Mason

That's funny. Each weekend I take something somebody says and use it as the quote of the week. Last week's was.. "I put a stock motor in and finally finished a whole race!" as you have found out all that power does you no good if you can't apply it.

Like the guys said. Read your transmitter's manual and see if it will let you turn down the steering sensitivity, which can be had a few ways. Also the throttle sensitivity which has a few adjustment possibilities.

The biggest thing is to SLOW down and then you will learn how to become fast.

Riketsu

iTrader: (34)

Dunno about you guys... But when I started, I tried going slow around the track and ended up at every corner, just because a slow car can steer much further. So when your learning, dont go slow, just not at top-speed. When to steer is one of the most important things here, and you learn it by trial and error. Like AM03GT said, go on the middle of the track then each time you take a corner, try to get close to the racing line.

iblumberg

I recently got some help at my local track. Let me summarize what I found to be most helpful.

* As you have learned, start with a nice stock 27t motor like the Monster Pro. This gives plenty of speed for beginners, but don't get cocky, even a 27t can propel your car fast enough to reduce it to scrap in a bad crash.

* Make sure your car has a good basic set up. As mentioned above, ensure that your steering servo is working properly with good centering. Also ensure that you set your trim or substrim on the transmitter to get the car to go as straight as possible when the steering wheel is centered. You don't want to have to make constant steering corrections. Of course, look for any places where things rub or bind. For example, steer the wheels to their maximum stops (after setting dual rate as mentioned below) to ensure they don't rub anything. Check you shocks and ball cups near the wheels to ensure they don't rub anywhere. Ensure nothing rubs the drive belts, gears or pulleys. Go over all your screws and ensure they are tight. Measure your ride height and ensure it is even all around. Look at your shocks to ensure preload is about even on both front and both rear shocks.

* If you are running rubber tires, clean them frequently with motor spary or alcohol. You want to drive on the rubber, not on dirt. For consistency, you should probably get some tire treatment and apply it after every 5 to 10 runs, but clean after every run or two or whenever the tires don't look smooth and almost shiny. This ensures consistent response from your tires and takes away one of the biggest variables in handling.

* Set your dual rate on the transmitter as low as possible but just high enough that you can steer around the tightest turn on your course at fairly low speed. This eliminates the possibility of steering too sharply. Once this is done, check that the maximum steering is about the same left and right. If not, get it centered.

* As noted above, drive down the center of the track. It is not the fastest way around, but it is the furthest from the boards and allows the most margin for error without disaster. Once you complete all the steps below, then you can change your line to find faster lines.

* Concentrate on good steering technique. In particular, always steer the car. Don't open your hand and let the wheel snap back to center to go straight. Instead, deliberately turn the wheel to center and always hold onto the steering wheel and guide the car.

* Make a few laps at really low speed just to get the feel of watching as your car goes around the track and to start to get familiar with the track.

* Try to drive around the entire track at a constant 1/3 throttle setting just by steering carefully. This should be possible unless your track has one or more insane hairpins.

* Once you can consistently drive around at 1/3 throttle, increase to a constant 2/3 throttle on the long straight sections, but cut back to 1/3 early enough that you can steer through each turn. Do not brake and do not use any speeds other than 1/3 and 2/3. Don't vary your speed frequently as smooth consistent speeds yield a much more settled chassis and give better handling. Thus, just concentrate on 1/3 throttle for turns and 2/3 throttle for straights.

* After you feel very comfortable and consistent with the above, increase to full throttle on the straights, but stick to 1/3 throttle on the turns. Do this until you are extremely comfortable and consistent. After that, try going a bit faster than 1/3 throttle in the larger turns until you reach your maximum comfortable speed in each turn. Do this until you have developed a feel for the maximum safe speed of each corner. Also, start paying attention to where in each turn you can start accelerating beyond the safe corner speed, i.e., find the corner "exit".

* The above should take anywhere from 30 to 100 battery packs of practice. Only after you have completed all of the above steps with confidence should you start looking for the racing line. You will probably have a good feel for much of the racing line by this time anyway simply because in the course of practicing, you will stray from the middle of the track from time to time and you will notice that some of those departures seem to result in better lines and better times.

* Another big help in all of the above is to run on a track that has automated timing. Run a pack and then look at your lap times. At first at each stage, your goal is to be as consistent as possible. Once you are consistent within about 1/2 second to 1 second per lap, then you can concentrate on reducing your lap times, but again focus on consistency.

Good luck,
Ira

bvoltz

iTrader: (44)

Another sugguestion.... This cost a lot less as you do not destory the real car... www.virtualrc.com, plus you can invest a hour a day with out loading up and heading the track, every day... I used this product for 30 days, 1 per day, that was my investment, and it paid off greatly. Now I'm on this all the time getting faster and faster... My first outing at the track before this, 16 laps was the best I could do, in 4 months... after one month working with the sim, I was up to 20 laps, then another month 22 laps, the fast guys run 23 to 25 depending on the time of the year.

I started in this sport about 7 months ago.

I agree with everyone else, start slow and work up to speed. You first goal is to drive as fast as you can to make a complete lap with out hitting anything, then at that speed, 10 laps, until you get 10 laps down, do not go faster... After that 10 laps, take a corner at a time, and work only one that corner once you are comfortable, 10 laps again, in a row... once you have this, move to the next corner, etc... at each corner, play with your lines, this will teach you that different lines are possible and how to handle them.. As the fast guys will need to get by you... and some day, you will need to pass them back...

This is how I worked on my driving skills....

TEM

I don't think the 415 (or any top of the line racer) is a good platform for a newbie to learn to drive and setup on. For one, you will beat the crap out of it. There are more durable cars out there; not as fast but can take a beating much better! LW suspension parts break easily, while regular suspension likes to strip knuckles if you hit walls. The other thing is it has too much setup variables that can cause a lot of confusion on its own and worse when your buddy says something something something is better, etc...

As suggested above you probably want a locked center pulley and front diff. I'd say it's cheaper for you to buy a used car more suitable for learning on for less money than a new pulley and front diff.

Sushi Man

how i learned is just through many battery packs... Even till this day i dont make ride height all around the same.. ive noticed it doesnt matter.. DRIVING IS #1!!!
Hell nothing matters when your a newb .. my cars never went straight LOL, I dont know about the lowering throttle thing, as though i never did it but i always do when i go to track.. to get use to the track..

You might want a diff in the front. but since its a 415 u'd have to get the yokomo diff

iblumberg

I agree with this as well. See about picking up a TA-05 from a cheap source. I've heard of them for as little as $125 in the US and got one for $90 in Japan two weeks ago. This car will likely be more durable than a 415 and is pretty dialed right out of the box, so there is less to worry about with set up. Plus, you can use your pretty TRF shocks on the TA-05 and then transfer them back to the 415 once you have gained experience. Just transfer your electronics over to the TA-05 and use it as your learning platform. Then graduate to the 415 after some months of learning.

Ira

XingXing

pratice is sooooooooooo overated.


best way to get faster is to go on the internet and ask people how to drive faster

Sushi Man

hehe

krisnata

don't get too fast,..... slow down.

slow car in racing line is faster than fast car out of line.....

somebody told me this, but forgot who,.........

Still Bill

iTrader: (16)

He cannot go wrong with all the helpful posts...

Go slow (for now) to get fast (sooner than later)!

XingXing

Reading this thread has been invaluable, it has decreased my lap times by over 1 sec a lap and consistancy over 100%!!!

natskiboy

Whats the trick for cornering with one ways? I know you cant brake as the car might spin.

krisnata

very simple, brake as hard as you want as long as you break before you turn.... meaning, break when your steering straight.

don't brake while you turning........
otherwise your car will spin....lol

XingXing

i used to race off road and we used brake a fair bit. but for on road its not necessary. but i was always in the habbit of using brake, so what i did was just set the trim to a minimum so that it does have a bit of brake but not enough to make you spin out, eventually i now got out of habit of using brake, and now i never use it. that bit of advice should help you at least 0.5sec a lap