Body versus handling
 

I'm considering a new HPI body. How do the following handle, compared to the Stratus:

Mondeo
Lotus Elise
Saleen Mustang

I've read somewhere that the Mondeo should be very close to the stratus. True? How about the others?

I'm surprised it can even make a difference. The cars are relatively heavy, and speeds are so low(absolute).

Considering aerodynamics don't take affect on cars until 80mph, I'm quite surprised they can have such a dramatic affect on RCs.

They play a BIG part on a cars handling. Why do different paper air plains handle differently? They are smaller and lighter than RC car bodies. Try taking off the rear spoiler on a Stratus body. Or any body for that matter. Your car will more than likely be very loose. And about real cars... I think aerodynamics can be felt at lower speeds as well. Especially if you can draft at 60mph... or a bus or truck at 35 can pull in a cyclist goin by. Anyways as for the other bodies, I think as long as you have a descent size wing, you should be just fine.

Actually the cars are super light!

A race ready sedan is 3.5 pounds, at one tenth scale that is only 350 scale pounds. A mod-motored sedan can easily see 30+mph on the back straight, and 15-20 through most mid-speed sections of the track.

So we have a 350 lb car traveling from 100 to 300+ mph around a racetrack.....seems like aero handling is pretty important to me.

Absolutely. Anyone who's had a car handling on the edge & then it's rear wing popped off knows EXACTLY how much of a difference it makes. It's certainly happened to me, & once it does, if you try to drive through fast sweeping sections just like before you WILL spin out. And I've also had a few bodies that just didn;'t have enough front downforce, so no matter what I did to gain more steering, the car would always push in the fast corners. That's why the Stratus has been SO popular, it really does seem to be the most balanced body you can get(though there are some others now that are pretty darn close)......:)

Even different "Stratii" handle differently because of the different shapes and details the companies make.

Protoform/Yokomo Type C Stratus- least steering
HPI/Yokomo Type A Stratus- most steering

Stratii Marc? :D

Yah, I agree with all of you.
Body makes a lot of difference if you race.

:D

Sorry for interrupting you guys, but can someone please answer my question?
 

I dont want another Stratus. By looks, I like the Elise the most. But I want something that are close to the Stratus, maybe with a little understeering compared to the Strat.

Cole Trickle: something close to stratus.... u can try Hpi Ford Mondeo.

SirSpeedy: The scale weight of a 3.5 pounds car is not 350 pounds but 3500 pounds. You need to multiply by 1000 because the real thing is 10 times longer, wider and taller.

You can oso try out protoform opel vauxhall

Re: Body versus handling
 

From what I've seen locally, the Lotus body hasn't handled well for any of the local racers -- they've tried it in Nitro and Electric classes, and it just never "worked" well...

The Saleen Mustang is cool looking (everyone likes Mustangs), and it seems to handle OK, but it's not great.

The Mondeo is probably your best bet of the three you are looking at....

Personally, I run the Protoform 300M because I like it's more "NASCAR" look and the fact that it's NOT a Stratus! LOL! :p It actually handles quite well for me -- also, as some have noted, not all Stratus bodies handle the same. When I ran a Stratus, my personal favorite was the Andys/Yokomo Stratus body, although the Protoform was OK...

I think the new Stratus2 body by Protoform might be pretty good, but it's still a Stratus...

Stratus is derived from the latin - a latin plural would be Strati, or maybe Stratii.

Anyway, on the body handling, a guy a my old club once ran a lorry (as in articulated lorry cab) bodyshell in a race.

Next time round he switched to a saloon again and gained a second a lap straight away.

hey

i didn't believe there was any differance in bodies at the speeds we drive either, but one day for fun i took the rear wing off of my f1 during practice. i was suprised to find that now coming off of slow corners it was loose. one would think that at a slow exit speed there would be little or no effect, but put the wing back on and traction came back. you don't know till you try it yourself.:D