BadCarmaNY

Tonight I'd try an experiment with the extra chassis I bought, and the stock rims from my Mini kit... I suspected the plastic wouldnt take dye very well, but I decided to try anyhow, because I want a black chassis. The results were like this...





The wheels came out sorta a bronze color. Which looks good, so Im actually not disappointed.. Just a neat tidbit if anyone else is looking for a different color. Was done with Rit Black Liquid dye.

Scottrik

iTrader: (261)

99% of the people buying "ultra-supreme matched batteries" are kidding themselves. Especially so if they're racing these Minis. The first time they brush the wall they more than offset what marginal (and I mean WEE marginal) advantage they thought they were buying. Mike Blackstock could beat me with my own car if we put a different compound tire on each corner AND gave him a battery pack made up of random cells, one of which had vented. And I'm not a half-bad driver.

LiPo's won't make it "mainstream" in RC cars for a at least a couple years yet. And when they do you can BET they'll require a hard case ala Orion. We had a fellow (semi-pro RC helicopter pilot) playing around with them in his 1/12 car last year here. Decided to "strongly discourage" that. My feeling on the unprotected cells is they're too easy to puncture in a hard crash, and if you wouldn't willingly spill it on your wife's new living room carpet we sure as hell don't want you spilling it on our race carpet!!

Scottrik

Core Creations

iTrader: (108)

I have to disagree with the Lipo not being ready for mainstream...maybe here in KC we are ahead of the curve??? We have been running the Orion 4800 lipo for well over a year now in sedan (19t and 4300 foam) and it has taken some real hard hits...Guess what, didn't skip a beat! It still charges, runs and looks perfect...not 1 single problem.

I think saying it won't make it to TCS because of having to dremel 2mm of inside of the battery end is silly. I've seen TONS more mods that would be considered illegal make it through TCS tech with no problem. I will actually do a lot of my testing with my 3200 in my M03. And the 7.4 vs 7.2 volt is also false. Last time I checked the good 4200s were averaging 1.25v x 6 is 7.5volts AVERAGE!!! I ran a very well set up 19t sedan back to back with my 4800 and a good 3800 (last year before 4200s were available) and the 3800s were faster EVERY time!! It's only a matter of time before NIMH is DEAD! I don't think anyone was suggesting generic Lipos...I think just the 3200/4800 Orion/Peaks at this time should be legal! IN fact the 2007 rules for TCS were just released and the 3200/4800 IS LEGAL IN F103GT. Just wait til 2008!!

Core Creations

iTrader: (108)

I'm not trying to cause an argument...I just feel strongly that there is a lot of misimformation on lipos...they are the future, no question!

tamiyarcracer

TCS rules for the 2007 American series are posted.

http://www.tamiyausa.com/tcs_races/rules.php

Scottrik

iTrader: (261)

As I said, WHEN the LiPos are accepted in "mainstream" competition (ROAR, TCS), and I do believe they will be, my bet is they'll require the hard cases like Orion have done. The fellow I mentioned who was playing with them locally had the bare cells as you see for planes and egg-beaters. They can (and are) punctured VERY easily in a crash. Sometimes with MOST unpleasant results.

Re: Dremeling material on your TCS car...I just looked at the 2007 rules under "All Vehicles" and it's pretty clear that to "re-engineer or modify" the car is not legal. Ref. rule 5, 16 and 17. That's not to say I'm so naive as to believe folks don't do it, but I'll bet whatever you care to lose they didn't walk up to the tech table and say "Lookee what I did...".

And if the tech people are incompetent or choose to turn a blind eye to such infractions they only serve to compromise the integrity of the series. The series is based on minimizing the knowledge advantage experienced racers have as well as keeping costs moderately contained.

Silly or not...dems da rules. And I, for one, choose to live by 'em.

Scottrik

Core Creations

iTrader: (108)

I totally agree on the rules being there for a reason. It's probably one of the biggest reasons for the TCS success.

I could fit the Lipo in without dremeling the battery holder...and would be 100% legal...just not pretty! I just chose to make it fit better!

Scottrik

iTrader: (261)

And sure enough...TCS specifies the hard-case batteries.

Core Creations

iTrader: (108)

I would actually be 100% for the silver can classes to alos hand out motors and collect them at the end of the round...with a no tampering rule! Too many people have a "black arts" degree in these motors making it very unballanced power wise.

huskerfreak

iTrader: (5)

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Scottrik

iTrader: (261)

I agree there is a lot of misinformation re: the LiPo's, but I also see discussion online and pics of set-ups with unprotected cells that make me cringe. A sad fact is that the majority of racers see something like this and act before considering consequences, and in the case of LiPos there CAN be serious consequences. Not that NiCd's or NiMH are 100% foolproof, but they really are when compared to the current state of LiPo.

I agree, also, they ARE the future. Eventually.

Scottrik

Scottrik

iTrader: (261)

I couldn't have said it better myself.

GreaseMonkey

iTrader: (4)

My local club is starting up a mini class (Both bodywerx and SteveM who have posted here are a part of it) and I asked about running the 3200 LiPo. It got shot down pretty quickly though.
I see they've changed the TCS pinion rule for M04's too. Now allowing 21 teeth pinions instead of 19 teeth.

Core Creations

iTrader: (108)

Yeah...not too happy with that!

At a local level we already agreed that the 3200s are legal. Most people will run mini as a second class...and many already own several 3200s so it's an easy choice!

SteveM

iTrader: (165)

The Canadian TCS rules are a bit different and make no mention of Lipo packs or the pinion gear increase for the M04.

http://www.tamiya.ca/2007tcsrules.htm