CaptainHowdyt13

iTrader: (33)

Ok,

I am just getting back into r/c, have been racing for about 4 months or so, and have done pretty much nothing but 2wd electric stuff. I am JUST starting to get to the point where I am placing/winning club races in a couple classes against average drivers. When I race against the more experienced drivers, I drive pretty clean, however, their lap times are obviously faster. In an effort to start shaving some time off my laps, I was curious about what I can do to shave down some lap time.

I think one of my problems is I don’t throttle the car through any curves. Clearly, in 2wd, that may be a little harder, but when I start racing 1/8 nitro buggy, I am sure it will be much easier to do. In the 2wd electric stuff, I tend to ease off the throttle and let the car pull through the curve/apply brake. Should I be practicing throttling through as many curves as I can, and controlling the car with throttle, versus brake? Is it reasonable to assume I shouldn’t beat myself up if I can’t do drive like this with my 2wd electric stuff? I would think with the 4wd 1/8 buggy, it’s a hell of a lot easier…..

So bottom line, I am finally driving clean, just sorta skirting around the track, in an effort to keep the car under control, but now I want to learn how to push it a lot harder and keep it clean. Any other tips would be welcome, for electric, or nitro.

jamiekerr14

You will find 99% of Nitro drivers will Blip the throttle alot.. its pritty darn normall.. some people do it more than others.. to keep the load on the car.. so it keep's clean-Not bogging after no throttle for a while. But everyone will have there own opinions, I would recommend you try for nitro to keep dabbing the throttle ocassionlly. Not like BLIPBLIPBLIP.. BUT more Blip Blip Blip.. through most corners..as there can be too much of a good thing haha.. you should find you will then having faster accel.. as it will keep the engine clean and not loading up.. and bogging down. My advise in nitro go to you local track, and listen to the Good drivers where there on and off the power ect.. helps alot.. I when I 1st started racing, I watched John Hazlewood-Top british driver going round local track for 45 mins before I went out.. listening to when hes on and off the throttle.. you will normally be faster too.. as they know when to be on the gas and not.. and being smooth on the throttle.. and where there blipping and not.. and there racing lines ect..

BAUSTIN

iTrader: (2)

It will be easyer to carry more corner speed with the 1/8 scale but i dont think it will be a lot easyer, things happen quite a bit quicker with the 1/8 scale there is less room for error. but like the the previous poster said, go to the track watch the lines, listen to the engines of the faster guys, that will help more than anything.

jamiekerr14

Yea, watching Hazlewood really helped me.. But it is very funny to watch a Full Nitro guy try a elec 1/10th.. its like it going a broke motor.. go stop go stop hehe

CaptainHowdyt13

iTrader: (33)

Yeah...with the 2wd electric stuff, there is pretty much no "loading up", they are at full tilt almost instantly. I'm just looking for some driving tips from some nitro guys in terms of throttling through corners, throttle management. If I try throttling through corners with my electric stuff, I end up spinning out.

drperry

iTrader: (3)

Drive it like you would in real life...
I took first place in 1/10th scale 2WD racing this winter, and it's my first time out racing (granted, mostly due to the incredible durability of my Jato and it not breaking when it touches a wall... but I was getting fast at the end of the season!)

It took my awhile to learn the whole on/off throttle isn't always the best approach...

The 1/8th nitro will definitely be different, but also easier to drive... It's way more stable, both due to size, but also the weight.

With my electric, I'd generally coast the first 1/2 of the turn, and roll on the throttle for the next 25%, and the last 25% was full throttle...

With my truggy, it's pretty much full throttle all the time, until I get a real engine in it

Best thing to do, is practice, and start with what works best for you, so you can make consistant lap times without much crashing... Once you get that down... Follow the lines of the fastest drivers

micrors4guy

iTrader: (50)

chad, driving an electric 2wd car is way different than driving a 8th scale gas car. You saw that at the classic. With 2wd you are wanting to power in and let the car carry the speed threw the turn since you only have the power to the rear wheels and normally when you get on it the car will tend to push a little. With the 8th scales you can pitch and slide like some do, or you can tend to drive them like you do a 2wd. If you do tend to drive them like a 2wd you will either need to blip to keep the motor from loading up or alter the tun a little so it dosent load up from coasting threw the turns. its something that comes with practice.

tc5 man

1/8 buggys are easier to throttle through the corners,im a 2wd guys like u i pretty new to 1/8 , i did electeic 2wd and gas 2wd truck i dint care for electric 2wd powerband its way to instant power no lag but the elec turn in the corners much better than the gas my lap times are like 2 second offs of my gas truck im a lot better with gas truck you have more control with it and i do about 2 second faster or so than elec,but they defiely dont turn as good as elec truck

looper

iTrader: (19)

seems a rite of passage for anyone that gets into 4wd nitro to become a "throttle monkey" they are also called 'point and shooters" it is a phase that one goes through.

I know when i went from 2wd gas truck to 1/8th buggy my driving style took a serious change, it almost said "Wow! i got traction and lots of it! lets mash it hard!" took a little while to realise that the tokyo drift style of getting around the track was not the fastest way to do it then i settled down to a more reasonable driving style.

The blipping thing is something that will pretty much happen. its purpose i guess would be to keep the engine cleared out and also to better guage exactly how much grip is available at any given time so you know if you can push it harder or not.

going from running the 2wd to running both would make a easier transition as opposed to going to 4wd ft from 2wd ft

jamiekerr14

Yea, that would happen but alot depends on the setup for the track.. some like to have the rear feel loose.. some like it to be very planted-Similar to a on-road car. There isnt really any correct way for throttle manadgment.. through turns. It ahas so many factors.. with 1 setup.. you could be just keeping the throttle on, but another setup maybe to loose so you would have to turn in and keep speed slower.. and then Depends on the turn the radius ect.. The best advice, is go down to the track. Watch +LISTEN to the Top drivers.. as I said before there lines in the turn-Ask for setup tips.. what tyres work well-Crap ones lead to poor steering and spinning out. And listen for there throttle tone.. Its, very usefull specially on a new track to you.. to watch and listen.. its better to do that for 6 mins than run round the track.. not knowing anything. But that is the main point I can recommend.. as there are soo many factors in throttle manadgement.. there is no real right or wrong way.. some will say otherwise.. but that's my view..

CaptainHowdyt13

iTrader: (33)

This is pretty much the explanation I was looking for. I try to ask all my stupid questions on here, and save the good ones for the track. Haha. Thanks man.

SkarTisu

iTrader: (8)

It's definitely different switching between 2WD electric and 4WD nitro. In general, lap times drop the sooner you can get on the gas in a corner. If you can learn to let the car roll through the middle of a corner as fast as possible, and pick up the throttle very smoothly so that you're starting to accelerate somewhere around the middle of the corner, your lap times will drop.

I came from a 2WD electric background, and nitro regulars were scratching their heads when they watched me drive a nitro car, because I wouldn't blip the throttle in corners.

A couple of things to keep in mind if you don't blip: You'll need the car to rotate using the traction of the tires and chassis roll management, not relying on the car to slide. So, setups that may work for a "blipper" may not work for you. In general, you'll probably need stiffer rear springs, stiffer rear sway bar, and lighter rear diff fluids than blippers.

You'll also need to run your low speed needle as lean as possible to keep the engine from loading up, like others have mentioned.

I've found that driving a nitro car at partial throttle is VERY different than an electric car as well because carbs don't seem to respond linearly (at least my V-Specs don't seem to). So if you have a section of track like a double-apex corner or extended technical low speed section, it may be tough to judge how much throttle to use because 25% trigger may still result in 75-80% of maximum acceleration. I think this is where blipping really came from.

I think it's worth working on though. Your gas mileage will improve, the car won't get unsettled as easily, and you'll be able to be smoother.

CaptainHowdyt13

iTrader: (33)

All good advice. Thanks yall.

Davidka

iTrader: (86)

Something nobody else touched on and in my opinion is the largest difference between 1/10 2wd and 1/8 is that the 1/8th car weighs 2.5 times as much as the electric buggy and has no drag brake. You will have to drive with this extra weight in mind. It's also common that you will let off halfway down a short straight and coast the rest of the way to a turn because the heavy car stores so much momentum that it can be hard to get rid of all that speed. You'll definitely learn to brake actively more.

Another misconception is that 1/8's are faster, they're not. Everything happens slower with the bigger cars, they build speed slower and lose speed slower too. It's much more of a realistic driving dynamic from electrics.

SkarTisu

iTrader: (8)

Maybe that's why so many electric guys like techno music....everything happens so much faster!