First track day with the buggy (practice) B74.1D

[DavidB1126]

First track day with the buggy yesterday was great. Getting more used to the new track and car. Getting better at controlling the car in the air. Next time I go down to the track I will be racing. So now to tuning. The car felt great. I am running stock 13.5. Most racers there at my track do run mod. But I seen some stock. The car slides around some corners so I got some traction compound sauce which I will try and that should help. If not I'll probably get some slicks (JCon smoothie tires) The diffs and shocks feel good. Servo is fast enough. I am using my RadioLink radio and feels good just for practice. The bad thing about the radio is I am trying to find a 2 or 3s lipo since I am still using 6 AAs and they only last about 4 bash days. Not sure about race days. I only went through 1 battery pack yesterday but I had 2 fully charged just in case if I wanted to race but I didn't. Now here comes the real part. Gearing. Right now I am using the kit 78t spur and a protek 20t pinion. After about 13 or so laps I got off the track and motor wasn't even hot at all. Well luke warm and I could kept my finger on the motor so temps are all fine. Also I went calm on the car. Only went full throttle on the straight about 2 times. I think I got plenty of room to gear up. When my uncle ran 13.5 on carpet he used a 26t Rob racing pinion. Here is my collection. 23, and 2 28t pinions. All of them are Traxxas harden steel pinions from my bashers. I am thinking about going to the 23 and seeing how that is. If it is good than I will probably gear all the way up to the 28. (I will still keep an eye on motor temps) What to you all think? @Iowa crawler @Bogda89 @pl9171

Other than the gearing all that I have to dial in is camber and ride height.

Racing on indoor clay

So far the car isn't really dirty yet. Probably will do a rebuild after about 3 races or so.

 

[Bogda89]

Awesome. You can ask other more experienced racers what tire works the best at the local track, it looks like slicks might work the best. In my opinion traction compound is a must for clay. I use to run on clay 2019 and I was washing the tires with simple green couple hours before race, that really softens them and at the track apply traction compound. You can gear up to 23 but I would not go higher faster car doesn't always mean faster lap.

Remember, consistency is key. I started racing couple months ago after 3 year break. In my opinion first you should practice to drive as clean as possible, no mistakes. Second step is to practice to drive on the race line. Watch fastest guys what line they use, even if you don't drive agressive but you use the best line and don't crash, you will be relatively fast. Third step is to try to push it a little bit faster, more agressive on throttle, brake, faster corner speed. Obviously when you try to push it a Over your comfort zone you will be making more mistakes, but that's one way to improve skills, but remember, that's a third step.

This video is a clear example. My car had 22t pinion and it was dog slow, now I run 26t. I was driving slow steady and clean. A lot of other drivers were way faster than me but everyone kept crashing. Started last, got to the first place after minute and a half, and I was leading until the last lap, but even second place gave me a bump spot from cmain to bmain. The trickiest part was triple jump on the left. Faster guys would take single, double. I didn't feel comfortable that I would land every time so I was going single single single. White buggy, Marko Bogdanovic.

 

[Iowa crawler]

Personally I like taller gearing. Better acceleration out of the corner rather than top speed . But it depends on so many thing. Practice and tuning are key.

 

[bill_delong]

I don't run AE, but generally most folks in stock will go with a smaller spur in 69T to 72T range for stock gearing, and the pinion will vary greatly depending on the motor where Tekin likes 23-25T pinions and Trinity likes 26-28T pinions.

Talk to the locals about tire break in... if your tires are brand new and haven't seen any sauce yet then that could be your snap oversteer issue. Generally, the car should be drifting if tire grip is off pace.

I would add a couple mm of ride height on the rear to see if that helps balance the car, but without seeing your setup sheet it will be hard to tell what other changes to try... maybe go with a smaller sway bar on the rear, or possibly remove the rear sway bar completely if necessary to get your car balanced out.

Good Luck!

 

[DavidB1126]

I don't run AE, but generally most folks in stock will go with a smaller spur in 69T to 72T range for stock gearing, and the pinion will vary greatly depending on the motor where Tekin likes 23-25T pinions and Trinity likes 26-28T pinions.

Talk to the locals about tire break in... if your tires are brand new and haven't seen any sauce yet then that could be your snap oversteer issue. Generally, the car should be drifting if tire grip is off pace.

The kit came with a optional 72t spur so I might try that out. Earlier today I put in the 23t pinion I had. Also got the gear mesh set so it's not too tight now. My tires have 2 practice days on it so not brand new but still new. I had a 15 dollar off amain rewards thing. I got this Protek tire compound. Looks like a spray and I guess you would have to spray it on the tire or spray it on a brush. I think it was medium for indoor clay conditions.

 

[DavidB1126]

Here is the same track just a different guy. Just a video. He runs smooth and consistent laps. Looks like a 2wd buggy and switched to 4wd sometimes.

Also determined that they do alot of mod racing so I will see if I can run stock In a mod class. If not ill get a mod motor. But i dont see why there shouldn't be any reason on why I can't run stock in a mod class.
If I do mod than I'm looking into 6.5turn since it is basically in the middle. Also wanted to do stock since I know other places don't do mod and only does stock.

 

[WickedFog]

Looks like a lot of fun. So jealous.