R/C Tech Forums - View Single Post - Why should we be made to slow down?!

05-02-2006, 11:12 AM

#62

Jim Ryan

Tech Rookie

Join Date: Oct 2005

Location: San Jose, CA

Posts: 12

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4-cell isn’t going to turn sedan racing into a fair playing field where all the cars are more evenly powered. The guys willing to spend the cash for the very best stuff will keep doing it. And money will still equal speed.

Going to 4-cell isn’t going to make racing less expensive. You’ll still need to keep buying the latest batteries. And you’ll still have to buy and maintain the latest and greatest motors. And drum roll please… you’ll even have to buy a new “designed for 4-cell” car… and you’re old chassis won’t be worth much on eBay. Oh yea, and that new 4-cell ESC will set you back a few bucks as well.

Going 4-cell won’t reduce maintenance. The fast guys will still clean, cut, and re-brush every run.

4-cell won’t slow the cars down or make them more durable. Well, initially it will slow top speed, but less weight will make for higher corner speed which will equal similar lap times and just as many broken parts. Most of us crash in the corners. Not to mention that within a couple of months Reedy and Orion and the rest will come out with their new big-buck “specially designed for 4-cell” motors, and folks will gear up for their new 4800 batteries, and all the speed (and cost, and maintenance) will be back again.

4-cell won’t make you more competitive or a better driver. Sorry. Racing R/C cars will never be cheap or easy.

…

Brushless motors and new battery technologies are inevitable, and many of the same points apply. Brushless and LiPo revolutionized R/C airplanes because they radically increased the power to weight. It hasn’t caught on as quickly in car racing because we push the motor and battery to the max and the current technology (especially LiPo) wasn’t intended for such punishment. Typical R/C electric airplanes aren’t raced head-to-head and thus there’s no need to push the motor/ESCs or batteries nearly as hard as we do racing cars.

In a typical electric airplane, a brushless motor and ESC will last forever (err, well, at least until you inevitably lawn dart it). In car racing it’ll only last until you read here on RCTech about the new “faster” version that was just introduced.

And don’t be fooled into thinking LiPo packs are all the same and will last forever. In the airplane world there have already been several generations of new cells that have significant performance improvements. Like other battery technologies, there is no end in sight.

LiPos work great in airplanes because they fit just fine right where the old round-cell packs used to go, they aren’t typically pushed to their absolute limits, and airplane guys tend to be a lot more safety conscious. Electric car racers however like to push everything to its melting point looking for speed. Do the same thing with LiPos and soon there are going to be some really ugly fireballs at a track near you. Oh yea, and if you overcharge them they catch on fire. Or over discharge them. Or short them for just a millisecond. Or puncture them. And the best part is sometimes they don’t turn into a fireball right away… they might look just fine for 10 minutes, and then suddenly its showtime!

For some interesting LiPo reading, go here:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209187

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