Short intro and questions
 

My job last Sunday was to kill time with my son while my wife did some things around the yard, my son is 3 and he likes to "help". So anyway I happened upon an place that I thought was just a hobby shop. Turns out they had big indoor tracks for racing slot cars and r/c cars on carpet.

So the bug bit me. I was telling a co-worker of mine about it and I asked him about his and the next thing you know he sold me his whole set up, he wanted to move from indoor racing to outdoor racing but his wife insisted he sell his indoor gear first.

So I got his one year old Trinity TSpec car, three bodies (a painted M3 and a painted Saleen S7 and a clear car that I'm not sure what it is) the radio (Futaba AM pistol) extra wheels and tires, three batteries, a charger, a few upgrades and parts for $150.

Here it is:

http://www.photohost.org/gallery/dat...tyM3_2-med.JPG

Questions:

I want to just practice outside for now because track rental is $5.00 a night, what's a rookies best options for outside tires?

Same question but for indoor tires when I'm practicing? Rules for racing say you cannot use foam tires to race with.

Upgrades I should consider?

Suggested reading?

Any help would be very much appreciated!

for parking lot practices, i would recommend rp30 tires. last a pretty long time, and are the stickiest you'll find with consistent traction through each run. for rubber indoor racing, rp30 tires are again the favorite choice of most racers. for both, i would get the premounted ones and not worry about the inserts. for tire traction, none or something like SXT for parking lots, and whatever that is popular/allowed at the track for the indoor track.

instead of buying upgrades, when your good enough that your car is holding you back, not your driving, i woud personally get a new car altogether. it's much better, and since eventually you'll most likely get one anyway, instead of buying the up grades then moving to a new car, just get a new car, which is much cheaper for performance. also, if doubting that and not enough bank money,stock car get an older xray car or something for $100, which will be much faster and cheaper than upgrading your stock car.

here's a link to an example of a good xray deal.

http://rctech.net/forum/showthread.p...highlight=fk05

here's a good book for chassis set up. it's called the xxx main chassis guide, explains what every adjustment is, does, and how it affects handling. tells you how to fix over steer, under steer, etc. great book.

anyway, i hope this is helpful to you.

;)

- viper55

Excellent!

Thank you very much for the reply, I will check out the mounted tires at my local hobby shop and order the book from Tower Hobbies there!

Thanks again man!

your welcome.

;)

- viper55

1.I have been considering getting a cheap offroad nitro vehicle.Are there any good ones that are durable,yet easy to tune? 2.If I get one,it will come with 1-2 hours of labor on the vehicle. What would I want to do with it in that timeframe? 3.What are good fuel brands? 4.I have been told by the guys at Big Boy Toys that you cannot drift with these machines. Is there any way to get around that? 5.What accessories or spare parts would I need to start???

Also,do i have to add to anything to the vehicle.oil,etc. ???:confused:

if so where:confused:

uhh...
 

uhhh.... that's a little off topic! (no offense just saying :D) well, anyway, i'm an electric 1/10 touring car racer(electric all the way!:nod:), and have never owned a nitro car. but from what i've heard, the traxxas 4 tec 3.3 is a good starting car. it's more of a parking lot pounder, though i think it has a decent a mount of adjustments. also, it's supposed to be veryt durable, as long as you don't crash it into a wall at full speed (70 + mph :eek:). for the second question, no idea. 3. uhh... 4. drift tires!!! i think yokomo tires will work with nitro. 5. uhh...

hope this helped. (probably not much :p)

- viper55

what are advantages and disadvantages of electric:confused:

From my standpoint, the advantages of electric over nitrous right now were numerous. First of all, it's cheap to find a good used electric car for $100 - $150 and perfect for a noob like me. I've never owned an r/c car and I really just wanted something cheap to start with. If I crash it I can fix it pretty easily and I don't have to fiddle with too many adjustments, worry about fuel and storing it or any of that. Plus I can race on an indoor track that's about a mile from my house and the car is quiet so I can run it in my drive, in my garage or up and down the street.

Disadvantage is that it's not as fast as nitrous and you have to wait around to charge up batteries whereas with nitrous you can just gas and go. The other thing is with electric you notice the car gradually getting slower as the batteries start dying.

Overall I'm very pleased I decided to start with electric, I've got a lot to learn and I think it's a good place to start.

Hope that helps.

Advantages: Electric is easy, quiet, you can run it in more places.

Disadvantages: Initial expense is very expensive with dischargers, chargers, trays, batteries, etc.. mainly the cost part.

Electric is not always slower, get a good brushless system and youll fly past a most stock nitros.:)

Although runtime for electrics arn't as good as nitros, you can get yourself a good lipo and go for 25+ mins (i know not a long time for you nitro racers:D)

oh and the last thing i want to clear up, just so no one gets confused is that nitro refers to the term nitromethane and not to nitros oxide;) ( Although :sneaky::D)

drifting with the offroaders? no problem....nothing a little PVC piping cant fix! and its HEAPS fun!!!!!

you wnat a nitro offroader? get urself a hpi savage, stay RIGHT AWAY from traxxas, traxxas = no good.

you will never brake ANYTHING on ur sav unless it gets hit by a train or somthing.....

ive bashed the living daylights out of mine for 1 1/2 years, 180 litres through the truck and still goin like mad....

if you want some serious speed with electric, ur best bet is 1/18, CHEAP to getfast and is heaps of fun....my rc18t has a top speed of 98mph for now..n will keep goin faster :D

oh and i prefer elec over nitro sometimes but nothing can beat the smell and noise that a nitro makes!