[RC Racing] help.startin out in R/C cars

[knowlesy59]

hello there.i have been thinking about buying a proper radio control car for a while now,but the problem is i havent got a clue.i dont want to race it i just wanna have one for something to do.

if anyone has any answers to these questions i would be mostly appreciated.

1/ what do i really need.i have been searching on the web and i cant really find out the full story i dont think.all i know is u get the chassis,u have the motor,u have a speed regulator(esc i think),and u have the battery and u have the hand contol and the reciever in the car and then another bit..dont i just sound like a complete novice.

2/ how much would it cost about.i am willing to pay but i dont wanna go overboard.

3/ does anyone know of any sites where i can buy this stuff online as i havent really got a good model shop around here.

any advice or anything would be appreciated.

i want to try for a ? TL01/TB01 chassis and electric.i dont fancy nitro or petrol at the mo.

thanks in advance.

[Tony_Simpson]

I used to do some RC driving in the past, so should be able to help a bit

Depends on what you want to do, on road or off road racing. Both cost simular amounts. There is also a choice between 2wd and 4wd. 4wd cars are a bit more expensive. There are lots of other choices as well. Try to find a RC model car magazine, (There are a couple around, where they will help with contact names etc.)

Chassis costs are upwards of £175 for a competative new, respected chassis, although some classes of car are cheaper. you will need at least 2-3 batteries to race for a meeting with ranging from £30 -£50 each. You will need a choice of 2-3 motors, again £30 - £50 each. An Electronic speed controller (ESC), the brains of the car can cost up to £200 each but as a novice you would be doing well with one that cost £50+. For the first time get one that is Forward and Reverse able, great help when you spin. A hand control setup costs around £50 for a basic one, which is all you need to start with, but you can spend silly amounts on this type of stuff. You will then need consumables, like several sets of wheels and tyres for different conditions, a battery charger, etc.

I the car you are after is a Tamiya one (look at the other RC link for more info) and is one of the easier ways of getting in to racing. As I say buy a magazine (RC Model car Magazine is on I can think of)

One good thing to do is go to a track and talk to people who race regularly, and they are more than willing to help out. I know they helped me in the past. Try going to a model shop that sells stuff like cars as they should know where to go racing.

All in all just go and have fun.

[Hobson]

Although Tony's advice is perfectly good, I currently race and I an answer your questions.

1. You need a kit, Radio set, battery and charger, paint (for the shell) and possibly an ESC (Electronic Speed Control). Kits can be bought Either as a kit, or ready to run. radio sets consists of a transmittor, reciever and 1 or 2 servos.

2. You can get a basic kit for £80, radio set for £50, battery and charger for £40, paint for £3.50 a can and an ESC for £50.
Kyosho do a readyset deal with a built car, painted body, radio, ESC, battery and charger for £160.

3. See www.modelsportuk.com or www.apexmodels.com . Both sites are British shops.

[KC]

There is a very big difference between a yard car (one for play) and a race car. The amount of money you can spend is limited only by your ability to spend it.

If you are sure you are not going to race then you don't need expensive batteries and tricked chargers, outrageous race cars with a million adjustments, and expensive radio gear. If you are going to running around in your yard a car for pavement is not going to work very well. I could make recommendations, but if you are in England the budget cars in the US are far to expensive after making it to your shores. One thing that makes your RC car more fun is if you have a friend with one and you can run together.

[Herminator]

These guys seem to have a lot of it covered but if you know what type of car you wanna run it would be a lot easier. £50+ for a ESC seems a bit steep for basic and even club level racing, I use a MSonik Eco 2, which costs around £20 and has a reverse for all those crashes. Three motors? The only reason I bought my second motor was coz my first had some problems with the end coming off in the middle of races. The Tamiya kits are fine for back yard fun but you said you wanted a 'proper' car, something like the HPI sport 2 or Shumacher Axis 2 are fine, as they are £140ish since they are older chassis yet they are good enough for club racing or the RTR TC3 is a pretty good deal. Batteires can be as little as £15 but lack the juice for racing, and as much as £50 b=which I think is just stupid unless you are a pro and race a lot nationaly. I would definetly find a club as racing on your own soon becomes tiresome, and a club will tell you what class of car to get, the cars I mentioned above are 4x4 touring cars.

[knowlesy59]

thanks very much everybody.your help and information helps a lot.my mate is getting a car aswell so we can build them both up at the same time.
the car i want is to go on pavements and roads and over the yard so i think i need an off-road chassis.
the nearest place that i know where people race is wrexham as it held a stage of the tamiya championship thing.and i may have found a model shop where i can buy stuff,it's a shop in the middle of no where that i didnt know about .
A TB01 chassis is what im thinking of,with an astra or evo6 shell.i think ill get every thing that i can on the cheap and then i can upgrade as i learn.

thanks for your help people.i will keep u informed of what i do.

[Maisie]

Wrexham is a great track - I've raced on it several times in national championships. Build yourself a very robust car in case you hit the lamp post in the middle or hurtle through the fence, onto the road and under the wheels of an oncoming Kellogg's truck though

I believe they're also building a state-of-the-art indoor track which should be worth seeing when it's done.

If you want a slightly further trek but a very, very good track, go to our local, which is the Macctrack - check out www.macctrack.co.uk

[Hobson]

A place to look for an off-roader, is www.tamiya.com . It's the company for a beginner, as their kits are so straightforward that a 6 year old can build their cars!

[Griffin]

You sound like your at the same stage as me Knowlesy 59 (your from tocatour too, right?). I want a Tamiya, probably TB01 to play as a hobby instead of serious racing. I can recommend the modelsportuk website, if you log on there, they'll send you a free fact sheet with all models and prices etc.

As I'm thinking of getting the evo TB01 car, I wondered what could be the maximum surface you could run it on and it still would work ok. I.e. could you use it on a gentle dirt track course with a few small jumps or is that strictly for propper off road buggies. Again, i'm a beginner at this so any help would be great, cheers.

[Herminator]

A gentle dirt track sounds the perfoect place to race, it would only have a problem with large gravel, rocky ground and long grass. There are many types of offroaders though, from big monster trucks to the buggies.

[Griffin]

Nice one, i've got some ground where I could make a dirt track and maybe put a few jumps in, just to make it even more rally realistic!

[FastJoel31]

Originally posted by Maisie
Wrexham is a great track - I've raced on it several times in national championships. Build yourself a very robust car in case you hit the lamp post in the middle or hurtle through the fence, onto the road and under the wheels of an oncoming Kellogg's truck though

Did that actually happen?

[Hobson]

Griffin, DON'T TAKE A TBO-1 EVO OFF ROAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A TB-01 is one of the most expensive Tamiyas out there and sending it through dirt and mud would be a colossal waste of money as the Evo version isn't designed to go off road at all.

[Maisie]

I've never actually seen an RC car flattened by a Kellogg's truck, but I have seen them hurtle through and over the fence at Wrexham, and the Kellogg's factory is only just up the road, so if you hurtle far enough (the tack is about 10 yards from the road, and uphill from it), it could just happen

[Griffin]

Originally posted by Hobson
Griffin, DON'T TAKE A TBO-1 EVO OFF ROAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A TB-01 is one of the most expensive Tamiyas out there and sending it through dirt and mud would be a colossal waste of money as the Evo version isn't designed to go off road at all.

Got any ideas what would cope then, and not cost the earth?

[FastJoel31]

I have an HPI RS4 Pro 2 on-road car, and its great (I think). Its about time to clean it back up...

[Hobson]

I am going to advise a Kyosho Readyset, as one af these comes with a prebuilt chassis, painted and part trimmed body, battery and charger and complete radio set. Not sure about the price, but it is less than £170.

Look at the Modelsport link I posted earlier.

[Griffin]

Originally posted by Hobson
I am going to advise a Kyosho Readyset, as one af these comes with a prebuilt chassis, painted and part trimmed body, battery and charger and complete radio set. Not sure about the price, but it is less than £170.

Look at the Modelsport link I posted earlier.

That would be ok off road then, on a sort of dirt track?

[Griffin]

Just been on Modelsports site and that Kyosho Pure Ten rally looks really good, don't know why I didn't look at that before. If that does work on dirt etc ok, then it may be the one. I just got A few questions about it:
1)What size is the bodyshell? (they dont say)
2)Are they more of a competitive car and easier to upgrade than a Tamiya (i.e. Tamiyas hop ups etc), just in case I got really hooked! I would like to get some extra wheels and maybe bodies so thats why, make it look really realistic.
3)The controller with it is like the scalextric trigger ones with a little wheel, are they easy to use as I've only used the old style ones before.
And finally...
4)Would you be able to reduce the suspension height incase I wanted to use it like a touring car rather than rally.

Thanks for your help everyone

[Herminator]

There seems to be difficulty in getting parts for Tamiya kits, I know guys with Tamiya cars and they say it takes months to get anything. I'm not sure if the same is true for Kyosho cars but I've heard it may be. The pure ten is tenth scale so any 190 or 200 mm shell should fit it.

[Griffin]

The Kyoshos electric Alpha Rally car width is 198mm. Would this mean If you wanted to have a new body for it, you would need to have a 200mm Nitro body or would a 190mm electric body fit ok?

[Herminator]

A 190 body would fit but you may have to trim the wheel arches a little larger than marked out. a lot of 190mm cars can have spacers added to the wheels and slimmer hex nuts used so that 200mm bodies look right.

[Griffin]

I've been thinking about this rc kyosho. The electric is now £185 on modelsport and the nitro one is £219. As I'm a beginner at this but have used a basic elec rc before, would you say its better to choose the elec one or even for a beginner, £24 extra for nitro is worth it?

Am I right in thinking that 7.2V Nicad batteries last around 10 - 15 minutes, and with a trickle charge they take around 14 hours? So, would it work out cheaper to run a nitro car, and if so, how long does a tank of nitro last. The kyosho engine is a GX 12, if that helps.

[KC]

If you are using any of the modern NiCAD or MiMh batteries you should not be trickle charging them at all. Always use a peak detecting charger. There are many budget minded peak detecting chargers on the market. It should take between 25 and 35 minutes to charge a battery. I personally charge all my NiCADs at 5.0 amps and peak them one time right before they go into the car to assure a good high voltage. Trickle charging is great for longevity as it increases the internal resistance of the cells but will kill the voltage and lower your overall horsepower. If you have any of the new NiMH cells I think they recommend them being charged at 3.5 amps.

The biggest problem I have seen with Nitro cars versus electric cars is the added dimension of tuning the motor. I have raced and owned both. Electric cars are easy compared because the electronics generally work or don't work. Nitro motors can be finicky and difficult to get tuned up, while this is going on you don't have time to tune the suspension to get the rest of the car to work either. I know a lot of racers who quit altogether because they could never get the chassis and the engine in tune at the same time. They also get turned off by how filthy they will get. The castor oil in the nitromethane fuel will get all over everything, your clothes included and attract dirt, debris, and ather assorted gunk. They are however a balst to race or drive when everything is right.