Tubaboy

iTrader: (9)

Woohoo glad to see this class being added to ROAR. (Along with WGT and Electric 1/8th off-road)

Cya,
Paul

reenmachine

iTrader: (26)

See, for me, tinkering with the car is half the fun. That's what keeps me sane for the 2 weeks between race days . I prefer to hang out and BS at the track on race days rather than fool with my cars, and part of that, for me, is spending the time on weeknights making sure my cars are all squared away so I have reliability on Sunday. I have not had a non-crash-related DNF all year.

It's just how my brain is. I've been an engineer since birth -- getting the ME degree was just a formality . I just can't help but sweat the details.

Scottrik, if I thought there wasn't oil in one of my shocks I wouldn't be able to sleep at night! I'd have to crawl out of bed at 2 am and trudge down to the garage to remedy the situation.

Anyway, all of that in no way prevents me from having fun on race day. Probably quite the opposite. When the car is reliable and dialed all day I can have more fun racing!

liljohn1064

iTrader: (17)

That's why I ordered new springs and the main chassis for my son's ever so slightly chipped car Sunday at midnight? I thought I was just sick. I just couldn't sleep knowing the 2 cars weren't like I wanted them. The spring angle is wrong as the springs I'm using aren't made for my car and stand too tall. I have the shocks angled in too much and I'm not getting the roll center I want out of it. Its still 2 mm too high in the back! Have mercy on me! Honestly, I'm afraid to mess with the motor until its the last straw for performance. I know, three screws, turn and tighten. I figure If I can't drive a perfectly tuned chassis to its limit, a tweaked motor sure isn't going to drive it for me. I admit it, I'm just not that good... yet.

John

Kevin K

iTrader: (32)

Yeah this is really cool to see it become a ROAR class now......Thanks Doug!

Scottrik

iTrader: (261)

I hear you. I've been called "a bit anal" and worse about my 1/12 cars and how I have to have them "just so". I just run VTA as a lark as much as anything and, like IndyRC, I find there's always someone to dice it up with at whatever speed I'm running relative to the pack and that's where I find my fun.

Plus MAN I hate working on TC's. I don't know how you guys do it I can build a new 1/12 from a kit in the time it takes to service the bearings and CVD's in one corner of a TC.

reenmachine

iTrader: (26)

Well, I just today got my hands on a used 12L4 so we'll see how that goes!

snoopyrc

iTrader: (2)

I hear both of you guys. An I can understand both sides of the "How technical should you be in VTA" debate. I dont think I could let my car go without oil in the shocks, but at the same time I couldnt tell you what the weight of the oil in mine is. I cant tell you what the spring stiffness is. I trust that its set up pretty good because I bought it from someone who was very fast with it, but I havent changed the car. I couldnt promise that its in tweak sice I have hit barriers and other racers since I got it.

If I had time and money and nothing else to do then sure, I would have all the fine details worked out and would never miss a race. I would have all the calipers and hudy boards and I would study all the things that squeeze a tenth of a second from the car. But right now I can squeeze 2-3 seconds just by practicing with what ever Im driving. You must crawl before you can run.

Scottrik

iTrader: (261)

Remember...by the same "maintenance" schedule (or "lack of maintenance" schedule as the case may be) that has me not knowing if a shock is empty or not...I don't know that they might not be full to the top also. I haven't seen evidence of leakage (or I probably would make a repair...then have to change all four because I'd want the same shock oil. Or at least the two shocks at that end.) but that doesn't mean there hasn't been. Seems an awfully long time for oil to stay in one place. At least for ALL of it to stay.

liljohn1064

iTrader: (17)

My 10 year old 40 wt oil isn't pristine, but I topped my TC3s shocks off, checked the rebound and threw on Big Mike's posted setup last night. I need to swipe the green springs off my E4 and give that old TC3 a real run in to break in the tires. I still like the way that chassis drives after 10 years.

bigemike

iTrader: (36)

cool, let me know how you like the setup.

I wanted to also say that after taking multiple 5 year breaks in my 20 years of rc racing, started around 10 and I am 32. The VTA class has given me an outlet to really hone in my driving skills and has given my back the confidence it takes to race again. The cars are easier to drive, and it just makes my time at the track so much fun. Just about anyone who races also likes to win, and that is just the nature of our sport, and yes I do go through my cars and look for all the little tweaks I can make to make sure my car runs with the top guys. But we still all come off of the drivers stand with a smile on our face. USVTA has really also helped my drive my 17.5 rubber tire car a whole lot better. So regardless of where you stack up at the end of the day hopefully you had a great time racing.

At our track we will help anyone get upto speed and hopefully on the same lap after 5 min, but it is upto you to drive the car and figure out how to make it to the front.

reenmachine

iTrader: (26)

We had a big trophy race a couple of weeks ago, and I ran VTA as well as my 13.5 sedan.

I spent a ton of time fretting over the sedan and rebuilt the entire thing for the race. I fiddled with shock oil, spring rates, motor timing, FDR changes, sway bars, weight distribution, and programmed the ESC with the laptop. I spent $100 to have three different tire compounds on hand because the weather has been flip-flopping between 85° and sunny and 65° and overcast.

To prep the VTA car I blew it off with air compressor and added a new layer of strapping tape and shoe-goo to the front of the body.

I had waaaaaay more fun running the VTA car! I really hope we can get USVTA to catch on in socal. Maybe now that it's a recognized national class it'll come up on more people's radar screens.

UltegraSTI

iTrader: (20)

ugh the best thing bout T/A was that it was NOT ROAR. well, all things must pass i guess

R

reenmachine

iTrader: (26)

What exactly does it mean that it's a ROAR class now?

What will it do for, or take from, the class? (opinions obviously)

bigemike

iTrader: (36)

oh i am sure roar can ruin everything they touch, lol

liljohn1064

iTrader: (17)

ROAR approved doesn't mean the governing body of USVTA is going to lay down and die. It just means ROAR recognizes the class. I hope they keep an eye on us, but don't start forcing rules changes to take us away from the objective of slower, skilled and close racing. I hope this does bring about more consistency of how the class is run around the country for those that don't or won't read the rules at the USVTA website.