Pulse_

Hello,

many drivers from UK and Northern Europe know this surface well so I thought it would be interesting to share your setups in one thread

HOUNIS

What tyres are best for the astro turf?

Pulse_

Schumacher tires:



On dry astro mini pin is a monster in traction, very agressive tire. The mini spike as a lot of grip too but less extreme.

You'll have to cut many rows of pins to avoid traction rolling. We generally use the yellow compound with hard inserts.

They're even making mini pin and mini spike tires for SC trucks (I just bought some for an SC10).

"Schumacher Racing release the new Mini Spike and Mini Pin Short Course tyres. Making use of the proven 1/10 scale buggy treads the Mini Spike is suitable for Grass, Astro, Carpet and general use. It is less aggressive than the Mini Pin but with excellent grip. The Mini Pin is ideal for Astro and Carpet tracks. This tyre has maximum traction and aggression. To tune the car it may be required to trim some pins from the front tyres for less bite, or try Blue front, Yellow rear. Available in Blue/Hard and Yellow/Soft compound supplied in pairs without inserts."

There are other alternatives, they use the XTM Grinder a lot in truggy 1/8 and the AKA Crossbrace also works good for buggies

Grinder


Crossbrace


or the fastrax mini pin tires in general which are cheaper.

Here is a pic on how I prepared my mini pin:

HOUNIS

Thanks for the info. What brand of inserts are you using.

Pulse_

AKA, but you could go with Proline or Jconcepts closed cell too. Don't use Schumacher foams and wheels they are both too soft in 1/8. Just the tires

Pulse_

I forgot about the dBoots Multibyte

NicolasCH

Hi,

Coming from a 1/8 buggy 'standard' dirt track setup, what would be the most basic changes to make in order to have decent handling on astro (shocks, springs, geometry, diff oil...)?

Many thanks,
Nick

Pulse_

Stiffer oil in the diffs and shocks (+springs), lower ride height, thicker anti roll bars, more "horizontal" shocks positioning, less antisquat.. To sum it up you don't neeed so much traction because this is a very high grip surface.

I tried the crossbrace tires in hard compound yesterday and they are great, even compared to Schumacher mini pins. They provide a perfect lateral grip so you don't need to cut them and the traction is a little less agressive compared to a mini pin but it's still very good so.. A very good choice.

Lonestar

iTrader: (14)

Tu nous prepares quoi???

NicolasCH

Pulse_,

Merci beaucoup for the reply! Crossbraces are good news (easier to find in Switzerland than Min Pins, although I've never seen them in "hard").

Cheers,
Nick

Hey Paul,

The track at Vernier is being refitted (this week normally) with an astro turf-like carpet. I think ERMC will be helping with the jumps...

I'm not sure I'm too happy with the change, but it's probably better than the current minefield due to the lack of maintenance. The good news is we may be able to run on the track into the winter...

(glad to see you will be at the RCX)

Lonestar

iTrader: (14)

Ha, that's why. Interesting A couple of years ago Cedric had completely covered the track with older carpet rolls for that very reason (maintenance). At that time I tried medium cityblocks and they were great, I also had JMB try them as I was the only one at the track with these tires that day and he liked them too.... he might be using the same material this time. Remember to use a harder compound to allow the pins not to fold

The problem with this is when you go racing on "normal" dirt (ie everywhere else) you need to completely rebuild the car as per different setup...

Paul

(yes, there's a high likelihood I'll be at the RCX but still a chance I can't make it... fingers crossed)

jhtfarquhar

wowee, didn't realize a change this drastic was needed, my trenchers worked just fine on an astroturf field I went to

NicolasCH

The carpet is actually a tennis court synthetic lawn from Real Sport although I'm not sure which one at this stage, and is supposed to be of better quality than the one he had used previously (i.e. no plastic strings getting stuck in hubs - you know one can lose a race with this don't you ).

And setup changes are exactly my worry... I don't want to rebaseline the car every week... I guess the good news is we'll be able to drive our 1/10 4x2s... or maybe get another MBX6 chassis hmmmm...

Lonestar

iTrader: (14)

Ouch - salt on the wounds!!!

Pulse_

up, the summer season is ending

what tires do you plan to run on astro this winter?