little gambler

iTrader: (1)

Hello to all,

I first want to say that i am new to the site.......as in new today. It has been about 20 years since i raced an r/c car (they were kyosho optima mids-and the 7-cell 2000 mAh battery was the biggest thing you ever did see!)I've been involved in some other hobbies for the past 20 years and this past weekend, i just happened to look up a local track and went to check it out, yes times have changed. I have a 100 "stupid" questions to ask the racers of today............this is geared to 1/10 off road:

How many of these new style LIpro battery packs are needed for a weekend of racing? Will 1 pack run 3 heats and a main event??? I noticed the guys before the race started they made about 4 laps ea in practice. I never thought they would make the 5 or 6 min main event on a single charge.

Do you guys use a new pack for each of the heats and one for the main?

How many motors would one need to get started again???? Back in the old days i had nearly 40 at any given time in my box. you had to have everything from a 20turn single to a 17tripple to a 9 turn single.........

Do they still have a concourse in the morning before they start the race?

I would like to get back into the racing scene, but when i was in it, things changed so fast if you took a weekend off, you were a month behind in catching up. More stupid questions to come if i am not grilled by the experts on the site!!!! Thanks. L.G.

Just a couple of things when i was racing.............i was around before team losi came out with a jrx2............i was around when the first twister motor lathe for an armature was produced.........i was around when the shinwa motor dyno was built for an electric motor.............i was there when the optima mid replaced the old optima/javelin...........i was there before kyosho came out with the ultima 2wd car............ i'd like to know if there is anyone as old as i am and remember the days when your car would barely run for 4 min main events............... the good ol days!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oasis

iTrader: (38)

You can get away with 2 packs..nope not like the "old" days....On motors it depends if your running Brushed (like the old days) or brushless, If your still running brushed motors then you might need a "few" motors in your box, but If I were running 1/10 off road I would be running Brushless and in all reality you only need one motor for the class your running, i guess you could have a few back up motors but i dont really see a point in that, the performance is so close as far as motor to motor goes..not like the old days for sure..I have been racing since 1984 so I guess I'm an "old timer" and I do remember when the 1200 SCR's were the packs to have....with the technology it's still advancing but it's not quite at the rate it once was..I really think that it's more of an industry trying not to advance to quickly nowadays..welcome back..the cars/trucks, motors/batteries are better..to bad the drivers are not..

little gambler

iTrader: (1)

Oasis,

Thank you for your reply, it's good to know there is someone out there that is from my era of racing...........these young guys probably think this is crazy talk.

how about the concourse??? Do any of the races or big races still do this?

driftkinginc

iTrader: (5)

Concourse is mostly a onroad thing anymore. If you go to a major race. Ie: A roar race the bodys have to be a approved and there are only a few to choose from... it woud really be a best paint award if they did.
we run 8 minute mains at our track! a 4600 mah lipo only discharges maybe 1200mahs in 8 minutes with a brushless 13.5. a 13.5 is eqvalent to a 19turn .

little gambler

iTrader: (1)

so do the guys just recharge these new packs between heats? or is it just better to run it for three heats then recharge? will they get a "memory" and not take a full charge the next time they are used? sorry for all the "stupid" questions..............like i said this is a whole differernt world nowdays to someone from the old school. thanks in advance. l.g.

UltegraSTI

iTrader: (20)

offroad, 1 motor (maybe 1 backup, but why)

1 Lipo (maybe 1 backup, but why)

most instances folks would loan u somethin in emergency. in time u can score a backup cheap (used or new) and be done with it.

as a test i ran 3 5min heats and a 6min main with a trakpower 4900 on 1 cycle. yes 1 cycle. i dont advise doin it (it was mod, so voltage and punch didnt matter)...but i did it to prove a point. how great it is vs the old days.
many great lipos out there that can be had new (smc 4100 24c-65bux) and used (many used packs out there for 50bux that were 120 new). and unlike most cases with nickel...pickin up used lipos off some1 who is moving to the latest greatest thing WILL make things better for u.

R

JeromeK99

iTrader: (3)

I've been racing for nearly 2 decades.. and have done and seen it all....

I get away with running 2 classes with 2 lipos... I just put my batteries back on the charger right after my race and it is ready before my next heat. LiPos have no memory and do not need to be discharged. It's really nice.. I remember using 1200mah Nicads and having to walk your car to the line and hope you didn't over gear so you could make the 4 min race!

I still run brushed in buggy stock and have no problem keeping up with the brushless guys. It just takes work to make sure everything is maintained (brushes, cleaning, comm lathed, etc).

If you are getting back into it, I would definately suggest going brushless and LiPo, especially if you have to buy everything anyways. Lipo batteries have about a 1/3 more run time per same mah of a NiMh and with brushless you get nearly double to run time of brushed. If geared right, you don't even have to wait to run again!

The quality of the cars are much better too! Top brands for 1/10th scale off-road are Team Associated, Losi and Kyosho. There are a few others, but these are top level right out of the box and need few hop ups.

These days it's more driving up on the stand than working in the pits!

Welcom back and good luck!

Have fun!

Jerome

little gambler

iTrader: (1)

Thanks to all!!!! This is a great site, and I got some pretty good info to start with. Sounds like I won't need 2-3K to get going full bore I was hoping to skip over a bunch of the learning curve and just jump back in where i left off at. It sounds like the concourse is a thing of the past at the off road stuff........i am going to miss that, my dad loved to spend hours with the airbrush on the bodies. Thanks again to all you have been a big help! l.g.

Oasis

iTrader: (38)

Yea the Concourse is missed at the bigger races, It's sorta funny nowadays with all the really really awesome paint jobs that everyone seems to run..you would think that at some of the bigger races they would still do this..I think they should bring it back..because at the larger races it would make for some great advertisement for the custom painters out their..the magazines would for sure show the winners of the concourse..In all reality it's cheaper to run electric off road nowadays than it was "back in the day"..When I got back into racing off road it was pretty cheap, full competitive set up was under $750..Buggy, motors, batteries and radio/speed controller..It's still just as much fun also..i guess i'm just a geek..after all these years I still love to race..

RobbieT

iTrader: (-2)

i agree that Concourse is missed, but at the same time it no longer seems relevant.
back in the day we did Best Paint competitions because 99.99% of guys painted their own, so it was big part of the race day because it was something else the racers actually did.
while I appreciate the professional jobs produced by some of the pro painters their work has nothing to do with a race day, and to any of us that still paint our own all the cookie-cutter jobs lack an aspect of creativity that was once part of the hobby and seemingly is no longer.

tc3team

My first car was the Tamiya Boomerang, about 15 years ago, my first set of cells were sanyo 1200sc...

I also had a sealed can 36degree race prep 27t stock motor about 10/12 years ago, with the H Cut brushes, and thought it was the best thing since sliced bread LOL. Then I had a Reedy Sonic 13x3 Green stickered modified motor.... That thing was rapid!

Still racing now and yes, things have changed.... a LOT!

demon510

iTrader: (3)

I run truck and buggy 1/10 and I have an Orion 30C 3800 race pack in each then I have another as a back up. I tend to use around 720 mah on each pack during a heat (13.5T Brushless stock). I usually marshall the next race and let the pack cool down (its not even warm but I do it anyways) and then throw it on the charger before the next heat/main.

For motors I run Novak SS Pro 13.5T and I have 3 of them, one for each vehicle and one as a back up.

2wdMod

iTrader: (42)

Things to check into before you go and purchase your new gear;

What is your local track running for stock?(17.5 BL/27tor 13.5 BL/27t)

What tires work at your local track?? _ Biggest improvement is we now have TONS of tire choices, unlike 20 yrs ago where there were only a few.

If you go with Brushless, make sure you pick up a sensored system.Sensorless systems are legal for mod, but classes like stock or super stock require a sensored BL system per ROAR rules.Novaks new Havok lineup is about as cheap as a sensored system gets.As for what motors to keep on hand, I usually run where ROAR rules apply, so I keep 17.5 (stock), 13.5(super stock) and an 8.5 (mod) in my box and am pretty much covered for any class I would want to run.

When buying li-po make sure they are hardcased and roar approved.Roar has a list of approved li-pos on their website. There are TONS of li-po brands out now.You can go li-po on a budget, like the yeah racing 3200's I run for 45.00 a peice, or you can spend well over 120.00 per battery for some of the brand names.Either way Li-po is better and less expensive than sub-c cells.

Get a good charger for your li-pos.Like duratrax ice, checkpoint , or even on a budget a triton Jr.

For radio gear look into anything that operates on 2.4 GHZ. I say this because with 2.4 systems there are no crystals to swap, and no worry of frequency conflicts, not to mention no worries as far as glitching.

Other than that just have a good time, and good to have you back.You will notice there are still alot of us older guys around who were around back in the day who can help you out with alot of the new tech.

jamminnay

iTrader: (11)

welcome back!!! enjoy!