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At the track.
steamer:
Spent 4 hours at the RC race track as pit crew for my son yesterday. It was a practice session, but with 30 plus cars on the track at any given time, it gets pretty crazy!......My son did very well, and we are both learning a lot about suspension set up, and repairing damaged car bodies. His car has way too much power for the conditions, and try as we may, we just couldn't get her to "hook up" well...so he had to be very controlled on his launches out of corners or he'd spin out. The clay track is tearing up his tires, and the camber was off on one of the rear wheels, which is what I THINK was causing the car to not behave consistently....I've corrected that....additionally, I spent some money on GOOD tires and rims, and had them mounted. Though he is to use these tires for the track only! ($$$$$$$$) He has the speed on the straights to keep up with just about anyone there though, so as his driving improves...
I had to up the spring rates on the front and rear shocks, He was bottoming out too much, ....and we have some serious repair work to do on the body!.....they take a real beating.
Seems to be all about mastering the suspension and matching the tires to the conditions at hand....it really makes a difference!
Nothing broke, and he had a good day......though I'm beat!
Just so you can get a feel for this, this is a video of a recent national event at the facility we were at on the same track....some of these cars are pushing 50 MPH just before the turn on the front straight....and they stick the turn!.....full independent suspensions with oil shocks, anti-lock brakes...not I'm not kidding....ect
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgUP_6YFI6U
Pretty cool!
Dave
wagnmkr:
That vid brings back many good memories. I played with r/c cars for many years and really enjoyed it. I found that the most important part of the whole thing was to have all the power going to the track. Tires, shocks, even the type of oil in the shocks made a large difference. Big power could be a problem and I found that stock power, with proper set up won most of the races. The big power cars spent a lot of time waiting to get put back on their wheels or the track.
Wait until your son wants to do a 24 hr race with you as part of the crew. I did 3 of them and they are very tiring.
Glad you enjoyed the quality time.
Cheers,
Tom
b.lindsey:
Great video Dave...as you say, those cars really stick to the track too. The spotters didn't have a lot to do it seems though near the end it looked like one car almost flew into the leg of the near spotter...that could hurt!!
Glad you had a good day with your son though. I'm glad I don't need another hobby or I could really get into this...lol.
Bill
steamer:
Bill
That vid is of a recent national race. So the drivers were better than the average bears
The practices are more like a football game on the 1 yard line..... 8)
Dave
I share your observations Tom. There were a lot more highly modified cars there that were no faster than my Son's car. It has all the pwer it needs.
smfr:
Wow they catch some serious air! Fun stuff!
Simon
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