It's been a year since I've purchased my first 1/12 scale, a Kyosho Plasma Ra. At first, I had no clue what I was getting into. Foam tires? Rollout? 1/12 Differential? Side Springs?
I had to buckle down to get familiar with these new terms and driving experience. Since I started, I've had great moments and not so great moments running my 1/12. But, when everything is in perfect working order, it's such a dream to drive. That being said, I would like to share a few things I've learned over the past year. That I hope might help you along the way.
1- These are tiny,tiny cars, and any adjustment you make it will be felt on the track. So, make adjustments on step at a time. Something as simple as changing a castor clip will have a profound impact on the cars handling. Also, if you have a front spring collapse, chunked rear tire, binding side-link, you'll notice it. If you crash hard, check for tweak in the front suspension and rear pod. A good indication you're rear pod area is tweaked is if your side-links are binding. Check out a video on youtube called i think... Onpoint Racing Chassis setup. One of the guys on this forum has great detailed videos on how find and un-tweak your car. I learned a lot from his videos, THANK YOU.
2- A wider car is a easier car to drive. However, you might have to change the side springs, front springs, damper spring in order to have the car drive the same as it was when it was in narrow trim. This maybe or maybe not true, but I felt the car push more when I switched to a wider track both front and rear.
3-Differential oil on the king pins (thin coat) and obviously in the damper tubes makes the car run nice and smooth. At first I would put a layer of differential oil on the tubes and reassemble. I noticed one tube would be "freer" than the other. So, to compensate I would add a little more oil to the "freer" side tube. I would try to make both tubes slide back and forth with the same consistency. Regardless if they are new or old tubes.
4- Balancing your chassis is key for a 1/12 tracking straight. Move your electronics around until your chassis is balanced. This made a huge difference in how my car handled and tire wear imbalance was reduced.
5- Smooth driving is fast driving. I have a few guys at my track who run their punch and throttle curves in the 40%-50% range and they're having difficulties keeping their cars on the track.. Spinning your wheels will get you nowhere and it also causes you to overshoot the apex of the corner.
6- Tires, tires, tires. Dole out the money for good tires. Trust me. If you're looking for awesome tires already cut down to race diameter, then check out Gravity RC tires. Awesome and consistent tires. Before purchasing the Gravity RC tires. I was testing different compounds front and rear. I found out that if the rear compound is close to or the same as the front.The front will ultimately take over and drag the rear around, you'll hear the rear tires make a sliding noise across the asphalt. If you go down one shore level this should cure the problem and you'll no longer hear the noise.
7- Traction additive. If your track allows it use paragon ground effects and paragon white can.
8-Don't buy a high torque motor, you'll be ripping your hair out. When I mean high torque I mean a 13.5 dia rotor. You're doomed from the beginning.
9-If you're running a Kyosho Plasma Ra like me, I highly suggest going for associated springs. They make a huge difference in handling and don't collapse as easy as kyosho springs.
10- Make sure everything is bind free and everything is operating as it should. Make sure the front king pin slides through the steering block. I learned the hard way, I couldn't figure out why the car was so inconsistent, until I was told to ream out the steering blocks.
11- 16 gauge wire is your friend, use it.
12- Differential - Sand the differential rings, slap some ceramic balls in the spur, buy a slapmaster thrust bearing kit and you'll never have to worry about the differential for a while.
13- Play around with the cars settings, don't just assume the box setting is the best setting. Tinker around with your car, change damper lube, side springs, ect, ect.
14- Read and read and read all the information that is available on the internet. Check out Redbullfix links and study petit rc setup sheets. Even check out other 1/12 manufacturer setups.