tires, tires, tires

lol, my pit crew is 8 years old. I guess I need to get her more able to swap out tires for me. At least I have hexes, so that would make it easier for her. I marked why wheels with L/R as well. Time for some timed wheel changing drills for the kid, lol.

Well what i have done during warm up laps if the track is real loose is turn my steering dual rate down some usually from 100% to somewhere between 92-98%, the lower you go the less steering you will have. You can also twist your spring collars a little to lower the rear of the car if you are too loose or the opposite you can turn them down to raise the rear end slightly to hopefully loosen the rear end. You may have to turn them further down then you would up since if you run at 24mm ride height, 25mm may end up having more grip. Hope that make sense. But yes tires would be the main key but these other things should help. yo ucan also strengther your brakes some if you have a lot of rear grip and lower the brakes if you dont have much rear grip, just makes it easier to drive. Oh and possibly some throttle and steering expo to help when the track is slick.

I know here the sun goes down and then the moisture comes up. Not sure if that's the case for you considering where you live. I haven't raced outside in many years, but that's changing in a couple weeks. Back then we didn't have as many options for tires so it was pretty much M3 Holeshots vs Red X-2000's vs M3 Square Fuzzies (My favorite tire of all time btw ). Depending on how much sun was on the track, how dry, and time of day we swapped around. Since now we tend to over complicate and over analyze everything, I would think realistically you could do the same thing.

hey question for you faster 17.5 guys. I'm just curious as to how much you use your brakes during races. I have been putting in very consistent laps, usually all within half a second of each other, but I seem to be about half a second/lap off the pace, which always translates to being on the tail end of what ever lap TQ is. When we go heads up for the mains, I usually hold my own, but when we are on our own clock, I feel like I'm just losing some time. I've never felt slow... just the lap times are not there.

Perfect example... this weekend I ran one qualifier and had 2 bobbles which added about 4 seconds total to my time. Rest of the time I was doing consistent 21.8-22.3 laps. Fast time 21.6. TQ that round was doing 21.0-21.5, fast lap 20.9. I might be off in the exact numbers, but this is pretty close and gives the idea.

The problem is obviously in the corners... but is it using the brakes so much that is hurting the corners?

You are right, I always forget about radio tuning. I was not drastically off on traction, but it was not what I wanted. I probably could have played with the radio a little to achieve what I wanted. Tires are a big change and I only needed a little one. I always forget about radio tuning.

Well the answer is, "It depends". I find it very interesting to watch the pros trigger fingers as they race. I tend to use smooth transitions and they tent to pump it like mad. Mean, I ally even breaking as I enter the corner, and they seemed to pump it almost like ABS. I think my way is much slower. Recently I have been trying to work more of a pumping action on the 180's. And it really allows me to carry more speed. Just using a lot of break, scrubs too much corner speed for me. On higher bite tracks, I see guys going full bore into the corner and nailing the brake rounding the corner and punching it. But because of the hard transitions, you need a lot of traction. On, the outdoor track I run on , feathering works better.

From what you are describing, they are running mod. I use the brakes a lot too in mod. Just was curious to see how the fast 17.5 guys do it. I'm fairly new to 17.5

Bob

Using brakes takes skill .

Only with time & practice can you learn to use the brakes ...

Even when the brakes are used it only very small quick blips .

Try adjusting the brakes with the EPA on the radio ..

Most use about 65% to 75% ...
If you tap the brake and the car steps out and rear comes around ?
Adjust the EPA to a lower % till you can use brake with out the rear locking up .

IMo the driving is the same. Using power and brake to quickly enter and exit the corner, should be the same on the same tracks. You pump more or less depending on what your buggy is capable of. Meaning traction and setup. My TLR 22 rotates very well with little pumping, but my b4 need more work in the 180's. The 180's is where I loose my time. For a while I was faster with the 22 in the 180's until I tuned my b4 more. Now i am faster with the b4, but I have to put a little more effort into driving it, to get it fast. The b4 is just so planted in the rear, that I constantly try to free it up, but not over do it. I know the exact feel I want. Unfortunately, the track constantly changes, so now I need to drive "around" the current traction. Normally it is pretty consistent for the heat/main, so that is why I asked about quick minor changes for the practice laps. Indoor racing is so much nicer. I can shop up for practice, tune the car and it pretty much stays that way all day. More variable on outdoor and wind is a big issue. Aside from blowing the cars in the air (not bad with buggy), it just sucks the moisture out of the track. So half way in you could now be on a dry track, where as at the start the clay was sticking to your tires. But that is the fun of offroad.


Anyway, I think the only real difference in 17.5 are the jumps. Sometimes you really need to carry the corner speed to be able to clear them.

I tend to get "bored" if I use smooth throttle and brake inputs.
Later into practice I usually get more aggressive. (Running 7.5 mod)

I disagree. I feel that my setups for 17.5 had to be much quicker reacting than mod because you didn't carry the momentum to make the weight transfer. In mod you would go into a corner hot and tap the brakes and the weight would transition. In 17.5 I had to go from the 1.7 setup to 1.6 setup to get the car to respond quicker with less weight transfer. This worked and I'm fine with that. I guess I just feel as though I'm scrubbing in the corners and it's because I'm actually using the brakes and the other guys are just flying through and trusting their car will stick. Driving style differences I guess.

Alot of the fast guys in 17.5 use almost no brakes. Like you said, its all about cornerspeed.

yeah I use brakes all the time in mod... that's not the issue LOL.

I'm talking about how to pick up tenths of a second in 17.5. My car is fast. My car handles. Has to be driver. Just looking for things to improve on and thought maybe I was killing too much momentum

Thank you...... that's exactly what I was looking for. I had suspected this but hadn't taken time to watch their hands during races.

Bob , impossible to go fast with out any brake adjusted ...

You need to use brake in order to adjust over shooting the corner's & when the car is in the air on the jumps ...


If you drive with out ?
You will always be slower then someone who knows how to use brakes..