josegarcia8578

Hey guys, I'm new to racing. I have been racing for a month or so at SDRC (clay, high grip, 2wd stock buggy). I have a couple of questions that you guys can help me out with, thanks in advanced!

1. How do you know if you're fighting the car (bad set up) or if your fighting your driving skills?

2. When making changes how should I know if they are working? Based on lap times (how would I do this if I'm still learning)? Or do the cars actually feel different? Would I be able to tell?


3. Where can I go to learn how to drive overall? Braking and turning? How to go in and out of a turn, etc?

4. Should I run stock set up until I have constency?

5. How to set up braking. I have heard to turn on braking 100% on the esc and dial down on controller based on track. Is this good? Do you guys use drag brake?

6. Should I lower down my steering EPA? I feel like my steering is very twitchy, a small movement on my wheel affects the car a lot.

Tha is in advanced! I want to study the hobby. I appreciate the help!

gigaplex

iTrader: (2)

Get an experienced driver to drive your car. They can tell you if it's behaving correctly. If it is, don't try to tune it. Just learn to drive it. Also ask someone to watch you drive to give you pointers on where you're losing time.

When your consistency improves, then you can start to tune it. Measuring by lap times is hard because track conditions can change. Instead try to compare your times relative to one of your competitors who has good consistency.

TheRulesLawyer

iTrader: (3)

Did you build your car according to the box setup? Using a caliper? If its built correctly its probably not horrible, but I think a lot of new people might under estimate the importance of precision in assembly.

josegarcia8578

Tha ls for the advice, I will try to get someone to drive the car. I see, comparing to someone else makes sense. Thanks!

josegarcia8578

I actually got it used from someone. It has his set up. Should o turn it back to stock set up?

trilerian

iTrader: (45)

For beginning racers I suggest a car that is easy to drive. Make the front end push a bit so the rear stays hooked up. Dial out steering so the car is not so responsive, then go make laps and get super consistent. Once you are able to consistently drive the "safe" car, then start freeing up the rear of the car. You want the rear of the car to rotate enough that you can get on it around the apex of the corner without washing out or traction rolling. You will notice that the fast guys are fast because they can get on the throttle sooner in the corners than the guys who have to wait for their car to finish the corner. Giving your car to an experienced racer will just tell that racer how it is for him, he may think it is too stuck, yet be too loose for a beginner.

And yes, you should probably start at the stock setup and adjust from there.

Billy Kelly

iTrader: (9)

I’ve bought a number of used vehicles. All have been setup better then I could. Does it feel out of control, wobbly?

the rc guy

Track time is most important.
just cuz a buggy was set for 1 driver dont make it great for another..
steering I do the ole can I make this turn in half my set turning radius. thats on the sharpest turn on the track. either pull a tape measurer out and do a test outside the track and do it right hand turn then left hand turn make sure both ways are even.endpoints help in that test.1 of my radios setup have ends points on rt at 98 and on left at 76 . they might be off from 1 another
is your car pushing? you feel nothing at all its what you see your car doing

heyscottn

The others have offered good advice. I'll offer two more things.
1) Expo or Curve - in your radio, you can make the steering less sensitive near the center. Consult your transmitter manual, or let us know what brand you run and we can help.
2) Driving technique - you can search YouTube for 'cornering technique' and watch full scale Formula 1 (or other motor sports) videos. The technique for RC is the same, but it happens very fast. Basically brake, maintain speed through the corner entry to the apex, then roll on throttle on corner exit. You shouldn't be at full throttle unless your front wheels are straight. You can also find videos about line selection and passing techniques.

One more about setup I'd suggest using the box setup (they're typically pretty neutral). When he was just starting out, Jared Tebo's dad told him "When you can run 5 minutes without a marshal, then we'll tune your car."

josegarcia8578

Hi trilerian, you're 'safe car' method makes sense to me. I have a losi 22 5.0. How can I achieve that? What do you mean make the front push, how can I set that up? How do you loosen up the rear? You want to slide the corners? Thanks in advanced for your answers and patience.

josegarcia8578

Great advice here as well. I will read about expo/curve on my radio (7px) this should help. So make it less sensible in the middle and regular on the outside of tha band?

And yeah, I. Watching/reading about racing techniques!

BugleBoy10

iTrader: (11)

If you bought it used from someone who races at the same track, chances are their setup is an excellent starting point. If not, look up setups on petitrc.com for the same car on the same track (or similar in surface and size). From there, get some serious driving time on that setup. Once you get comfortable and consistent in your driving, start trying to figure out what you want the car to do differently and read this for help getting it there.
https://www.myrcbox.com/articles/tec...-tuning-guide/

A_Locomotive

iTrader: (1)

Same boat as you. Fairly new, same car and same home track. One thing worth trying if you haven't is tire sauce, i tried it for the first time last weekend and it made a very noticeable improvement on grip making it easier to control my car, I was having a hell of a time making it around. Sauce made a big difference just when I was finally figuring out the new layout I snapped a shock and was wiped our for the day. Haha

trilerian

iTrader: (45)

1st thing, tune your endpoints/dual rate on your radio so that on the tightest corner on the track you are just able to make the corner at full lock steering. Then add, as suggested above, negative expo to the steering so it is less sensitive at small inputs. Next you can make the front end stiffer by increasing spring rate, this will slow down the weight transfer to the front of the car when you let off or brake. Keeps more weight in the back, which will get you less front grip. Pushing is when the front has less grip and the front doesn't turn on a dime. Too much is bad, but a little bit is much easier for a beginner to learn with. And you do not want the rear end to slide, once you start sliding it is easier to keep sliding, and you have to wait for the rear to hook up again to give it throttle. What you will want is to load the outside rear tire in the corner to allow it to rotate you through the corner instead of the inside tire driving you out of the corner. Anyway, my dad picked up a losi 22 5.0 to run on high bite indoor clay and he put the stock setup on it and said it was pretty good. Personally I haven't ran a 2wd off road car in about 9 years, but one is on the way.

Ultimately though, tires are the most important tuning option. Which tires you run and how you prep them. Then learn how weight transfer affects the handling of the car, and from there it is a rabbit hole.

Smoking motor..

If you are fighting the car then it isn’t setup right or it has an issue. As you bought it used did you strip the car down and rebuild it? I would get a shock rebuild kit green slime and new shock shafts to ensure no air gets into the shocks.i would rebuild the ball diff or refill the gear diff. I would also get a hinge pin set and replace the hinge pins as one bent hinge pin can put the car out of whack. Make sure the suspension arm drop freely. Also tyres if they have a lot of runs on them you will be fighting the car as the traction has dropped off.