Dan

iTrader: (75)

So mid motor cars have been pretty common for the last few years. At the same time, most racing has gravitated towards indoors or carpet where traction is much better.

My LHS is building a small outdoor offroad track for the spring (will be rutty and bumpy). Has anyone gotten the latest crop of mid motor cars to work in fairly low traction? Or rear motor is still king in these conditions?

Alexv2024

iTrader: (2)

I drove a 2.0 with a 4 gear mid motor setup on indoor clay last fall and tried a few packs at a loose outdoor track. It was the same as last time I raced rear motor cars years ago, loose, not fast, not that fun and slow. I also had a mid motor sct I ran the same day and it was the same, no traction and no fun. I'd only run 4wd classes out doors especially on loose tracks.

I've seen some other guys talking about it on here and the mid motor cars should have more corner speed, but the RM cars would have more corner exit speed/traction. So it just depends on the layout and traction overall. Mostly nobody races 2wd out doors so its a moot point, its pretty much all 1.8th buggy and 4wd SCT now.

trf211

On indoors or high grip the mid motor buggies are running 3 gear lay down transmissions, when the grip gets lower you will see people switch to a 4 gear stand up transmission which moves the motor back. Outdoor dirt might not be as popular here in the states as it used to but in Australia they still drive a lot of it and don't really have issues with mid motor 2wd. You will need to tinker with the setup a bit but I see no reason why you couldn't get one to work.

Jim85IROC

iTrader: (1)

It sounds like a great excuse to restore an old RC10 buggy to me.

rekim

iTrader: (7)

or maybe to buy one of the new schumacher throwback top cat buggy. i gave that a serious look, but decided against it when i read you needed to use super glue on some parts. i am quite sure i would have messed that up

https://www.amainhobbies.com/schumac...chk178/p864779

chuck_thehammer

we have a real good turnout .. outdoor 2 wheel drive trucks... short course and stadium trucks.. 40 to 75 guys in south Texas. every week.

I have been very happy with my Associated SC5M...

Dan

iTrader: (75)

Thanks for the input guys. I have the option of buying an RB6.6 (last of the modern cars to offer rear motor) or pick up a used RC10B5 rear motor from a buddy. Have had experience with the B5M in 3 and 4 gear mid motor but that was indoor clay. The last time I ran 2WD outdoors was probably in 2011 or 2012 with my RB5.

Still have an old RC10 Worlds re-release that would probably be fun to use for a little bit too.

Fearo

Check out Ray Munday on facebook. He runs standup b6.1s in Australia in loose(r) conditions outdoors and his cars look incredibly dialed from the videos he posts. He also shares a ton of useful information on all sorts of subjects.

Davidka

iTrader: (86)

Check the B5 RM thread here, too. There is a guy who's updated his with B6 suspension parts so he won't be caught out with a broken part at the track. I have one too, looking to run it indoors to compare to the newest stuff. I am betting the difference will be much smaller than people would believe.

Jumbo_Jaque

As someone stated earlier, we pretty much run all-outdoors in Australia, and my local track is loose dirt. The surfaces are varied, some have more clay than others and so grip/conditions can vary accordingly. But still, we do have a few, good ol' dirt tracks to run on. I was running a rear-motor B5 all the way up until the end of last year. Was not the fastest out there (more driver ability than anything), but could still be competitive with the mid-motor cars on the tracks I ran on. So yeah, loose, outdoor, dirt tracks - running a rear-motor RC10 with Blockades on the back and ribs in the front.

ljl23

iTrader: (11)

I agree 110%. When I upgraded my B5m to B6, it honestly was a very minor difference. And the TLR 22 5.0. I can't believe they already released another car, when the 4.0 has been working soo well. The top 4 guys at my track all have 22 4.0s, and I drove one once and it was amazing. I don't know how much better the 5.0 is honestly.

I ran my B6, laydown outdoors. I know it is not ideal but it didn't do too bad. You just have to be super light on the throttle and make sure to get the right tires. And you will probably be set.

kiwi_tim

iTrader: (17)

We run true outdoors in Australia, my club has been in the past the dustiest turd bowl known to man, in no situation do I think a rear motor would better, A well setup 4 gear would always be better, as above Ray's setups are a great starting point, I think if conditions are that bad, a b5m is just as good as B6d, anything 4 gear, but ideally I'd say rb6.6, b5m/b6d would be the pic

billdelong

iTrader: (33)

There is a 1/8 outdoor track down in San Antonio, TX called RCHQ, it's been almost a year since I've raced there, but 2WD buggy was fairly popular as I recall. There was a mix of MM and RM cars, but I noticed that the MM cars were more competitive... particularly the TLR 22 3.0 with standup transmissions seemed to dominate at this club. They watered down the track and ran the 2WD's at the beginning of each round with fresh water on the track, so traction didn't really fall off until the end of each round, but there was enough fluff to be what I'd consider medium to low traction as compared to hard packed well prepped track I normally run at which offers medium to high traction based on what I have to compare between these 2 different tracks. If it were me, I'd pick up a used MM from Losi, XRay or Associated.

BugleBoy10

iTrader: (11)

party_wagon

iTrader: (29)

Dry outdoor tracks and 2wd buggies were really good for the local hobby shop. You pretty much had to go through a set of rear tires and wheels every race day.