KiwiKid

Yeah man. I used to follow it when I was in NZ on ESPN, but now have to resort to the NET because ESPN in Singapore only shows Soccer, golf and formula 1. Other sports seem to take a back seat.

Where abouts do you stay in Toronto? I have relatives there.

Iso Octane

cool stuff!

I'm in NorthYork, Toronto.

Whereabouts in Singapore are you? Not that I'm likely to recognize the name (d'oh), but I'm curious anyways

Oh, and, I have an Aunt and Uncle in Singapore, so

KiwiKid

NorthYork? I can't say I know where that is but it does sound familar. It is close to the Granite Club? (probably not).

I live in East Singapore in an area called Bedok. Very close to the Singapore Changi International Airport.

Corse-R

Hi to all:

During this weekend my 04s has gone under their real first race. I've learned some things during this weekend.

TRF threaded shock bodies and two hole pistons isn't a really good deal for me. I've needed to use up to a 70wt oil and white springs on front, blue on rear and still bottoming rear end. Plan to switch to one hole pistons ASAP!.

Gear diffs don't mesh much with poweful mod motors losing traction a lot and hampering acceleration (mod 12T motors with 112/42 is way difficult to mesh). Today I've received ball diffs, plan to assemble now (bummer - LHS only had one lightweight diff halves).

Having serious problems with the stability of the rear. It broke loose at the most problematic places of the track (two 90º turns with a small straight of 4 o 5 meters between, taken at almost full throttle), imagine my face full of fear (I slammed two times the car to the wall protection). Can someone give some kind of setup for high speed tracks? Setup of the car is way different to my TC3.

On my LHS I've seen one chassis (part no. 53494) this is the 'so-called' US Specs carbon chassis what feedback have about this chassis?

Isaac

iTrader: (5)

Well last weekend was my first real race with the 04-R also and I must say it was very close if not the same as my 414M. I put in the center and diff one ways from the start. No push and it was fast. Now the rear yes did bottom out some but cranked on the spring a little for some more ride height and it was ok. White springs, 80wt oil up front, yellow and 55wt in the rear. Although I may try 70 wt oil in the back next time out. Take Off 27R rubber tires all the way around and a Protoform Status. No the rear never came around it was planted. The only thing I could see that was a problem was transition. The 55wt oil may have been too light as I could see the car leaning in each turn. So going from left to right and right to left the car's transition speed was slow.

ijnek

try the blue spring at the back,...the stiff 1s from tamiya...i believe the white 1 is the super stiff...

IMPACTPLAYR

iTrader: (7)

Well, The chassis is lighter, and stiffer than your 04-S chassis, and the battery slots allow the cells to set lower in the car.

You never mentioned where at on the corner your loosing traction, but I will assume it is on corner entry. First make sure you don't have any drag brakes being applied, if the car is automatically appliing brakes when you let off the throttle weight will transfer to the front and cause the rear end to loose grip. Add more droop, if the droop is set too low then when you let off the throttle and weight transfers the rear-end will loose traction.
If you don't have droop screws make sure both rear shocks are built to the same length, while you are at it check the front shocks too,

Check for chassis tweak......

I will post back later with a few more ideas......

izzyracer

iTrader: (27)

Hi Everyone, First posting here, I race frequently here at the tamiya track in Aliso Viejo, CA and ran 04's in GT2 and GT1 class. Anyway, I would like to share some info. Did you guys know that the chassis that came with the TA04-R with altezza Body is tweaked and has the new improved one in the new version (Graphite Look box without body). If you call Tamiya they will exchange it for the new version as long as you have not use it. Did you know that Tower was selling them for $165.00 before they got it in stock and the price was honored for those who pre-paid before it went up to $292.00.

Kodos!

Isaac

iTrader: (5)

Well I got the 04-R without the body... $225

Impactplayer- will you be in Frederick this weekend? I think there will be more competition this weekend.

Babblefish

Not trying to be a jerk or anything, but last time I checked, Ultimate Hobbies has it with the Altezza carbon-look body for $221.

Corse-R

Ok... The part where I loose traction is at the exit of the first turn, then, the rear ends loose grip and powerslides, very disgusting and terrifying situation.

Nope, no drag brakes and no brakes applied (is a high speed turn, 90 degrees, but very ample).

I tried to alleviate this hardening the front end, but I got wrong results. Maybe changing rear camber link to a shorter lengt (moving outwards)¿?

No chassis tweak, but the sides of the chassis were scratched, sometimes I figured that the chassis was touching the ground with the side.

IMPACTPLAYR

iTrader: (7)

Isaac- I don't think I will be able to make it this weekend, hope all goes well for you!!

Coarse r- You never mentioned if you are using droop screws, assuming you are....

First I would never make as a drastic change as chamber links until I have exhausted all other options, try using stiffer oil and then stiffer springs. Your problem could be because the chassis is leaning too much and the sides bottom out. when this happens the inside tire could also be lifting and causing the reduced traction, so increase your rear droop by 1-2mm at this time.

What is happening is your carcar is transferring the weight to the outside of the car too quickly.

Iso Octane

WHOA! That is one terribly frightening gear ratio!

Isn't it the rule to make the ratio numerically higher, with lower turn mods?

I have trouble with heat at 128/40 ratio (could be my problem) on a 12t.

Kiwikid: Quick look to my globe... ah... so that's where you are.

drool monkey

hehe. i tried a 90t spur and 42t pinion talk about a hot motor!

Corse-R

Off Topic mode on:

Yep, but racing with 12T motors (and specially if are Ti based mods), you need to go higher on pinion. 5,68:1 is not a uncommon ratio nowadays by Europe. I went higher as 5,3:1 with a 12T mod.

If you have problems of heating, make some tests with ratios ranging between 6,4:1 and 5,8:1. There should be the ratio for your motor.

Off Topic mode off:


Impactplayer:

This is the setup of my car used at the last weekend. Maybe isn't the best, but I haven't so much time to setup better the car (many problems, several 0,4 spurs fried - please tamiya, improve your plastic spurs, or sell them separately, now I have 3 sets of 120 and 128T spurs that I don't use - Anyone wants to do some exchange for 112T spurs? ).

Front:
TRF shock with 2 hole piston, 70wt oil and white spring.
Inner upper shock mounting.
Inner lower shock mounting (plan to return them to the outside).
Camber link at their stock position.
About 2 degree camber.
Sorex 28 w/ Sorex 'B' Medium insert.
No droop adjustment, no screws were provided on the kit.
No sway bar.

Rear:
TRF shock with 2 hole piston, 70wt oil and blue spring.
Medium upper shock mounting.
Outer lower shock mounting.
Camber link at the lower inner position.
2 degree camber.
Sorex 28 w/ Sorex 'B' Medium insert.
No droop adjustment.

No center/front one-way, diffs were gear ones.

Conclusions: the front end is soo good, very stable and very quick of reaction (needed to remove so much steering - D/R set at 41% travel). Rear end needs to be worked on it. Rear wheels were scrubbed (the nylon touched the asphalt). And the chassis were constantly bottoming at the rear.

I got several answers, some by PM suggesting to change the camber link to the lower/outer position (to provide to the wheel more camber change during shock travel and not to scrub the wheel), others pointed me to change the piston from the shocks from 2 holes to one hole and lower the density of the oil to a 40 or 50.

Plan to get some 3x10mm allen screws to have a droop adjustment.