Buggy racers - who is actually going FASTER with LiPo
 

I posted this same question in on-road and feel it is equally relevant in off-road - if not more so as weight distribution is even more greatly affected by the lightweight cells.

In all honesty - who is setting FASTER times with LiPo than they were with NiMH, running at the same weight limits of course.

PS this doesn't apply to 1/8th conversions, there is no realistic NiMH benchmark to compare with.

I can't really account for just switching to lipo. But switching to brushless & lipo, yes I became faster. Ramping up from a 17/87 pinion in my truck to a 26/81 made a huge difference in speed.

Additionally, as I played with my setups to account for the lighter weight of the buggy and truck, times started to drop off as well.

Paul

I dident notice it being faster ... but definitely more reliable and easy on the wallet :nod:

This is a good question and i am very curious as to what people say.


http://www.BulldawgRC.com

I posted in the on road section, and once again I will say that li-po is faster.I can tell the difference, especially in stock class with the torque .I can even say that running a higher c rated li-po is faster yet even though the cells are made by the same manufacturer.( ie orion 3200 compared to orion 3600) The higher the c rating the more bottom end it produces.I started out this year running 4200 nimh in my stock buggy w/ a 17.5 brushless. It seemed kind of doggy compared to a brushed stocker.all I did was change over to a 3200 orion battery and it came to life!!After using the temp gun to tune it in as far as gearing my stock buggy is a rocket!! People can say that they are no faster than a Nimh , I am here to tell you that is a pile of poop!! The increased torque provided by the li-po allowed me to open up my gearing window on the 17.5 by 6 teeth on the pinion! That alone says it all I beleive.

I can see the difference from nimh to lipo in my truck with 10.5 brushless but didn`t see much difference in buggy since I run a brushed mod to which I really don`t see top end anyways . I have improved lap times with the truck and even gained a lap after the switch . I`m sure it`s more of me becoming a smoother driver but sure the lipo helped as I can see the difference . I can also see the difference going from a 25C to a 30C lipo .

There is one thing i can say from my personal track, Brushed and nimh usually is not in the winners circle. What about at your tracks?

I see alot of people selling their nimh batteries and brushed motors for very cheap. :nod:

Opposite happens here, mostly brushed/NiMH at the top of the podium, but those happen to be the most experienced drivers with matched race packs.

2wdmod, not to discount your comparison but any new pack will make more power than last season's 4200's. We've loaned our fresh 4600 Pro-Match gold cells to unbelievers who create their own pile of poop. NiMH cells are only sick fast when they're new and balanced and peaked, so don't expect the same performance after 50 cycles or poor maintenance, which is where lipo may really differ.

We've begun the process of switching over to lipo and brushless both but very cautiously. I'm not convinced that the technology and price points are where they need to be yet.

Direct answer to the question - my oldest kid has an RC18T that is the only car switching between nimh lipo on race days (only one lipo pack) and it sets about 1/4-1/2 second faster laps with lipo compared to nimh cells.

I have gotton faster switching to a different car.

Was running a B4 with Nimh, lead weights, and a 6.5 motor in the past. Now running a Kyosho RB5 with a lipo, with no lead weights, and a 7.5 motor. I have a setup that works really well even with the lipo without adding weight

I wouldn't say the battery made me faster because I'm using a brushless motor with a higher wind.

I would say I got faster switching to a car that works better for me with lighter weight Lipo batteries. Its a lot less effort to enjoy the hobby these days.

AE...
 

Its the combination of going B/L and going with lipo's!:nod:

well since most people are adding weight to get the cars closer to the original weight that they where with 6 cell packs the weight it not to big of a deal.... i myself havent been any faster with a lipo.....if tha little extra boost of power is what gives you a faster lap time than you have other things to work on....maybe your driving or setup.

definitely depends on the quality of the cells, weight though I am curious about because recently I got to use a loaner B4 that was in need of some TLC that had a Novak 5.5R brushless system in it, and ran it with a beater sport NIMH pack, and then with an orion 3200lipo.

It was obviously faster, but, I was thinking that the handling would be off because it was soo much lighter. To my surprise it actually felt right and was a blast to drive. Managed to keep up with a guy running a pretty loaded B4 and his racing quality Nimhs.

I would say Lipos advantage other than the obvious longer race level life is the how well it maintains a consistenly high voltage throughout the race. It really makes a difference.

Have the ability to basically use 1 lipo in the vehicle also is excellent.

In all honesty - who is setting SLOWER times with LiPo than they were with NiMH, running at the same weight limits of course.

I would actually say the opposite. Once you have maxed out your driving and setup skillset, power is next on the list. If more power is making you faster, then it's probably time to upgrade. Else, more power will have no effect, or make you slower. Just like in computers, once you are CPU bound (after having tuned memory and IO bottlenecks), it's time to upgrade.