These speed secrets I have been giving you guys are real, and done to my mini m03.... I learned about them reading an old mini thread where a fellow racer went to drastic measures to fix drivetrain noise in his m03, and ended up gaining alot more speed than everybody else, when using the same legal motors... With the advent of red dot motors, there is a big chance that doing all of this won't mean you'll be the fastest mini around though.... I am not winning Amain's yet because of my driving mostly, and accidents, but I've won Bmains, and I've discovered that my Car was fast only when I used someone else's silvercan throwaway motor. My laptimes, with motor and new setup concepts, went from 19.1sec to 14.8sec... Most of the Amain drivers do consistant 14.5sec to 15sec laps , so I am righy there, but I recently discovered that they were charging at 8.5volts the whole time, while I charged to 8.4volts(8.25volts at rest) with an old mrc charger... I am sure to pickup some speed when I start charging like everybody else, but the track has been closed since November 2012... Sorry if it looks like I'm picking your brains, but I am only sharing knowledge here....

As far as those dcj's/ecs/lcd's, I took the losi xxx-s lcd's and grinded the bones part of them down to fit the tamiya outdrives. That was before specR and ecs drives came into existence. It took a while to grind and make fit but it worked nicely enough , and is much stronger than other drives too...

Guys, another adjustment that I found helpful with acceleration out of corners was track width. The wider (168mm to 170mm) the better, and with that confidence of not traction rolling, I carry more corner speed, which is necessary to better accelerate out of turns....

By the way, all of the above were known facts, not speed secrets. I don't mind sharing them at all ! You still have to practice to get their full potential, and to those that REALLY want to share knowledge, I am willing to exchange ideas !!!!

Honestly, I'm not trying to be a troll, but almost none of this is really secret in the strictest sense of the word. It's more common sense. Clean, smooth drivetrain, decent quality bearings...which brings us to our next point.

If your laptimes improved by over 4 seconds, either your car was a complete piece of $h!t before, your driving got better as you learned this stuff, or a combination of the two. I find it hard to believe that your car would have been that terrible prior to these common sense adjustments. My car on a bad day wouldn't be 4 seconds slower than it is on average. I've seen a guy run a race missing a wheel only slow down by a few seconds per lap.

I'm done ranting now.

So, about those Losi CVDs you adapted. That would mean you had to shorten the length of the dogbone? If you have detailed instructions or photos, I'd be very interested in seeing them. I have an idea how to accomplish this, but it wouldn't be strong if I did it.

Jim

I started Racing my mini last season, and I had a really slow motor and a darting steering system. When I changed the motor, and tighten the steering, my laptimes dropped to 16seconds. Then I removed the front swaybar and changed from yellow springs to red springs, and voila 14.8sec...... I think I can go under 14sec with my new tp charger that charges better than the mrc charger, and can go up to 8.48volts per cell instead of 8.4volts..
As for the losi XXX-s lcd's, the dog bones are the right length but the ball ends are too big for the tamiya outdrives. So with a dremel I reshaped the ball ends and made them small enough to fit the outdrives. I also opened up the outdrives a bit, while staying true to its shape...

Okay, I understand about the CVDs now. I found a picture of them, looked at some of my M chassis CVDs, did a bunch of math, so I can see how that works now. Very interesting idea.

Sorry your car started out so terribly. I thought there was something very wrong with mine once. Then I was introduced to traction compound. Whee!

This is how I ran my red mini cooper last year: slow and darty....
Http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=acGwEep-_bE

The lcd grinding was extensive, almost two hours...

The front swaybar made my Car too responsive, and prone to traction rolling. I had no choice but to lift Off way before the turns, and never using the brakes... That run was a typical high CG run with no real suspension working properly. My Car is way different now...

Craig ol' buddy, so far no ones been questioning my heritage, just my knowledge of all things Mini.

Just trying to share a little knowledge and a philosophy of how to set up a Mini. We all know that set ups sometimes do not transfer from track to track or driver to driver. What I've been doing lately is sharing fundamentals that we talk about at the track every Saturday. I think I'm the only one of our group who hasn't won a TCS National Championship or been on the podium. I know this stuff has made me a lot faster.

I've posted some set ups, but they are mostly base line stuff. There's no use posting all the fine details cause they aren't running at our track.

Haven't come out to the track lately due to few health related issues. Just been doing my racing on rctech. Hope to be back out soon as I get this surgery behind me. All this stuff's not serious, just time consuming.

Wow, 13 posts in two pages all about the same subject and most of them only a few minutes apart...

Just don't feel comfy putting it all into one or two concise posts? Familiarize yourself with the 'edit post' button maybe?

Wow, thanks for the advice Mr Tech Rookie with 13 posts. We wouldn't have realised we were doing the Internet wrong without you; you are a blinding light of reason for us all.

Some great information has come out in the last few pages.

We run on tarmac and use kits tires all round and I have struggled with over-steer at the start of the year. I spent some time softening the rear to try and control it and I did, but since then not really been happy with the corner grip my car is generating. Looks like I need to undo what I have done and start again.

My setup is the opposite of what everyone is using which may explain the lack of grip. If the over-steer returns, then I'll work on my driving or take a different approach. Maybe wider track, different toe. I notice most of the racers appear to run softer rear tires which we can't.

Currently have blue front springs and red rears and I had disconnected the rear ARB. I'll swap them front to rear, check my ride heights and see how it goes.

Thanks all!

Nice track!