Circle Track Tech

[Team AMG]

I've been playing with my nephews, getting their basically stock XMODS to hook up better on their short oval RS foam track. With a full charge the cars were running the oval in 2.5 to 2.8 seconds right out of the box. Then 'ol Uncle Pete got ahold of one of them (my favorite nephew) and started tweeking.

I had bought them both suspension upgrade packs, so I put in a little toe in and stiffer springs on the right of the car. I also took their new tire packs and adjusted the stagger (the cars are still RWD only for the moment) and sprayed some MRP commutator cleaner in the engine, ran it to reseat the brushes and put it out on the track. The very first lap was a full tenth faster, fastest lap was a 2.2. More tweeking.

I put in the Stage 1 motor, removed some unnecessary body parts and cleaned the track really well with Simple Green, which left is a little tacky. We let the track dry completely, batteries charge and ran 5 clean laps, the fastest: 1.92 seconds.

With more fresh batteries (man, I'm not going to like my Master card bill) we set up a grudge match, with me driving the still stock car against my 9 year old novice XMOD nephew. In the 10 lap match I lead only one lap, the first. Margin of victory at the end of the race was almost 3/4 of a lap.

Wedge, weight jacking, stagger are all used in real world racing, don't sell them short in 1/28th scale circle track racing. More so than aerodynamics reducing weight, especially weight located from the rear axle and back on RWD cars, counts to seconds on the track. If you're into dedicated oval tracking PM me for more on the set up I'm using on my nephews car.

[viperdout]

I'd suggest that you let your wallet take one last hit, and buy the Rayovac IC3s. They charge in 15 minutes (I love them), amd they improve performance a little. As an added bonus, you will not need to buy batteries for a long time.

[BlackSky909]

but viper isnt rayovac really suck?? and where can u get them? can u use them on the RS charger?

[Team AMG]

I'd suggest that you let your wallet take one last hit, and buy the Rayovac IC3s. They charge in 15 minutes (I love them), amd they improve performance a little. As an added bonus, you will not need to buy batteries for a long time.
Oh yeah, tell me this stuff AFTER I buy a 24 pack of the Ever-readys. Seriously though, I've seen other posts and information about some batteries that are 3.7v each and allow you to reduce your load by half, and losing that much more weight. I've got a lot of rechargables around here, between my transmitter packs for my 1/10th scale PCS radios, if I could switch to AA's instead of AAA's it would be great.

[viperdout]

but viper isnt rayovac really suck?? and where can u get them? can u use them on the RS charger?

The Rs ones suck from what I've heard. I've heard of some that started leaking! I own the Rayovacs, and they rule. I have the AAs in my CD player, and they last a good 8 hours. You can use them on the RS charger, buy they will not charge in 15 minutes unless they're on the IC3 charger. You can get them at Wal-Mart or Circuit City. Radioshack has them also in their own brand name, and I believe they're more expensive.

Edit:

I'd suggest that you let your wallet take one last hit, and buy the Rayovac IC3s. They charge in 15 minutes (I love them), amd they improve performance a little. As an added bonus, you will not need to buy batteries for a long time.
Oh yeah, tell me this stuff AFTER I buy a 24 pack of the Ever-readys. Seriously though, I've seen other posts and information about some batteries that are 3.7v each and allow you to reduce your load by half, and losing that much more weight. I've got a lot of rechargables around here, between my transmitter packs for my 1/10th scale PCS radios, if I could switch to AA's instead of AAA's it would be great.

Those are lithium ions, and as you probably know, you have to make sure they don't drop below 3 volts/cell. I would suggest buying them here. I gather you know how to solder, since you run slot cars. It's pretty simple to install. You have to drill the board for the larger wires and solder them in. I would suggest for your kids that you get them the IC3s, as it'll keep the speed down for them, and you'll be able to win. Aslo, if you decide to do li-ions, you'll need aluminum cup joints, since the stock ones are weak. Also, if you break any other parts, you can order them from RS.

[Team AMG]

I'm lucky enough to have a Home Depot right next to my RS, I have a pretty good soldering gun from there, one of those cordless things that takes 2 seconds to heat up and cool down. Haven't had the chance to use it yet though, that time is coming quickly.

I have to agree about the RS nicads, they charge quick but they also don't hold voltage well in storage. The Evereadys I got were from Home Depot and weren't much more than single use AAA's. I'll have to make a run to Circuit City after the New Year and check out the one's you're recommending.

Thanks for the info, it's helping greatly.

[deerman270]

cool

[Team AMG]

Sunday night at the races, my brand new 'Vette took the kiddies in their RSX's. Here's how it was done:

Track was a smooth, washed concrete tri-oval, totally flat, 95' laps (essentially half mile scale).

Cars were:
#11 Acura RSX, Stage 2 8T motor, AWD, soft rubber tires, stock suspension, RS Nicads.
#61 Acura RSX, Stage 2 9T motor, AWD, foam tires, stock suspension, ball bearings, Ray-O-Vac nicads.
#1 Acura NSX, Stage 1 motor (teeth unknown), AWD, hard tires and yellow springs in rear, soft tires and blue springs in front, ball bearings, nicads unknown. This car and driver were experienced racers, the guy was the manager of a local RS...factory driver.
#3 Chevrolet Corvette RK5, Stage 2 8T motor, 2WD, ball bearings, soft tires on right side, hard tires on left side, Springs were; LR-Red, RR-Yellow, LF-Yellow, RF-Blue. Battery box on left side was all the way to the rear, battery box on right side was in the middle position. Body was modified to reduce weight, no mirrors, no wing.

Race was a 5 lap knock out format, with everyone racing the first lap. One restart was done because of a huge shunt in the third corner in which everyone piled into each other then into the barrier (the NSX started it). On the restart everyone let the NSX go, on the second lap RSX #61 was eliminated. Third lap saw RSX #11 crash out because of a tire coming off the rim, and on the last lap the Vette led the NSX by about 8', less than a half second. At the line the margin of victory for the Vette was about a car length. Post race found that the cells had almost gone dead. The car wouldn't complete a victory lap, the NSX completed another 5 laps before slowing. Nobody clocked the laps but after watching the video we were maybe clicking off 10 second or less laps.

Born is the Fresno area XRL!!! We already have a 10 car field for next week, and we'll be starting our track my February 1st.