Evilgies

When and where is this race?
Do you race against nitro-buggies?
If I have the time I can come and support or even ride myself!

Pulse_

The race takes place in Belgium the 26 of August at the track of Meux (MBRC)

There will be nitro and electro buggies. Most of belgium pilots run brushless but in endurance races there are still some of them who doubt about the reliability of electric buggies.. They can run for 12h continuously with absolute no trouble I can guarantee it. You just need to choose an efficient setup!

You're welcome at the track, the teams are already full but don't hesitate

Evilgies

Thats a long drive for me because I live in The Netherlands.
Are there any races near Liege or Verviers?
Thats more interesting for me.

Zerodefect

I'd switch to nitro.
-less tire wear
-less drivetrain wear
-less weight, so less wear overall
-just one battery change (run a big lipo)

Evilgies

And you can ride for 10 hours on 1 tank??
Better keep driving brushless.

Zerodefect

Newb. Can you go 10hours on one battery, or are you suggesting the OP use an extension chord or solar power?

Endurance racing has been popular with nitrobuggies for a while. Have you not heard of 1 hour mains. 10 hours is hardly any different, just a few reciever packs and some tires.

Onroad nitro has 8hr races every year.

Nitro-5second pitstop every 10min
E -2minute pitstop every 12-15min

Hmmmmm.

GizmoJunkie

iTrader: (5)

Im with zero on the nitro aspect, very valid points there.

Im thinking that this is something the OPs race coordinators have already planned and my have to drive electric. If you can run either nitro or electric, id probly stick to nitro. Less hassle in the long run im thinking.

electrickid

iTrader: (23)

I understand what you guys are saying about running nitro, but on the other hand there are a lot more things that can break in a 10 hour race. Nitro motor and all its moving parts, flame outs, heat, extra servo, receiver pack. I ran electric before I started running nitro, and I would feel much safer running electric as long as I could keep up with batteries and keep temps low.

electrickid

iTrader: (23)

As far as helping prepare what about a heat sink or fan on the motor and esc?

Zerodefect

You have to go with what you know. My nitrobuggy is far more reliable than my Ebuggy. But that takes nitro experience, so that's what I would pick.

Forget the fans. They'll only throw blades off and/or short out your BEC. Use body scoops of some sort to funnel air to the ESC. Open the rear of the body up more. Maybe trim out a window.

Have a battery tray with ESC mounted and wired to a complete motor/plate/center diff assembly ready to drop in. It's fair to say you may blow an ESC or lose a solder joint.

Ditto for the radio tray and reciever if you can afford it. Have the whole tray prebound and ready to go as soon as you toss it in, turn it on, land your servo arm last.

I'd imagine you'll need 40-50 batteries. It takes about 1 hour for me to charge a battery at 1c.

In the time it takes to burn 10 batteries you can only charge 2.

Soooo. 15 batteries and 5 chargers should do the trick with room to spare right? And I'd use 12v car batteries as a powersource, or at least have 2 on hand. If track power fails you could be in a bad spot.

GizmoJunkie

iTrader: (5)

I was just going to suggest solder joints! It hasnt happened to me often, but when it does, it seems to do so when i really need it to hold together.

Be sure to loctite any questionable metal to metal screws!

Dang, zero is on his game none-the-less!

Pulse_

Thanks for the input but we already made an endurance with 4 lipos (hyperion G3) charged continuously with one charger (hyperion 720imet3) at 4C. Yes, we did it We also managed to race during 10h with ONE single set of tire . And they were barely half worn at the end (the model was DLD scrape)

So don't get too crazy about the numbers, you don't need to be a billionnaire to end an endurance. Our cars are light because we run high voltage setups. 1400kv 6S normally.

We tried 1400kv in 5S without fan but we have a hard time keeping the temps down without a fan. I follow Zero on this: a passive cooling system is much better.

So do you think we should rather go for a 6S 1400kv setup with a smaller pinion compared to a 5S 1400kv with a larger pinion? I would like to have your advice on this, I need to order some batts

As fr the connectors we might go for traxxas because the EC5 are still a pain in the ass to unplug fast

aloksatoor

iTrader: (43)

I agree with Pulse, nitro is asking for trouble in endurance racing, so many things that can potentially go wrong, so many more moving parts that unless you run brand new equipment its liable to fail in 10 hours.

Unless you have the $$$ to buy new engines every race, I would go electric any time. The work for the pitman is a bit more than nitro to swap batteries out but at least its clean (no need for heat resistant gloves) flame outs and such.

Pulse_

Here is what we have now:

- DNX408 with RCMonster conversion + FTW exabyte body
- 1400kv T8 (x2) motors
- RX8, MMP and mamba monster controller
- DX3R, DX3C, DX3S radios
- SR300 (x2) + SR3100 receivers
- 1258TG servos (x2) + spare servos
- 6S various lipos + traxxas connectors
- 5 sets of Jconcepts Double cross tires in medium compound + spare sets

- Hyperion 720inet3 + 615duo chargers
- Meanwell power supply

Preparation:
- motor and diff cases sealed with silicone
- mudguards
- jersey shocksocks
- all the metal to metal screws fixed with blue loctite
- vented body
- body fixed with velcro
- higher body posts for the biggest lipos
- 1 single velcro strap for the battery tray
...

If you have any suggestion

Mindcrimes

iTrader: (29)

im with u on that nitro is more concervative. all u have to worry about is temp changes with tune but it an easy fix. plus ive broken less things on my nitro than on my electric buggys. always broke with brushless durring races even with out crashing. something always happens.