New technology vrs Old?
11-23-2009, 01:25 AM
#1
New technology vrs Old?
First of all i'm all for the new technology that infiltrates this hobby, but just wondered after reading the thread on 'whether turbo boost esc's should be allowed....' if, in the case of the really consistent champion drivers the equipment they use now is getting them round the same tracks noticably quicker than say their top of the line brushed systems of a few years ago?
(talking mod class because it's unlimited). If they could, (theoretically) pull that old car out the cupd and race it alongside their 'latest' now... what sort of time improvements would there be?
I guess what i'm asking is has driver ability reached the point where all the new technology isn't making huge differences.
(talking mod class because it's unlimited). If they could, (theoretically) pull that old car out the cupd and race it alongside their 'latest' now... what sort of time improvements would there be?
I guess what i'm asking is has driver ability reached the point where all the new technology isn't making huge differences.
11-23-2009, 02:22 AM
#2
It's very easy really. Adjutable timing (on the fly) in BL works like VVT in real cars. Instead of having a little (or big) screamer of an engine that has to be revved to the redline all the time to stay in the powerband and has next to no torque at low revs, you can have now the best of both worlds. Strong acceleration at low revs and high revs for speed at the top end. Fast MOSFET technology coupled with computing power worthy of the first space missions in a matchbox sized ESC have made it possible. Brushed motors can not change timing on the fly so they were bound to lose.
All this has nothing to do with driver skill however. It has though put a new slant on it as modern drivers need to understand their BL system and how it works to get the best out of it. Is that driver skill? Everybody can decide for themselves.
But the driver is just as important today as it always was though I doubt even the best of drivers would be able to beat their own best BL laptimes with brushed technology.
That said, some tracks will blurr the difference between BL and brushed to some extent.
From personal experience brushless has improved times in my class to the point that we have laps consistently within .2secs of the track record.
True, the record has been set by a very experienced driver running a brushed system, but it cost him the motor (due to overgearing).
Today, BL systems in our class are producing similar laptimes consistently and for the entire race. In other words, with a brushed system if you missed the corner entry line and correct speed you dropped off the right motor revs on the exit or had to take a less than ideal line out of the corner with the resulting consequences for the next corner entry. BL allows later braking without fear of being off the torque curve come corner exit, hence more aggressive/fast lines are possible without any compromise in consistency. As a result of this not only laptimes have gone down a fair bit, but consistency number have improved considerably for the entire field.
One side effect of this was that faster radios become a real necessity these days too when back in the time of brushed an average radio was good enough.
All this has nothing to do with driver skill however. It has though put a new slant on it as modern drivers need to understand their BL system and how it works to get the best out of it. Is that driver skill? Everybody can decide for themselves.
But the driver is just as important today as it always was though I doubt even the best of drivers would be able to beat their own best BL laptimes with brushed technology.
That said, some tracks will blurr the difference between BL and brushed to some extent.
From personal experience brushless has improved times in my class to the point that we have laps consistently within .2secs of the track record.
True, the record has been set by a very experienced driver running a brushed system, but it cost him the motor (due to overgearing).
Today, BL systems in our class are producing similar laptimes consistently and for the entire race. In other words, with a brushed system if you missed the corner entry line and correct speed you dropped off the right motor revs on the exit or had to take a less than ideal line out of the corner with the resulting consequences for the next corner entry. BL allows later braking without fear of being off the torque curve come corner exit, hence more aggressive/fast lines are possible without any compromise in consistency. As a result of this not only laptimes have gone down a fair bit, but consistency number have improved considerably for the entire field.
One side effect of this was that faster radios become a real necessity these days too when back in the time of brushed an average radio was good enough.
Last edited by niznai; 11-23-2009 at 02:36 AM.
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
