xSTxPhoeniXx

Hi,

I had been looking into getting into RC racing and was undecided Touring or minis in which ive decided to go touring and plan on buying an Xray T4 to race in their 13.5 boosted class which is most popular.

I have been recommended a Sanwa Exzes Z / Futaba 4GRS unless there is another good transmitter option around the Futaba price?


Only thing is as silly as it may sound with all these options and choices it does feel a little daunting and wondered if someone could make a short list of essentials that I will need to race.
Bodyshell, car, transmitter, batteries, charger is all I can think of.


Another would be i have been recommended a hobbywing 2s esc however i am not 100% sure what i am looking at. I think he mentioned not all can run boosted so i would love if someone could tell me a hobbywing 2s with boosted.

The same with recommending 7.4 2s batteries. I don't want whats most expensive but something that's not a cheapy either but a competitive one.



Sorry if these questions sound so simple as they most likely are, but with so much to think about i don't want to end up ordering the wrong thing or missing something out.



Many thanks

altitudelow

iTrader: (3)

The standard recommendations are to race in the class that's highly attended at the track you intend to race, and to buy a car that's well supported by the parts available at that track. Don't get wrapped around the axle about having the best equipment because high end motors and batteries are about shaving tenths of a second, and until you are running a full heat without self induced crashes you're really throwing all that advantage away. The difference in speed just from driving ability is remarkable to the point that it seems almost impossible.

If your class has a well attended spec class like USGT I'd go there first just to take out some variables like tire choice and body. HobbyKing's Trackstar equipment and their turnigy batteries are solid and reasonably priced.

XRay touring cars are well regarded and have a reputation for being durable, just make sure your track has parts for them before buying.

disaster999

iTrader: (1)

There are a lot of other good brands of car to choose from, the newest kid on the block, Mugen, is not a bad choice. I race 13.5T boosted myself and it is very competitive. Xpress's XQ1 is another popular choice locally. Xray isnt bad and it performs pretty well, but lately i feel like they are becoming the Apple of RC. Not much innovation esp with the new 2018 T4. The only they got going for them are parts are easily accessible and Im sure there are at least one or 2 more people at your local track running xrays which can help out with setups.

From the 2 radios you listed, Im guessing you would want to stick with stick controls? Cant give you anymore advice other than I know KO makes a stick radio as well, but thats as far as my knowledge goes for stick radios.

Thinks you will need to race touring:
Servo
Receiver
ESC
Motor
Motor fans
Battery
12gauge wires
Solder
bullet connectors
Battery tape or velcro straps
Anti tweak battery pads
Wheel set (rims, insert, tire)
Tire glue
Body
Paint specifically for lexan bodies
curved scissors to cut bodies
Wrench set (1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0mm, 5.5mm and 7mm socket)
Tie rode adjusters (3 and 4mm)
Body Reamer
Battery Charger
Power supply (if your charger doesnt have one built in)

ESC you would want to get the Hobbywing XR10 Pro 160A

Motor go with the Hobbywing Bandit G2 13.5T

Chargers there are lots to choose from, most popular and best equipped IMO would be the iChargers duo, but anything with at least 300W of charging power should be enough. You can check out the threads on chargers over in the electronic and radio forums

Battery is another big debate on which is the best, depending where you are (im assuming somewhere in Europe) LRP or Nosram battery are pretty good. Then you have your IPs, Arrowmax, Muchmore, R1 etc etc.

This should get you started

xSTxPhoeniXx

Thanks for the replies.

Have you got any recommended bodyshells at all?

And after each race do you discharge then recharge or just straight up recharge until the end of the day?

You mentioned the best equipped are ichargers duo, are these also a power supply for tyre warmers everyone was using or just simply a charger? And is there a specific icharger duo number as searching that brings up many different numbered ones.

I'm from the UK. Sorry for all the questions

DirkW

iTrader: (1)

Answers in blue.

SouthFloridaApp

iTrader: (6)

Go to the track and ask questions. Will you be racing on asphalt or carpet? What is your budget?
13.5 may be a bit fast for a new racer. Do they have a 17.5 class with a lot of participants?
I would not buy a stick radio..... If you are on a budget try a hobbywing xr10 Justock for about sixty US dollars.... I think this is almost as good as my 200 dollar xr10 pro......brakes may be slightly weaker but it is very good....

disaster999

iTrader: (1)

Isnt that exactly what xray is doing? But anyways, Ill let the people decide for themselves which car they want to use.

I guess Im not all that familiar with the rules, races Ive been to allow the bandit motor, they all just dyno the motor and limit to 3000kv.

Bodyshells is another personal preference thing. You have to try and see which body works for your driving style and track conditions. That being said, the LTCR has become the standard for asphalt racing. There are a lot companies that have a similar body as the LTCR, Montech, Blitz, Bittydesign, Killerbodies just to name a few. Another body thats becoming very popular also is the Bittydesign M410, a lot of racers use that body now. The newest kid on the block that is making a lot of noise as well is the Montech Racer. A lot of people like that body and provides tons of grip.

As for batteries when you are done racing for the day, people usually put them in storage mode which for some chargers will either charges or discharges the battery down to roughly around 3.8-3.9v. You dont ever want to store the battery when the charge is too low, nor do you want to store batteries fully charged.

The iCharger, like DirkW mentioned, is just a charger, and does not include tire wamers. Thats one thing I forgot to list out. You would want to get a tire warmer and tire additives to provide more grip. Try your local track and see what everyone is using. And if you are adventurous and like to experiment, or you just have a bunch of unused tire sauce lying around, mix and match them together...thats what Im doing and getting pretty good results. Just make sure your track allows for this sort of thing.

I consider the iCharger Duos to be one of the best charger is because its powerful. Depending on the model, you get 800-1400w charging power per channel and 80-130W discharger per channel. You can do regenerative charging, add an external load for discharging, its accurate and precise, reads the cells internal resistance and charges any type of rechargeable batteries you can think of.

Get a HP server power supply and you should be all set with every electrical need. They are extremely cheap and can be found just about anywhere.

valk

iTrader: (13)

if you like stick radios by all means try it out, but those radios are pretty expensive so id ask if you can try a few different clubbies cars with various radio setups. sticks seem common in the uk ect but in the us extremely uncommon. not sure if its a culture thing but you should check out both options and make your own decision of whats comfortable to learn on. and try to stick to it cause if you change up half way through it makes things harder.

im not sure you previous background but you don't have to spend exuberant amounts of money to go racing.. i charger is a good safe charger purchase but then you need a power supply to suit ect. lots of racers will go for the hitech or sky rc or similar chargers due to built in ac/dc support which simplifies your daily operations and pit space at the track. currently i own the icharger 308 duo which ill use for discharge tests and battery benchmarking but trackside iv'e switched to the reedy 1216c for simplistic operation and desktop space. cant beat a unit with built in ac power for most track uses.

you would be safe to buy hobbywing equipment as well for xray as lots of the drivers run hobbywing equipment and you can get lots of setup information about it.
similarly orca power systems. you prob dont need the $300 esc to run 13.5 though it gives you more options in the future if you want to run modified ect.
motors are subjective. see what your local guys suggest. batteries also subjective. most NEW batteries out of of the box will give you good performance and survivability, depends on your habits with them and how you treat them. whether you spend top dollar or bottom on batteries, consider them as disposables with limited number of cycles.
if you charge at 7 amps or so and storage charge after a day of racing they can last quite a long time. i have orca batteries that have lost capacity but still balance charge perfectly 3 years after purchase and having been run in mod almost exclusively.
check with your local racers which batteries they prefer, but just a walk through the pits will give you the impressions of what is desirable. no need to listen to the sponsor opinions heh.

a good set of tools is important. for touring car id consider a set of metric hex drivers, a ride height and droop gauge, camber gauge or some sort and 7mm nut drivers as required. setup stations, tire warmers, tire sanders and all that extra crap is just extra if you like to spend and want to have those tools yourself.
in my experience most racers will loan you the more expensive tools trackside if you ask nicely. Hudy tools and Mip are excellent. Iv'e heard a lot of good things about Arrowmax as well.
on my personal bench are MIP thorp drivers and nut drivers, and when i travel i use Team associated factory team tools as they are lighter than the mips and less expensive than the hudy.

a lot of the decision making comes down to how much money your comfortable spending up front. but more importantly how much time you are comfortable spending.
iv'e seen a lot of racers come to the track with money to burn, only to find out they cant drive the cars well like they expect or don't want to put in the time to learn how. racing is a super fun, super rewarding bonding experience with other dudes that you can do for a lifetime. but it take a lot of hands on practice and a lot of time wrenching to get the cars right and the driver practiced.
this can all seem intimidating at first when you see skilled drivers ripping up the track.. but the point is to have fun and bond with other people. the racing is almost a side effect of that.

DirkW

iTrader: (1)

They are still quite popular in the UK - much more so than in the US or Germany. You can be competitive either way - Jilles Groskamp became TC World Champion with a stick radio a couple of years ago.

As long as their cars get a little better each time (and they have, up to and including the 2017 model - have to see about the 2018)... I'd say no, it's not only for the sake of a change. But still, when you have one of the best and most successful platforms out there, you just don't want to make radical changes, unless it becomes necessary - and so far it was not necessary. One should not forget, it gets really expensive to do radical changes - and with a little bad luck, the new car will not go as well or not be as easy to drive, and you end up losing customers fairly quickly. In other words, developing completely new designs is easier done for manufacturers who do not have a TC at all, or who at least don't have one that is considered competitive by the customers.

But you are right, people should choose their cars for themselves. Luckily there are quite a few good ones out there, not just "the one".

antlockyer

Your best bet if you are going to race at Eastbourne is to ring Zen Racing. Talk to David and Paul and buy a kit that they sell. For body use the LTC-R, tyres use Volante, additive use spider grip. David and Paul wil often visit the track on a race evening and bring stuff with them if you order it. They do more to help out the local racers than you can imagine.

antlockyer

Also of the kits that they sell (ARC and Destiny) there are more people running Destiny (including me and a factory driver) so you are more likely to get a working setup. The Destiny is an absolute bargain.

Lipos use the Hobbyking ones, they are perfect for boosted and cheap (Nano tech ultimate 6.6). Motor isn't super critical. Motiv work exceptionally well in touring car and run colder than anything else I've tried. Monster has a lot of rip out of corners and seems great for blinky.

Hobbywing speedos are great, people know how to set them up.

snuvet75

iTrader: (16)

Since most above said invaluable things already, I'll add a couple based on my experience when I started racing. (This is considering you're a newbie)
Consider slower class. 21.5T or stock 17.5T. They are still plenty fast for a newbie.
Buy used chassis. Stick with well known company with parts support (especially the one that many locals run). You will crash a lot. If you don't when you're a newbie, you're not trying hard enough. Or maybe you're just so gifted lol
Don't bother to buy expensive batteries (I would buy 2 at least) and servos (I would buy 2 too). The value you get by spending more on batteries is pretty thin considering you're just trying to get used to RC racing. 5000mAh capacity is more than enough for stock racing.
Servo should be good enough but you don't need very expensive one. Savox would be the best deal for you. Don't care too much about torque because it's onroad 1/10 race. Servo speed matters a bit but IMO, it's totally overrated. If you need your servo to turn that fast, that means you're steering too abruptly not giving the car the chance to balance out.
Do buy a good radio. Stick or not, cheap ones don't have good adjustability. You will use it for a long time so might as well invest.
Do buy a good ESC (Hobbywing is just fine and cheap) with booster/turbo capability if you really want boosted racing later on. I'm sure there are many knowledgeable people here to list out many ESC's on the market but personally I use Airtronics (Sanwa), Tekin, Speedpassion,etc and they are all fine. I had some previous versions of Novak ESC's and I hated all of them. I'm sure they have improved a lot though.
Do buy a good set of tools. Car set up and wrenching are critical in TC racing and w/o proper tools, you will waste lots of time and ended up getting very frustrated. If you don't want to spend a lot, stay away from Hudy. you might find a good deal here or online for different companies. I use Arrowmax. I like them better than Hudy and they are cheaper. Check out Desotoracing.com. If I were you, I'd buy a full set of tools in a fabric bag like this:
https://www.serpentamerica.com/shop/...cat=108&page=8
For tires, you just can't get away with cheap ones. Buy whatever locals run at the track. The very basic and most important ones are tires.
You will want to use a set up station eventually once you come to understand how the car works. I understand getting to know your car and driving are already hard enough at the beginning. You may just skip the set up station for now and bring the car to local track and get some help with that. You can invest later for that. But FYI:
https://www.serpentamerica.com/shop/...cat=108&page=4
For the body, follow recommendations above. Just don't bother with painting. Buy a spray can (yes I said ONE) and be done with that. You will destroy it pretty quick lol. Ok you have artistic talent and you get amazingly beautiful shell, people praise when you get to the track, you destroy it in one day and nobody will say it's beautiful anymore lol. Pardon my sarcasm. Oh and I wouldn't buy light weight body. Easier to break if you crash a lot.
Lastly, once you get an acceptable set up on your car with local's help, learn to drive. I used to blame the car's set up when I couldn't get the car to drive how I wanted it to do and made drastic changes on the car only to make it worse. But it's mostly you who has to try to suit to the car, not the other way round. Because once the car gets going on the track, you can't change the car's set up but you can adapt to the car. Good luck.
Oh I forgot to mention soldering station. You need a good one. I have a TrakStar one and I love it. Most soldering guns at home improvement stores are either too bulky or garbage.