You could have tried something different - The long CRC A arms with the plate. I run the spool and it works for me. My friend is trying it this weekend at our big race at Beachline.

Spool related handling issues almost always revolve around two issues. Either too much camber, or too heavy tube lube.

Remember before spools? Any time that rear wheel would hike up? Now that means a wild loop.

Front tire glue is an art all it's own. But if your setup is on point, as long as you haven't shed all the glue it should still be drivable. And that was a problem before we went to spools.

Tekin RS Pro 1s.

OK, I’m curious as to why all of a sudden most of the 1/12th scale brands’ newest kits feature fixed kingpin front ends with no camber gain and no reactive caster. Are there any suspension engineers out there who can explain what might be the benefit of reverting to such a “primitive” design? To date I’ve built 4 of these newer cars (2 different brands) for other guys and none of their sliding steering blocks slid very smoothly no matter what oil, lube, grease, polish, or other prep I tried.

Oh, and while explaining why an “old skool” non-reactive front end could be better, I’m also keen to know and especially to understand why a spool works. 2 things are undeniable with a spool - a locked rear axle makes the motor run a little hotter, and it also wears the tires a little faster. Both are clear indicators of inefficiency. So a technical explanation of why a spool works would also be appreciated.

Spool is faster because it never diffs out. With a diff when you go through a corner there will be some amount of diff action, even if the car is not visibly diffing out. With the spool everything is translated into forward traction, it always puts down what the motor is putting out. As long as you don’t overcome the lateral grip, you are going forward It’s also lighter, so it will generally accelerate faster.

I would also guess the old school front ends are a by product of spools. We know now the cars on carpet will always handle a spool, as long as the cars don’t pick up a rear tire. So we go back to front ends with no camber change and no reactive caster to keep the cars from pivoting like that.

Thanks G. It’s easier to commit to something if it actually makes some logical sense.

Just to get an idea of how far back the old school front end started its life in RC cars, this is a picture of a car that was from the 70's. I ran the version before the springs were added on the kingpins. We also ran a spool and only ran on asphalt. Schumacher came out with a ball diff that eventually became a standard we still see today. That all in one brick radio was a piece of work. It's fun to rekindle those memories. -a :-)

YES! Another class to add to the list!

Why complicate the simplest class on the planet with more parts to wear and fail? Its not like 1/12th needs more speed and traction. haha.

my useless opinion.

Can someone explain the point of the angled steering servo from 25 years ago? Was it to compensate for bump steer, was it for Ackerman adjustment, or something else?

Combination of all those, especially bump steer when running high upper arm angles.

Angled servo also cranks in more Ackerman late in the travel, unless you set up for all the throw, in which case the inside angle actually relaxes.

I've run both through the years and have no real preference either way, generally set the car up for whichever method the manual seems to prefer. These days it's flat whenever possible, likely for the CG over any other concern.

I switched mine to angled a few years back, not really knowing its effects and wanted to go back but that'd require me to buy a new servo because I had to cut the ears off the one I had to lay it back flat. So its stayed angled. My car has remained very good for me. As fast as I wanna go, the car is always ready to go. I do still want to try it flat just to feel a difference, but i'm cheap

It’s all about bump steer. Ackerman may change slightly, but moving the servo fore or aft is a much bigger change. The reason angled is “old skool” is because the front rim diameter was smaller and you couldn’t space up the steering hub ball stud enough to get level tie rods without rubbing the rim. That’s not an issue with modern rims.

Question about can timing. I’m running 17.5 Maclan with 47/80 (X12 ‘20) on a very small indoor carpet track. Temps are coming off in the 190’s after maybe 5 min practice runs. Esc is the cheap HW 1s in stock setting. Can timing is 40* stock and I’m wondering if the timing is too low and getting hot by not being efficient? I’ve dropped it to 35* but called it a night before running it. I’ll find out tomorrow if it drops or not. I heard if it’s too low it can get hot. My 21.5 is at 52* with no probs. Getting back after rona so outta sink with the cars.

When I buy a motor I usually leave the timing and adjust gearing