I think if you check the associated site you will see a change has been made to that page of the Tuning Guide.

What I've put on the site is really from experience more than from a manual. Less caster makes the car aggressive, and, for my driving style and using basically the stock setup, I get more steering. More caster (4+) mellows the car out and makes it easy to drive, seemingly less steering.

I'm sure there are some faults in the guide since I stayed up some night until 2 or 3 in the morning (having to be at work at 6am on the next) getting this thing ready.

Thanks ixlr8nz for pointing that out. :) I need some proofers, I'm sure!!!!

BLAZN420- How about that unsponsored guy driving a TC3 to third behind those sponsored guys. It's what the "regular" guys can do that makes a car great or just good.

Caster
 

Actually there are two totally different schools of thought on caster. Here is a clip from an article I wrote from Xtreme last year.

"Caster
Caster is the angle that the front kingpin makes with an imaginary line perpendicular to the ground. Positive caster is when the top of the kingpin is located more rearward than the bottom of the kingpin, negative caster is never used. Caster is changed in a number of ways. On lower A-Arm upper camber link suspensions this is usually accomplished by changing the front hubs. On pivot ball suspensions that have upper and lower A-Arms sliding the upper A-Arm more rearward will result in increased caster; this is usually done by adjusting spacers. On either style of suspension increasing or decreasing the chassis kickup will increase or decrease caster. Caster controls how much the front camber changes when the wheels are turned, less caster means less camber change. The outside wheel will gain negative camber while the inside wheel will gain positive camber. This allows both front tires to make the fullest contact patch with the ground possible. There are actually two totally different schools of thought on how caster effects a vehicles handling. I find the first more applicable to offroad and the second more to onroad.
First School of thought: Increasing a vehicles caster will increase its steering entering a turn but will decrease the steering exiting the turn. Decreasing caster will increase steering at the middle and end of a turn, but will lessen the steering entering the turn.
Second School of thought: Increasing a vehicles caster will slow down the initial reaction to a turn, reducing corner entry steering while increasing corner exit steering. Decreasing caster will increase a vehicles responsiveness increasing corner entry steering, but decreasing exit steering.
I believe these both of these theories to be valid depending on the situation. Offroad cars have softer suspensions with much more suspension travel than their onroad counterparts. They will tend to roll more and sooner in the turn. Because of the increased negative camber of the outside wheel caused by more caster, the outside front tire will have more weight transferred to it sooner and thus increasing responsiveness. With onroad cars suspensions are usually fairly stiff and have a smaller range of movement. Less caster will mean less gained camber while turning, but because of the heavy springs and heavy damping the car is well into the turn before it begins to roll. When a car has rolled, more caster will usually mean more steering. It is just a question of when the car is rolling. "

hey i need a new setup for outdoor parkinglot racing, cracked concrete. i ran the stock setup with the red/blue springs. it was descent but i didnt have enough steering, i was thinking about adding some camber or using a swaybar to the rear and using 45 weight shock oil instead of the 35 weight.

any one have any suggestions?

oh yeah i was running takeoff cs27's

anybody know who paints Sean Cochran's bodies? A couple of guys told me that there are some SoCAl racers in here that might know.
THANX,
IKE

Ya, Darryl Silva paints Sean's bodies. Killer job, huh??? Wish I could paint like that....painter AND driver....what a combo!!!!

Pat. Thanks for that. That is the same feeling I had about caster on on-road cars.

patcollins- I suppose it depends on the track really. For example where I race is a very bumpy on road track that requires very soft suspension. So my car does body roll a lot compared to my set up on a dead flat track. I use 20 wt oil in the back and 40 on the front and the Tamiya Red spring (soft) on the back and a kit front spring.

Thanx tony. Daryl's paint scheme is so plain now I know why!!!! :D
IKE

Matt H.

How about Seattles Andrew Cartwright, the only non "flight teamer" in the top 20 in mod. sedan......

He Is 50% with Shumacher and thats it.....

He finished 13th and beat guys like Billy Easton and Todd Hodge........

thats the biggest thing that happened at carpet nats.....

just my opinion......

Andrew does what he does, and we get a national Championship in stock sedan and a second place.......

the norhwest is fast baby.....come on up to one of the best carpet tracks for a 2 day race and see how ya do........:sneaky:

Onroad Electric and Nitro "State Championships" May 4th @ Small Cars Unlimited.
http://smallcarsunlimited.com/albums.../aaa.thumb.gif

ft tc3 or racer
 

I am just starting out in rc cars and I will be entering the sportsaman class once i get my car. The only thing is that I cant decide if i should get the racer kit or factory. The shop owner says to get the racer for starting out because the sportsman drivers are pretty reckless (which they are). But I dont really want to spend the 280$ later on the factory and have this other car sitting and collecting dust. Do you think I should just get the factory? Which parts break the most on your tc3's? I also do not want to oftenly break expensive parts and have to buy new ones.

In the way it runs there really isnt alot of difference. Your first car is probably going to be trashed by the time you learn to drive it and a car that has been beat on just dont handle as well as a new car. I recomend the racer with threaded shock bodies. You can always buy the graphite upgrade kit later, but its not needed.

In the sportsman class you don't need all the graphite and blue. I would go with the racer kit and change the tires out for some racing slicks, and put some threaded shock bodies on it like pat said. The thing I broke the most is the suspension arm mounts, and the hinge pin would bend at the same time (at most a $5 maybe). I did that about 10 times last year. Hasn't happened in a while because I tuned my driving skills and don't hit every board now :D. Learn to drive well first, and then upgrade to a FTTC3 if you deem it neccessary.

Modena,

Do you use the IRS chassis braces on your outdoor car?

I think it is the stiffening kit (its an add on piece)