Hello, pics of the Coop,

Nice to see my chassis making an appearance here. There are still a few more blue enhancements I have found to go on the car. As a Tamiya fan, there is no such thing as too much blue. It even has a blue body!

By the way, the paint has not started to peel off like the chrome. Not yet anyway.

Hey Jeff,

Tamiya also have the optional (but very rare) milky blue spring set... That's more blue you don't have yet!

I just like the fact that you've pre-empted the official 'blue' M03R...

Hi Tony, I was thinking more of the blue battery supports, I think they come with the R. Concentrating on making it faster for now though. The competition is fierce!

You mean these ones? 3 racing I believe....M03R ones are the same as you've already got

Blue AND carbon....

I think they are the ones. I hadn't really looked into it yet, I just saw them at the track a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure about 3 racing parts being legal for our challenge cup. I will check the rules before I part with the folding stuff.

Hi Tony...I have finallyfound the biggest speed secret ever ...especially for the mini....TYRES!!!!!!...I have been using 60d Tamyia with double stuffed fronts...OK at the start ..but the fronts went thru to the insert pretty quickly,and even though the car still drove reasonable,caused major understeer.I put a set of Splice 32s on with black Tamyia inserts(no double stuffing)...what a difference....won a couple of the heats and the final!!!!
Bob

G'day Barger,

Good to hear that you are happy with the Spice tyres with the Hard Tamiya foam inserts.

I am in the process of testing the spice tyres with the purple 5.5mm spice inserts, which fill the tyre out nicely.

The ride mini tyres with the green insert fitted to the front also work very well, specially at Windsor. Give alot more turn in than the 60D's which seem to push and wear out quickly.

Both these tyres only need to be single stuffed.

I know that you can get both the Ride and Spice mini tyres and inserts from Feral batteries.

Later

Calvin.

G'day Jeff,

Not sure, but you may have trouble using the power tube battery packs with the 3 Racing battery holder.

Might need to modify one of the graphite retainers or make a new one. I did a visual on my mini and the battery wires will be a problem with this battery holder.

Later

Calvin.

Bob, I bet Cal Holmes (Caltek1) just read what you wrote and laughed to himself...
Because I've spent the last couple of week espousing my 'tyre theory' to him
And it's basically that 60D's SUCK...

They used to be OK years ago, but now they're rubbish. They wear quickly, and they don't grip.

My basic tyre theory now says that for probably 95% of tracks, the compromises that Type A 60D's (and also to some extent S grips and M grips too) force on your setup, MORE than negate any slight advantage that the extra diameter has, (btw, the actual difference over a 'normal' tyre is just under 6%) You have to add toe-out to get them to turn, which gives you tyre scrub and slows the car down.
And they don't have the acceleration and grip either.

I've been carefully monitoring my own performance on all tyres lately, and also the other rc-mini drivers. And all the data comes in firmly on the side of the little tyres. At Wodonga for example I was nearly a second a lap QUICKER with the small tyres. Pretty much anyone who has changed back to small tyres has gone quicker...

People running to TCS rules don't have this option, but I can tell you now, I've sold all my 60D's...

Sorry but no.

Nice, 'bout time you came around!

I liquidated all of mine a while back too, & cut all ties to TCS rules. This is why GT Mini came to be... we run black cans, sticky tires, and any manufacturer's parts, as long as they are designed for the car. Little grippy cars = big big fun.

So Tony, are Pit Shimizus really coming back??

Mitch,

I've been told by a number of sources that Pits are coming back, seen no evidence of that as yet though. Supposedly the same with Rides - once again no sign of any.

However, we've been (luckily) involved with testing some tires from a new manufacturer and they're really looking the goods. Can't say any more at the moment but should be able to reveal all in a week or two.

just a warning on the 3 racing battery holders - they don't work with Lipo....

We've gone that way too, but still using stock tires and 13.5 brushless systems, were thing about 17.5 cause the 13's are hitting like 35 mph on the back straight