Something changed and I suck now
 

Last year was my first year racing buggy and rc in general. I started out with a mugen mbx6 and a dx3r radio. With about 3 races left in the season I got really tired of Mugen prices on broken parts so I sold everything and bought a HB D8 and a MX11 radio. I have raced this winter with it and I am way worse then I was last year. Im trying to figure out weather or not its the radio or the buggy. The radios are very different and so are the cars. Any thoughts on what I should do? Stay with what I got or try new radio or new buggy? Thanks guys. :cry:

everyone is different! I did a similar swap 2 years ago. Went from Mugens with M8 to Hotbodies with a DX3s. That change made me a better driver as the buggy and truggy suited my driving with more stability and I got that bulky ass M8 outta my hand. I even dabbled with associated, z-car, ofna hyper 9 and losi. I still run HB D8 and D8T but have stepped up to a 4PKS and love it. Its surprising how a radio feels in your hand can tweak driving tecnique as much as it does (for me anyway). Good luck:nod:

its not the radio... the buggy is where the problem may be. the mugen may of fit your style better... but IMO just work on setup and PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE! thats the only way you'll get faster... i see it time and time again, people think switching brands of everything will make them faster when if they would just stick with something and set it up properly and practice they would get faster. ... only way i got faster was a lot of practice and setup time, i was burning a gallon minimum everytime i was at the track for a few months to get faster...

yes we are all very different.

+1 Jonathan. If you continue to switch stuff all the time, you will never get better. You need to pick a brand and run it awhile, learn the buggy, and then make adjustments that will help give you what you want the buggy to do.

Well I know that the D8 is way heaver than the mbx6 so I was wondering if I put all the lightweight parts on it and carbon fiber shock towers if that would help it out.

[PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!]

+1 on this

I don't know about newer Spektrum stuff but older Spektrum stuff had much more latency than airtronics stuff. I ran airtronics all my life, got a Spektrum system and had the WORST year of my racing life. Switched back to airtronics and my skills magically returned.

You did the opposite, learned on the slower radio then switched to the faster. It may take some time to get used to it.

it is definitely not the radio. I used to run a m11 and then I got tired of holding what felt like 50 pounds for 30min- 1 hour at a time. I switched to the dx3r with jr9100s and lipo receiver packs and I swear it seems like the wheels are turning on the car before I touch the steering wheel LOL. The radio is definitley as fast or faster than your m11 in my opinion. I personally drive mugen mbx6, mbx6t, and losi late model and I absolutely love my mugens. If they ever come out with an 1/8 scale nitro late model oval car, my losi will be on here for sale but oval is not as popular as off road and certainly not as much over seas so iI dont see that happening anytime soon. The mbx6 is a very stable car with the right setup and I have heard that d8 can be as well. But if you spend all that money on the lightweight parts then it will be just as expensive as the mbx6 in the long run. Remember, you get what you pay for.

This has happen to us all who sale to try somthin new. Its happen to me alot trying to find that right car. Its all prefrence. I went from hb to mugen and got faster. Before that i went from losi to hb and got faster. All cars drive way diffrent and it take feel. Going from mbx6 to stock d8 is ganna take some getting use to. They are 2 way diffrent cars. All i can say is i loved the hb buggy and if i sell muen i know what im ganna run again.

Dont spend money without atleast trying a few different setups. and no on the carbon fiber shock towers unless you have money just burning away.

Go to the D8 forum, post your setup and track style. We will try and help..

wow sell one the top 3 cars out right now imo to run the big pile out you must lost your mind wow

You have only been doing this a year? I thought much longer you seem to get around decent Well I can surely tell you it is not the Mohawk slowing you down. Maybe you need a killer moustache. :sneaky:


Chassis can come into play. The d8 may just not fit you style or the setup is way off. For us mere mortals adapting to just anything is not as doable. If you could then you would be pro!

Next time at the track remind me to let you drive my mugen. Will see if you feel anything different.

no, the car being heavy is what makes it stable and easy to drive. Is your setup in tune? Are you running the same tires the Pro Amain guys are running? What is your car not doing that you dont like?

:lol:Real mature for a sponsored driver? Just because you didnt like doesn't mean it sucks.

But it is a true pile, and no its not setup or lack of maintenace. Thats why mine is for sale and i'm joining the Serpent camp:nod:

Also i'm not saying it drives like a pile, i love how it drives but its a cheap car and the materials reflect such. If it would stay together I would keep it

Not for nothing I recently drove my buddies d-8 for a 7 min qualifier.

I have a mugen and an m11 for a radio. His d-8 is hooked up with DX radio.

I was all over the place and could not even judge turns. I was clipping pipes left and right.

To me my mugen just felt like a planted race car and the d-8 felt like you had to finess it everywhere.

I would just bet that I am so used to the mugen though with a heavier radio.

why would a radio make you a better driver inless you mess with your steering and throttle expos really ? and the basic steering trim , epa all radios have the same thing.



i been running my futaba 3pk radio for a long time yea its not the lightest but it feels like a radio not a toy.

i know not all radios have expo ive used cheaper controllers.

:lol:A pile? You guys get ur heads full of bs then go talk bs. Just because you cant drive it doesn't make it a pile. Tell me this, the d8 won ifmar worlds first release. Also is cheapest car on market and finished second this worlds. THATS A REAL PILE? Yeah ok, whats ur comeback. Hara can drive anything. Maybe but it holds up and is fast! No car on the market is a pile, may it be opinions are opinions but dont bad mouth thses comapanies because you dont like how the car handled for you. THATS A JOKE. Go mature up and learn to set up a car and if it dont drive like you want try somthing new. Its called driving style. Atleast HB didnt have multiple tray flaws causing alot of anger. Not only that but did same thing twice.....

+1 It's most likely just the change of car. When i went from my MBX5R to the D8 it was totally different and took a long time to learn how to drive it. I guess if you had a realllly slow steering servo it could be radio related:confused:

With just over a year racing sucking should be expected. It takes years to be a fast guy.

im, not sure if running a slower servo whould be radio reactive because ive used slower servos and tried to mess with the expo and make it higher and dint notice much of a diffrence.

with a faster servo you can tell if you made the expo slower or higher.


im getting a diffrent truggy this mouth and have to learn how to drive it also.

Never said it didn't drive well, as perhaps you should read in my second post. Ever heard of hipocracy? Tell me not to bad mouth HB and then you bring up the Serpent radio tray issue......

D8 is a great car, I loved it. My problem with it is that it has limited durability due to lesser quality materials to keep the price down. If you can drive like Hara, Robbers, Tessman, or are just a good local guy you probably don't take too many tumbles to stress anything. However if you are the typical club racer, it breaks alot more than most. All cars will break at some point due to the speed and stress they are put through and all cars have their own problems in some way, that can not be denied. In the end, you get what you pay for. Some are just better than others.

Geez. You guys are harsh. I went from an XRay 808 (09 Spec) to a standard Hot Bodies D8 and was FASTER with the Hot Bodies. It's such a stable car...I just bought a brand new Hara Edition. There is nothing wrong with Hot Bodies at all....after nearly a full season on my D8 I broke exactly 0 parts....and only replaced a handful due to wear and believe me I have had my fair share of stellar crashes with it. I'm about to bump myself up from Sportsman to Pro after Psycho Nitro Blast...but I don't run anywhere near Pro speeds consistently for a full main.

It's not the car or the radio....practice practice practice....and when you're done go study some setup guides and research the pros setups to see where you can improve your car's handling. We all drive differently, therefore what works for me....might totally suck for you and vice versa. I mean look at the way Ryan Lutz drives and sets up his car. He's out there drifting on an off road track half the time and doing it VERY VERY well. It works for him. If I set my car up that way I'd probably spend half the race on my lid. hehe

Play with setups.....get frustrated and find your magical setup. We all go through it right?

TX definitely makes a difference, I went from a 3PK to a DX3R and could not drive as I did with the 3PK (same chassis) I was better with the 3PK. Back in 2008 when I returned to the hobby, I purchase a RC8 team kit and really enjoyed it, but it was a pain to get to the diffs, sold it and got a MBX5R...easiest car for me to drive, very stable and predictable. for 2009 I got the MBX6 and it did not fit me, at the same time I got the Losi 2.0t and that was a great driving truggy hands down the best IMO, but maintenance was on the heavy side, at this time I also got a M11x, and driving improved a lot. Sold the MBX6 and got me a Losi 2.0b and got better, In 2010 I got the MP9 TKI and ST-RR and this year I am still with Kyosho they fit me just right. But like many mentioned practice and setup means lots, I spent days at the track setting up the cars, I mean hours and hours, till I feel the car is right for me.

i think he was joking or being sarcastic lol

Hey who said i brought up serpent? I never said any names, theres more then them who had tray issues. Just was an example.:lol:All i have to say is Chop is a good head filler and ive never heard so much bad mouthing from a sponsored guy and his fellow followers. Dont try to sell off another car when everything has issues. With that said im saying my side. I think some things i said are wrong and im not going to edit this. Read it and think what you think. I dont care because ive talked to chop for a while and i know what he does when he cant back anything. Also now i see why you dislike the car. I see why u dont like it. But its not a pile. I ran a d8 for 8 months breaking a rear hub and thats it. Im a typical club racer ill say. Car held up great and drove amazing. Steering wasn't what i liked but set ups helped get it closer. I think all cars require a personal touch for everyones liking. It may just be a lil upgrade or change but that one thing can make a whole worlds diffrence.

Ok guys, same servos same everything but radio and buggy. the reason I thought it could be the radio is that the m11 wheel is much tighter and the throttle trigger is very tight. Much more so then the dx3r. I am not saying anything bad about the d8 it is a very durable and good car. I have done many different setups. Two of my good friends are sponsered HB drivers. They have worked with me a lot on setups.

It has nothing to do with expo or other settings. It's all about latency. Some radios (even high end ones) have very high latency and some have very low latency and it does make a difference. Not so much in terms of one being better than the other as what you are used to.

Now in offroad, it isn't as noticeable. Only the top pros would really notice the difference, but that difference is there. Go 1/12th mod or 1/8th onroad racing and get good enough to compete for a mains against good comp. Try some different radios then and you WILL see the difference.

you can loosen up the wheel and trigger on the M11... i have a friend that came from futaba and he said it was tighter but once he got used to it, he liked it more.... also if your new, the pro setups and HB drivers setups probably will not work for you, most setup theirs aggressively.... when i ran HB, not many people could run my buggy as well as i could, i liked it setup very aggressive, it couldnt be driven easy or it just didnt work. read the hudy setup guide book and learn what things will do and try different things ... i spent 2 days at the track just moving things around just to see what they did and learned a lot and now i can setup my buggies/truggies very easily because of knowing what the things do. it takes time, people need to understand that, you cant switch and expect the perfect setup instantly, it could takes months of testing before finding that "perfect" setup... hope this helps some.

Fatam,

If the car and the radio isnt working out, perhaps try another for yourelf next time at the track and then make your decision as to what feels best, drive your friends cars/radios at the track, then drive them some more. You wont know what feel's right until you experiment and talk to the locals. It's a good idea to run what a few choice others are running simply to share a parts/setup base with someone at the track, someone more knowledgable than you that you can feed from. Good Luck in getting all this squared away, I hope you get back to having fun soon!

peace and cheers!

TW

i race offroad and i can tell a diffrence lowering or making it higher on my 1/8 im no pro ethier.

on the throttle if its to fast and i lower it i can tell if it reacts slower on the steering also.

As wingracer said, Race 1/12 then come talk to us about latency.

Again, I'm not talking about expo as like you said, they all have that.

No, not all radios have the same thing. I just switched from a dx3r to an m11x and the m11x has far more features than the dx3r. Plus it doesn't feel like I'm holding a Traxxas transmitter. The m11x has ARC, ABS, and far more adjustments than a dx3r. I firmly believe a properly setup transmitter is as important as a chassis setup, if not more. There's a lot more to it than just adding expo.

Also the M11x has a personal menu feature allowing you to put the most common menu choices in it to keep you from having to scroll thru the entire menu options to get to the ones you use the most. Awesome transmiter. :nod:

+1000

Im in love w/mine-just wish it wasn't so hard to find a case for it. And Airtronics latency is lower than Spektrum's 5.5ms-I believe it's at or less than 4ms.

I don't trust the manufaturer's published numbers. I've had stuff that advertised blazingly fast latency times but I know from experience that they were BS.

From actual experience and talks with real experts, KO, Futaba and Airtronics all have exceptionally low latency times now. Don't really know anything for certain about the other current transmitters.

look i know what i felt when i was racing .