Pinions And Spurs

Recently did this video to test out slow motion, I have been working on trying to see how I can use twixtor plugin to see these cars in super slow motion.

This car seems really amazing, I think too expensive to be honest. Although the iPad integration software seems really interesting, I think this is a glimpse of what is to come for other rc car makers. I am specially interested in speed control makers such as LRP to start offering more telemetry options via Bluetooth for any mobile device.

So finally got some time to get out to the track and most importantly take some photo’s and take the time to post the latest setup etc. Also as you may see, I have been busy adding a lot of hop-ups from Tamiya that makes the car probably look at lot better than the out of the box setup and features.

The car is running really well, I am really enjoying it. Please note I am using LRP’s SXX StockSpec MKI I beleive, so turbo is definitely engaged, and not using a rear wing. The car is very fast, needs to be driven in a way where there is less overall downforce because of no rear wing, however widening the rear has taken care of the problem.

My latest setup can be found going to Setup Sheets.

So finally I am rewarding my 1 year old Tamiya TA05 with some much awaited but not required hop-ups/upgrades/bling. The car out of the box is pretty strong, however some key upgrades can provide significant performance enhancements if you have started racing regularly like my self.

I have talked about basic upgrades for making the car competitive in earlier posts, also recently I have also provided an updated setup sheet that includes details on how I setup my car for racing in the RCGT class at my local track. The car has been running flawlessly and I have been learning a great deal about the car, ways of improving my driving skills and most importantly how to have fun in this hobby.

Today I received majority of the hop-up parts I am still waiting for a bunch more, so I ‘ll do my best to document the upgrades and also shared my observations on how much the car has improved in terms of performance.

Folks I have been really busy in general, with work, racing on weekends and so on. I will start writing more regularly now that I have some more time. I will begin by completing the analysis that I had begun with the Tamiya Ta05 chassis, I have purchased several cars since the Ta05 so will eventually get to all of them.

Last setup and testing I did with the TA05 consisted of the basic setup I shared but which is primarily the same, however the major changes have occured in the world of electronics.  I started with the LRP SXX TC speed control, later learned that it was designed primarly for modified motors but did ok with stock class motors, so ended up switching to the LRP SPX product which today has now been surpassed in stock performance by the Tekin V203 speed control ( that is another story).

The car as you can see has the SPX speed control along with the 13.5 speed passion motor. I have found the 17.5 class to be a great starting point and learnt a lot from it while racing. However with the advent of Tekin 203, stock performance has become similar to the old brushed modified motors. Besides as it works out for me, I will run at least 13.5 so there is never a question of power when it comes to dealing with speed controls, in my observation the 203 increases the performance of all stock motors however the biggest advantage it provides is on the 17.5 class motors. 13.5 and below are already pretty fast and below that point driving skills take over and in my opinion things are more balanced in general.

I have used yellow and red springs as you can see on the car, this is because I have been running on a dusty parking lot (conceret) surface which has very low traction. The software springs allow for more weight transfer to each end of the car, which makes the car roll more however results in creating more traction on the tires.

Overall I am very happy with the Ta05 chassis, it makes a great beginner car. It is very reliable, does not break easily and runs consistently even on not so good setup.

Hopefully next up I will talk about the other cars that include the new xray  t3, tamiya 416x, tamiya f104

I have not really had any time recently to write anything. However have been busy learning new things, I have bought a couple of new cars, have been trying out different speedo/motor combinations and have been regularly racing at my local track. All of those things would have been very beneficial for readers here.. so will be sure to post some progress reports soon!

Just have not had enough time to write here lately, however have been working on a bunch of new things. I have temporarily retired the Ta05 , due to transitioning to a new car. The Ta05 is well and alive, just recently installed a front spool in the car, however waiting on a new SPX controller and 17.5 motor combo to get it going again.

In the mean time I have continued to race a used XRAY T2R-PRO that I picked up from a friend at my home track in Gaithersburg, MD.  The car has been performing very very well, and I have been learning a lot about setting up cars and most importantly how to drive them on a track in race conditions.

I will be posting pictures and setup details and more information very soon! hope everyone enjoyed thanks giving break

So the effort continues to tame the Ta05 to be able to race competitively in the 17.5 class with experiended drivers and along side high end cars such as the xray, hot bodies etc. I have made several changes since I last wrote, but a summary of them are as follows

1. Changed speed control from LRP SXX TC to LRP SPX Competition (better programming for stock motors)
2. Changed to 64p gearing so it is possible to gear more accurately
3. Added 3Racing trun buckles throughout the car replaced the stock as they are hard to work with
4. Changed the suspension oil to 60 wt for front to add more steering, rear is still 45 and using TC5 blue 17lb springs all around
5. Gearing is currently at 64p 88 Spur and 47 Pinion with FDR at 4.2

The car has been running very well and it is truely a pleasure to run this plastic chassis, the additional hop-ups have definitly made improvements and I am only focusing on minimizing additions of hop-ups unless I really need them so not much visual changes.

I will be posting more details of setup and pictures soon so stay tuned, as last weekend the front differential arm broke due to added pressure of increase drag brake that I needed. I am currently looking into using a solid front axel instead of a differantial to increase lap times and overall performance for a medium to small size technical track.

Speed Passion 17.5 motor

Something to note about speed passion motors, they are outstanding quality and very high performance. However something to note is that they usually need to be geared very differenlty than other motors to take full advantage of them.

For example Novak 17.5 motor is recommended to be used with 3.5 FDR, speed passion is similar in the sense that the v2 motor like the novak does not have physical timing. So in order to get most of the speed passion motor, i will be testing it with higher FDR in the range of 4.6 -> 5.5 plus with increased timing on the LRP SPX profile 8 to gain maximum torque and top end speed.

More to come….

I am currently working on fine tuning the Tamiya TA05 chassis to prepare for racing in the 17.5 class at the www.rctrack.com The Track in Gaithersburg MD.

Currently the following are the specs for the car

1. LRP SXX TC Speed Control, Power Profile 8
2. Speed Passion 17.5 Brushless Motor
3. 48p 78/38 Spur and Pinion
4. Optional Tamiya drive belts
5. Integy drive shafts
6. HPI tires (Pro Compound)
7. Ferrari F430 Body
8. Spektrum RX/TX
9. Trakpower 4900 mah 25C lipo
10. TRF shocks and TC5 17lbs springs

The car so far handles really well on asphalt track in gaithursburg md, my fastest laptime on the track is 16.5 seconds. The average for most drivers seems to be around 17-20 seconds, I intend to further tune the car and post results if I am able to further reduce lap times

It has been a while since I have written but have been busy with work and other projects including setting up HD for video production and setting up and building the Tamiya F104 pro (stay tuned).

I have to say the HPI Sprint 2 RTR is an amazing RTR package, the car is well built and handles well on the track. For a RTR it is hard to find kits that are so competitively priced and can run as well as this chassis, I have really enjoyed doing the brushless conversion and testing the car.

The mamba max system was chosen and used the 5700kv motor for now, the only thing other than the brushless system I used is a Robinson Racing 48p 22t pinion, everything else is bone stock on the car and it runs very well.

I am using Trakpower 2s lipo so had to make some small modifications on the battery tray, such as adding double sided tape to the bottom of the tray without taking the other sticker off. This is to ensure that the thinnner lighter lipo battery stays on the battery tray along with using dremel on the top of the battery mount so I can pass the two positive and negative power cables through.