Nineball

Sounds about right. We have a group with Infractions and Limitless-es running 8-12s. They run longer when they test, so they think their cars are fast. I mean, they are... sometimes. Best I saw was a Limitless pull a wheelie all 132ft but it only managed was a 1.9@70-something.

I've got a GNSS, but it never seems to be charged when I want to use it.

rskoncepts

iTrader: (37)

There's a couple people on Facebook that have the wire to connect GNSS to the receiver for those that the battery is bad. I'll look for them and let you know. Or you can rig is up yourself.

JBRC Racing on Facebook. They have 6", 8", and 10" lengths. $12 + $5 shipping.

Nineball

More parts came in... shorter front shock tower, new splitter, and parts for 0° caster conversion.


aaaaand the servo horn is in the way. Could go with a standard height servo or raise it, I guess. Not a big loss.

Since the car was on the bench, I went ahead and filled the front shocks with 2k cst oil and set the motor timing to 20° (was at 15°, why are the tick marks in increments of 3°?). Saturday night is our next race, I'll be testing how much I can push the launch power and timing ramp.

But the last few days, my mind has been on traction. My 74mph pass was with the (forgive me, I dont know how better to describe it...) ghetto tire prep recipe. You know, what those guys with the Limitless-es and Infractions use... homemade, slather it on the ground and roll your tires in it. No idea what the recipe was, but it did work. Two problems: it doesn't dry fast at all and it needs to get hot to work. I'd like to try it with a dauber and see if a thinner layer drys faster. Once you get it warm though, it sticks like glue. My car almost took me with it while I was doing a burnout. But nobody wants to do burnouts now since we know how hard it is on electronics.... and my regular prep works just fine without a burnout. It just isn't as sticky.

Nineball

Ugh. Tekin.

So, I was stuck at 2.46. Managed to make some full-trigger passes and hit that same ET 3 times. I went into my data logs to check voltage drop and motor rpms. Behold... the power of 78% throttle.

WTF? I've recalibrated the endpoints twice, just to fix this issue, and I can't get it to match 100% EPA on my TX with 100% on my ESC.

So I slowly cranked up my TX EPA to 115% and made a hit at apparently 91% throttle. Managed a 2.45 but that was it. I suppose I'll go to 120%...

rskoncepts

iTrader: (37)

What esc? Does it show PWM? If yes and PWM is 100% then you're getting full throttle.

Nineball

RS Pro BE. It does have PWM but I have to turn it on in the logs, and... it doesn't seem to want to remember that I turned it on. But I remember back when I was running with a cheap DumboRC radio and my logs were showing 127% throttle. I'm inclined to believe this is something odd about Tekin.

Anywho... while everyone has been up at the Straightline Showdown, I've had some time to fart around with some things. ...stealing a few ideas from the newer chassis that came out, and finally working out a way to make a modular chassis (though Morbo beat me to it)...

Basically, the battery gets dropped 3mm onto an aluminum spine. Everything else sits on plates that are separate front and rear. Front shock tower is now split and slightly shorter. Which leads me to the first alternate setup, my adaptation of the Furi front end... I call it the Angry:


As you can probably see, the side rails are an issue. I'll be fixing that, though they can also be mounted below, alongside the chassis.

Next, I'll be working on Traxxas compatible parts since I've got a Slash on hand to take measurements from. I was given an R1 17.5t and I think they need some racers for the class here locally, so I'll give that car some attention too.

YourConfused

This looks like fun! I've never seen RC drag racing in person and videos of it usually aren't that awe inspiring. What exactly is hard on the electronics when doing a burnout?

Nineball

Heat, mostly. My capacitors easily get twice as hot on a burnout than an actual pass. Throw in some tire prep and you've got a tiny bomb waiting to explode. At the straight line showdown this year, some racers were blowing up escs on the starting line because the cars couldn't unstick themselves.

YourConfused

WOW That's a crazy amount of traction then! Sounds interesting.

Nineball

Finally, new body... just in time for the last race next weekend. Long story, small fiasco. Anyway....

Just peeled the film and had to get a shot in the sun. Still need a few stickers, but it's painted. Not my best work; not enough contrast, static made the metal flake swirl and spot, tape cut lines were rough... but the first go at any body is a learning process. No two bodies paint the same, and no two colors either. Speaking of, it's Spaz Stix Bronze Pearl (kinda light coat) and gloss black with Tamiya Smoke window tint. New splitter is WIP.

Nineball

...and the race season is officially over. Five Star prepped their track for the last race and everyone was going for it. Apparently, I was already quite near what I could pull off.

Started with... 40% launch power, 0.8s ramp to full power, 60° timing coming in at 2°/0.1s.

Ended with 55% launch power, 0.2s ramp to full, 60° coming at 10°/0.1s.

Still only managed to beat my PB by a small margin. 2.41@55mph. But I got second place... it took Bob Hamilton (Bob's Body Shop, sponsored Maclan driver) to beat me

And apparently the celica body opens up like a parachute over 45mph. Gonna need some side braces and a wing to hold things together. Some shoe goo would help too.

Edit: some beauty shots with the grille stickers and splitter finished...

Nineball

Been a while since I posted an update and this place is kind of dead, so...

Quite a lot has changed. Back to a single piece aluminum chassis, but using the Five Star Strip front bumper servo mount. Eliminating the steering rack will move the battery quite a way forward. I've also been watching their developments with the Furi, and although I'm not ready to mount my battery right on the front bumper (bombs weren't enough, now we're building missiles?), I like the direction they're going with a tighter rear and wider front. I mean, if it just has to fit under the body shell, why cant it basically be a drag rail?

Since aluminum prices and availability seem to have leveled back out, I'm getting all the new parts in 7075 vs the old 6061. This should let me eliminate the side rails and still cut a fair bit out. Good old velcro straps for battery hold downs. The old chassis was hefty anyway.

Nineball

Been a minute. Things were a pain with the site acting up. Managed to just about wrap up the car for this next season. Motor and esc "coming soon".

Basically, we're looking at something that started as an aluminum version of a Five Star Street Sweeper that now has a Five Star Strip front servo mount. A Street Stripper, if you will.

Nineball

Upgrades are cool because you have leftover parts... when they aren't broken.

Don't mind me, it's not like I'm committing war crimes or anything, right?