Enduro Race Help Needed
 

Im racing in a 500 lap teams of 2 enduro race on Sat. Was looking for some advice on it to gain an advantage.

My team consists of 2 electric cars (RDXs). We each have 2 Platinum 4800s and Novak Brushless 4300's (the legal limit for the race). As well as some spare battery packs and brushed motors just in case. Right now looks like I can get 18-22 min per pack. There is a required pit every 20 min (dont necessarily need to change drivers then but would like to). We will share a transponder we have to switch between the cars.

Any suggestions on improving our chances? Our strategy is slow and steady. We arent geared nearly as tall as we would for a 5 min race.

What would the pros and cons of cutting holes in the windshields like on a nitro car be? I think it would allow us to change the transponder much quicker and help cool the electronics but I dont want to slow the car down with drag or make it more difficult to control.

Also we will be racing against some nitro cars which should be interesting on the straightaways. 8 teams so far.

mount the transponder in the rear bumper of the cars - unless you have rules as to where you can put one...

the rear mounting helps for SUPER fast transponder changes...

another thing is a pit person...one person delegate to the pit to work on broken cars...

I'd also have another pack sitting charged for each driver in the event of a quick stint (i.e, you partener breaks their car 2 minutes into their 20 minute run), this way you can throw in the other pack and be back on the track...this is especially important since I have a feeling your packs are going to take AWHILE TO CHARGE

We used to run 1000 lap (3.5 hours or so) enduros at Trackside. Haven't done one lately, not sure why not - they were a blast. What really made them great was the team makeup format - all the guys who wanted to run placed their name in - the names were divided up by the race director into 2 groups (better drivers, less experienced drivers). Teams were choosen by random draw from the two lots of drivers - each team got two random better drivers, two random less experienced drivers - that way no team would be far superior to another. Also allowed guys to meet new guys, etc.

We were running stock motor, nimh's, so at the time we would get about 7 minutes or so per pack. Rules required that the car on track come to the pit, have transponder removed by the next driver and put into his car, get to drivers stand and go. We had teams of four, which allowed us some leaway with breakage (time to repair) that your two man format may not have. We always tried to have the next guy scheuled to drive ready on change early, so if there was a breakdown next guy was immediately ready to go. You guys will be very busy.

I would suggest that the guy coming off the stand immediately solder in a pack to his car to be prepared to relieve you immediately in the event of breakage. Then go ahead and do whatever is planned on maintenance, charging up the lipo, etc - then put the good battery in just before planned pit stop/driver change. Breakage down minimization is the key. Corners get an extra 6 inches of clearance from your normal race line - better to be a tenth slow then broke or hung up on a corner.

It was also amazing how slippery that transponder can be when you are under pressure to do a quick change. Make the transponder whole big and easily accessed (the rear of the body idea is a good idea if allowed). Have an extra body clip in your teeth when you do the transponder change - don't bother trying to pick up dropped ones.

Some great info here :D

I only suggested an enduro race on Sunday at our local race meet for the last meet of the year as a bit of fun before the presentation.

So i'll be watching this thread for any good ideas/tips

Cheers

i too have done some enduro races none stop for 2hrs the best advise i can give other than to drive clean to put your stongest driver in when there other teams are weak. that way you can gain or increase laps. or pull your weak driver off when there stronger.just depends on either catching up or gaining lap advantage...

have fun let us know how you get on ;)

Hey guys thanks for all your help! We ended up 3rd place (7 laps from first). If it had been a 160 laps race instead of 500 we would have ran away with it. :)

- The transponder in the rear bumper worked well
- The lipos were good and bad. When fully charged they worked well. However on repeak we could only get about 3500mah and only about 7 min run time. The problem with lipo is that there really is no warning that the batteries are dumping so hard to warn your teammate.
- The key would have been to really just stay on the track. My teammate had some untimely electronics problem (moments after I got off the track). It took us about 4 min to get back on and that is when we lost our lead.

All in all it was a really good time. My teammate ended up using my car at the end of the race (which also cost us time to change batteries in a single car). My car was used for 350+ laps out of 500 with only the plastic around my fan being damaged.