JoeyE

iTrader: (45)

The best shaft car I ever had was a TA02. It went from an onroad car to a rally car and back to an oroad car. The best money ever spent.

Racingbod85

A magazine in the UK did a test of SD vs BD. down hill, no pinion, same weight SD wins 5 from 5 - shows smoother more efficient drivetrain. next straight acceleration shootout, same gearing, same stock motor - SD wins 5 from 5. next mod motor acceleration test BD wins 5 from 5. the torque of the mod just didn't allow the shaft chassis to settle and it couldn't get off the line. whereas the belt just shoved all the weight back and off we go!! it shows at my local track. for stock and 19t shafties are right up there but belts rule mod. unfortunately cos the premiere competitions are always mod, companies are gonna concentrate on developing the belt drives and shafts are gonna be let down by their ageing suspension setup as the years progress.

ark

iTrader: (11)

my two cents... belt driven cars have an advantage over shaft in the way which the relationship in the motor is to the chassis.
If you hold a belt drive car in one hand and accelerate you can feel the torque from the motor rock the car back and forth. If you do the same to a shaft, it rocks from side to side.
This is magnified very much especially if you have a high rpm modified in the car.
So the way to look at it is if the motor rotates on the same axis as the wheels are turning, then there is more symmetry in the power application. The ideal would be a shaft drive with a motor positioned like a belt car! Cause a shaft driveline does rotate freer than a belt.

nuff said now.

Chancellor6630

Since we are on the topic of Shaft V.S. Belt... just wanna ask becoz iam a newbie myself... Which amongst the two is best at drifting? They say shaft because the inertia created from a drift can apply unecesary stress on the belt reducing its being efficient but some say belted are better than shafted because of its smooth drive train making it faster during a drift. Obviously its a contradictory statement.

TimPotter

iTrader: (15)

Actaully I believe Marc R won in 2004 driving a 415, the previous winner was Surikarn piloting a 414, and before that it was a Yokomo belted car with Hara at the wheel...

rayhuang

iTrader: (5)

Ahhh-beat me to it!! The TKE LCG Yok is ridiculousely fast, but not just in terms of pure rip-they made it handle awesome too. But-yeah-the car has that shaft drive rip and thats an advantage when you get the cars handling right.

A good old Pro4 or TC3 in the right hands will still be a force to be reckoned with.

seaball

iTrader: (9)

guilty.

tc4kid191

The belt guys are paying the shaft guys to stop winning

b-man777

hi all:so are you all saying shaft drive sedans are better for stock and 19t and belt drive sedans are better for mod.?also does driving style factor into weather you choose a shaft or belt drive car?thanks for the info

seaball

iTrader: (9)

this debate has gone round and round, and ultimately it is the parts surrounding the drivetrain that make the bigger difference. setup, durability, and available tuning options are far greater factors in determining the competitiveness of a chassis.

right now it seems that the belt cars are being paid more attention to. therefore, modern advances have been passed along to them such as short arms, high efficiency belts, diff height adjustments, top loading diffs, etc. if there were 10 manufacturers working on shaft cars, they would be better.

here are some necessary things the next level shaft car should have:

- low friction gear material
- lower internal drive ratio: especially for stock where pinions are large anyway
- outdrive bearings that can take an axial load: since the diff gear tries to walk away from the pinion under load.
- aluminum outdrives: to keep the gear mesh as precise as possible and to facilitate the blade style pincusions.
- adjustable diff height: via pillows similar to a 12th scale. the input shaft will of course rise/lower to match.
- shorter arms: like xray, corally, etc. that appears a good length as of right now.
- better ackermann curve: since the shaft/gear cases get in the way, alot of the shaft cars have a crappy ackermann curve to clear everything and still get enough steering throw.
- more forward weight distribution: the newer generation cars are moving the cells forward and it is working. especially on carpet.

well that's a start, anway. who wants to volunteer to make it now?

ChadCapece

Have you ever even owned a shaft driven car?

A slight droop adjustment cancels out the torque steer that is ONLY seen in low turn modified racing.

Jack Smash

iTrader: (35)

I think the reason the belts are starting to dominate over the shafts is due to the fact you can get the polar moment of inertia much smaller on a belt car than a shaft car. Most belts are offset toward the motorside which allows the battery (heaviest single item in an electric car) to be moved closer to the centerline of the car.

housey

iTrader: (1)

its clear that shaftys are very competative in 27/23/19, and they are always going to be one of the best options in lower power classes, but i dont see how fancy diff height adjustments and other small things like that will ever override the fudamental issues that shaftys have in low turn applications.

as much as people try to argue it, i dont see u can simply tune out torque steer, and the issues concerning chassis flex are always going to be present. and introducing diff height adjustments into shaft cars seems highly complicated for very little benefit.

now that mod racing is moving to new speeds, i doubt that shaft drive cars will ever be the force they once were, but as i said before, in the stock classes, they could well be the advantage.

seaball

iTrader: (9)

true. there is no way to truly counter the torque steer, w/o finding a way to mount the motor 90* to the way it is now in a shaft car.

but for lower powered racing, torque steer should not be an issue. it may be detectable, but it should not be an issue. given that most racers never see a mod motor under competitive circumstances, i am waiting for a car directly marketed toward stock racing.

housey

iTrader: (1)

i find it strange that noone ever mentions the yoke LCG SD, that (from looking at japanese etc results) is an awesome car for stock racing. yet when people talk about the best shafty, they always go on about pro4's etc. give the LCG a look in people.

and as some guys already said, the TKE SD, iv seen pictures and it looks very very cool. has anyone out there got more details on this car please???