kawasaki161

What's your point though? What exactly should change? How do you make a nitro engine easier to tune? I learned how to tune a nitro when I was 10, how much easier does it need to be?

I really don't know how things work at the clubs you've been at and I've really only been at two clubs in my area but when I started out, as a literal kid, I've received nothing but support. When someone new came around and had problems, same story. No matter how "inadequate" their car was, whether it was a bought-used run down race kit that was held together by tape and good will or a Carson RTR. If someone had problems, people helped them, people taught them, people cared. I do not believe that this is an engine problem, I believe it's a people problem.
Maybe it has something to do with how the clubs get started. All my local clubs started out as a group of guys meeting at a parking lot or a skate park bashing their cars, having fun. After a while they rented a plot of land and set up a track, not to compete in racing, but to have fun. Heck it took them years to finally get a good timing system set up. Imo fun comes first, the community comes first and I refuse to support any clubs that don't follow that same principle.
I've heard about the bad sheep, clubs with their high-ranking members always winning the club races miles ahead while others struggle, where those high-ranking members don't help out others. Those guys that always win at their local track, being toxic and driving away any newcomers but if you send them anywhere else they'll get their asses kicked. That's where the real problem lies, not in three needles on a carb.

J.Whiting

iTrader: (63)

oh trust me i see the frustration with the new guys as many of them ask me for help.. yes i stop to tune their motors unless i have to Marshall.. then i will try and get a fellow racer to help or do what i can in 30 secs or so and then after the qualifier i will spend time with them.. during the qual i will try and catch their car and see if i hear anything to make an adjustment after the race.. try and watch their car and driving habits also..

Zerodefect

Efi and modern stuff will not make it ''easier''. I'm making a fortune fixing your damn Cambus cars, trucks, and power generators.

The hardest part of tuning for a newb, is getting past all of the false Nitro myths:
-you need a temp gun. Nope.
-this fuel allowed me to lean my needles out. That doesn't make it better.
-you can't tune on a starter box. You only should tune on a starter box. (There's nothing wrong with confirming tune on the track, but these ain't 8.8l GM big blocks or anything)
-year old glowplugs are fine. No, just no.

The only thing Nitro needs is a ban on sponsoring every damn driver on a club level driver stand, and then passing the costs on to everyone else. $70 sets of toy car tires. Get that outta here.

You want to see pain? Go visit the ''electric onroad'' rules threads. Nitro has it easy. Our rules haven't changed once in 30 years.

Roelof

So true but is a bit stabalized now. We had some moving years with at the ed of the NiMh era going from 6 to 5 cells in touting and to 4 cells in 1/12 and then the upcomming brushless going from 10.5T to 13.5T because cars did go faster due the very fast devellopments and then blinkey came a long. And not to mention all the different tourer classes based on motors and ESC's And no way you can get your 6 cell NiMh setup in a today's race
While with the 1/8 onroad/buggy you can indeed drive your 30 year old car....

buggybattle

They made nitro easier by replacing it with a new class Ebuggy. You want easy run ebuggy...

Zerodefect

Not so easy when you plug your Tekin Rx8 in, and all it does is open up a youtube window to the Macarena.

tallyram

iTrader: (11)

I took 8 years off from racing and when I came back I was going to run ebuggy only because it was so easy to get into. I noticed very quickly that the “IT” factor was missing. Nitro puts a much bigger smile on my face. I kept my ebuggy, but quit racing it. It’s great to grab for practice and run a couple of packs through it really quick though. I’ve also noticed that, here locally, the ebuggy class is a mad house on race day. Anyway, I just get more satisfaction finishing a race knowing there’s more to it than just driving. The nitro side is more of a hobby to me, more tinkering required.

petersen114

I do the same pretty much. There needs to be more of this, but too many folks are just down right smug like they are scared of giving up some magical classified tuning secrets or something. Such a shame that a lot folks take this hobby way to seriously. All for what!!??

Nitro5270

The engines are not the problem.
The people are.
To days people have simply lost any feel for nature, physics and elements.
They are just incapable of dealing with so an sympel device.
sad but true.
Its not a manufacturer to blame.
its a shame for humankind.

Roelof

Until you want to finetune your ESC end need a 200 page manual.....

buggybattle

there is only like 3 or 4 settings that really get adjusted and most companies such as tekin and hobbywing do a great job explaining over YouTube.

its pretty simple and not much risk of damage when adjusting things like drag brake and throttle control settings.

Looks like people run nitro because it’s hardcore and adds some sort of X factor.

Zerodefect

Or we're tired of giving advice, that newbs will just ignore.

I'll show someone to tune once. And if they are ignorant and do the opposite of what I told them, then they're on their own. Some people have to learn the hard way.

petersen114

This is true.

HaulinBass

iTrader: (16)

running e buggy is expensive if you want the best out of your batts and dont want to run around between marshalling, racing and switching and checking on batts on the charger. realistically you should have at least 4 packs as to only run each pack once a day, and at least a spare esc on hand. dont forget the $100+ butane soldering iron, going to need a higher end charger and power supply as the $60 basic charger balancers not going to cut it noone wants to charge a 5200 4s back at 3 amps it would take 8 hours to charge the 4 packs.
yeah my starterbox takes a 4s and my car takes a 2s, but one 4000mah 35c softpack for the box is $30 on amazon and im just fine itr taking 2 hour to charge once a month. the cheapest pack i would race e buggy with are the smc v2s my 5200s were $70us each and thats about half what a "good" batt costs it would be $600us for 4 "good" packs, esc is $200, motor is $100-150 charger is $100-300 power supply is $30-200. is your track on city power grid or run by genset? if its run by genset how smooth and consistent and clean is the power? if its not clean get ready to replace that power supply fairly regularly.
i see more ebuggies dnf than i do nitro buggies, how many buggys or escs have you seen go up in smoke because a crappy ass solder job came loose? or a car that makes it half a lap and dies because they are trying to run 160+amps at 16 volts through a damn deans plug?

90% of tuning problems with a nitro is with the clutch, seals and linkage, if those are good and you cant keep a car running 100% the problem is the guy on the screwdriver/you

ceh329

iTrader: (12)

We get it. You don't like Nitro. If you want easy to get going and kinda boring go E-Buggy!