Reedy TC Race of Champions
05-27-2003, 03:08 PM
#571
Originally posted by Frank McKinney
Radio problems. I think I finished 2 practice runs. I didn't finish any qualifiers and packed up before my main. If my car *had* been working for the main, *I* would have won the battery pack that that kid in the orange shirt won.
The problem lies either with the motor or the radio (which was new with a new module). I had a new Xxtra receiver mounted on three layers of servo tape, tried another known working Xxtra receiver, tried a different known working receiver, moved the receiver position 3 times, seated the brushes at 4.8v for more than 10 minutes, tried a different known working servo, changed capacitors to new ones, moved the capacitors, put an Rf filter on the negative motor wire, moved the antenna to the top deck, moved the personal transponder to 3 different positions, charged the transmitter batteries all weekend, yadda yadda...nothing worked.
Doesn't matter now, the car is officially retired and sits on my shelf. I still had fun taking pictures, watching the Invite and triple-A races and catching up with the other racers. Plus, it's not like I had a flight home or a 7-hr drive home to worry about - I live 15 minutes away so I could sleep in my own bed, jump on the internet, etc.
Radio problems. I think I finished 2 practice runs. I didn't finish any qualifiers and packed up before my main. If my car *had* been working for the main, *I* would have won the battery pack that that kid in the orange shirt won.
The problem lies either with the motor or the radio (which was new with a new module). I had a new Xxtra receiver mounted on three layers of servo tape, tried another known working Xxtra receiver, tried a different known working receiver, moved the receiver position 3 times, seated the brushes at 4.8v for more than 10 minutes, tried a different known working servo, changed capacitors to new ones, moved the capacitors, put an Rf filter on the negative motor wire, moved the antenna to the top deck, moved the personal transponder to 3 different positions, charged the transmitter batteries all weekend, yadda yadda...nothing worked.
Doesn't matter now, the car is officially retired and sits on my shelf. I still had fun taking pictures, watching the Invite and triple-A races and catching up with the other racers. Plus, it's not like I had a flight home or a 7-hr drive home to worry about - I live 15 minutes away so I could sleep in my own bed, jump on the internet, etc.
-Sushi Boy
05-27-2003, 03:29 PM
#572
A lot of people had repeated radio problems that were not releated to any of the electronics. My car would get hit on extremely badly if I drove it slowly through the sweeper, If I was at race speed no problems at all. In the 2nd main I was coasting into the infield, normally drove in hard an braked, and got hit on. I heard from most people it was releated to the motor, or the arm itself. Some guys during practice ran a different motor and all radio problems disappeared. I personally looked over Franks car, he wasn't doing anything to cause any abnormal problems. I've seen much worse work much better then his car was.
Congrats to the Rodzilla! So what are you going to run next year?
Congrats to the Rodzilla! So what are you going to run next year?
05-27-2003, 04:15 PM
#573
I didn't mean to bring up Novak as a possible problem, I'm sure it wasn't the receiver (I used 3 different receivers, 2 were Xxtra's) and I wasn't using an M8. Charlie did a lot to try to help me out, including letting me use his personal race receiver and I didn't mean for anyone to get an implication it was a Novak problem at all. (I didn't get to say bye to you on Sunday Charlie but hey man I really appreciated the help, especially considering you were in the middle of getting ready for those A-main qualifying runs!)
Personally (and nothing against Reedy motors) I *think* it was the motor - I used my spec motor from last year in practice the first day and the car drove just fine for 2 and a half practice heats (the first heat was a shakedown to make sure the radio gear worked, I forget why I missed my 4th practice heat). I got the new spec motor early Friday for the 5th to 8th practice heats and couldn't get it going at all that day. I let it run in on my Pulsar that night for more than 10 minutes, checked the brushes again, they had broken in and even after that I still had the glitching in the morning. I could have complained to Mike Reedy about it or whatever but I've spent a lot more at a big race and finished not much better (roughly $500 for hotel, travel, inserts and S3's at the 1999(?) ROAR Nats in Ripon, where I won the J main, woohoo) so I'm honestly not that bummed about it. I still got to see some great racing, you know, and that's half the reason for showing up.
My main regret was not that I didn't get to run my main (and go for that battery pack) but that I didn't get to run in the cleanest qualifying heats at the race. I had 3 of the eventual A main racers in my heat and because of my radio problems and not wanting to break or slow down anyone I just pulled off no more than a lap or two into any of my qualifiers.
Personally (and nothing against Reedy motors) I *think* it was the motor - I used my spec motor from last year in practice the first day and the car drove just fine for 2 and a half practice heats (the first heat was a shakedown to make sure the radio gear worked, I forget why I missed my 4th practice heat). I got the new spec motor early Friday for the 5th to 8th practice heats and couldn't get it going at all that day. I let it run in on my Pulsar that night for more than 10 minutes, checked the brushes again, they had broken in and even after that I still had the glitching in the morning. I could have complained to Mike Reedy about it or whatever but I've spent a lot more at a big race and finished not much better (roughly $500 for hotel, travel, inserts and S3's at the 1999(?) ROAR Nats in Ripon, where I won the J main, woohoo) so I'm honestly not that bummed about it. I still got to see some great racing, you know, and that's half the reason for showing up.
My main regret was not that I didn't get to run my main (and go for that battery pack) but that I didn't get to run in the cleanest qualifying heats at the race. I had 3 of the eventual A main racers in my heat and because of my radio problems and not wanting to break or slow down anyone I just pulled off no more than a lap or two into any of my qualifiers.
05-27-2003, 04:31 PM
#574
Joven and I (like anybody knows me... hehehe) had the same glitching problems... we figured it was the motor issue during practice... I used a different motor on thursday and everything went well... however, when they handed out the motor on Friday and I got the chance to run it the first time... the glitching started to occur... I knew it wasn't my electronics because everytime I used a different motor, all was well. Joven suggested to trim the edges of the brushes and try a comm lube (tribo) to lessen the brush arcing... after a few cuts on the comm and putting tribo on it every run, the problem was solved... I had a great weekend (3rd in E-Main)... although I know I could have done better with less driving mistakes, without those radio glitches, my Reedy racing experience was all worthwhile...
Ian Aquino
Ian Aquino
05-27-2003, 04:33 PM
#575
Thanks Charlie, you had me worried after the 2nd race. Looked like your were going to crack open a can of whoop-a$$ on me. I may give open-mod a try next year. Just picked up a Reedy 8x2 today to see if I can hold on for dear life during the TCS race in a couple of weeks. If I can control that, then for sure, I'll do open mod next year.
05-27-2003, 04:55 PM
#576
Tech Regular
i had glitching problems also on sat thurs and fri were fine but got attacked sat. i was also running a internal antenna so i put a regular one on and then it still happened so i do what i knew and that was to recut the motor again and then it was fine.
05-27-2003, 04:57 PM
#577
Right on, I'm sure you'll do fine what ever you run.
Frank- Whoa, don't sweat it, I didn't mean anything by my post, just confirming that you didn't do anything wrong yourself to cause all the radio problems that you had. I didn't think you were blaming anything at all by your post. Jeepers Mr. McKinney!!!! LOL And if you see thad give him some props from me, he did very well, I just never got a chance to say anything to him.
Frank- Whoa, don't sweat it, I didn't mean anything by my post, just confirming that you didn't do anything wrong yourself to cause all the radio problems that you had. I didn't think you were blaming anything at all by your post. Jeepers Mr. McKinney!!!! LOL
And if you see thad give him some props from me, he did very well, I just never got a chance to say anything to him.
05-27-2003, 04:58 PM
#578
I had a glitching problem too but mine was the receiver. I did hear some guys had the glitching problem last year with the motors. What they did was take the timing ring out and grind the chrome plating off and scuff up the inside of the can where the ring touches. I guess the coating was making the caps not get a good ground on the can and that's what was causing the glitch.
I also had a great weekend. I won my main. Even though it was the G main. But out of a hundred guys, I'm happy. I think if I had gotten rid of the nerves and quit over shooting corners during qualifying, I may have had a top 50 weekend.
BTW, won't Rod be in the Invite class next year being the winner or is that just the winner of the open mod class that get's an automatic invitaion?
Overall it was an awesome weekend and I can't wait for next year.
I also had a great weekend. I won my main. Even though it was the G main. But out of a hundred guys, I'm happy. I think if I had gotten rid of the nerves and quit over shooting corners during qualifying, I may have had a top 50 weekend.
BTW, won't Rod be in the Invite class next year being the winner or is that just the winner of the open mod class that get's an automatic invitaion?
Overall it was an awesome weekend and I can't wait for next year.
05-27-2003, 04:59 PM
#579
rtypec - is this the now-famous "Rodzilla"?
I would think that if you DON'T do Open Mod next year you won't hear the end of it for the rest of your TCS days! 
Originally posted by rtypec
I may give open-mod a try next year.
I may give open-mod a try next year.
05-27-2003, 06:18 PM
#580
Hi Frank, they call me Rodzilla when things get ugly on the track hehe. And I guess I'll run open-mod next year. I just don't want to be a menace on track with all of the good driving that goes on in mod and invite.
05-27-2003, 06:39 PM
#581
Rodzilla was given to him because Rod kept hammering cars and eating them for breakfast. Now Rod's name is Rocket Rod.
05-27-2003, 06:57 PM
#582
It's only when I don't have enough Asahi beer...
05-27-2003, 09:20 PM
#583
Tech Fanatic
Originally posted by Jeff Werner
Frank were you using the Switch-Reciever combo in an older m8? I know a racer here had the same problem you desrcibed and Novak said that in the Older M8's that may be a capatability problem. He gave the racer some things to do try. Novak said the best thing was to send in the m8 to them and they would upgrade it to work. Do not know if this was your problem but wanted to try and help a bit.
Jeff
Frank were you using the Switch-Reciever combo in an older m8? I know a racer here had the same problem you desrcibed and Novak said that in the Older M8's that may be a capatability problem. He gave the racer some things to do try. Novak said the best thing was to send in the m8 to them and they would upgrade it to work. Do not know if this was your problem but wanted to try and help a bit.
Jeff
How do you tell the old M8 from the newer M8? Are you talking about the one with the blue light?
05-27-2003, 09:33 PM
#584
I hope all of you had a great time. This thing took a long time to get ready for and a lot of work, but I'm glad to see that you all seemed to have fun. That made it all worth it and to see Mike enjoy the races was cool.
Hey Charlie! Let's go night golfing. I have a new set of clubs that I found in my car.
Kodos to Rod, Charlie, Tom, Dan, Peter and Kevin. I'm so proud of my boys!
Hey Charlie! Let's go night golfing. I have a new set of clubs that I found in my car.
Kodos to Rod, Charlie, Tom, Dan, Peter and Kevin. I'm so proud of my boys!
The best Race announcer ever
