sook

Added note: make sure the roll pins are dead on straight and not bent. A bent roll axle pin can cause premature wear of the wheel bearings and housing.

CrazyRonny

iTrader: (5)

Hi everybody

Just want your honest opinion... Did you think that the aging NTC3 is still a top contender for the best 200mm car? Is it as good as the Serpent 710, the kyosho V-one RRR, The Mugen.... I know that in a good hand it can win and bla bla bla... but in normal hand like mine and yours is it as good as the other?...

I have two of them and one with almost all the imaginable titanium hopup you can find. I love the NTC3 in general, I love it's simplicity. But I'm asking myself that maybe I could do better with one of the newer car. Maybe the handling of the newer car is really better?

Just want to know what you honestly think.

CrazyRonny

AndyT ©

I`ve raced a Factory Team NTC3 at my local track, and now race a RRR there.
The NTC3 was very competitive, but in terms of fastest lap times the RRR is around 1.5 seconds quicker than the FT NTC3 was......this is running exactly the same engine in the car, same tyre shores/diameter.....there is however the difference in pipes.
Cheers

i300i

Andy:

1. What is a typical lap time?

2. What are the characteristics of the track?

3. Have your skills improved, or is this 1.5 sec. improvement all car?

CHUCKMANDO

iTrader: (4)

I have both. I like both, but they are different. Even if you have the same engine, setups are different and you cannot use the same pipe. But here goes. I have been just lot racing this year. We use the road rails setup. Anything goes. Since we do not have a lap counting system, we more or less open run and have 5 min heats or 1 tank lol. With my setups, I find the tc3 to have quicker acceleration (Shaft), RRR more topend. Both are nimble. With the RRR I usually am with the leaders. Not counting last week, My tc3 was the car to beat for the last month. NOw I have been driving a tc3 since it came out, and I am getting better with the rrr each time out. From my point of view, can it be as competitve, yes. Is it better, not sure, maybe not but I still love the car. So much easier to wrench too. I will be laying it to rest soon, just to see if I can get my driving with the RRR to how I drive the ntc3. Hope this helps.

AndyT ©

1. Typical lap time would be around the high 16 seconds mark........my fastest with the RRR (15.518) fastest with the FT NTC3 (16.738)
2.Track has about a 40 metre straight with a large sweeper leading back to an infield with esses, a hairpin, back straight (15-20metres), and more esses leading into the main straight.
3. Given the time frame of a few months I dont think my skills wouldve improved that significantly...perhaps slightly? A friend is now racing the same FT NTC3 with a seriously quick 7 port modded engine and is getting 17sec fastest lap times with it.

Cheers

AndyT ©

One thing i find really pleasing with the RRR, is how easy it is to access and change the spur gears and work on the 2-speed area

CrazyRonny

iTrader: (5)

Wow! 1.5 sec faster where an average lap is 16 sec is incredible

We run average lap of around 16 and 17 sec at our track, and a 1.5 sec margin in the best lap could make the difference from TQ to dead last .

If the RRR is really that superior it's the car to have

CrazyRonny

Rody

In my opinion, the only place the NTC3 loses out to Serpents, RRR's, etc is in the pipe and engine performance.

With the S shaped pipe on the NTC3, no matter what engine you run, you cant exploit the engine's full potential. There are too many sharp bends in the pipe and the length is another main factor.

After watching the IFMAR 200mm worlds in Brazil, i noticed that Barry Baker was using RB V12 Rody on his FT NTC3. I emailed Rody Roem from RB to ask about their engine performance in that car and his reply was that the made significant changes in the port timing of those engines to try make them more suited to the pipe. Despite this, they could not bridge the performance gap. In other words, the same engine performed significantly better in cars with a conventional pipe setup. e.g. RRR, MTX3, 710.

CHUCKMANDO

iTrader: (4)

Andy,
You are right on with that . I am talking about the cars on the whole.

thunderbt3

iTrader: (14)

I agree that the pipe/engine configuration is the downfall of the NTC3. Like Rody stated, if the pipe and engine were in a more conventional config, we would be able to make the most out of engine. I know of a couple local racers that have switched cars due to that.

As for drivetrain efficiency, the way the NTC3 is configured is the best. Compared to the FW-05 which uses a center drive system, the NTC3 uses 1 single shaft where there are 2 points of contact were friction occur (ever notice any wear on the shaft ends?) The FW-05 uses 2 drive shafts, 4 points of contact and then you also add in drive shaft misalignment losses. I wonder what AE has up thier sleeves for thier next nitro tourer. Belt drive are now faster than shaft but i like the simplicity of a shaft car. (I got some winter projects in store to see if i can fix the pipe/engine problem).

No, i dont work for AE.............yet (hehe JK). Just a curious Mech Eng student

Sedanfahrer

iTrader: (21)

On the Brazilian Championship's A-Main this year, the best lap of the NTC3 was 18.382, V-OneRRR was 18.253, and the fastest was a Serpent 710 with 18.025. The NTC3 wasn't the fastest on the straight (I think two S710 were the fastest), but in the end the NTC3 finished 1st. So I don't see that big performance gap between the NTC3 and the newer cars. With the proper setup and a good driver, I think that the NTC3 is still competitive!

Solara

iTrader: (17)

In USA....Great Lake Challenge..NTC3 Tq'ed 1 and 2......then the RRR and 710S...............of course, these are no club racing, they are all factory drivers. But ended up S710 won the race...

But still, NTC3 are TQ'ed 1 and 2...............just not driven by us regular ppl. NTC3 is still fast, at some point....

AndyT ©

The majority of RRR`s were running with the Sirio engine/pipe combination and i feel this track was particularly suited to this combination.
Rody Roem on the video actually made comment that his engines were making too much power for that track....it`ll be very interesting to see how they fare at England Park, Brendale, QLD next year.....its a much faster track
Probably the hardest luck story of the Worlds was Drescher, who was going along very nicely with his NTC3 and then the dreaded "glitching gremlins" struck
Cheers

Hoggy

iTrader: (26)

Hey all i have got myself An NTC3+ Have upgraded the radio gear and put rechargeable recevier battery in. Alos hav upgraded the car with Adjustable shocks and Front and rear Anti-roll Bars. Is there Any other upgrades i needed to get to Make the car competitive. Also cannot get the Two Speed working. Have tried adjusting it to shift into gear earlier, but does not want to change ? Can anybody help me out.