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Old 08-28-2009, 10:32 AM
  #9955  
rccardr
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Thanks for weighing in on this topic, Gepetto. I've been waiting until the dust settled to say something, but must say there have been many good and relevant points made by previous posters on the subject.

Personally, I'd be fine with going to brushless in Mini for all the reasons already so well presented. However, my racing budget is probably somewhat different that that of others who may also be interested in competing, and the price point for a good brushless setup may well be more than they can comfortably afford to spend all at once. For many folks, $20 at a time is a whole lot easier (and easier to explain to others at home, if you get my drift) than $130 at once.

As Larry mentioned, we tried to resolve this issue last year with handout Red Dot 15K motors. They are based on Tamiya #53689 silver cans, but have been fully broken in and slightly enhanced. At 5 volts they turn about 15,000 RPM, hence the name. So they are significantly faster than an out-of-the-box motor, but not as animalistic as a full race Red Dot. And, as we (and other tracks who purchased sets of motors for similar series) discovered, they last a whole racing season without much maintenance. Because we specified a fixed gear (19/61), nobody overheated their motor. We prtetty much just oiled and occasionally cleaned them, and if memory serves me correctly (correct me if I'm worng, Larry) we only lost one or two motors over the whole 10 month season, and expect to use them again in a Mini Spec class this year as well.

The cost of matched motors -while higher than using box stockers- is relatively low compared to a brushless system. Racers can use their own brushed speed controls (Tamiya's 101 was very popular in last year's series) and although we prefer LiPo packs because we're inherently lazy, NiMh cells work just fine too. Best part is that the motors are matched so their performance is within a few % of each other, and because they are handouts that get returned at the end of the evening, the cost can be spread out over an entire year of racing for a club or series director and included in the race fee.

We like it, people in other cities like it, it's relatively cheap, it results in good close racing, and it works. Not the only answer, but a possible one.
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