GX2

I Know, I know. but I think he will like his new RC controller better.( I HOPE )

rcplus

Lipo is the wave of the furture! I think the 1 cell lipo is going to be the way to go in 1/12 and or 4 round cells the wgt is still up in the air for batterys and motors but i think the 1 cell may make it there also 13.5 brushless for pan car is the motor most likly. the sedan rubber class is a good place to start and we also run a sportsman 1/12 here and you can run stock or 17.5 brushless and 4 cell or 1 cell lipo and that would be a great place to start pan car.

GX2

Ron, This is sounds real good. I am glad to hear you are running the 1 cell lipo, are you selling them yet? I picked up one more used corally rubber car today so I will be in to get a radio, parts and a little help to get both sedan cars going. I will also be there next tuesday night with the kid and his slash, we had a blast at our first race a few weeks back. Thank You!

Rewp

Ok great information. So since you used to race real cars, you understand racing competitively at any level is not cheap. that being said... LRP sphere TCs are excellent speed controllers. for the touring car. the quantum is a brushed motor ESC from what i can remember. You're going to want to go to brushless for ease of maintenance. I would suggest getting an LRP SphereTC for the touring car and a 17.5 motor from trinity or hacker. That setup will definitely be competitive for your son. If you need to tone it down to start off with so he gets the hang of it, the sphere can still do brushed motors so you can slap in a silver can for training purposes with no problem.

for the WGT i also run a SphereTC but you could run a regular sphere without the heatsink and be just fine. WGT has plenty of room for the fan under the body. The lipo debate is still going hot n heavy. If you want to compete in the WGT class right now you'll need to get some 4cells. I dont see it being a big deal but for some reason people are turned off by round cells. but they're cheap, $50 gets you a platinum pack and the fact remains they are the only legal battery for WGT at the moment. for club racing you could get by with a 1slipo but don't expect to win and the 2s lipos wont fit in the 10r5 without modification. so in short get one of the following combinations for motors and batteries.

legal now: 13.5 brushless with 4cell nimh
legal soon(maybe): 10.5 or 8.5 with 1s lipo

The 12th scale... I don't race 12th yet but i'm moving that direction. Most of the 12th scales on the market are whats known as a t-bar car. meaning you have to use nimh saddle packs. you have a 12r5 which uses 4cell side by side which also leaves you the option for 1s lipo. However i dont think that official rules are going to incorporate 1s lipo for some time. so this brings you back to needing 4cells for legal comp. As for motor, i think that 13.5 is what everyone runs in 12th in this area with 4cells. I think todd mason was running a 1s lipo car at the last nwic race with a 10.5 motor but he would have to confirm that. You will need a low profile speed control because the bodies are so low on these cars. The regular sphere would be perfect.

Charging equipment. Since you're probably going with a mix of nimh and lipo, and you want to run at least two cars, I would suggest getting 2 duratrax ICE chargers and an inline lipo balancer from team checkpoint. I have an ICE that i use for my lipos and a Turbo35 GFX for my nimh. The ICE will do both lipo and nimh nicely tho and its cheap.

Radios, 2.4ghz is really the way to go these days. Spektrum makes a good product as does Futaba. Spektrum seems to be more sensitive to bumps but the DSM2 technology kicks butt. Futaba is a tougher radio and generally very stable and is a mainstay of the RC hobby. However the Fasst system doesn't do frequency hopping so there is the potential for an occasional glitch from what i've found.

Lastly, Ron at RCPlus is awesome. I live in Seattle but regularly race at Timezone and he is nice enough to take orders from me on the phone or on here and bring the stuff to the track when we all meet for racing. He's also a racer and will point you in the right direction for the local popular setups and will get you all your equipment for a good price.

Someone said it best on here and i cant remember who said it. but "eBay's track is hard to find, so support your local hobby shop"

I hope this info is helpful and not overwhelming. Best thing to do is go to Ron and just say "what do I need?"

jubilee

iTrader: (37)

Dude, Xbox is the shizz.

Rewp

xbox is destroying our hobby.... we need to get xbox to create a virtual RC and do some promoting of the hobby to make up for them hosing our new racers

gwhiz

iTrader: (1)

And the WOT award for today goes to:
<drum roll>

REWP!!!!

Just joshin ya rewp. I appreciate your thoughtful explanations

-G

Rewp

:P

i just felt that, as a new racer, he deserved our attention and insight.

GX2

Rewp, You have been a great help getting me pointed in the right direction, now I need to get busy putting this all together. From now on I will make sure I purchase my stuff from my LHS.

I am thinking about heading up north to check out the races this weekend. I hope you will be there.

One last question for all, What do you guys think would be the best choice for us in TC, Rubber of Foam? and can the corally RDX (I think 07 model) be changed over with some success to run Rubber OR foam. Well...dang it, that was two questions.

Rewp

i must claim ignorance on the corally. im sure you can tho. just not sure what is required. Most of the time rubber cars have different arms and knuckles that are softer and flex more than foam cars. additionally. rubber cars usually have thinner chassiss to introduce more flex. You want added flex for rubber but flex is your enemy with foam cars. I would still shoot for rubber if you can. foam can be tough.

I think im going to come down for a visit on saturday... unfortunately tho i dont think I'll be able to compete. I have some stressful projects that are coming to an end on sunday night. They were originally scheduled for thursday night but got pushed back. So i have to be on my game for that. If i race then i'll be in a traction compound fog for a few days. And i just just cant take the risk. Jack might not smell but it sure is toxic.

jtveten

I would suggest you check out Timezone 2 before you do anything. Mark and Rick have the most successful WGT class in the area, plus they can give you the dope on the Corrally TC, since they run them and sell them along with the WGT cars. The most popular WGT class is lipo/17.5. They can give you a hands on demo and set you straight. Beautiful indoor track! Lots of help for the newby.

skypilot

iTrader: (14)

I read the part about you having been to RC plus, I also read the part about you going "up north" this weekend to check out the races, I also read the part about you being in oregon and plan on making rc plus your home track. while at timezone this weekend you will probably see more lipo 17.5 CRC chassis then anything else, Timezone carries these cars and support them, so if racing there that is what i would go with, If racing at Rc plus is going to be a main stay, talk to ron and go with what he suggests.

here in the WAY UP NORTH (seattle/tacoma area)were having the big debate on club rules for the upcoming outdoor season, its been here, its been there, rules have been decided then thrown out. don't let any of that effect your decision on what to do, just go with the track that your going to be racing at, don't be afraid of the speed of a lipo 17.5 car for your son or yourself, you can turn the end points on the radio down so your only getting 1/2 throttle or where ever you decide is a good starting point, and then just turn it up a little at a time. that way you only have to buy once. oh and it wasn't mentioned, but buy a good radio, it makes a world of difference.
good luck and happy racing.

ritchie

GX2

Ritchie, Thanks, I will check all of this out this weekend. I do plan on racing in washington as I pass thru to visit family in Enumclaw and Sedro Woolley, so I need to consider the cars to put together. Also I am looking at the spektrum radio's.