imjonah

I have an electric 1/10 scale touring car with stock motor.

How much different are the traction conditions of a normal generic parking lot and a swept and prepared parking lot for racing.
There is going to be a lot of weekend racing on swept prepared parking lots this summer but there is no place for me to practice except in local parking lots which are unswept or prepared.

Assuming the parking lot is reasonably clean and new are the conditions so different that practicing on an unswept parking lot will not help my driving skills all that much, because of all the sliding the car will do?

I have some new treaded tires. set of foams and some slicks.
Any pointers or advice for me?
My primary goal is to improve my throttle control and reaction time on steering.

HEWITT

iTrader: (14)

its not going to help you that much and you might just mess up your car because of all the rock in the not swept parking lot but if you want to practice try not to do it were something is rough and if you do practice on the unswept parking lot try to turn alot near things so when you race and someone is near you you will go near them and pass them on like a turn

DT-Skyline

A swept parkibng lot for racing gives more grip to the tires and is less messy for your car. It's the opposite for unswept parking lots. Hope this helps u.

David Root

A leaf blower helps a lot !

HK Racing Joe

practice on a pubic tennis court usually their really clean. go when it's colder because them their open but empty

popsracer

imjonah;

If your ultimate goal is to race then practicing on a prepared track is always best.

For learning the basics of Car control, you can set-up a makeshift track in any empty lot.
Dust of course will be an issue and unless you sweep or blow off an area, you will always have to deal with it.

Hardriven RC

I feel that practising on both "dirty" tracks with low grip and "clean" tracks with lots of grip helps your driving skills. A "dirty" track helps you controling speed and steering where as at a high tracktion track you can practise driving clean lines constantly.

On a dirty track always use rubber tires.

JimmyMac

iTrader: (2)

Actually a dirty (unswept) track/lot will help you learn better throttle control because if you apply too much throttle.. you'll spin out. So finessing the throttle will help stablize the car. Of course if the lot is too dirty.. it might end up being a waste of time and also tear up the car. It's kinda like racing offroad I guess.

Best bet besides getting to the track early to practice is find the cleanest lot that most resembles the surface that you will be racing on and practicing on that. If you can.. get a leaf blower. I'd run a soft suspension setup with no sway bars. Rubber tires of course. TakeOff tires work pretty good on parking lot tracks.

Don't forget, the "practice" dirty lot car setup will more than likely not work on the actual racetrack. So be sure to write down both setups and change them accordingly. Also remember.. some practice is better than no practice. So just go out and enjoy the hobby!

Hardriven RC

Killruf,

You said it better than me. But it was 4.27 am for me so i was a bit tired.

edseb

Leaf blowers at Home Depot are pretty cheap these days, so that would be my suggestion. Also, you can you soda water, but a lot of races don't even do that. So leaf blow it, and get to some practise. Plus, time your practise. Do five minute runs and use markers for your track; basically anything you can do to replicate the experince will give you the best experience.

JimmyMac

iTrader: (2)

Hardriven.. I was just uhhh.... adding in more to what you said.. Oh, and I'd to get some uhh what do you call them.. uhh been a long day for me.. uh.. dots... uhh.. cones... yeah.. some cones or dots.. or frisbee's. Yeah... toss them about the parking lot and race around them. I had some Yokomo cones that I used before when I wanted to practice in a parking lot. You could setup a tight turn and learn to take it... or setup a sweeper.. etc... You could setup just about any scenario and practice on it. It was fun. I think Tower sells some corner dots or cones or whatever...

edseb

When you use dots or similar, just duct tape them down to keep them from moving, this will aslo replicate a parking lot track, cause that's how a lot of them anchor the dots.

NismoSkyline17

Push broom + lil elbow grease = swept parking lot. Just think you are also doing the guy with the street sweeper a little favor.