Rodarbal

iTrader: (49)

Home track RC club:
Austin, TX Hobbytowns (North and South locations), temporary parking lot tracks. Longest running on-road race program in all of Texas. Year round racing.
North location: Deteriorating, rough asphalt with plenty of dips to keep things interesting. Generally good traction, but harsh on tires.
South location: Smooth asphalt with slight elevation changes. Great traction, but much depends on who's doing the spraying.

Layouts change weekly (setup in the morning, tear down late in the afternoon), but outer dimensions of the track are usually within 150 x 75 ft. (46 x 23 m for y'all who are in metric countries). Some layouts are tighter than others. Track is sprayed with grape soda (we've found this to be better than orange soda or root beer, actually).

Clip from the Texas Electric On-road Series (EOS) in 2013:

+ YouTube Video

Unfortunately, there isn't a big following Tamiya M-0x cars here in Texas and a TCS M-class won't fly in Austin, nor have I seen it at other clubs in Dallas or Houston. My son and I have raced ours just for fun in our "M12" class (27T silver can brushed, any M-scale chassis), but the Tamiyas just aren't competitive due to gearing. Our big straights kill us (GT8, nitro and 1/10 mod guys love it). I've been thinking about getting the 3Racing fast gear set, but that will only get us down to a 4.3 FDR.

I have raced my M-05 with the guys at Hotshot in Marietta, GA when they had the carpet layout. That was my first race with the little FWD car and I fell in love with the Tamiya M-cars. So unique and quirky, they're a breath of fresh air in a sea of carbon fiber touring cars.

As for Tamiya M-scale cars owned, we've got an M-01, M-03 and M-05. My son and I are content to doing laps in the street and in the house (against my wife's wishes, LOL) and just enjoy the Tamiyas for what they are. I race an ABC Genetic in our M12 class and an XRay T4 in our USGT class. Also, for VTA, I'm playing around with a TB-04... because it's unique and quirky.

sakadachi

iTrader: (1)

Up to p10 today.

The knuckles remind me of my old RoadRunner. I have a feeling the king pin screws are going to strip out.

patorz31

Rw racing in the uk make a fast gear set for the mini too. Machined delrin like his tc spurs. I dont have mine yet but will in a week or two. Supposedly you cam get down to 4:1 with it.

Rodarbal

iTrader: (49)

Thanks for the heads up on that! I'll check it out.

SERVO QUESTION:
I'm sure I'm re-hashing an old subject from somewhere in these 24k pages of Tamiya mini talk, but what's everyone's take on servos? I've got old JR Z590M servos in the M-03 and M-05. The one in the M-03 doesn't seem to be centering all that well and it may be time to upgrade. While I personally think the Z590M is adequate for these cars, I'm wondering what everyone else is using. I'm using faster, smoother servos in my touring cars (Futaba S9551 and S9452). Should I consider faster servos in the minis?

sakadachi

iTrader: (1)

I run S9452 on my M05 and V2, they both work great. I also run Spektrum (JR) S6040 and S6070 (low profile) on my other m-chassis. They too work great.

On my M03 I have an old S3010 analog servo still since that car is running a 20yr old ZPCM receiver. The S3010 is adequate for these short wheel bases, but if you want the accurate centering, definitely go digital.

Also check that your servo saver isn't worn out too.

Best is to get a fast servo 0.11sec or less and slow it down on your radio per your preference.

howardcano

iTrader: (37)

I've used the Solar D658 in several of my knock-around pan cars and my M05. It's reasonably fast, and very cheap: less than $13!

http://www.hobbypartz.com/33p-solarservo-d658.html

Granpa

The servo choice will be to a certain extent determined by your transmitter. That is, if you have the capability to adjust the servo speed, your best choice would be different than if you could not adjust your servo speed.

The two most important characteristics are good centering and durability. You will want a servo with ball bearings and metal gears. Also the servo should center under a small load. Unfortunately, this means you will be looking at the mid to high end servos.

Servo speed is one of the least important specs. Here is why. IMO, Minis do not perform best with ultra hi speed servos and make them more difficult to set up. After having said that, the servos in my own cars are ultra hi speed JR or KO servos, but that was not why they were chosen. They were chosen for their durability, torque, smoothness, and above all their centering ability. My KO Tx allows me to adjust servo speed so they are dialed way down. In fact, very few, if any of us are good enough to be able to tell whether there is a ultra fast servo in the car or a regular speed. The car can, but only the most talented of us can.

As far as brands go, you seem to get the most bang for your buck from the Futaba servos. I don't use Futaba radio equipment, but I believe the 9551 is the one most used by the Mini Mafia here at the Tamiya track. It's the standard sized servo. For the M05, some are going to the low profile servo for it's lighter weight.

Incidentally, the 590 was a good servo in the old days, but no longer measures up because it was a bushing servo and was not durable. It had a race able life span of 2-3 years.

Granpa

I'm glad the servo thing was broached cause here's something that has been "bugging" me for awhile. It's all the, shall we call it male cow droppings to be politically correct, about diffs.

I defy anyone to tell me what kind of diff there is in a car from the drivers stand. If a diff can be adjusted to your liking, I don't believe any of us can tell if it's a stock gear diff, oil filled gear diff, TA03 diff, M05 diff.

Also many thanks for the responses to my little survey. It only confirmed my decision to not post my latest and greatest set up. Every response was different and there was a huge variation in tracks and surfaces. Sometimes, if you know the specifics, you can make recommendations. Putting someone else's setup on your car, might be a disaster.

eR1c

iTrader: (2)

Ball Joints:

Yeah, I had 2 of them, my last one has finally broke ...got about 8 years use out of them though. They were perfect!

Good to know before I order and waste my money!

I think this may be what i'll do, check out the available tools from Sears/Harbor Freight/ACE, etc... and find something that suits my needs. Monkey Wards, ...I remember those stores!

eR1c

iTrader: (2)

I race 1x a month at a local club on outdoor asphalt track that we setup/tear down. Practice depends on work schedule, but lately I've been able to get about 2 practices in a month on an indoor asphalt track.

The indoor track that I occasionally practice on is 1.5 hrs from my home and is a bit small, suited best for 1/12 and mini scale cars. Our club outdoor track is 1/2hr from home and suited for 1/10th class and mini's. At our club events I race 1/10 TC, Tamiya Mini (we have a large mini presence, usually 15+ racers), and am now going to start running F1.

eR1c

iTrader: (2)

Agreed 100% to this last statement.

I use a Futaba 4px transmitter and a Futaba S9551 digital servo in all my vehicles. Futaba has never failed me, I love all of their products. The S9551 is a very nice servo in my opinion especially paired w/ a Futaba controller (like the 4px).

sakadachi

iTrader: (1)

Bargain hunter!

sakadachi

iTrader: (1)

I think I use only like 60% of the S9425's speed for turning on top of Expo, but 100% for return to center on my 4PKS-R. I like the high resolution active centering on these fast digital servo's specially on my short 210mm wheel base!

howardcano

iTrader: (37)

On the other hand, the widely varying tracks and conditions might be the BEST reason to post setups. We all probably have our favorites for the places where we normally race, but what about new, unknown tracks? That's when I like to hear other people's ideas, as they may be useful directly, or at least indirectly to get me looking at things from a different perspective.

howardcano

iTrader: (37)

= Norwegian ancestry