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bill_delong

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Location
Austin, TX
RC Driving Style
  1. Racing
While probably not as important for a basher, it is essential for a club racer to perform regular maintenance to keep their cars in tip top shape. I keep a race log, with a different worksheet for each chassis to include columns for: Date, Hot Lap, Hot Qual, Hot Main, Hot Consistency, and Notes

In my notes I will record every rebuild where I like to go no more than 3 race days between rebuilds (approximately 3 hours of total run time), I also note when I replace tires, break a part, or any tuning changes that improve my lap times/consistency for a given track condition that may have changed.

I color highlight my track records for a given layout, this allows me to "race myself" so if I don't make the podium but beat a PR, then it's still a rewarding experience. I will reset my PR's every time there is a new layout.

A typical rebuild consists of a complete tear down by removing every single bearing, prying the rubber seals with a hobby knife and flushing dirty bearings with WD40 Dry Lube, then re-pack with fresh grease and snap the seals back after wiping them clean with a terry cloth; bearings that show clean grease do not need to be flushed, I use white lithium grease and wait for the grease to turn black before they are flushed. I apply fresh grease on all rubber seals in the diffs and shocks as well as apply fresh fluid. If shock fluid is still clear, I won't dump it, but once it turns into a milky grey then it's time to rebuild the shock. If your diff fluid is going past milky grey and turning brown or black, then you are not servicing your diffs soon enough, dark fluid is dirt that will cause your parts to wear faster. Check mesh and replace any pins that are starting to form flat spots. Then I will go over the entire car with a fine tooth comb inspecting for hairline cracks or any worn parts that need to be replaced. Finally, I double check all my setup settings on a setup board.
Sample Race Log snippet for a given layout with PR's in Yellow and Broken PR in Orange, all PR's are reset when track layout changes, goal is to set a new PR each race day to show improvement:
1674055216819.png



Note how my overall finish order is not tracked but my Stack Rank is what I record for my PR, this encourages me to run in more popular classes where it's more important to see how many people I beat rather than what position I finish... sure I could pick a less popular class and come in 1st place every time, but that won't make me a better driver ;)
 
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Our local track did an intro to racing clinic. I wanted to learn more about set-up and general maintenance. My son wanted to get some driving tips. We both learned a lot.
The big takeaway from one of the sponsored drivers, who was a big part of the clinic was having a consistent setup and checking to make sure the car is always the same. Then the big variable is the driver.
 
Our local track did an intro to racing clinic. I wanted to learn more about set-up and general maintenance. My son wanted to get some driving tips. We both learned a lot.
The big takeaway from one of the sponsored drivers, who was a big part of the clinic was having a consistent setup and checking to make sure the car is always the same. Then the big variable is the driver.

Yup, there are many sportsman level drivers in my area who will likely remain sportsman indefinitely because they refuse to do maintenance nor put any effort into tuning.

I was guilty myself the first 5 years I was into club racing... I pretty much ran box stock setup and waited for something to break or would buy a new car rather than doing a rebuild, ha!

The past 8+ years I've been taking things more seriously and have grown to appreciate the importance of both maintenance and proper tuning :)

I use the Hudy cheat sheet here for 90% of my adjustments:

11863849713_05b0b227e8_b.jpg
 
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Yup, there are many sportsman level drivers in my area who will likely remain sportsman indefinitely because they refuse to do maintenance nor put any effort into tuning.

I was guilty myself the first 5 years I was in the hobby... I pretty much ran box stock setup and waited for something to break or would buy a new car rather than doing a rebuild, ha!

The past 8+ years I've been taking things more seriously and have grown to appreciate the importance of both maintenance and proper tuning :)

I use the Hudy cheat sheet here for 90% of my adjustments:

11863849713_05b0b227e8_b.jpg
Like many things you get out what you put in….
I understand the value of maintenance, and I want to keep the car in good shape so my son can have that consistency, and keep improving. We’re looking to do some Tuesday night club races this summer, when we can be more flexible on his bed time.
I will print off the chart to keep as a reference. Good stuff

Thanks
 
much appreciated,

Here's another resource which does an excellent job of explaining what each tuning option does to help compliment the chart above:
https://www.teknorc.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Set_Up_Guide.pdf

Note that the Hudy chart was designed for on-road racing and misses some key tuning features that are fairly important for off-road tuning where the TEKNO guide helps fill in the gaps.
 
Gotcha. We are still running the kit setup, but I’m looking to make some small tweaks as he tends to keep the hammer down into the corners. Having said that they just put down fresh carpet, and I’ve mounted new tires, so he’s gonna need to ease up so the car doesn’t high side….
 
Hey @bill_delong - this Tekno Set Up Guide PDF that you linked is fantastic. Thank you.

Kinda wish there was something out there like this that put the information into the context of carpet - but I can connect the dots (and will be able to do so even more as I learn more about this stuff).
 
Hey @bill_delong - this Tekno Set Up Guide PDF that you linked is fantastic. Thank you.

Kinda wish there was something out there like this that put the information into the context of carpet - but I can connect the dots (and will be able to do so even more as I learn more about this stuff).

Glad to hear you found this resource, lots of good info in there, and generally carpet isn't much different, there happens to be more off-road tuning options than on-road so the on-road chart above is kinda lacking. Carpet setups use harder compound tires and spools for stock classes where the TEKNO guide is for 1/8 cars and the smaller 1/10 cars don't have quite as many tuning options in general.
 
@bill_delong - quick question - what's a "spool"?

Kind of surprising that on-road has fewer tuning options - but I suppose that jumping adds an additional dimension (literally) to racing.
 
A spool is a "locked diff" this is used to significantly reduce weight by not having any gears, most on-road cars typically have a Front/Center spool and rear gear diff.

In 1/10 off-road (for stock racing) the 2WD's will use a slipper eliminator which is a variation of a spool but not the same thing because there is still a rear gear diff, or on some dirt tracks folks will run a ball diff. 4WD's often have a center slipper or fully locked spool to shave weight. 1/10 Mod classes will run traditional diffs because the extra power needs that tunability to make the cars drivable. Stock motors are so slow that many drivers are willing to sacrifice a slightly more difficult to drive car with the benefit of going slightly faster.
 
Appreciate the explanation! I'm already running a slipper eliminator; do some people run straight-up spools in 2wd carpet 1/10 offroad?

Follow-up question: do some people run ultra-high-weight diff fluid for carpet to approximate a spool? I've heard of people talking about running 500k in a gear diff.

Follow-up to the follow-up (sorry): will heavier diff fluid give the car more steering? I built a B6.4 and ran it with straight kit settings (5k) and I felt like it wasn't turning in very well. On my second day of practice, I tweaked the chassis and decided to switch to an Exotek CB6.4 chassis. During the rebuild, I switched to 20k. The car turns like magic now, but I'm not sure if it's from the chassis, the diff fluid, or both. (If it matters, I'm still running the battery horizontally instead of vertically; I'll try the vertical layout eventually, but I need to rewire everything first to fit the pan layout.)
 
I've never heard of anyone running a rear spool on anything other than a rock crawler.

The highest diff fluid I've heard of guys running locally on their rear diffs has been as much as 20K, I have seen guys put 500K in their Spec Slash, but that's only because they are not sealed diffs and the fluid tends to stay longer as a desperate measure.

From the Hudy tuning guide:

1696096684985.png
 
there is also a oval tuning guide called murfdog oval tuning ... I don't have the link on hand ... but he goes into good details on alot of this as well .... and seeing as most of the lower classes ( up to purpose built oval cars) are mostly 2wd buggy based ... this would also help to understand the characteristics of cornering and carrying speed through corners
 
You know what I like to hit walls and I always will bounce back 😝
 
A spool is a "locked diff" this is used to significantly reduce weight by not having any gears, most on-road cars typically have a Front/Center spool and rear gear diff.

In 1/10 off-road (for stock racing) the 2WD's will use a slipper eliminator which is a variation of a spool but not the same thing because there is still a rear gear diff, or on some dirt tracks folks will run a ball diff. 4WD's often have a center slipper or fully locked spool to shave weight. 1/10 Mod classes will run traditional diffs because the extra power needs that tunability to make the cars drivable. Stock motors are so slow that many drivers are willing to sacrifice a slightly more difficult to drive car with the benefit of going slightly faster.
A spool is completely locked in if you want slip you can get a limited slip. Or lockers air and yes nice to lock ur gears in and out. Spool is for racing strip or if you Spool it on crawler. They have full spools and mini spools. Just saying from racing aspect.
 
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