Thanks for keeping this alive! I've found/followed the thread and decided to get a Mini96 based on this challenge. Only one local hobby and not enough time to hang out there. This thread convinced me to dive in and make the commitment. Hope to post something Jan/Feb.

He there from Miami Florida. I was reading your challenge and looks like a great way to race when there's no Mini Z club or track in my area. I have been in and out of RC hobbies during my years. I just retired and now I have time for some hobbies. I have some experience on larger scale cars, but none on the Mini Z's. My wife gave me a Mini Z for Christmas, (I guess I was driving her crazy) and after reading your forum, I'm now looking for the race track online.. I'm new to Mini Z's and I will probably have many questions as to the different racing classes that you have, I guess the first question that I have is the Mini Z vehicle that I just received in the box as is, does it qualify for the Box Stock, and the Open 2WD car classes? I will contact you again when I obtain the Track, and I'm ready to compete. Concerning the Track, is it the Mini 96 Track (30 CM), from RCP Tracks?

Thanking you for your patience.
Peter G.

Peter,
Yes, the track is the Mini-96 track from RCP. I have done a little looking around and it seems that the best deal to be had is from eBay at $240 shipped. If any of the other folks have found a better deal let us know.

As for the classes, did you get a MR03 and if so what version (RWD, Evo)? The RWD is pretty good to go out of the box in the “Box Stock” class, just get some tires and run it. There are a few options you can add to your Box Stock car and remain class legal but do not worry about that until you can do 10 plus laps without a mistake. If your car is an Evo let us know what KV the motor is and we can tell you what class it will be in. As for an “Open” class car you can run pretty much anything. the rules are pretty clear I think but let us know if you have any questions.

Cheers,
Jim

I got my track on Friday, and got it setup. I have about 3 runs on it in with my GLA and GLR, and I freaking suck. I am use to running on 2 wide Ls and consider myself not that bad, but I can't stay off the walls and speed cant be used. Its going to take a while to get it together, but will post my times starting with the new layout.

Keep at it.....it will come to you but it can be very frustrating for sure. When you do get it and rip off a 75 lap stint only making a mistake or two it feels great.

Imwill post the January circuit tomorrow, thinking it is going to be fun

Cheers,
Jim.

I too was used to running on larger tracks and it was a big adjustment getting used to the Mini-96, but it’s made me a better driver on the larger layouts and it’s a ton of fun when you get good at it, so here is my advice:

#1 Don’t give up!
#2 Start out slow. If you have an MR-03 with stock motor, run that until you get comfortable. The lipos and brushless motors in the GL cars are way too much speed for a Mini-96, so dial the throttle way back until you can make 50 consistent, and then increase throttle.
#3 Don’t give up!!! It’s a blast when you start running well.

I will post a run tonight on Decembers layout. I've been practicing and it's tough adapting to the narrow layout. I'm at around 4.5 - 5 seconds a lap right now when I can stay off the walls. Scionara05 is going to have this month's race in the bag.

Just got a track from Hobby Recreation Products. Their team working around the holidays to ship it out to me. $230 shipped, no taxes was the best deal I found.

Anyways I'm excited to improve my skills and be more consistent on the race line. I have to convince my business manager to let me hang around the warehouse after hours to set it up. I dont have quite enough space for a full layout at home. Most of my rooms are only 12x9

Hello All,
Tomorrow is going to be a travel day for me so I wanted to get the January Circuit posted so all of you can nurse your hangovers with the soothing sounds of Mini-Z's making hot laps. As you can see I have made turn one a bit more open this time around and I am thinking this is going to require some skill to nail the trail braking into turn two to get the rotation right for a good exit on turn three and be well set up for the infield.

I have a good feeling that we will be adding a number of new players months which will be great. On the subject of new guys I just wanted to say do not get frustrated, when I first started on the Mini96 I was ready to give up but I was told just to slow down and not overdrive the car. It took a lot of discipline for me not to grab a fistful of throttle but Learned that the old saying of "Go slow to go fast" could not be more accurate and in pretty short amount of time I was making clean laps and was then able to focus on making fast laps......For me it was kind of like a light bulb and just all of a sudden I figured it out....If I can do it anyone can do it.

With that said I am back this month and looking forward to making some laps but after missing the last two months I expect I am going to have to deal with some rusty reflexes.

You guys who participated in the December M96WC may have to wait a few days for results but I will get them up no later than Saturday.

Without further ado here is the circuit for January, we will run clockwise and on the smooth side for January.



Cheers,
Jim

Something I forgot to bring up. As most of you know the M96WC has the "Stock 86" class but I believe I am the only one who has posted a time for that class. I do understand that 86mm bodies tend to be hard to find and expensive and then there is the hardware you need to run 86mm cars so I can see why there has been such limited participation. With that said I love running my smaller wheelbase cars but I tend not to because they are not always the fastest way to get around the track.....save for Traveler who's stock GT1 is wicked fast. I am wondering if there is any interest in putting together say a 90mm hatchback class? Or, maybe just make it a Citroen DS3 class as the white bodies are still easy to find and reasonably priced. I personally find 90mm cars super fun to drive but also a challenge to set up so think might be a really good exerciser for both veterans and newbies alike to learn about chassis set up on a chassis size they are not familiar with.

I am thinking the rules would be similar to the Stock Class with some exceptions:

Kyosho 2WD or 4WD 90mm Chassis
AAA batteries
Stock White Can, PN70T Motor or 3500kv brushless
Kyosho Hatchback Hard Body with no major modifications (The more I think about it I really like the idea of only using the DS3 all in rally liveries)
Other than that anything goes.

Thoughts?

Cheers,
Jim

I don't have any Kyosho cars so I'm out of any stock classes until they release the Sanwa Evo receiver at least. A hot hatch class does sound like a lot of fun though on the mini96.

For the Jan layout, does placement of the start/finish line matter?

When using Laptracker do you stick to the defaults in the set up tab? guessing just enter 75 in the "stop after" box.

For Laptrax I added a 5 second countdown so I can get ready after hitting start, enabled false start detection, lap announcer so I can tell progress without looking down, announcer- fast, plus I think you need to setup the orientation for portrait vs landscape so it detects motion correctly. I've found it pretty finicky and have to crank the sensitivity almost all the way up but it does usually work OK once it's dialed in. The user interface isn't the easiest to figure out. But hey it's free so can't complain too much.

Layout looks great! Have given the duties to my kids! :-)

Here is my December entry, ran it with the F1 car as I tore apart the GLR to install a new ESC. The new roller wing makes a big difference. Was pretty steady overall but a couple mistakes that hurt. Had to lock the cat upstairs as she keeps walking over the track as I'm trying to race.

Class - Open
Date - Dec 31 2019
Location - Madison, WI Basement
Race Time - 6:18.39
Fastest Lap - 4.39
Chassis - GLF-1
Body - Stock lexan
Wheelbase - 114mm
Tires - Front: Marka 23
Rear: Marka V9 10
Motor - GL 3500kv sensored
Batteries - GL 330mah LiPo
Front Springs - Stock
Rear Springs - Stock
Motor Mount - Stock Aluminum
Dampener Fluid - 10000k silicon grease
Gearing - 10t Pinion
Notes - Roller wing

I have a screen shot of the laps but it says I don't have enough posts yet.