Originally Posted by CraigMBA (Post 9536609)

This, except 'for the lulz' assumes the other driver did it on purpose.

Last weekend in SC 2 I was leading the last qualifier (on IFMAR) after starting last on the grid, several seconds faster than TQ (also me) until I caught the guy who was running second on the clock (he started 10-15 seconds in front of me). Every time I'd wait for him to make a mistake and pass him, he'd over drive a section and run me over, or cut a corner and hit me, or otherwise dump me because, well, how do I say this nice - he's kind of all over the place? The guy just had surgery on his back on Thursday and I'm sure he's loaded up on all sorts of pain meds, so I'm cutting him a ton of slack.

Anyway, after this goes on for five or so laps and the announcer says I'm no longer beating my TQ, but behind by 4 seconds, I decided I needed to pass him using my secret weapon (aka the chrome horn, the wheel, the front bumper of my truck) because I was slowing us both down by not putting this dog out of it's misery, so to speak. Wound up finishing 0.3 seconds off TQ.

As soon as it happened, the other driver took exception and got vocal on the drivers stand, said I showed poor track ettiquete by not pulling over (it's IFMAR FFS! I started 14 seconds behind you. I passed you on the clock long ago!), and refused to let up about it even off the track. I asked him if he hit me on purpose the three or four times I passed him clean, and he said he hadn't, it was totally incidental (oddly enough, he never pulled over for me the way he was demanding I pull over for him :flaming:). The look of horror/confusion was pretty priceless after I explaned to him that (1) Unlike him, I had hit him on purpose and with malice and only once in response to the three or four hits he gave on accident, (2) he was running this series for points and the two fast guys aren't here today so he stood a great chance in gaining a whole bunch on them but IF ONLY IF (3) he knocked this cheap ish off, else I would spend the whole main turning his car into a bag of broken parts and not feel the least bit bad about it because I'm running here to relax (not in the series) and at the end of the mains I get to pack up and go home. He hit me in two out of the first three corners of the main, but that's not the point.

The late Brent Wallace (Reedy Race champion, NORCCA champion, AE factory driver) told me when I first started driving that the fast way through a corner isn't necessarily the fast line. I was 20 years old, he was like 15, and it was totally cryptic at the time. I just didn't get it, but I didn't forget it either. Over the years I've thought about it from time to time, and I think what he meant was just because somebody scrubs out in a slow corner and you get by driving the preferred line without contact, it doesn't prevent him from over-driving the next corner and blowing the apex thus punting you into the middle of next Thursday. Same if the fastest line in your truck conflicts with the fastest line with the other guys truck, or (like I used to see in sedans a lot) if somebody is running a one way and everyone else is running a spool. The lap times might be comparable, but where they are fast makes contact almost unavoidable.

The point is part of racecraft is racing guys the way they race you. If somebody runs you hard and with respect, you should treat them that way. If they don't, well, short course is a full body class with nerfs and bumpers for a reason. This is certainly an underrated tool you have at your disposal, and if your other fellow racers are using it on you and you aren't returning the favor, you are allowing yourself to be taken advantage of.

Originally Posted by bajabro (Post 9538751)

i just rebuilt my shocks with the trackstar o-rings... They leak worse then they did with the stock rings... Any suggestions of what i may have done wrong?

Originally Posted by T-BirdJunkie (Post 9539268)

Hey dude...

NOBODY CARES


The more you argue about it, the more ThunderbirdJunkie will bring up that he thinks it's all cheaply made crap that's exactly the same price as their competitors' products. So what if they're a small company? Most small companies make good stuff and the big ones make junk (IE Durango vs Traxxas). ThunderbirdJunkie does NOT say something is bad unless he believes it's bad, it is never baseless. He never tried to change anybody's mind about the stuff, either...that would be silly. He simply stated his opinion, and YOU got butthurt.

Nobody cares if you're an AEROSPACE MACHINIST. Nobody. To everybody here, you should be nothing more than a guy that plays with toy cars, just like everybody else here. You RUN a $1m machine? ThunderbirdJunkie was FIXING $1m machines and designing parts for them (which is than pushing a button and running a program you didn't write) when he was 18 and fresh out of high school...does anybody here care about that? NO.

Stop stroking your freaking ego already, it's annoying.

Originally Posted by specc (Post 9539576)

I am debating going from the current - LRP 5.5t 550 to a Tekin 8.5t 540. Any thoughts?

Originally Posted by ITS ME DAVID (Post 9540101)

Where on that site do i order that chassis brace? Have a direct link please?

Originally Posted by CristianTabush (Post 9539409)

Have you tried adding weight to the truck? By Me adding weight to my truck, I was able to go about 12 seconds faster over 5 minutes. It was easier to drive, more consistent and yielded faster lap times.

I am sorry, but saying driving style is what is wrong, is a wrong approach at tuning a chassis. A good set-up person looks for a set-up that suits him, a lousy set-up person tries "to get used to it'. I am not a compliant and mediocre person though. If something drives lousy, it drives lousy. At our track, without extra weight, the truck drove lousy and I got killed by drivers with similar skill levels driving other trucks. By adding weight the truck was better in EVERY ASPECT, and it was not a driving style thing either, anyone who drove it and saw it could not believe how much more stuck and predictable the Truck was. For the first time ever, after winning the main by 2 laps (each being about 40 seconds in length), people actually came out of their way to comment and ask what kind of truck it was, which tires I was running and to comment on how stuck the truck was.

Bottom line is the clock does not lie. If a lighter truck gives you faster, more consistent laps, then that's what needs to be done. In my case, it is the opposite.

Originally Posted by CraigMBA (Post 9540833)

I apologize for not being more pointed a couple of pages back.

I think it's common wisdom that the Losi rewards its driver for agressiveness, and the AE truck requires a smoother, more conservative approach. That translates into the AE guys are going to be driving it in a little easier, and the Losi guys will be DRIVIN' IT IN 'DERE. To me, the easiest and best solution is to get the AE truck faster so you can gap the Losi guy in the section right before the corner so the other guy can't get to you.

Certain users here have reported good luck adding ballast. Certainly nothing wrong with doing that, but IMO not my favorite one. AE went to a bunch of work to make the truck lightweight, so to fix the truck we're going to add 10 ounces of ballast? :confused: Problem with that slippery slope is you wind up needing the 550 motors the Losi guys all seem to run. And then your truck stops being fast in all the spots it was faster than the Losi.

But that's not going to address what other users have reported about being slow in the sweeper and getting nerfed. That user needs to work on setup so the truck can run competitive speed in the fastest part of the track, because outside of that, nothing is going to stop you from being the football in a game of punt nobody wants to play. Without driving your truck or seeing its setup in person, I'd be inclined to say you should stiffen the swaybars or make a ballstud change, but you'll have to do some testing to figure it out. Ultimately, the solution is to get you faster in the sweeper, not to stock up on chrome horns.

I have to wonder how many users who report getting manhandled by the Losi trucks are running the stock slipper.

Originally Posted by lodhammerdin (Post 9540879)

I have reported being manhandled by losi's or as I more commonly reffer to them and the drivers at my track, lowseys, and I run and lrp 550 4.5 with the clutch basket and I am by far the fastest truck on the track (during the heats). I utilize the ifmar start like a mother!!! I have tq'd everytime out with this truck except the first week I raced it and this past weekend ( had esc issues and bumped all the way from the cmain to the a main and finished 3rd). Losi guys dont like me (ae sc10 4x4) to beat them. Its a necessity to scout the pits for all the losi's and remeber there body so that you can avoid them at all costs. I love racing and have tons of fun but these guys make it so gosh darn hard to enjoy yourself.