288LikesTamiya mini cooper
08-22-2013, 09:35 AM
They're a very good idea. Smoother and more efficient.
08-22-2013, 09:33 PM
New blog post up for those interested. Did a little testing with the M03 at Galaxy Hobby this past Sunday. Also got a few pics of an Atomic V2 "Mini-TC", that one of our drivers, Jacob, was racing. Pretty cool little car!
www.theminiunderground.blogspot.com
www.theminiunderground.blogspot.com
08-22-2013, 10:13 PM
The TCS Nationals are this weekend so many guys practicing today. We're having to use the "new" compound S-Grip tires for this event. A handful of guys have figured out what to do with the tires and are turning faster lap times than they were with the old tires.
I finally figured out what direction to go with the set ups, and cut nearly a second off my times. Unfortunately am still off about 0.5 sec from the fastest cars out there. This is probably due more to relative driver skill levels than the set up.
I still feel that the new tires are "junk", but they can be made to go fast with a little work. Also the tuning window is really narrow and the tires are difficult to work with. Takes a lot of the "fun" out of Mini racing and has replaced it with hard work. As soon as the race is over, these tires are coming off and will be using the Shimizu tires so I can have fun.
I finally figured out what direction to go with the set ups, and cut nearly a second off my times. Unfortunately am still off about 0.5 sec from the fastest cars out there. This is probably due more to relative driver skill levels than the set up.
I still feel that the new tires are "junk", but they can be made to go fast with a little work. Also the tuning window is really narrow and the tires are difficult to work with. Takes a lot of the "fun" out of Mini racing and has replaced it with hard work. As soon as the race is over, these tires are coming off and will be using the Shimizu tires so I can have fun.
08-22-2013, 10:22 PM
The TCS Nationals are this weekend so many guys practicing today. We're having to use the "new" compound S-Grip tires for this event. A handful of guys have figured out what to do with the tires and are turning faster lap times than they were with the old tires.
I finally figured out what direction to go with the set ups, and cut nearly a second off my times. Unfortunately am still off about 0.5 sec from the fastest cars out there. This is probably due more to relative driver skill levels than the set up.
I still feel that the new tires are "junk", but they can be made to go fast with a little work. Also the tuning window is really narrow and the tires are difficult to work with. Takes a lot of the "fun" out of Mini racing and has replaced it with hard work. As soon as the race is over, these tires are coming off and will be using the Shimizu tires so I can have fun.
I finally figured out what direction to go with the set ups, and cut nearly a second off my times. Unfortunately am still off about 0.5 sec from the fastest cars out there. This is probably due more to relative driver skill levels than the set up.
I still feel that the new tires are "junk", but they can be made to go fast with a little work. Also the tuning window is really narrow and the tires are difficult to work with. Takes a lot of the "fun" out of Mini racing and has replaced it with hard work. As soon as the race is over, these tires are coming off and will be using the Shimizu tires so I can have fun.
08-22-2013, 11:28 PM
I was messing with these tires at our regional race and last Sunday. They're odd, that's for sure. They don't seem to care for my M03 just yet, I ended up running A's most of the day because the S-grips just didn't feel right. Something about them is off, I just can't quite put my finger on it.
Unfortunately for TCS racing, you cannot change the insert as the tires come pre glued so there is no going to a stiffer insert. All of us use cyano on the sidewalls for this reason.
The M05 adapts to the new tire better than the M03 for obvious reasons, but is, for most people, not as quick as the M03. I'm talking about the outdoors asphalt tracks and maybe 0.2 or 0.3 sec per lap. I have no idea whether one is better than the other on carpet or other hi-grip surfaces. My preference has always been for the M03 for most conditions, but I do race the M05 on hi-grip track surfaces. The M05's slower corner speed is not as apparent on these surfaces and is usually easier to drive.
Last edited by Granpa; 08-22-2013 at 11:31 PM. Reason: addition
08-22-2013, 11:53 PM
I've been getting decent wear with the newer S Grips. Maybe almost on par with the old ones, but they do wear faster if you don't spend a bunch of time on them. That is a bummer. They're certainly not TCS legal. Sidewalls glued inside and out, tread/sidewall edge shaved down, "radial" tape band inside...
My rear tires are a pair of S Grip premounts I bought in Sept. 2011. I'm thinking about replacing them. They're starting to get a little "balloon-ey". I may just run my Sept. 2012 rear tires.
My rear tires are a pair of S Grip premounts I bought in Sept. 2011. I'm thinking about replacing them. They're starting to get a little "balloon-ey". I may just run my Sept. 2012 rear tires.
08-25-2013, 03:14 AM
Tech Adept
For the UK guys, is there a series or championship for the Mini's over here? A weekend doing that would be pretty cool 
08-25-2013, 03:26 AM
08-25-2013, 07:37 AM
Hey guys, what's the strongest CVD/Swingshaft protector/blade/cushion out there? I keep ruining mine while running an oil diff 
Thanks!
Thanks!
08-25-2013, 10:57 PM
The TCS nationals were just completed a few hours ago. Just thought I'd pass on a few of the things we found out about the new S-Grip premounts. The most important is to not round the the edges to prevent traction rolling. You wind up with a very unpredictable tire. Yes, i know it sounds like a good idea, but it definitely is not. They can be used as rear tires, but not for the fronts.
Everyone was using cyano on the front tires, but some were doing the rear tires too. Seems to be a 50/50 split on that. I just cyanod the outside of the fronts and did nothing to the rears. Did not have any rolling problems at all.
If anyones interested, I qualified 7th and finished 7th. Could and should have finished one, possibly 2 spots higher, but that's racing. I'm very content with my results cause my driving skills are not top rank. The car was very good and for some reason was running a little flatter than most. A very talented, relative newcomer to Minis, Bensi Lopez won the Trip to Japan. Bensi is an experienced racer, but took a few years off to play golf and came back 2or 3 years ago.
Set ups are all over the place, but are still pretty close to the set ups I've posted several times. Diffs are a little tighter than before and all the front runners, except one used the M03.
As always, the opinions expressed are mine and mine alone. They are not meant to offend you or any of your long held convictions.
Everyone was using cyano on the front tires, but some were doing the rear tires too. Seems to be a 50/50 split on that. I just cyanod the outside of the fronts and did nothing to the rears. Did not have any rolling problems at all.
If anyones interested, I qualified 7th and finished 7th. Could and should have finished one, possibly 2 spots higher, but that's racing. I'm very content with my results cause my driving skills are not top rank. The car was very good and for some reason was running a little flatter than most. A very talented, relative newcomer to Minis, Bensi Lopez won the Trip to Japan. Bensi is an experienced racer, but took a few years off to play golf and came back 2or 3 years ago.
Set ups are all over the place, but are still pretty close to the set ups I've posted several times. Diffs are a little tighter than before and all the front runners, except one used the M03.
As always, the opinions expressed are mine and mine alone. They are not meant to offend you or any of your long held convictions.
08-26-2013, 12:58 AM
Congratulations on your qualifying and finishing positions. You placed much higher than I would have.
Jim
08-26-2013, 04:01 AM
Hi Granpa,
Congrats on your result. Any chance to see a picture of you and your mini?
Congrats on your result. Any chance to see a picture of you and your mini?
08-26-2013, 07:52 AM
Tech Regular
iTrader: (8)
The TCS nationals were just completed a few hours ago. Just thought I'd pass on a few of the things we found out about the new S-Grip premounts. The most important is to not round the the edges to prevent traction rolling. You wind up with a very unpredictable tire. Yes, i know it sounds like a good idea, but it definitely is not. They can be used as rear tires, but not for the fronts.
Everyone was using cyano on the front tires, but some were doing the rear tires too. Seems to be a 50/50 split on that. I just cyanod the outside of the fronts and did nothing to the rears. Did not have any rolling problems at all.
If anyones interested, I qualified 7th and finished 7th. Could and should have finished one, possibly 2 spots higher, but that's racing. I'm very content with my results cause my driving skills are not top rank. The car was very good and for some reason was running a little flatter than most. A very talented, relative newcomer to Minis, Bensi Lopez won the Trip to Japan. Bensi is an experienced racer, but took a few years off to play golf and came back 2or 3 years ago.
Set ups are all over the place, but are still pretty close to the set ups I've posted several times. Diffs are a little tighter than before and all the front runners, except one used the M03.
As always, the opinions expressed are mine and mine alone. They are not meant to offend you or any of your long held convictions.
Everyone was using cyano on the front tires, but some were doing the rear tires too. Seems to be a 50/50 split on that. I just cyanod the outside of the fronts and did nothing to the rears. Did not have any rolling problems at all.
If anyones interested, I qualified 7th and finished 7th. Could and should have finished one, possibly 2 spots higher, but that's racing. I'm very content with my results cause my driving skills are not top rank. The car was very good and for some reason was running a little flatter than most. A very talented, relative newcomer to Minis, Bensi Lopez won the Trip to Japan. Bensi is an experienced racer, but took a few years off to play golf and came back 2or 3 years ago.
Set ups are all over the place, but are still pretty close to the set ups I've posted several times. Diffs are a little tighter than before and all the front runners, except one used the M03.
As always, the opinions expressed are mine and mine alone. They are not meant to offend you or any of your long held convictions.
Danny
08-26-2013, 11:15 AM
Hi Granpa,
Congrats on your result. Any chance to see a picture of you and your mini?
No point in doing that, cause most of the good stuff won't be obvious in a picture. I've posted everything on that car in this thread at one time or another. The car in pictures looks like a stock kit with aluminum F/R uprights and TRF shocks.
Thanx for asking, but it would just be a waste of time for anyone to even look at it. At any race you'll see many cars that look exactly the same.
Congrats on your result. Any chance to see a picture of you and your mini?
No point in doing that, cause most of the good stuff won't be obvious in a picture. I've posted everything on that car in this thread at one time or another. The car in pictures looks like a stock kit with aluminum F/R uprights and TRF shocks.
Thanx for asking, but it would just be a waste of time for anyone to even look at it. At any race you'll see many cars that look exactly the same.
There's a bunch more about the tires, but showed you all you needed to know for the Nationals. We didn't have enough time to go thru the program to develop a good set of tires.
Hi Bob, are you saying all the frontrunners used the M03, save for one? How does Tamiya feel about this? Not trying to push any buttons, but they've got to be a little concerned that so many are prefer running discontinued product over current. I sure would be.
Congratulations on your qualifying and finishing positions. You placed much higher than I would have.
Jim
Congratulations on your qualifying and finishing positions. You placed much higher than I would have.
Jim
It's not a problem for them, but it is worrying us M03 fans. They don't allow them at the TCS Worlds. Tamiya USA doesn't show them as being discontinued, but i'm pretty sure they are trying to phase them out. Let's face it, there are more shekels to be made with the M05.
Jim, my car was very, very good. The set up was built around a driver with marginal driving skills like mine. I make a lot of little errors that this car does not penalize me for in lap times. It doesn't seem to roll if I clip a dot and minor misses on the apices cost me very little time at all. Also make fewer major errors. If you drive this car, you would have done very well. With me nowadays, it's all about the car. It's a shame this car is saddled with me as a driver.
I had another set up that was faster over one lap, but was a much harder to drive. I elected to stay with the safer set up.
08-26-2013, 11:42 AM
Tech Regular
iTrader: (8)
[QUOTE=Granpa;12485227][QUOTE=fx35rc;12484602]Hi Bob, your opinions are always valuable and helpful to many of us. Only a few racers are willing to help fellow racers with helpful tips. I know alot of us appreciate your tips. Thanks for your tire management tip this weekend. My M05 drove so much better. I was able to finish with one extra lap after your tips. I was sick on sunday and was not able to come back.
There's a bunch more about the tires, but showed you all you needed to know for the Nationals. We didn't have enough time to go thru the program to develop a good set of tires.
I will try your spring advice you gave me next time. I can't wait to try them..hahaha. I was so dissapointed I can't try them on sunday. Mini class is the best
There's a bunch more about the tires, but showed you all you needed to know for the Nationals. We didn't have enough time to go thru the program to develop a good set of tires.
I will try your spring advice you gave me next time. I can't wait to try them..hahaha. I was so dissapointed I can't try them on sunday. Mini class is the best