5 cell off-road modified
 

Ran my B-4 last Friday with a 2 star and 5 cells instead of 6 cells...


The car needed to have it ride height adjusted and I geared up from a 19 to a 22 pinion gear...

Car had way more grip .....

and

was smoother on the rough...


Speed was real good , If I had not told anyone they would not of notice a thing !

Best part ...

I went as fast, in fact about 3 seconds faster on our current layout when I used 6 cells.....

Lap times actually improve just a bit and it was more consistent (fewer mistakes).....


I think its time to reconsider how many cells we need...

When we switch from 7cell to 6, everyone accepted it was faster...
Now its time for the 5 cell , believe me ...
Try for yourselves ....

Learn something new ....... :tire:

Oh god here we go again. Just stick with your brushless lipos and we'll stick with our 6 cell brushed and everyone will be happy.

Dave , try ....

Its works great !!

Only can say its as good as when we droped 7 cells for 6 cells....

Not trying to go against any kind of battery or motor thing...

Believe when I tell you , I was surprised and amaze just how good my buggy ran with 5 cell....

I firgure these new 4200 super volt packs R just way to much power ...


In fact 4200hv 5cell R as fast or faster then 3300 6 cell (in comparision to speed....)

You know I was thinking about trying the same thing. Too bad I won't be able to test anything for another 4 months, damn 4 feet of snow! :cry:

Hopefully somebody else will try this, I'd be very interested in the results.

Wild Cherry- What kind of track were you running on during this testing? High grip?

5 cell 4200Ib off-road mod
 

Wheelnut

I run Indoors at Trcr, Tacoma Washington.....

Medium grip clay....

Taper pin`s or Bk bar or Panther`s are tires of choice...

I would look at this as a tuning aid ...

You get better traction, more conner speed and a smoother ride on the bumps....


I will be running the 5 cell for a few more races ...

Bet you all I will be taking 1 cell off my all 4200Ib`s soon however... :nod:

maybe because the 2star was too fast for you with 6 cells and now that you are going slower down the straight you are now going faster where it counts (around the corners).

maybe you should start with a slower motor. i bet the results would be similar. ;)

I see what your saying ...
but ...


have run 6 cell with the 1 star achieving basically the same lap times as the 2 star 6 cell...

went faster with 5 cell because .....
it was
smoother over our wash board
better corner speed
extra grip :nod:

From your posts, I assume you are running with only a 5 cell pack...

You do realize that you may not make minimum weight with that setup, right? or have you weighed the car to check that... Some full graphite kits are light out of the box, some are over-weight -- just wondering...?

I think that if you've experimented, and run better with 5-cell, then run 5-cell. But don't make it mandatory.

I run 4WD mod and need every volt I can get!

There are other things to think about. You say 5-cell 4200s are as good as 6-cell 3300s. Well for someone like me, that's a problem because I am running 2-year old 3300s. I'm still competitive, but if you dropped to 5-cell then I'd have to outlay hundreds on 4200 packs just to remain competitive.

Secondly, a lot of dischargers these days caters for 4 and 6-cell but not 5. So again another expense. It would cost me personally about $500 (AUD) if the rules changed.

The last thing. I race 4WD mod because it is by far the fastest and most fun class. If I wanted to go slower I'd run stock. I care just as much about having fun as I do winning. So if I'm spinning out on corners or losing traction it's a bit of a laugh, and a challenge to control it.

Another cost that probably won't affect many people but does me - I also run a 7.2v KO servo so I'd be up for a new 6V one too.

Why are we slowing offroad cars down? If you can't handle mod with 6 cells then don't run it.

C

Come On !! Dave !


I`m not slowing my car down ....
I`m going faster .... :nod:

I also did go up two teeth on the pinion which is faster right ?


Mod Motor`s available today can easily take up the slack as far as "rip" is concern... 5cell with a fast motor is fast !!!

So don`t think I slowed down please... :eek:
Down the staight just as fast .... and it jumps just as far ...

someone mention weight ?

Well with a 6 cell 4200Ib my ride is a fat pig !!!
Top it off with the extra lead weight added to car(1 1/2 oz)!!!


I`m triming my rides weight back to a trim and fit B-4 .... :lol:

go ahead weight your ride with 6cell 4200Ib , you R over weight ..... :nod:

You must run a 8 turn in your 2wd buggy right? I guess if you can't handle that then don't run mod buggy. :rolleyes:

The tracks we run on locally you need some lead in the car. Both of my AE rides have 1.5 oz of lead in them with 6cells they work cant complain. Mod buggy its all about throttle. Your car probably has more corner speed because its not pitching in the corners now.
Most guys run they're fastest laps about 1min before they dump.

if you are going faster with a slower motor, you do not need to be driving mod. its as simple as that. It means you have not setup for the increased torque and weight transitions.

By running less cells, or lipos, you also need to soften your setup to compensate the weight difference. otherwise your car may end up being too stiff and sliding everywhere or being inconsistent. The majority of places run a brown spring on the front of the b4. now we are going to need yet even softer springs...


I run on high bite indoor clay. Think Formula 1 with jumps. With the lightest sway bar on the car in stock it can be a challenge to keep the front end from lifting just enough to cause the car push. (swaybars increase chance of wheelies). we had some guy try to run lipo but couldnt do anything with it. he never changed up the setup. we ran mod last week and i won with a komodo 19T. we'll run mod again next weekend and i'll have something not and heavy in there with some setup and radio changes. this is one of the few places that it is possible to have too much power even when you can put it down. People just do not understand that if you change from the original intended design that many other things have to change to accomodate it.

Ok so it sounds more like you have to much power than you can handle on that track (not having a go at your driving at all!) so instead of changing to a motor with less torque/power you have reduced the voltage available. Bit like puting a carb restricter in a gas car, except in doing so you have also reduced your weight. The only advantage I can see to what your doing is it allows you to provide more weight bias forwards or backwards in your B4. Have you gone further and tried a 1 star etc with 6 cells. To me all you have achieved is reducing your power output which has made your car more suited to that track. I remember reading something Adam Drake said "sometimes slower is better" which kinda applies here.
You say it's just as fast, but is that because you can get more power down than before more easily?
Mate good luck with what you're doing, but I think your reasoning is a little wrong sorry, just imo. Nothing personal at all.
I think however it does raise another question if there will be brushless motors available that have different characteristics like a brushed motor with 2, 3 or 4 wynds for instance where you get a little less bottom end punch but more top end reving. This sounds like it would also help you achieve your goal. A 2 star in a 2 wheel bug is still a handfull for sure! A lot of bottom end power!