*Shrug* I know alot of the members on this site probably don't care to hear about half of this stuff, but I'm gonna say it anyway in the hope that there is a select few of you that might understand/take interest.
And before you guys ask, there aren't any pictures or a video to go with this post. So deal with hit.
Yesterday I dedicated the little free time that I have to get this car dialed, and not to mention put down some lap times. My setup was assembled, but since the last time I drove the car, I didn't bother re-tuning it. This time I had fresh tires, a new body, different roll shock (yellow) and the same track layout. That means it was time to get my ride re-adjusted. Here's what my car's setup looked like:
Carpet Radials 10° (Brand new and sticky!)
Medium (silver) springs (30wt shock oil)
Hard (yellow) Roll Shock Spring
Medium SSG T-Plate
98mm (duh) Pan Car setup
Intellect 750mah batts (slowly discharged, then peaked warm before race)
Team Redmade 33t FAT comm'd armature
Kyosho Ver. II Ball Differential (needs rebuild, lol)
8t Motor Pinion
I was very confident in my setup. The motor had been fully relubed, rebroken in with fresh carbon brushes, and was sporting my favorite hard (yellow) springs. The batteries were as fresh as their first charge, and were nice and warm (cells discharge better at a warm temperature). The radials were confortably stuck to their white ATM deep dish rims. The body was securely mounted, and I was set to run. A quick shot of Trinity Ball Bearing oil into the front knuckle bearings, not to mention the rear motor pod bearings, and I was in buissness.
I was running the same track setup I had been used to for the past month or so, so I had the turns memorized, and new how to enter each and every corner. Throttle ratio's were still to trickey for me to figure out in my previous runs. Often, I'd gun out of corners too hard for my MR-015 style batter packs, and slide the rear end out. Rolling never was a problem becuase of my uber-wide wheel base (+3's all around), however, with my worn down treads, the rear end always seemed to hop out of the turns, regardless of my diff/roll shock settings. I figure now that it is simply throttle adjustment, and lack of DPS.
So, all that aside, I set my car down. My current objective was to do 5 practice laps. I opened up the throttle, and the car jumped forward. The motor was more than powerful. I eased up and hit the first corner gracefully. The carpet radials kept the car planted every second of the turn. I went through all the turns similarly, barely stopping. I kept throttle at about 1/4 a majority of the 5 laps. Happy with the way the car performed, I decided to set down some lap times. When I do lap times, I don't typically use a fancy pantsy lap timing system, I just take my ipod, switch it to stopwatch mode, strap it to my Futaba 2PH transmitter, and use that. Its ghetto thats for sure, but its all I need at this level. Last month, I did 10 laps in a time of about 31 seconds. I averaged about 45-46. So, lets see if my car improved:
My first ten lap set wasn't anything spectacular. I was very heavy on the throttle, and in turn, my car was overworked and didn't take the corners smooth enough (when I say "heavy" on the throttle, I mean 100% out of corners. Needless to say, the tires although new, couldn't hold back the motor) I came into corners to fast, and even crashed twice. I knew for a fact my first set could be beaten easily. What was the time though? 42 seconds! Wow! That time was nearly 3 seconds off of my previous average, and it was even a cruddy run! I was impressed.
Now that I had throttle ratio and control sorted with my new setup, I started feeling more confident. I knew that I didn't have to lay on the throttle to set a decent time. In the next set, I hit the corners nice and easy. I flowed out of them with decent throttle, but opened it up on the straight away. I took each corner perfectly and didn't crash once in 10 laps! I finished the set with awesome expectations. I looked down at the ipod. the screen read 28 seconds flat! I was impressed. That score was 2 whole seconds under my previous record.
By now, my batts were fading (nearly 6-7 minutes had passed between practice, set 1, and set 2) so my time reflected that. The third set offered a time of about 33 seconds.
Satisfied, I set my tx down, pulled the Intellects out of the car, set them in the 8 hour charger. Put my car on the tuning stand, and called it a day. Overall, I was extremely impressed with what a few minor upgrades and tuning could to for the car. Tires, a new body, different roll shock, lower'd electronics all helped me drop my lap time down by 2 full seconds.
HFAY anytime soon? Maybe some beginner events at Ann Arbor (thats right Kyle!)
I know that almost 95% of the members here don't really care about all this. There are only a few here that actually care about seriously racing these cars. Those that do feel free to comment!