Originally Posted by
m3rcfh
That's impressive, being that consistent and only 0.2 off the pace from a national A main finalist on a lap that short is awesome. That must be some great driving.
I'm going to give mini darts a try too. I wonder if using a sanding paddle to lightly sand the tire rotating in the opposite running direction would create a new leading edge and improve the life a little bit. I will try that using the tools I have for clay tires.
Also, if you don't mind us picking your brain, watching the videos you shared I see a lot of corner speed on astro. I can't get my XB2 to turn that fast without flipping or breaking traction. What is the general tuning direction you guys use to get more corner speed?
Thanks again for all the great input
I used to be quick before being old LOL. Helps that I race in an area where we have 16 of the top tier drivers in the UK and a few others that have made the occasional National A final, if you want to be in the A or B finals you have to stay sharp
In days gone by when we ran tyres with taller spikes we'd sometimes trim down the spikes to just below the wear to give a flat top and sharp leading edge, with the shorter spikes on modern tyres there isn't much room to do that. If you find a way please post as lots of people would be very appreciative.
Getting good corner speed on astrofurf and carpet is a combination of being very precise with the driving and also setting the car up to be very forgiving.
Generally when people ask me to help them with traction rolling issues there are 4 things that I commonly find;
1) They are simply asking too much of the car, high grip demands that you get the braking done and the car settled before turning in. When I coach people I always say "higher the grip level the more important it is to be smooth on corner entry" and "you lose more time & risk more crashes by getting the entry wrong than the exit". That is kind of the opposite to what people used to lower grip conditions expect. On high grip if the car starts to slid it is already over as when the speed drops and it finds grip again it will be immediately overwhelmed & will dig in. This is what people mean by slip-grip.
2) Cars are often setup way too stiff in roll; too stiffly sprung, too higher roll centre (especially in the rear) and often under damped. You want the car to be able to roll fairly freely rather than push the tyres into the ground, that way the cars are more docile and easier to drive, you have enough grip most of the time just between tyre and surface. Typically damping looks quite stiff, this is to slow the rate of roll down. Another thing is adding a little extra negative camber does more than you'd expect.
3) Cars are often too high, getting a low centre of gravity is everything (which forces you to an even lower roll centre to allow the car to roll). Typically we run fairly heavy cars, around 1560g for a 2wd, but it is all down low. Low profile lipos with a big chunk of brass under it (typically 45g on astro, 70g on carpet) to really pull the centre of gravity down. Anything you can do to get ride weight from up high helps (light shells & wings, plastic shock caps etc.). Centre of mass really forwards helps too. Brass bulkheads, under servo weights and esc weights all help.
4) Rear too locked in. Always run the least toe you can get away with, most antisquat, axle height as high as you can, diff height high too, if you can get the driveshaft to be slightly sloping up to the diff end at ridehight you are really winning (not easy on most cars).
As you can see from above bumpy astroturf is going to be a serious challenge!
Setup wise one of my closest RC friends is the UK team manager for Xray but he's on holiday at the moment, this setup is one he created for Craig, made top 5 at the RHR national I believe.
http://site.petitrc.com/setup/xray/s...HR2019040607//