1mrdad

iTrader: (48)

I took a 6 month lay off from March to the end of September. And for whatever reason I started driving more clean laps. I was still running slow laps but making less mistakes. A friend of mine and my son (and the guy I think is by far the best and fastest driver at the track no matter which class he chooses to race) Suggested that I upgrade to a B5 rear motor from the b4x. He thinks the rear motor suits my driving style better. Overall I am more consistent with the b5,but still turning slow laps compared to the rest of the field. Now I am only 1 to 1 1/2 seconds slower than the middle of the field where I belong. During one club race a actually raced the enitire main without being marshalled. In the most recent race I was forced to run my 17.5 with the mod guys. I qualified last for the b main. Through the first 2/3 of the race I was actually running 2nd until late I cut 2 corners 2 short allowing the rest of the field go by.By then, I didn't have enough time or horsepower to catch up, but I was pleased with the result. So overall, I would say that I am gradually improving. That said I still don't know where I am losing 2.5 seconds on my fastest lap as compared to the fast guys.

buster8787

I heard from one of my fellow club members that when Ty Tessman was here that during practice he didn't want anybody to pull over and get out of his way. That was his practice, getting around traffic.

alcyon

iTrader: (8)

I faced the same problems as you ,initially. I started RC in 1990, but back then in Malaysia, all the buggy tracks and races had no jumps. It was just a grass field with pipes and you ran your car as quickly as possible on the bumpy surface. I only jumped when I was bashing. In 1997 buggies were dead in my country, so I moved to touring cars. For onroad, whenever you were going to hit something or when you just hit , the reaction is to brake all the way to slow down the car to minimize damage. In 2011, I got the bug to come back to offroad, and I built up my old buggy to compete. Now the tracks have plenty of jumps, and I found myself freezing up mentally whenever my car took a jump. It was hard to adjust since I was driving onroad for 10 years plus and when it was airborne its a bad thing, you just wished it was over quickly so you wont damage your car. When I got back into offroad it was such a shock to me, when my buggy took a jump, I kept throttling and the car flip rearwards and landed on the back , or I braked and it flipped forwards, every time ending in crash and damage.
It took me a long time to get my reaction times lower, and I had to overcome that mental block because my mind was still in touring car mode.
After about a year I finally got the hang of jumping, by playing with throttle, in mid jump.

+ YouTube Video

look at this video, my car is the one with the black wing. Just last year I was struggling to drive.

JR_Stencilhorn

looking good

samnelso

iTrader: (1)

I would suggest asking one of the local fast guys to coach/mentor your driving. Many of these guys find it a complement if you ask. They can drive your car to make sure it's not grossly out of tune (just don't let them get too carried away) and can analyze your driving. Watching a faster person drive YOUR car is many times enlightening. It shouldn't take them more than a handful of laps to learn your radio and your car. Chose your mentor wisely however. Not everyone in the A can coach with objectivity and respect. I'd go with a fast mod guy. Even if your car isn't set up well they should still be able to wheel it and provide some good feedback.

Mudcat981

iTrader: (4)

I also just returned to racing after a 20 year layoff. When I first came back I remembered some of the old mistakes I used to make (slipper to tight, shocks not properly bled, wrong tires, etc) but I made sure my driving got around the track safely. The first night the A-main guys turned 17-19 laps (5 min) I turned 11. Then the next time I concentrated on maintaining constant control of the steering wheel and throttle. I never gave full throttle out of a turn, and never let go of the wheel (ever). I try to think like if I was in the car and driving where would my hands be? They would be in complete control and never let the wheel go or just slam the throttle. I would always get out of the way of other cars so as to not crash them or myself. I am still not A-main caliber yet but I have improved from 11 laps to 15. Also I agree driving when all the slashers are on the track is the best time to work on your control and patience.

On another note be careful of others setups. I have 3 close friends and we all have differernt styles. One likes his steering so twitchy I can barely crawl around the track with his car, vice-a-versa he can't seem to make my car turn. The other 2 are in the middle, but we all 4 have different styles. So one person (your son) may like your setup but maybe it's not for you?

Also a serious lesson learned from the 1991 NORRCA NATS. I made the A-MAIN and the track was blue groove, I tightned by slipper to tight and halfway through the race I could hardly control the car. Now I run the slipper on the loose side and am very happy and usually under control.

Another serious lesson is check your ride hight after every race, if it changes then you may need to re-bleed your shocks. If not something broke.

One last thing pay atention to your driving and did the car glitch are seem to go straight when you tried to turn? I discovered that may reciever was glitching randomly once or twice a race and causing me to crash. I spent the money on an Airtronics MT4 and gained another lap.

afm237

6 months ago I was in the same position, back of the pack and crash master. The slow practice was what helped me the most! It taught me track position and track awareness. I also had a faster friend stand on the track and make me run the correct lines. My last race I qulified 2nd and was only a few tents off fast lap in the main.

Steve

platgof

iTrader: (4)

I really like the 6 inch rule the best. I am an old guy running with the younger crowd, and it is hard to keep up. My reflexes are way slower. The only thing that keeps me in the middle of the pack is, I used to ride dirt bikes, and there is a lot of similarity, more than you would think. I really enjoyed high speed power slides! My sons could not figure out why I was so good on Rally Racer video games, I can feel the dirt when I race, weird.

joedeman1969

iTrader: (18)

I am on a break also right now. I became frustrated but I hope some extended time off will make me come back renewed.

shagino

iTrader: (57)

Mike,

I just saw this thread. I've heard AA say that if you rent the track and pay him $100, he'd tutor the whole time. He did mention he was open to groups also. Might be with the $ if it's affecting your enjoyment.

I agree with an earlier post that you should check out TW-LITH. The track is small but it really helps me by being controlled enough to stay on the track most of the time. I know it's a haul for you though.

Good Luck!

bash bros

iTrader: (2)

I had problems with this the first few times racing also.

IMO it comes down to practice, and working on the things you're not good at. For me it seems the farther away I am from the car, the less "feel" I have for how it's going to respond handling-wise. I try to work on it during practice days, but if I can't get to the track for a week or two I'll just go down to a parking lot and practice weaving through obstacles or just holding a straight line while the car is moving perpendicular to my line of sight.

WolfrtLosi

This is the best advice i believe... you mentioned that you tried this and it helped, but you also said your lap times were only like 3 seconds slower than normal? Im thinking that nearly double normal would be a better pace.

Someone mentioned 'practicing mistakes' and i think this is your problem. I learned this years ago when learning to play guitar. Get it right and the speed comes naturally, go as slow as necessary so there are NO mistakes. you will build muscle memory and that is what puts the car around the track.

the fastest reaction time people have is around 0.1 seconds. Yours and mine is probably 0.2-0.3 seconds. Even 0.1 is far too slow to control a car properly... Its your fingers that control the car not your brain...
Your fingers will do what they have practiced doing. you need to retrain your fingers to drive the car well, because your fingers have crashed the car 0.3 seconds before your brain has even considered what you need to do.

if your track will allow it, try painting a racing line on the track, and keep on top of it exactly, like within 2 inches of center. If your track wont let you do that, walk the track, and decide EXACTLY where you want the car to be at all times. Drive as slow as necessary to keep your car within 2-3 inches of this line at all times. If you do 5 laps without coming off the line, go a little faster. If you make a mistake, go slower again... The speed doesn't matter at ALL, its training your muscle memory to put the car exactly where you want it.

Practice this enough and you will find you are up to race pace, and in complete control of the car.

Also, just disconnect the transponder, it will only be a distraction.

racer888

I have a similar problem....I'm constant in my race lines but still 2 secs plus off pace. Started racing this August and been out of the novice class since October. I think where I'm losing most of my time is the corners and cover to corner speed. I'm running 17.5 blinky and the brake strength is not very strong so I've tried drag brake which usually ends up with over steer...finger brake which sometimes ends up with spin or loop outs. I came from racing cross country endurance races on atv's and adjustments I would make on my atv to correct certain things are proving to be almost opposite. In club races I'm a lock for the b main and have made it to the a main occasionally but feel if I had a better technique for cornering or even corner to corner speed I could gain alot ....so my main question is how far into a corner do you guys dive before heavy braking or is it more gradule? Just watching the fast guys I can noticeably see them being faster from corner to corner. It's just discouraging knowing where I'm losing the time just not knowing what to do to correct it.

Vehicles are tlr 22sct 2.0 and 22b 2.0, spectrum dx3c tx, orion r10 pro and sct has d4 17.5 with ht rotor and buggy has a dynamite platinum17.5. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated and tried.

Socket

iTrader: (61)

You're on the right path with drag brake, but dial back your braking power a lot.

I run the Orion R10.1 pro, and followed Joe Pillar's setup method - they use a 25% drag brake, with only 50-62% braking force. This makes it to where you shouldn't have to get on the brakes much if at all in 17.5. These cars when setup right handle so well, you should be able to just turn.


The guy that gave the advice of practicing slow is very much correct. Set your EPA back to 60%, and only focus on driving the lines, and not crashing. We call this, "Hitting my marks" in MX racing. Once you're able to keep on top of your marks, start adding power back, but keep taking your time that you focus on your marks.

Jumps - don't jump something unless you KNOW you can clear it - I'd rather quickly roll something instead of bobbling before it, and chance coming up short and crashing. 2wd doesn't have the suspension to eat coming up short or chassis slapping, it will flip over.

rcgerber

iTrader: (8)

Honestly you shouldn't need to brake that often in 17.5 to set up a turn. The only time I would think is if you have a 180 turn after a straight. I run mod with an 8.5t and don't use the break much to turning on a med sized indoor track. That's not to say you shouldn't use breaks to setup turns (that might be your driving style), but you are loosing a lot of potential corner speed. I think you might want to work on your setup more and play with tires. You should be able to make most turn by just letting up on the throttle before the turn. Also when marshaling pick areas to marshal where you struggle/lose time. This allows you to watch fast guys lines as well as listen for their throttle input. You will probably find they are back on the gas before you.
Good luck and keep working at it.