MrLesac

iTrader: (29)

love the rear of the car

xrayroooahhhh

iTrader: (12)

I really would like to start racing the mini's as a second class to my touring car......off the shelf what kit....or chasis.....should I be looking at buying?? Any info would help.....thanks!!

tamiyarcracer

The best bang for the buck is the M03M (Suzuki Swift) you will want to get the 6 bearings needed to complete the kit (4 qty 11mm x 5mm & 2 qty 8mm x5 mm) and some sort of oil filled shock.

xrayroooahhhh

iTrader: (12)

Thanks for the info......is this chasis sold with the original style mini bodies too???

MrLesac

iTrader: (29)

it is but the swift has a few updated parts, so if you want a mini all you need to do is remove the chassis spacer from the swift and buy a mini body

xrayroooahhhh

iTrader: (12)

Thanks guys....I'm going to the hobby store at lunch!!!

MrLesac

iTrader: (29)

haha thats just what i did, hooray for having the hobbyshop just down the road

tony gray

iTrader: (7)

So...whats a Lipo like in an M03? We wanted to know too!

So..we bought one! Click here for our review of the Orion 3200 Lipo/M03 test!

muahdib4

Those Lipos are really nice in the Mini. I raced for the first time last weekend and the 2 guys I raced against were using them...needless to say...I got smoked by 5-7 seconds per lap. Of course part of it could be that I had never been on the wheel before and they've been racing for 10+ years a piece but they were a LOT faster on the straights too. I just hope TCS allows Lipos in the Mini class this year...

wallyburger

iTrader: (2)

nice little 'test report' Tony - just what I was looking for.

A few Qs:

what are the dimensions of the orion 3200 lipo?
(I believe they're shaped just like the shogun packs?)

What lipo charger are you using with this orion pak?

btw, I was told (unconfirmed though..) that the MaxAmps Lipo 4000HV 2S lipo packs will fit.

Core Creations

iTrader: (108)

I was on of the racers muahdib4 raced with last week. I think that the 3200 Lipo is the only way to go. I don't know if there is any huge advantage other than no maintenance and less weight, but they are very cool. Imagine 1 battery for an entire weekend of racing...no ballancing, no cooling, no nothin! In our 5 minute race on carpet I was using 600 mah of juice with a silver can!

Oh, and to get mine to fit perfect, I took the ribs off just one of the battery braces...almost invisible...and it fit perfect.

PS...we'll have muahdib4 up to speed before Memphis for sure

muahdib4

Yeah, it doesn't help that I still had bushings throughout and still haven't learned how to set the car up properly to go straight or learned how to drive yet. Next week it'll handle better and hopefully my driving will improve enough to finish a race.

Scottrik

iTrader: (261)

This probably explains, among other things, why these WON'T be legal for TCS...

One reason the LiPo cars are a bit faster on the straights is that a 2-cell LiPo is, nominally, 7.4v while a 6-cell NiCd or NiMH is 7.2v. Doesn't seem like much until you hit it with the calculator and see it's almost 3%. Keep in mind people are having hissy-fits over HUNDREDTHS of volts when buying matched packs...

Scottrik

muahdib4

True, but if every racer was using Lipo then it would be more even and better racing IMO than some racers being able to afford ultra-supreme matched batteries and guys like me that can't. They probably won't allow them THIS year but next year...

defMondo

The maximum dimensions are around 138mm x 47mm x 23mm for the Orion battery.

I have been using the Swallow advance charger for the money it's damn good value and does all kinds of batteries up to 5amps charge rate. I got it a while back with an plane and it's turned out to be a great little allrounder.

The MaxAmps look like an easy fit into the M03 the phisical dimensions are smaller particluarly in height. From the MaxAmps website 44mm X 137mm X 14mm.

The only problem I would have with it is that there is no protection for the cells, the only thing protecting them is heatshrink, in a touring car thats not to bad because the battery is in side the chassis, where as in a mini 2/3rd's of the batteries are hanging out of the chassis unsupported, in a big shunt this could be a problem.

I have seen normal stick packs with double heat shrink bent like a banana because of a huge mini crash, I would imagine the potential for a more "impressive" incident would be much greater with the lipo cells without any external physical protection.

tp