RC Shock Design -- why so premitive?
03-25-2010, 08:34 AM
#18
It's not easy to get the shim stack to work properly on such small pistons. Been looking at it though. It's a complete pain to get them to feel right.
03-25-2010, 08:51 AM
#19
At one point one of the guys from Newman-Haas racing was racing with us. He has developed a small gravity powered shock dyno among other things. Very cool.
I remember asking him similar questions about shocks to the ones posted here, and his best advice was just to stick with beveling one side of the piston. Too much complication for such a small shock.
I remember asking him similar questions about shocks to the ones posted here, and his best advice was just to stick with beveling one side of the piston. Too much complication for such a small shock.
05-22-2010, 05:13 AM
#20
There once was a thing called shock jets. It consistes of a conventional piston, but there was a second piston at the bottom of the shock that had a tapered needle that extended to the piston. As the shock compressed the needle restricted the flow in the holes of the piston incresing the resistance. Of course the opposite happened in rebound.
I have not seen these in years.
I have not seen these in years.
05-22-2010, 05:17 AM
#21
Paragon Jump Jets!!! Dialed.
R
R
05-22-2010, 08:22 AM
#22
In racing, light and simple almost always trumps complicated unless almost unlimited resources are brought to bear.
Example, CanAm racing. True unlimited racing.
It got to the point where the hot setups were rapidly becoming go-carts with big blocks and little suspension with the tires doing most of the work.
Wicked fast! But also wicked dangerous. Once the rules changed away from going as fast as possible as effectively as possible - the class lost it's appeal. No one wanted to see superstar drivers killed on a regular basis so it wasn't sustainable.
The ragged edge of control was becoming a knife edge.
Kind of like mod pan cars in the RC world!
Either win or break!
I see RC tech as being much the same.
Its a fine balance between speed, expense, driving skill required, wrenching skills, and scale appearance.
Every successful racing class does so by finding the right balance of all these factors.
You would be surprised how many full-scale automotive racing engineers /mechanics/designers were looking closely at the RC market during the 90's boom - all of them looking to bring hi-tech into the hobby.
Ultimately - most of the ideas they brought (including LOTS of shock ideas) just proved to be too costly or complicated for a HOBBY.
I went to an oval nats in 92 or 93 (King N.C.) and saw custom dynos costing 10k, a $2500 4-wheel Longacre car scaling system converted to RC size, some prototype chassis designs that had 4 wheel shocks with progressive valving (FOR A PAN CAR CLASS!) , talked at length about wind tunnel testing, ETC! There were guys in the pits that are almost household names in the NASCAR world today. Full scale tire engineers were working on ideas for the capped tires they were running. At up to $100 a set with a run or two in the sweet spot.
A few years later that class was all but dead.
Don't get me wrong! I LOVE the tech.
But don't kid yourself= In RC almost every driver under pro level will find so much more return on investment on practice than anything they can do tech wise beyond what the base kits already have.
I just wish I had known that when I was young and my reaction times were still good.
Now some special tech is the only edge I can get.
I TQed last night with a motor that was burning up-no power.
Put in a good one and just couldn't run that fast anymore.
That's my secret tip. Was worth a lap. Much easier than shock voodoo.
Example, CanAm racing. True unlimited racing.
It got to the point where the hot setups were rapidly becoming go-carts with big blocks and little suspension with the tires doing most of the work.
Wicked fast! But also wicked dangerous. Once the rules changed away from going as fast as possible as effectively as possible - the class lost it's appeal. No one wanted to see superstar drivers killed on a regular basis so it wasn't sustainable.
The ragged edge of control was becoming a knife edge.
Kind of like mod pan cars in the RC world!
Either win or break!I see RC tech as being much the same.
Its a fine balance between speed, expense, driving skill required, wrenching skills, and scale appearance.
Every successful racing class does so by finding the right balance of all these factors.
You would be surprised how many full-scale automotive racing engineers /mechanics/designers were looking closely at the RC market during the 90's boom - all of them looking to bring hi-tech into the hobby.
Ultimately - most of the ideas they brought (including LOTS of shock ideas) just proved to be too costly or complicated for a HOBBY.
I went to an oval nats in 92 or 93 (King N.C.) and saw custom dynos costing 10k, a $2500 4-wheel Longacre car scaling system converted to RC size, some prototype chassis designs that had 4 wheel shocks with progressive valving (FOR A PAN CAR CLASS!) , talked at length about wind tunnel testing, ETC! There were guys in the pits that are almost household names in the NASCAR world today. Full scale tire engineers were working on ideas for the capped tires they were running. At up to $100 a set with a run or two in the sweet spot.
A few years later that class was all but dead.
Don't get me wrong! I LOVE the tech.
But don't kid yourself= In RC almost every driver under pro level will find so much more return on investment on practice than anything they can do tech wise beyond what the base kits already have.
I just wish I had known that when I was young and my reaction times were still good.
Now some special tech is the only edge I can get.
I TQed last night with a motor that was burning up-no power.
Put in a good one and just couldn't run that fast anymore.
That's my secret tip. Was worth a lap. Much easier than shock voodoo.
05-22-2010, 11:46 AM
#23
My shocks work awesome. I don't know what the problem is.
05-22-2010, 12:06 PM
#24
In racing, light and simple almost always trumps complicated unless almost unlimited resources are brought to bear.
Example, CanAm racing. True unlimited racing.
It got to the point where the hot setups were rapidly becoming go-carts with big blocks and little suspension with the tires doing most of the work.
Wicked fast! But also wicked dangerous. Once the rules changed away from going as fast as possible as effectively as possible - the class lost it's appeal. No one wanted to see superstar drivers killed on a regular basis so it wasn't sustainable.
The ragged edge of control was becoming a knife edge.
Kind of like mod pan cars in the RC world! Either win or break!
I see RC tech as being much the same.
Its a fine balance between speed, expense, driving skill required, wrenching skills, and scale appearance.
Every successful racing class does so by finding the right balance of all these factors.
You would be surprised how many full-scale automotive racing engineers /mechanics/designers were looking closely at the RC market during the 90's boom - all of them looking to bring hi-tech into the hobby.
Ultimately - most of the ideas they brought (including LOTS of shock ideas) just proved to be too costly or complicated for a HOBBY.
I went to an oval nats in 92 or 93 (King N.C.) and saw custom dynos costing 10k, a $2500 4-wheel Longacre car scaling system converted to RC size, some prototype chassis designs that had 4 wheel shocks with progressive valving (FOR A PAN CAR CLASS!) , talked at length about wind tunnel testing, ETC! There were guys in the pits that are almost household names in the NASCAR world today. Full scale tire engineers were working on ideas for the capped tires they were running. At up to $100 a set with a run or two in the sweet spot.
A few years later that class was all but dead.
Don't get me wrong! I LOVE the tech.
But don't kid yourself= In RC almost every driver under pro level will find so much more return on investment on practice than anything they can do tech wise beyond what the base kits already have.
I just wish I had known that when I was young and my reaction times were still good.
Now some special tech is the only edge I can get.
I TQed last night with a motor that was burning up-no power.
Put in a good one and just couldn't run that fast anymore.
That's my secret tip. Was worth a lap. Much easier than shock voodoo.
Example, CanAm racing. True unlimited racing.
It got to the point where the hot setups were rapidly becoming go-carts with big blocks and little suspension with the tires doing most of the work.
Wicked fast! But also wicked dangerous. Once the rules changed away from going as fast as possible as effectively as possible - the class lost it's appeal. No one wanted to see superstar drivers killed on a regular basis so it wasn't sustainable.
The ragged edge of control was becoming a knife edge.
Kind of like mod pan cars in the RC world!
Either win or break!I see RC tech as being much the same.
Its a fine balance between speed, expense, driving skill required, wrenching skills, and scale appearance.
Every successful racing class does so by finding the right balance of all these factors.
You would be surprised how many full-scale automotive racing engineers /mechanics/designers were looking closely at the RC market during the 90's boom - all of them looking to bring hi-tech into the hobby.
Ultimately - most of the ideas they brought (including LOTS of shock ideas) just proved to be too costly or complicated for a HOBBY.
I went to an oval nats in 92 or 93 (King N.C.) and saw custom dynos costing 10k, a $2500 4-wheel Longacre car scaling system converted to RC size, some prototype chassis designs that had 4 wheel shocks with progressive valving (FOR A PAN CAR CLASS!) , talked at length about wind tunnel testing, ETC! There were guys in the pits that are almost household names in the NASCAR world today. Full scale tire engineers were working on ideas for the capped tires they were running. At up to $100 a set with a run or two in the sweet spot.
A few years later that class was all but dead.
Don't get me wrong! I LOVE the tech.
But don't kid yourself= In RC almost every driver under pro level will find so much more return on investment on practice than anything they can do tech wise beyond what the base kits already have.
I just wish I had known that when I was young and my reaction times were still good.
Now some special tech is the only edge I can get.
I TQed last night with a motor that was burning up-no power.
Put in a good one and just couldn't run that fast anymore.
That's my secret tip. Was worth a lap. Much easier than shock voodoo.
The CanAm cars were awesome.
I haven't heard any good from the RPM pistons except a few posts back. Anyone else using them?
KISS - keep it simple
Last edited by Torque221; 05-22-2010 at 12:07 PM. Reason: added more
05-22-2010, 01:39 PM
#25
The RPM pistons work well in the AE B4 and SC10 when useing a soft spring setup and thinish oil for dusty small jump tracks. Work best with 30wt oil.
You'll need a rear sway bar to go with them.
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
