Vintage Off Road racing
02-17-2010, 04:30 PM
#1
Vintage Off Road racing
Well, some of us have been around this sport so long that Exxon is trying to turn us into gasoline! But, with all that age comes experience, wisdom and great stories of the way it was. As we dinosaurs think back to our glory days, we also dig out the cars that made us famous (in our own minds). After doing this myself, I have spoken to a few others who still have their old school stuff. I have spoken to and gained positive responses from Gary Fulp, Ruffy Rios and Andy Hoffman about doing some vintage racing. I have also spoken to a few others but their names will remain unspoken for now. There could be some big names as well as some blasts from the distant past. Anybody else have any interest in doing some vintage off road racing?????
Here's my cars from "back in the day" that I've resurrected
Here's my cars from "back in the day" that I've resurrected
02-17-2010, 04:43 PM
#2
sounds interesting,where would you be racing at?
02-17-2010, 04:49 PM
#3
I guess it could be something for discussion, or perhaps something to add to any of the series races. To start though, I plan to run my RC10 Saturday at the indoor track in PSL. There's obviously many different things for consideration such as motor limits, but the first step is to gauge interest.
I ran this car last week in PSL in practice and found the car to work nearly as good as my B4. The best thing is that it was way more fun to drive!
I ran this car last week in PSL in practice and found the car to work nearly as good as my B4. The best thing is that it was way more fun to drive!
02-17-2010, 05:18 PM
#4
Where is the indoor track in PSL?
02-17-2010, 05:42 PM
#5
Check the Treasure Coast Speedway thread in this (Florida racing) forum. It's just off I-95 at exit 122 (I think) in Port St. Lucie. Great track, great people and the atmosphere is actually fun. Best of all, it's indoor!!!! It's the perfect place for us old timers but, I'd race anywhere!
02-18-2010, 04:47 AM
#6
For the past couple of years in Conn., they have a vintage off-road nats. I read the flyer, nothing after 1993....right around the time Losi and Traxxas were serious about competitive 1/10th scale off-road racing. You might want to consider their rule outlines as a starting point. Hope it works out, you're gonna drive the prices up on E-bay for old-school off-road cars!
02-18-2010, 07:11 AM
#7
you're gonna drive the prices up on E-bay for old-school off-road cars!
Type in vintage rc10 on ebay and enjoy the ride! What some of those cars go for is simply crazy! Everybody wants a pristine shelf queen, but for a runner that's not what people need. As long as the chassis is whole, it can be re-anodized to look new. With the exception of the rear bulkhead all the other parts can still be found. So, to build a racer I would suggest letting the collectors get into the bidding wars over the like new stuff and go for the ones that are dirty, have basher bodies or need a little TLC.
Type in vintage rc10 on ebay and enjoy the ride! What some of those cars go for is simply crazy! Everybody wants a pristine shelf queen, but for a runner that's not what people need. As long as the chassis is whole, it can be re-anodized to look new. With the exception of the rear bulkhead all the other parts can still be found. So, to build a racer I would suggest letting the collectors get into the bidding wars over the like new stuff and go for the ones that are dirty, have basher bodies or need a little TLC.
02-18-2010, 11:15 AM
#9
Up front I'm running B4 25degree blocks and B4 steering knuckles/axles. In the rear I'm using Racers Edge .5 degree carriers (anodized blue of course!) and B44 CVD's with B4 wheels. I have the Andy's rear arms and can't put the bottom of the shock on the outer most mounting hole, but it will run in the middle with no problem. You will need to drill the blocks and carriers to accept the 1/8" pins, but thats no big deal. The front and rear arms are still available direct from AE so breakage of those parts is no big deal, yet. I have a few spares too if someone breaks one and I'm there.
Another option is to use the Thunder Tiger rear wheels. They are the same as the B2/B3. (PD8982 is the part number) I posted some pictures of the wheels in white and after I dyed them Yokomo pink on rc10talk. To use the sport type CVD you would just need to use a body reamer on the rear of the mounting hole to get the correct taper. Honestly though, unless you are running a Houge car that can't be adapted to the B4 wheels it's kinda silly to not use the most readily available wheel out there. Setting it up for the B4 wheel will allow for the use of the Relux wheel too!
To run a LiPo battery you will need to either leave out the 2 screws through the chassis into the side of the bulkhead and trim the plastic provisions for those screws so the battery will slide back a little further than normal or remove the front battery cup and use B44 upper deck mounts in the battery cup mounting holes along with a B4 top strap and thumb screws. You can crank down the thumb screws enough that the battery won't move, especially if you run the foam chassis strip under the battery. The standard size servo will keep the battery from sliding too far forward in the event of a significant front impact, although that hasn't been an issue for mine yet. Besides, the battery is held in so tight that I really don't think it could move. If someone was worried about it though, they could mount a small plastic tab on the underside of the battery strap that hangs down just a little.
I know it may be hard to visualize some of this, so if I can post pics that would help just let me know.
Another option is to use the Thunder Tiger rear wheels. They are the same as the B2/B3. (PD8982 is the part number) I posted some pictures of the wheels in white and after I dyed them Yokomo pink on rc10talk. To use the sport type CVD you would just need to use a body reamer on the rear of the mounting hole to get the correct taper. Honestly though, unless you are running a Houge car that can't be adapted to the B4 wheels it's kinda silly to not use the most readily available wheel out there. Setting it up for the B4 wheel will allow for the use of the Relux wheel too!
To run a LiPo battery you will need to either leave out the 2 screws through the chassis into the side of the bulkhead and trim the plastic provisions for those screws so the battery will slide back a little further than normal or remove the front battery cup and use B44 upper deck mounts in the battery cup mounting holes along with a B4 top strap and thumb screws. You can crank down the thumb screws enough that the battery won't move, especially if you run the foam chassis strip under the battery. The standard size servo will keep the battery from sliding too far forward in the event of a significant front impact, although that hasn't been an issue for mine yet. Besides, the battery is held in so tight that I really don't think it could move. If someone was worried about it though, they could mount a small plastic tab on the underside of the battery strap that hangs down just a little.
I know it may be hard to visualize some of this, so if I can post pics that would help just let me know.
02-22-2010, 09:19 AM
#10
You tellin me my 3300 & 4600 battery's, novak speed controllers, b3 t3 & b4's are obsolete? The kid and I took them out yesterday and played with the new technology, did pretty damned good too, if I had the money to race we would have finished respectable against them, speed was similar with good run time. Am I an Antique?........... 
02-22-2010, 10:24 AM
#11
You tellin me my 3300 & 4600 battery's, novak speed controllers, b3 t3 & b4's are obsolete? The kid and I took them out yesterday and played with the new technology, did pretty damned good too, if I had the money to race we would have finished respectable against them, speed was similar with good run time. Am I an Antique?...........
My point with the thread and attempt to gauge interest in the vintage racing is simply to see if there are enough people interested in racing the old stuff in it's own class. If so, great! If not, I will run my RC10 every now and then and won't even finish last!
02-22-2010, 10:35 AM
#12
In the right hands any car could compete, but if you do an absolute side by side comparison between yesterday's technology and today's there IS a difference. I ran my B4 in the first round Saturday in PSL and ran my RC10 in the second round. The B4 was about 1 second a lap faster. Same driver, same battery technology but different suspension technology. The RC10 is still not to my liking, but even if it was I don't think it will be as fast as my B4.
My point with the thread and attempt to gauge interest in the vintage racing is simply to see if there are enough people interested in racing the old stuff in it's own class. If so, great! If not, I will run my RC10 every now and then and won't even finish last!
My point with the thread and attempt to gauge interest in the vintage racing is simply to see if there are enough people interested in racing the old stuff in it's own class. If so, great! If not, I will run my RC10 every now and then and won't even finish last!
Looks like it would cost a fortune to upgrade for me.
Am trying to remember your name from decades gone by but can't quite do it.
02-22-2010, 11:03 AM
#13
I've got a old Gold Tub Rc10 sitting on the shelf that needs a couple of tranny bearings that I could put back into action. 
It might take me a month to get it to racing status...need a body & the mods that you done to make it race worthy.
Even if this class dont panout I would still like to get this buggy back to racing form.
So what is the diff between a B3 & B4 rims? I dont know anybody witha B3 to compare too. Do you have to do the cvd mod to accept the rim?
It might take me a month to get it to racing status...need a body & the mods that you done to make it race worthy.
Even if this class dont panout I would still like to get this buggy back to racing form.
So what is the diff between a B3 & B4 rims? I dont know anybody witha B3 to compare too. Do you have to do the cvd mod to accept the rim?
02-22-2010, 12:16 PM
#14
Different offset, b-4 rims on a b-3 are closer to the shock.
02-22-2010, 01:01 PM
#15
The short answer to the question about today's batteries and motors is yes.
The long answer- My B4 with a brushless LRP 8.5 turn motor and a Reedy 5000mah LiPo will run 20 minutes easily. The initial investment is quite costly, but if you look at it from a different perspective it might not be so bad. Consider this; "back in the day" we ran a different motor and battery in each practice run as well as each qualifier and the main. With the brushless motors you can run the same motor all day, week, month or even year! With the batteries there is no need for a different pack for each run. You could get by with 2 packs for the day. With the 6 minute races an electric 2wd could run 2 heats and the main on one battery if needed. Run one in practice, put it on the charger and run the other. By the time the first is done charging you could put it in the car for the races and start charging the second. So, you'd get 40+ minutes of practice and have plenty of battery for your races, between the 2 packs. So, $290 for a motor and speed control and $200 for 2 batteries and you're set. Compare that to 5 battery packs and 5 modified motors at an average of $75/ea and you can see that in the long run it's actually cheaper. Or, run what ya got.
As for the B3 or B4 wheels, it's your preference. I swapped mine for the simple convenience of being able to run the tires/wheels I already have. If you want to run the B3 wheels so you don't have to modify the rear carriers, just get the Thunder Tiger PD8982 wheels. They are distributed by Ace Hobby. Superior deals with Ace and can order them.
The long answer- My B4 with a brushless LRP 8.5 turn motor and a Reedy 5000mah LiPo will run 20 minutes easily. The initial investment is quite costly, but if you look at it from a different perspective it might not be so bad. Consider this; "back in the day" we ran a different motor and battery in each practice run as well as each qualifier and the main. With the brushless motors you can run the same motor all day, week, month or even year! With the batteries there is no need for a different pack for each run. You could get by with 2 packs for the day. With the 6 minute races an electric 2wd could run 2 heats and the main on one battery if needed. Run one in practice, put it on the charger and run the other. By the time the first is done charging you could put it in the car for the races and start charging the second. So, you'd get 40+ minutes of practice and have plenty of battery for your races, between the 2 packs. So, $290 for a motor and speed control and $200 for 2 batteries and you're set. Compare that to 5 battery packs and 5 modified motors at an average of $75/ea and you can see that in the long run it's actually cheaper. Or, run what ya got.
As for the B3 or B4 wheels, it's your preference. I swapped mine for the simple convenience of being able to run the tires/wheels I already have. If you want to run the B3 wheels so you don't have to modify the rear carriers, just get the Thunder Tiger PD8982 wheels. They are distributed by Ace Hobby. Superior deals with Ace and can order them.