"Expect,..........................the unexpected................."

Now add Eau Rouge on the other end and I may just have to fly out! Nice work!

Question: how do you tell (tech) a belted tire from a non-belted one when they're mounted? Is there some kind of external indication that a Pro compound X-Pattern is different from a Pro Belted X-Pattern?

You can feel the tire....much like how if someone took a non-belted tire and added some tape to the inside of the tire to "belt" it. Its fairly easy to tell....or just have them rev their car and watch how they expand.

Very cool Eric. One of the greatest things about racing at Road America is the change in elevation. Now all you need are a few small animals, or maybe large insects, to wander out onto the track during the race.

Looks like fun, Keith.

http://www.rctech.net/forum/8893729-post11066.html

Here is another pic of the corner almost done....WHOA....Awesome

Back when I was heavily involved in the whole RCGT effort I had called HPI about that same thing. Sadly, there is no clearly visible difference between the Pro and Pro Radial. Unlike the #4790, which has visibly different lettering, the 2 others are the same so it comes down to "feel".

I wonder if you could use the construction techniques that they use to build miniature golf courses to build a racetrack from concrete and CRC carpet. Wait! That doesnt sound right because now everyone is imagining trying to race their car between the blades of the windmill.
No what I mean is Concrete lanes with any elevation change you want including a banked curve, off camber corner, corkskrew, anything. Then have CRC carpet glued on top instead of the grass carpet. No mermaids. No Clowns. No windmills.

If I could have it my way I would have a medium sized asphalt track with the straight on the front side, into a banked sweeper, into an off camber 180. Put a Corkscrew on the backside and a tight technical infield and you would have a classic permanent track. Sigh. I will just keep dreaming for now.

Oh yeah on the backside I would have an 80's style 1/10 offroad for racing Scorpions and Tamiya Cars.

Often thought of doing exactly that and make a great track with a combo of a couple of classic features like the LS Corkscrew.
Funny thing though. At our last parking lot location, the concrete area had a dip to aid drainage. Nothing drastic at all. Even at full speed it wouldn't cause a car to bottom out or anything. It stunned me when TC drivers tried it and complained because it wasn't flat !! . I purposely set turns and switchbacks in that section and you would think I had put barbed wire down on the track from all the whining that occured.
Gotta wonder how RC got so focused on just flat surfaces and lost, or maybe never had, any realism based interest. Maybe this will be part of the revival in on road ?? It's got my vote.

Hey guy, does anyone know if the HPI #7483 Honda NSX can mount low enough on the TC3?(with the rear shock tower on the front) Please let me know. Thanks, Jay.

In a real car, you can see the track surface a lot better, and you have a very accurate and early indication of what the surface is doing through the steering and your butt.

R/C cars are hard enough to drive on a flat surface as it is.

That being said, I've raced on a few track layouts on asphalt in the summer that had a little dip here or there that you either had to watch out for, or could use to your advantage to rotate the car faster. It does make it more interesting. But that definitely widens the gap between experienced racers and rookie / intermediate if the track layout is changing for every race.

-Mike

I don't know if I agree with you Mike but I don't have any experience to go on so it's tough to say. Yes, in a real car you get more tactile feedback but in RC, the field of vision is so much different. Apples to oranges since I wasn't comparing to real cars necessarily. I just think rc cars could easily be run on tracks with elevation changes just as simply as they can on flat tracks.
My guess is that flat was simply easier since most parking lots are flat. And building a flat track area is probably easier than following countours.

USVTA Scale Nationals 2011---

Some of the pictures are here:
http://pmatushek.blogspot.com/2011/0....html?spref=fb

There will be a photobucket link when everything the photographer took is available

I have some guys that I run with here and there and they are significantly faster than me, but they act like they are afraid of an elevation change. So I am wondering if all of that experinece goes out the window with a little elevation change. Honestly it just makes me want the banked curves and corkscrew that much more.

USVTA Scale Nats videos:

http://www.rctech.net/forum/8907254-post4195.html

What are you guys gearing your cars at for large outdoor tracks? I have the speedpassion citrix stock 17.5 fixed timing. Have it geared at 53/87. Its on a hot bodies cyclone tc i bought this way here on rc-tech. Seems to go pretty quick.