home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Newsgroups: rec.models.rc
- Path: sparky!uunet!ftpbox!mothost!lmpsbbs!bobwo
- From: bobwo@ecs.comm.mot.com (Bob Woodhouse)
- Subject: Insane Parking Lot Car
- Organization: secure_comm
- Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 13:41:47 GMT
- Message-ID: <1992Sep9.134147.9971@lmpsbbs.comm.mot.com>
- Sender: news@lmpsbbs.comm.mot.com (Net News)
- Nntp-Posting-Host: 145.1.147.44
- Lines: 106
-
- Hello,
-
- My first 1/10 scale electric car was a Kyosho Scale Series Nissan GTP type
- which I used for racing in parking lots. In order to satisfy my desire to
- race regularly with other people, a couple months ago I bought and am racing
- a CougarII off-road car. With the tracks being exactly 1 hour away and with
- the recent discovery of a 1.5 - 2.0 acre empty parking lot, my desire to run
- on parking lots during those times when I am not at the races has been
- re-ignited. I have 'officially' retired my Kyosho car especially since when
- I put a 12 turn Double in it, the plastic gears were stripped -- I will probably
- give the car to a kid I know. I am not excited about using the CougarII as
- a parking lot car because I want to keep it race-legal, but I want to toss
- race-legality to the wind in the new project that I see coming. Also, I don't
- think an off-road car is going to be as fast or as good at turning as other
- types of cars. I will list some of the things I am considering, and I invite
- your replies.
-
-
- THE CAR KIT
-
- Many types of kits could be considered in trying to produce a vehicle that will
- give maximum speed, acceleration, turning ability, and general impressiveness
- within the confines of a typical empty parking lot. Maybe a Losi LXT would
- work or maybe a Lynx Elite. I do wish to stay with 1/10 scale and electric.
- Car kits that attract me the most are the Custom Works 4WD Dominator and the
- Trinity Reflex10, both dirt oval cars. I think that 4WD would be great, but I
- like the Reflex10 design much better as far as I can tell from reviews and
- photographs. I believe that the direct-drive and the independent suspension
- are the right kinds of features for the parking lot, and that's what these cars
- have. I probably will not buy a Dominator because a RC Car Action review of
- the Intimidator (2WD, assumed similar to Dominator) shows that changing the
- spur gear or adjusting the diff is a pain, plus the gears are open for dirt
- and sand to get in. The Reflex10 also uses nifty slider drive shafts and
- probably has more readily available spares (at least where I live, the Chicago
- area). So I guess my nominal car kit choice is the Reflex10. Any other
- recommendations will be considered. Consider cost to be a small factor.
-
-
- THE MOTOR(S) & CELL COUNT
-
- Like I said before, ROAR or other type rules don't apply. Maybe I'll run 10
- cells and 2 motors -- well, I would rather run 1 motor, I think. It looks like
- the Astroflight motors are made with heavy duty use in mind. Does anyone have
- anything to say or experiences to share about their Astroflight motor, especially
- as compared to the usual ROAR-race, 3-pole kind of motor? Would it be too hard to
- gear Astroflight motors in a direct-drive dirt-oval chassis (given, say 7 cells)?
- Do the motors fit on the 'standard' type of motor mount? Do common pinion gears
- (e.g., Losi) fit the output shaft? Other comments regarding other motor choices or
- the implications of using 8 or more cells are welcome.
-
- By the way, I see that Kent Clausen's Super Insane RC10L-SS used 12 cells and
- then 5 little cells for the receiver. Sure, you may not want 12 cell voltages
- feeding the receiver, but why introduce the weight of 5 little cells when you
- could just tap off 5 or 6 of the main cells for the receiver?
-
-
- GEARBOXES
-
- I think direct drive is the way to go here, but after looking through RC Car Action's
- Buyers' Guide for 1992, I saw the Nova 2-speed gearbox that looked like it might be meant
- for electric motors. Now that I think about it, the name of Nova seems linked to articles
- I have read about gas cars, so maybe I'm mistaken. Anyway, if this box is used for electrics,
- does anyone have experience with it? I don't know if a 2-speed gearbox would even enhance
- an electric car's performance, but I don't want to count too much out at this point.
-
-
- TIRES
-
- It looks like something like the Reflex10 can use rubber foam or capped (rubber around foam)
- tires. I know that foamies are good on asphalt, but I have never tried capped tires. Might
- capped tires out-steer and out-accelerate foam on asphalt (somewhat dirty asphalt, you know)?
- I know the capped tires are much more expensive than foam, but I read that they may last longer.
- Can someone give an opinion on the "cost per mile" and performance (front or rear) of foam
- versus capped? As far as capped tires outlasting foam tires, I guess it depends on when you
- consider a foam tire to be dead. I imagine it is pretty clear when a capped tire is dead
- since you could then see the foam that lies under the rubber, but I found that if you let,
- for example, a front foam tire that is 3/8 inch thick get past the coning stage to where it
- is about 3/16 inch thick, it will wear for a long time from there -- I believe that this is
- because a thick foam tire will lean over a lot when cornering, but the thin tire can't lean
- as far, so it certainly doesn't cone as much and seems to wear better. Is a rubber capped
- foam tire really better than a plain rubber slick -- it is hard to imagine why it would be
- except for a possible weight difference?
-
-
- AERODYNAMICS
-
- Even with the Kyosho car and 7 cells and a Slot Machine, I experienced occasional aerodynamic
- phenomena, like nose lift. I expect that this new vehicle will go much faster and that aerodynamic
- considerations will be even more important -- I'm not talking about streamlining for speed so
- much as keeping the thing on the ground. If I go with say a Reflex10, I can choose a GTP or
- dirt oval or stock car or other body. Dahm's bodies come with the 'Thunderbody' piece that
- fits under the car and allows for a velcro-only (cool!) body mounting system. Do the Thunderbodies
- offer any notable advantages or pains?
-
- Probably due to unbalanced tires or something, when I pick up either of my current cars and
- hit the throttle, the rear wing vibrates all over the place and makes me question its worth.
- Are there stiffer wings that prove themselves to be better or do I need to balance tires
- in order to see that this vibration goes away?
-
- I am attracted to a body I saw in the RC Car Action Buyers' Guide that is a dirt oval type with
- a spoiler and little side wings that attach to the body (no huge side-dams please) -- I think it
- is the Camaro Open-Comp body from a company that I can't recall.
-
-
- Well, I guess that's about all I can think of. Please feel free to comment.
- Bob Woodhouse
-