nearly dark.
Frankly, it was awesome. Massively quick in a straight line and, for the limited track layout set down and no car setup, it was surprisingly well balanced. There was only one other TC doing any runs with a 17.5T and as could be expected mine was easily faster down the short "main" straight but once I got my head into the swing of driving it, was pretty much as quick through the corners. Out of the very slow corners the 2WD disadvantage does show but, given the track conditions, I don't think it will be anywhere near as bad on a higher grip surface. Overall it probably needs more high speed steering and a bit less low speed steering, It was also evident that the shocks need some tuning - considering what they came off that's hardly surprising.
So now do I take the 2WD LCG or the 4WD Mi1.5?
Neither are front running cars against current chassis' with gun drivers and there ARE going to be some gun drivers in 13.5T class. I am considering taking both with me and making a decision after running both in Friday practice, before scrutineering, but that poses a logistical nightmare for preparing bodies, electronics etc. The 2WD is at least worth a little "shock" value if I do manage anything more than an average result.
Considering my last major event (SA State Titles) I didn't make it through Saturday, my last large QLD event (Bayside interclub 2013) I managed 20th and my last visit to a big club meeting (Logan) I didn't manage one full lap in practice, I am really not expecting anything but to try and have some fun, but which car will deliver on that more?
On a whim before the last local meeting (which was cancelled again because of the weather) I threw together a slightly different car. I still have my Tigermoth LCG laying around as well as a decent assortment of parts. I had broken the chassis which had made me switch to the Mi1.5 project but on the Friday before racing I suddenly had an idea on repairing it and putting it back together - maybe as a bit of a different car for the Holden v Ford series I am hoping to attend at Logan after QLD Titles. Then, for some reason, possibly my well documented non-love affair with 4WD TC, I decided to convert it to 2WD...
... and fit the 13T HW setup from my M03, and the shocks and springs.
Now I know what most will think, but I have to say that, for most of my differing careers and interests, I've not been one to follow the easiest path. I enjoy the challenge of seeing how far I can achieve using less obvious or less accepted means. What's more the current ORRCA rules allow 2WD touring cars with the obvious requirements that will rule out pan car style chassis.
There are obvious disadvantages to a 2WD car and 13.5T might just be enough power to make them untenable, but with modern electronics and radios there might just be enough adjust-ability to minimise them. There are some advantages as well, it is just a case of deciding if one outweighs the other enough to make a firm decision. Thats where I am now.
Despite racing being cancelled I did manage about 20 minutes of track time with it. Now keep in mind I did NO setup to the car at all. Everything was as it was the last time I raced it in 4WD form except the shocks and springs which were taken directly off my M03 with no changes or modifications. Motor gearing was a best guess based on the knowledge that M chassis cars are massively under-geared and even the ride height was a estimation without a battery actually in the car. The track was also very dusty and cold and it was nearly dark.
Frankly, it was awesome. Massively quick in a straight line and, for the limited track layout set down and no car setup, it was surprisingly well balanced. There was only one other TC doing any runs with a 17.5T and as could be expected mine was easily faster down the short "main" straight but once I got my head into the swing of driving it, was pretty much as quick through the corners. Out of the very slow corners the 2WD disadvantage does show but, given the track conditions, I don't think it will be anywhere near as bad on a higher grip surface. Overall it probably needs more high speed steering and a bit less low speed steering, It was also evident that the shocks need some tuning - considering what they came off that's hardly surprising.
So now do I take the 2WD LCG or the 4WD Mi1.5?
Neither are front running cars against current chassis' with gun drivers and there ARE going to be some gun drivers in 13.5T class. I am considering taking both with me and making a decision after running both in Friday practice, before scrutineering, but that poses a logistical nightmare for preparing bodies, electronics etc. The 2WD is at least worth a little "shock" value if I do manage anything more than an average result.
Considering my last major event (SA State Titles) I didn't make it through Saturday, my last large QLD event (Bayside interclub 2013) I managed 20th and my last visit to a big club meeting (Logan) I didn't manage one full lap in practice, I am really not expecting anything but to try and have some fun, but which car will deliver on that more?
Sunday, 31 August 2014
The post you make when you have nothing to post
I've been down with flu for the last 3 or 4 weeks so not a lot has been happening. I managed a little bit of racing before I was taken ill but not sure that actually helped.
I've got too many projects on the go - my Mi1.5, RM-01 front suspension mod, and now an FF touring car project. Despite a few backwards steps with the backyard mill, I am still busy in the CAD program designing bits and pieces. I actually find it a lot of fun even if it never comes to anything
A few updates -
After the dismal failure of the last center shaft mount I decided to design a one piece motor mount/center shaft mount. I borrowed a Mi5 gear diff and spool so I could use them as a reference. Its pretty obvious that the Mi5 has the motor further OUT from the center line than the Mi1. This makes it a little difficult to get everything to line up as easily as I would like and requires s lot of material to be removed from the motor mount to allow for the belt pulley. Given the troubles with milling things, and the closeness of the QLD Titles, I've decided on a different design for the time being - using the original center shaft mounts, some 8x5 bearings, the lightweight carbon gearbox shafts from an M03 and a 40mm suspension shaft. Pics to follow...
This one is just me being unmotivated (hard to be motivated when nowhere to race). The design is done and I have the ball mounts to make it work - I just have to make it.
This has come about because of my long established lack of real interest with 4WD Touring cars. I used to love my original Tamiya FF-01 and I didn't mind the FF-02 which handled like a big M-chassis, which it essentially was. The FF-03 seems to have a lot of fans, as does the Serpent FWD. There is also a new 3Racing FWD. I decided to keep expanding my experience with the CAD and design my own. Its loosely based on the famous Yokomo YR-F2 in so far as that was the primary motivation, but as I've done more reading (I didn't know there were so many big name FWD off-road buggies at one stage) I am starting to go in my own direction. I am hoping to keep the motor as close to the diff as possible to keep weight close to the wheels and I am also attempting to keep everything as central as possible. Diff is based on the Schumacher Mi5 gear diff and so is the rest of the gearbox bits. It will be belt driven. I am pretty much settled on the front suspension but the rear is still to be settled on. Will probably resolve itself as I get closer to drawing it. I am only in the very early stages of drawing.
There is a local club meeting this week so looking forward to that. I was really hoping to get a decent run with 13.5T before the QLD Titles but I guess that will happen on the Friday practice.
I've got too many projects on the go - my Mi1.5, RM-01 front suspension mod, and now an FF touring car project. Despite a few backwards steps with the backyard mill, I am still busy in the CAD program designing bits and pieces. I actually find it a lot of fun even if it never comes to anything
A few updates -
This one is just me being unmotivated (hard to be motivated when nowhere to race). The design is done and I have the ball mounts to make it work - I just have to make it.
Thursday, 10 July 2014
When is a belt not a belt?
When its the wrong length!
The Mi1.5 project has been going along quite nicely. I've had a couple of meetings with it with the new center pulley mount and Mi5 pulley and spur. I've made a few small changes like swapping the mount from the left side to the right side (closer to the motor). The main reason is to make changing the spur easier. A little stuff up on my part meant that, previously, I had to remove the whole mount to change a spur but now I just need to removed 3 screws. Fortunately, I haven't had to make anything new at this stage but I will have to clean it up and make something that looks a little more "professional".
The most frustrating part at the moment has been finding a suitable front belt. Those of you that have read my ramblings before will remember the initial trials with finding a suitable belt, well now that I have some track testing under my belt, it has become obvious that the front belt is far too tight and needs to change. After much re-visiting websites of both RC manufacturers and general timing belt manufacturers I decided to buy a 507mm belt, originally an optional XRay belt but also used on some HPI models. The original choice was 501mm.
Now given how tight the 501mm belt was, I was thinking that 507mm would be close to perfect. After all, its only 6mm longer. How wrong I was. Extremely floppy is the first description that comes to mind. Several hours of consternation, more web searching I determined that I had to make the 507mm belt work. I had the original Mission belt tension-er sitting in a box of stuff and, as I was looking through another box of "junk", I found a piece of carbon fiber that just happened to have a slot cut into it that would be a perfect mount for it. A bit of dremel work, a couple of holes drilled and the tension-er was mounted and seems to work exactly as needed, taking out the extra belt slack.
The drive line has much less drag now and feels smoother. Track time will confirm if I have everything right and that should be happening this weekend.
The Mi1.5 project has been going along quite nicely. I've had a couple of meetings with it with the new center pulley mount and Mi5 pulley and spur. I've made a few small changes like swapping the mount from the left side to the right side (closer to the motor). The main reason is to make changing the spur easier. A little stuff up on my part meant that, previously, I had to remove the whole mount to change a spur but now I just need to removed 3 screws. Fortunately, I haven't had to make anything new at this stage but I will have to clean it up and make something that looks a little more "professional".
 |
| Ignore all the spacers and stripped spur - it is a prototype after all |
The most frustrating part at the moment has been finding a suitable front belt. Those of you that have read my ramblings before will remember the initial trials with finding a suitable belt, well now that I have some track testing under my belt, it has become obvious that the front belt is far too tight and needs to change. After much re-visiting websites of both RC manufacturers and general timing belt manufacturers I decided to buy a 507mm belt, originally an optional XRay belt but also used on some HPI models. The original choice was 501mm.
Now given how tight the 501mm belt was, I was thinking that 507mm would be close to perfect. After all, its only 6mm longer. How wrong I was. Extremely floppy is the first description that comes to mind. Several hours of consternation, more web searching I determined that I had to make the 507mm belt work. I had the original Mission belt tension-er sitting in a box of stuff and, as I was looking through another box of "junk", I found a piece of carbon fiber that just happened to have a slot cut into it that would be a perfect mount for it. A bit of dremel work, a couple of holes drilled and the tension-er was mounted and seems to work exactly as needed, taking out the extra belt slack.
The drive line has much less drag now and feels smoother. Track time will confirm if I have everything right and that should be happening this weekend.
Monday, 23 June 2014
What day is it again??
Its been a reasonably busy couple of weeks but busy for mostly dull reasons. mostly centered around being chauffeur to my academic partner who doesn't like driving long distances but has had to go to Brisbane a couple of times recently for work purposes. I won't bore you with the amount of paperwork a university requires of someone to do such a simple thing but believe its far more than you'd expect.
The upside has been that I've managed to get quite a bit of track time in a couple of different places, if only to practice. Firstly, Toowoomba has been running some extra meetings to make up for some washed/weathered out ones, so we've been racing every 2 weeks instead of just once a month. Secondly, I got to spend half a day on the carpet at XRay Raceway (Trackside/Brendale) with the RM and thirdly I managed to get to a Midweek at Logan with the F1. While I enjoy/enjoyed each one thoroughly at the time it has started my thinking down a path I am not convinced isn't reality.
Car speed is always a relative thing and we probably all think, at one time or another, that we should be going faster than we are. Recently, especially with my TC, my single lap pace as been within a 1/10, or a couple of tenths of our local gun import, Ed C, but I am finishing races 2 and 3 laps behind him. Why is this? Simple answer - my consistency sucks.
Now I am possibly going to break out the violin here as far as some are concerned, but as much as I enjoy RC racing, I've never found driving an RC car a particularly "natural" thing to do. I was already in my 20's before I started racing and I jumped straight into on-road. Initially, I made a mistake of switching from one class to another too quickly without really giving myself time to learn it properly but, at the time, I was trying to find a class that I was good at, rather than trying to get good at a class. Eventually the progression of RC towards 4WD TC as its nexus, and the loss of other classes kinda "forced" me into TC...
... and I've never really been comfortable since.
Sure I've had a few minor success with them, a few podium positions at larger meetings and even a club championship in one class one year and up till relatively recently, expecting to be in the A main in stock classes wasn't being too big headed. Overall though, I've never really felt comfortable with them. It hasn't been helped by some bad choices (buying an early TC3, selling my HPI Pro4) and I freely admit that the more adjustable they've become the less comfortable I feel with trying to set them up.
Which is probably why in recent years, every time a class that isn't TC based has made a popularity surge I have jumped on board - Mini, 1/18, 1/12, F1. Ultimately though I don't think this has done my driving any good at all. All these classes need a different driving style to achieve the maximum lap speed from them and I simply don't get enough time driving any one of them to get my brain fine tuned into whats needed to race them well. I can drive them fine (and usually fast) for a few laps but putting it altogether for a 6 or 8 minute race just isn't happening.
I think this is what is killing my consistency because I am making mistakes I just shouldn't make and it stems from the unnaturalness I've always felt combined with trying to switch between the driving styles needed for each different class. Add to this the fact I am now 42 with eyesight and back issues and its probably safe to say my best driving days are already behind me
So whats the answer? To that I am a bit stumped - I simply don't like TC enough to make it my focus again, but circumstances being what they are I don't see a practical alternative if I want to get back to a competitive level remotely close to what it once was.
Ok - a few other things -
1) Development on the Mi1.5 is continuing with some new, slightly longer belts on the way. I've realised there is just far too much tension on the front belt and its causing so much drag its actually pulling the diff pulley onto an angle against the friction pads and plates. Hopefully going 2 teeth longer will stop that. I am also starting to design a new motor mount, and a new pulley mount as the original design doesn't let me change spurs without pulling the whole thing off - bit of a f%&k up there. I've also notice a couple of interesting spare available for the Mi5 that may make a couple of other ideas I've had possible.
2) There is a bit of discussion going on about the SEQ Interclub. Personally I love going to them when I can and will go as often as possible, but after much thinking and self-censoring the only other thing I will say is that I think it needs to adopt a completely different race format rather than the standard qualifying/finals format that is used for pretty much every event these days. Perhaps something like a round robin style of thing (Reedy Invitational?)
The upside has been that I've managed to get quite a bit of track time in a couple of different places, if only to practice. Firstly, Toowoomba has been running some extra meetings to make up for some washed/weathered out ones, so we've been racing every 2 weeks instead of just once a month. Secondly, I got to spend half a day on the carpet at XRay Raceway (Trackside/Brendale) with the RM and thirdly I managed to get to a Midweek at Logan with the F1. While I enjoy/enjoyed each one thoroughly at the time it has started my thinking down a path I am not convinced isn't reality.
Car speed is always a relative thing and we probably all think, at one time or another, that we should be going faster than we are. Recently, especially with my TC, my single lap pace as been within a 1/10, or a couple of tenths of our local gun import, Ed C, but I am finishing races 2 and 3 laps behind him. Why is this? Simple answer - my consistency sucks.
Now I am possibly going to break out the violin here as far as some are concerned, but as much as I enjoy RC racing, I've never found driving an RC car a particularly "natural" thing to do. I was already in my 20's before I started racing and I jumped straight into on-road. Initially, I made a mistake of switching from one class to another too quickly without really giving myself time to learn it properly but, at the time, I was trying to find a class that I was good at, rather than trying to get good at a class. Eventually the progression of RC towards 4WD TC as its nexus, and the loss of other classes kinda "forced" me into TC...
... and I've never really been comfortable since.
Sure I've had a few minor success with them, a few podium positions at larger meetings and even a club championship in one class one year and up till relatively recently, expecting to be in the A main in stock classes wasn't being too big headed. Overall though, I've never really felt comfortable with them. It hasn't been helped by some bad choices (buying an early TC3, selling my HPI Pro4) and I freely admit that the more adjustable they've become the less comfortable I feel with trying to set them up.
Which is probably why in recent years, every time a class that isn't TC based has made a popularity surge I have jumped on board - Mini, 1/18, 1/12, F1. Ultimately though I don't think this has done my driving any good at all. All these classes need a different driving style to achieve the maximum lap speed from them and I simply don't get enough time driving any one of them to get my brain fine tuned into whats needed to race them well. I can drive them fine (and usually fast) for a few laps but putting it altogether for a 6 or 8 minute race just isn't happening.
I think this is what is killing my consistency because I am making mistakes I just shouldn't make and it stems from the unnaturalness I've always felt combined with trying to switch between the driving styles needed for each different class. Add to this the fact I am now 42 with eyesight and back issues and its probably safe to say my best driving days are already behind me
So whats the answer? To that I am a bit stumped - I simply don't like TC enough to make it my focus again, but circumstances being what they are I don't see a practical alternative if I want to get back to a competitive level remotely close to what it once was.
Ok - a few other things -
1) Development on the Mi1.5 is continuing with some new, slightly longer belts on the way. I've realised there is just far too much tension on the front belt and its causing so much drag its actually pulling the diff pulley onto an angle against the friction pads and plates. Hopefully going 2 teeth longer will stop that. I am also starting to design a new motor mount, and a new pulley mount as the original design doesn't let me change spurs without pulling the whole thing off - bit of a f%&k up there. I've also notice a couple of interesting spare available for the Mi5 that may make a couple of other ideas I've had possible.
2) There is a bit of discussion going on about the SEQ Interclub. Personally I love going to them when I can and will go as often as possible, but after much thinking and self-censoring the only other thing I will say is that I think it needs to adopt a completely different race format rather than the standard qualifying/finals format that is used for pretty much every event these days. Perhaps something like a round robin style of thing (Reedy Invitational?)
Tuesday, 27 May 2014
The "Crisis" In Our Sport...
or - Why I appear to disagree with almost everyone in RC land
There is a thread on RCTech at the moment with the same title as this post - minus the quotes. Its been started by a well respected and demonstrated intelligent thinker in RC in Australia (someone I'd like to meet in real but ultimately I think would end up being at odds with). Its been started with a view to trying to come up with ideas to counter the aging of our hobby/sport and the general lack of numbers that seems to be more and more the norm in many places. So far there has been some interesting discourse and on the whole its probably not a bad discussion to be having. However, I have a few issues with it.
1) We've had this discussion innumerable times before. Glibly I'd estimate about once ever 2 years or so to my awareness. I will admit that at the moment it seems to be more of a concern to RC overall, whereas, in the past, its been more about a particular sector - Off-Road, Nitro, On-Road etc.
2) The supposed causes are exactly the same as they have always been and will probably always be - cost, time, inconvenience, noise, attitude, unsupportive hobby-shops. There is nothing new being mentioned in the current thread that I have not heard mentioned in the past. So, what does that tell you?
3) Ultimately, will anything change because RC is currently too niche and self-centered to have enough people create a movement in a single direction that will instigate REAL change?
I want use my own experiences with a different niche product/activity to expand a little on how I feel about these points. Now, bear with me as it may not seem to connect at first. The particular activity I am speaking of is Car Audio.
I became involved in car audio just before it exploded in car accessories stores around the country. A small (by American standards where it really started) group of enthusiasts had been beavering away for some time, attending car shows and self promoting their products until a more general public became aware of it. What followed was a roll-a-coaster of brand debuts, car shows and competitions that kept a large number of people gainfully employed for some time. Pretty much everyone who had any interest in cars had some aftermarket audio gear in their car, from simply getting the option 6 stack Alpine CD changer put into their Ford Fairmont through to $50,000 custom competition fit-outs in show cars.
Then the bubble burst.
Big brands started realising there was no long-term profit in such a niche market. They began to force shops to do what was called volume selling, which was something the smaller car audio shops just couldn't do. There was no way a custom car audio shop could sell $75,000 worth of product a month to maintain an account, while at the same time taking, up to, 2 or 3 MONTHS to finish one custom fit. Car Audio became the domain of the volume sellers, the Supercheap's and Autobarns. Certainly some of the niche custom shops, that flourished during the boom times, have survived but they are not the industry powerhouses they once were. Also the OEM's clued in and new cars came from the factory with better and better audio systems with big brand names like Bose or JBL involved. It became less and less necessary to have an audio system changed or upgraded. The car audio industry that I fell in love with just after school and spent so much time involved with now is nothing like what it used to be. Every now and then I see faint glimmers of it in individual stores etc but it fades again pretty quickly.
Now I am sure you are almost throwing things at your computer screen wondering what the F#*k this has to do with RC and I'll get there I promise.
It is my belief that RC car racing has reached the same point or perhaps even gone a little past it. The main bubble has well and truly burst and we've manage to survive on a few of the smaller bubbles that were created, but, they too continue to burst. We can either continue the ride down the bubbles into oblivion or we find a way to create a new bubble. Not for a moment do I think this will be easy but unless we can approach this issue with a completely different mind set, the bursting will continue. As the thread on RCTech is demonstrating perfectly, the standard list of causes for the problems facing RC car racing is being dutifully presented and, just as dutifully, debated.
Its for this very reason that it will become, inevitably, pointless. The RC industry is an incredibly small niche market and activity. While I was studying business and management I did, approximately, 6 months research on the RC industry and I was amazed at just how small it is. We are talking an estimated 1% of 1% of the worldwide purchasing market. It is also very slow to recognise potential issues and work to preempt them. As an example, way back at the beginning of brushless motors and ESC's there were a few quiet but earnest voices warning of the potential contained in the technology. Several years later we reached a crescendo of disquiet over timing adjustable speedies and dynamic timing that has never fully settled despite its eventual banning from most mainstream classes.
Ok... lets try to mold this into some form of coherent point. Yes, many of the issues raised such as costs, time etc are important but the fact of the matter is they have ALWAYS been there. People have always thought RC was expensive (rightly or wrongly), there are always people who don't have the time to commit to a whole days racing etc.
Basically - there have always been people who don't race RC because of (insert reason of the week here) and there always will be because there is NOTHING that can be done about that for the majority. We might manage to entice a few by introducing a new spec beginners class or by shortening race days to keep people from getting bored, but past experience has already shown that those spec classes rarely last and almost anything else you might think to counter the other potential problems always brings with it a risk of driving existing participants away. This stems back to the inherent self-centered nature of RC that flows right through back to the manufacturers.
Unless we are willing to look past the obvious, and entertain the potential of ideas that may not seem as obvious, nothing will change.
For a view on something less obvious - Why appearance matters...
There is a thread on RCTech at the moment with the same title as this post - minus the quotes. Its been started by a well respected and demonstrated intelligent thinker in RC in Australia (someone I'd like to meet in real but ultimately I think would end up being at odds with). Its been started with a view to trying to come up with ideas to counter the aging of our hobby/sport and the general lack of numbers that seems to be more and more the norm in many places. So far there has been some interesting discourse and on the whole its probably not a bad discussion to be having. However, I have a few issues with it.
1) We've had this discussion innumerable times before. Glibly I'd estimate about once ever 2 years or so to my awareness. I will admit that at the moment it seems to be more of a concern to RC overall, whereas, in the past, its been more about a particular sector - Off-Road, Nitro, On-Road etc.
2) The supposed causes are exactly the same as they have always been and will probably always be - cost, time, inconvenience, noise, attitude, unsupportive hobby-shops. There is nothing new being mentioned in the current thread that I have not heard mentioned in the past. So, what does that tell you?
3) Ultimately, will anything change because RC is currently too niche and self-centered to have enough people create a movement in a single direction that will instigate REAL change?
I want use my own experiences with a different niche product/activity to expand a little on how I feel about these points. Now, bear with me as it may not seem to connect at first. The particular activity I am speaking of is Car Audio.
I became involved in car audio just before it exploded in car accessories stores around the country. A small (by American standards where it really started) group of enthusiasts had been beavering away for some time, attending car shows and self promoting their products until a more general public became aware of it. What followed was a roll-a-coaster of brand debuts, car shows and competitions that kept a large number of people gainfully employed for some time. Pretty much everyone who had any interest in cars had some aftermarket audio gear in their car, from simply getting the option 6 stack Alpine CD changer put into their Ford Fairmont through to $50,000 custom competition fit-outs in show cars.
Then the bubble burst.
Big brands started realising there was no long-term profit in such a niche market. They began to force shops to do what was called volume selling, which was something the smaller car audio shops just couldn't do. There was no way a custom car audio shop could sell $75,000 worth of product a month to maintain an account, while at the same time taking, up to, 2 or 3 MONTHS to finish one custom fit. Car Audio became the domain of the volume sellers, the Supercheap's and Autobarns. Certainly some of the niche custom shops, that flourished during the boom times, have survived but they are not the industry powerhouses they once were. Also the OEM's clued in and new cars came from the factory with better and better audio systems with big brand names like Bose or JBL involved. It became less and less necessary to have an audio system changed or upgraded. The car audio industry that I fell in love with just after school and spent so much time involved with now is nothing like what it used to be. Every now and then I see faint glimmers of it in individual stores etc but it fades again pretty quickly.
Now I am sure you are almost throwing things at your computer screen wondering what the F#*k this has to do with RC and I'll get there I promise.
It is my belief that RC car racing has reached the same point or perhaps even gone a little past it. The main bubble has well and truly burst and we've manage to survive on a few of the smaller bubbles that were created, but, they too continue to burst. We can either continue the ride down the bubbles into oblivion or we find a way to create a new bubble. Not for a moment do I think this will be easy but unless we can approach this issue with a completely different mind set, the bursting will continue. As the thread on RCTech is demonstrating perfectly, the standard list of causes for the problems facing RC car racing is being dutifully presented and, just as dutifully, debated.
Its for this very reason that it will become, inevitably, pointless. The RC industry is an incredibly small niche market and activity. While I was studying business and management I did, approximately, 6 months research on the RC industry and I was amazed at just how small it is. We are talking an estimated 1% of 1% of the worldwide purchasing market. It is also very slow to recognise potential issues and work to preempt them. As an example, way back at the beginning of brushless motors and ESC's there were a few quiet but earnest voices warning of the potential contained in the technology. Several years later we reached a crescendo of disquiet over timing adjustable speedies and dynamic timing that has never fully settled despite its eventual banning from most mainstream classes.
Ok... lets try to mold this into some form of coherent point. Yes, many of the issues raised such as costs, time etc are important but the fact of the matter is they have ALWAYS been there. People have always thought RC was expensive (rightly or wrongly), there are always people who don't have the time to commit to a whole days racing etc.
Basically - there have always been people who don't race RC because of (insert reason of the week here) and there always will be because there is NOTHING that can be done about that for the majority. We might manage to entice a few by introducing a new spec beginners class or by shortening race days to keep people from getting bored, but past experience has already shown that those spec classes rarely last and almost anything else you might think to counter the other potential problems always brings with it a risk of driving existing participants away. This stems back to the inherent self-centered nature of RC that flows right through back to the manufacturers.
Unless we are willing to look past the obvious, and entertain the potential of ideas that may not seem as obvious, nothing will change.
For a view on something less obvious - Why appearance matters...
Why appearance matters
The RC car forums are filled with threads debating the whole "Scale Appearance" issue. The views range from 'car must only resemble real race cars' to 'don't care what it looks like as long as it wins'.
Now, fundamentally, I don't have any particular issue with either end of the spectrum, but I do think that the appearance of our current crop of racing bodies is not helping involve new people in the sport. In an era where TV is more important than ever as well as more and more racing classes available to watch on live streams, I don't believe we can continue to ignore this in favour of a "performance is everything" attitude. Our current international rule set still contains references to super touring and touring cars even though none of the currently raced RC car bodies bare any resemblance to any modern touring car racing formula. The current bodies being foisted onto us by body manufactures rarely even refer to real cars and IF they do, they are seriously bastardizsed versions. The new Protoform Mazda 6 GX is a perfect example of this in my view.
This version of the Mazda 6, built to compete in the Daytona Prototype series' Grand Tourer Experimental class was, IMO, one of the sexiest 4 door saloon racing cars to hit the track in a decade, yet the version delivered by Protoform simply fails to deliver and why? - because it has been reshaped and re-styled to deliver a particular type of performance rather than look good.
Compare for yourself -
Ok, there are just enough original styling, mostly in unimportant aspects like headlights and wheel arch moldings to get away with calling it a Mazda 6, but it is also different enough for those with a less performance biased eye to go "that isn't the car I've seen racing on TV".
Now I don't want to go on about scale appearance because I don't think that helps anyone but I think RC does need relevant appearance (see what I did there). This is, potentially, more important for on-road, because it really doesn't matter to much what you do to an off-road body, the rest of the rules ensure its still mostly looks like an off-road car. To my mind this counters those that argue one of the most popular off-road cars in the late 80's and early 90's was the Tamiya Manta Ray. Yes it was a futuristic body with styling cues based on the form of sea creature its named after but it STILL looks like an off-road car and it doesn't try to call itself a Toyota Tundra or Hilux, which is what we do to on-road bodies. 1/12 and 1/8 Nitro on-road take this to ludicrous levels.
Just to punctuate this a little - Protoform is rumored to be producing a special body just for the 200mm nitro worlds. Teaser photos show a nondescript body with little moldings and lumps all over it to, supposedly, increase down force. I shouldn't be too naive about it because the current crop of 200mm nitro bodies look like someone chamfered the front into a wedge shape so they could serve a 2nd purpose as a door stop.
Ok... lets try to mold this into some form of coherent point. How do you market to people, who's main exposure to motorsport comes from the TV or internet, a form of racing that supposes to be a scale representation of real racing when none of the cars LOOK like recognisable cars?
For example, why doesn't someone re-market VTA as Touring Car Masters which is currently experiencing a decent amount of popularity here in Australia (the bodies are almost identical)?
I am not arguing for strict scale appearance but I do believe in making the bodies more representative of what people see BEFORE they come racing.
Sunday, 4 May 2014
Latest Mi1.5 modification
I've been working hard in my spare time on my backyard milling setup to learn how to make the parts I've been drawing in CAD. I'd love to be able to just load it into a CNC mill and watch the fun but that's not likely to happen for a while.
Its taken a bit of time to set up everything to be accurate enough and learn what can and can't be done. Its been rather annoying to learn that the X-Y vice I ended up having to buy isn't anywhere near square and I am having to make up ways of overcoming this. Despite this I've managed to get it to 0.03mm accurate which I can't complain about too much, all things considered.
First bit made was the long planned mount to fit a Mi5 spur/belt pulley to my Mi1.5. It was a pretty simple design with a piece of 6mm aluminium with a 5mm steel shaft made up from an old M03 Mini gearbox shaft. It took a bit longer to get the shaft right as I had a few issues drilling a hole in the center of it and then I broke the thread tap trying to cut the thread for the mounting screws. However it all came together -
First impressions are that the fiberglass (sorry - S1) chassis may flex a bit too much with the original mounts removed. I may have to make a 2nd version with a supporting leg running out to the side to help reduce flex. Also, I may need to move the mounting point for the shaft forward slightly to ease some tension off the front belt to free up the drive line a bit more.
Unfortunately club racing was cancelled so my intent to get it on the track and running are on hold. I might bite the bullet and buy a 13.5 and take it down to Logan in a couple of weeks.
Its taken a bit of time to set up everything to be accurate enough and learn what can and can't be done. Its been rather annoying to learn that the X-Y vice I ended up having to buy isn't anywhere near square and I am having to make up ways of overcoming this. Despite this I've managed to get it to 0.03mm accurate which I can't complain about too much, all things considered.
First bit made was the long planned mount to fit a Mi5 spur/belt pulley to my Mi1.5. It was a pretty simple design with a piece of 6mm aluminium with a 5mm steel shaft made up from an old M03 Mini gearbox shaft. It took a bit longer to get the shaft right as I had a few issues drilling a hole in the center of it and then I broke the thread tap trying to cut the thread for the mounting screws. However it all came together -
First impressions are that the fiberglass (sorry - S1) chassis may flex a bit too much with the original mounts removed. I may have to make a 2nd version with a supporting leg running out to the side to help reduce flex. Also, I may need to move the mounting point for the shaft forward slightly to ease some tension off the front belt to free up the drive line a bit more.
Unfortunately club racing was cancelled so my intent to get it on the track and running are on hold. I might bite the bullet and buy a 13.5 and take it down to Logan in a couple of weeks.
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