PraetoR

I only just went and won my first ever A Final!! (Ignore the date. It's wrong). Yeah, I didn't have the fastest lap, nor the fastest ten-lap average... but they crashed and I didn't! As a result, I've beaten Steve to 2nd in the Championship... By a solitary point! Absolutely over the moon. It's a shame this club doesn't actually celebrate, or do any fanfare for the Championship. My old club would have had a trophy night. Ah, well. Incidentally, going in, I thought the pressure was on Steve. I was one point ahead. I thought he HAD to beat me. Turns out, his lowest points score was a 90 and mine was a 92, so he automatically gained two points on me if we both beat our lowest scores (due to the drop-score system). This meant, if we finished next to each other, then I had to beat him both in qualifying for the Final (which I did) AND beat him in the Final! Otherwise, he would have won. I'm glad I didn't know that. Pretty sure I would have folded!

That and the colour red... ah, dammit!

Thanks, man!

Wanted to show off Sharkfat's latest work. It's a Bittydesign Agata (clearly based on a Lamborghini Huracan), on my Schumacher Atom 2 GT12 car.

Sharkfat does it again! So, this is my new Bittydesign Agata (to replace the red one that got smashed). Hopefully, this lasts longer!! Tomorrow evening (Friday 10th) is the last race meeting of the Winter Championship. I told you the cream would rise to the top... a guy who is an ex-HPI Team Driver has taken the lead in the championship. His average points score is probably around 99.5 out of 100. We can't catch him. I'm now second... one point ahead of Steve! It all comes down to tomorrow night!

Yeah, pretty sure that's the case. These are the same shocks and springs I used to run on the Komodo and they worked well. There will be a lot of fettling required!

IT LIIIIIIIIVES!! OK, the electronics need mounting, the servo arm needs attached, the battery needs repositioned, the suspension needs altered and the chassis needs to be attached to the Winnebago, but... IT LIIIIIIIIVES!! 20230203_132306[1].mp4

I'll take 5!!!

That looks very nice! However, I have to wonder how well the trailing arms can pivot. The front mount looks like it just rotates around the screw and doesn't allow the arm to pivot, unless it's just relying on the arm itself to twist. I'm just guessing (and we haven't seen the rear trailing arm mounts), but that would be a very Tamiya thing to do! Interested in learning more.

Ha! Sounds very familiar! Just FYI, if you do decide to dip your toe into GT12, the Atom 3 has already been announced as is on the way. However, it's a VERY marginal (read "disappointing") upgrade to the Atom 2. So, if you want a good car at a lower price point, there will be plenty of Atom 2s flooding the market. However, the new Zen seems a bit better than both!

Made some more progress on the Winnebago. Basically, a big order from Boom Racing. First of all, I managed to get the rear knuckle weights clamped onto the rear axle. You have to give it some major yeehaw... so much so, that it cost me a hex driver (pictured). I'm a fan of Boom Racing products, but this design is not great. Nevertheless, it's done. Converted the BRX90 Phat Axle into the BRX80 Phat Axle, using the conversion kit. This was an expensive solution! I wish the BRX80s were available when I started. This has left my servo arm too long. I'll have to make changes. Ordered the black diff covers, which are a MASSIVE improvement! If I was in-charge of Boom Racing, the black covers would be standard and the red ones optional. I'd put money on more people preferring the black! Ordered the Boom Racing Gekko all-terrain tyres. These are beautiful! Lovely, soft compound. Seem super sticky. Great-looking tread, too. Also, at just 97mm OD, they are marginally smaller than the Gmade MT1901 tyres, which I was planning on using. Combined with the Boom Racing beadlocks, they have the exact sort of "offroad truck with steel wheels" look, I was going for. Boom Racing "BADASS" (the actual name) Heavy Duty steel centre driveshafts. MUCH nicer than the generic driveshafts I had in-stock! The rear was very marginal on length, but it has just enough clearance, that the rear suspension can fully compress. I was worried about the front (from the very beginning of this build), because the original Gmade GA44 front axle had an off-centre pumpkin, which is why the front gearbox output is to one side. With the Gmade axle, the front-centre driveshaft is straight. I wasn't sure having a centralised pumpkin, driven off an off-centre gearbox, would work. I know Universal Joints will allow a driveshaft to turn at a different angle to them, without binding. That's the whole point. However, I was worried that asking the UJs to be at a constantly-changing different height and angle, simultaneously, would cause issues. I needn't have worried. The angles are not at all extreme. It works smoothly, with zero binding. The Winnebago sits a little lower, with the smaller tyres. Ground clearance should still be fine, as the Phat axles have small diff pumpkins. In-fact, these axles with 97mm tyres have more clearance than my HPI Venture axles with 105mm tyres (thank God, because my Venture's ground clearance is shocking!). They look the part. Very happy with the Gekkos. Slightly misleading angle, as the front of the Winnebago is closer to the camera than the tyres; even still, you can see that's a much closer track-width. The BRX80 axles were the right choice. Oh, yeah! That's better! The 97mm Gekko tyres are the perfect fit into these wheel arches. This is exactly what I wanted! Gmade parts and electronics en route, as well. Looking forward to making some big progress. I've got a 40kg servo. It looks and feels nice, but it's an Amazon special... so it's probably only about 15kg! We'll wait and see.

Love the Martini Komodo! What rock sliders are those?

Cheers!

Aaaaaand I've just spent a tonne of money! 😩 But I guess it's OK, I'm getting a wage rise. Many interesting things enroute! Thanks. I'm hoping to do the concept justice. That's certainly a good idea. I did consider it; the wheels I'm using can be reversed, but it only reduces it by 2mm and ruins the look. I need more than that. It's OK, though... I've found the solution! Thanks for the link. I'm still working things out for the front suspension (I know what I'm doing with the rears). Thank you. Hopefully, it doesn't disappoint!

Thanks, man!

'lo all. Inspired by @walkbythesea's HPI Venture Tonka Winnebago project, I wanted to do my own. I got this for Christmas 2021 and have been sort of picking away at it, throughout 2022. I've been craving a build, so now is the time to properly tackle it! My aim is to have a reasonably capable trail truck and I'll be spending as much time and effort on the interior as I am on the mechanicals. I want it to look DISGUSTINGLY '70s! Anyway, I don't have any pictures of the Winnebago, intact... so, instead, here is a video I made a long time ago (you don't have to watch this): Since then, I've decided to use my old Gmade GS02 Komodo chassis as the basis for this project. First thing I did was try to address the track width, as a standard trail truck is too wide for the Winnebago. Certainly, if you want the wheels and tyres to tuck into the arches, which I do. Secondly, I needed something heavy, as the Winnebago is made from steel and is a hefty girl! A smaller RC, such as the FTX Outback is fine, size-wise, but is very flimsy and very light. The donor chassis must be strong. Hence, the GS02. Anyway, the Gmade axles are too large, so I decided on the Boom Racing BRX90 Phat Axles. These are fully metal, so are fairly heavy. They are also well machined and plenty strong. I figured the BRX90s would be ideal, width-wise, as I reckon the BRX70s are a little too narrow. I also bought Boom Racing knuckle weights, front and rear, plus additional weights to bolt onto the front knuckle weights, further increasing weight (and forward bias). The front end took a bit of trial and error to get the panhard bar, shocks and front links sitting right. The GS02 uses counter-rotating driveshafts, to reduce torque twist. As standard, this causes the front BRX90 axle to spin backwards. Luckily, Boom Racing sell mirrored bevel gears, for just this reason. An increased wheelbase of around 330mm is needed, but I decided to keep the front links at standard length, only increasing the rear. Means I don't have to muck around with steering geometry, etc. Also, I already had nice, heavy, front stainless steel Gmade links. I made longer rear links, using m3 threaded rod, sleeved through aluminium tubes with 3mm inner diameter. The resulting links are much stronger than I expected. In-fact, I'm really pleased how they've come out! They are perfectly matched, left-to-right, and the axle is absolutely dead straight. I had to move the rear shock hoops back, by two holes. It looks good. Happy with how they are sitting. Front knuckle weights, with extra weight bolted onto them. Pretty serious stuff. They JUST clear the wheels! Good thing I'm also using Boom Racing wheels. Very pleased to discover I had some stainless steel driveshafts, just sitting in one of my spares' boxes. They turned out to be just the right length! However, here is bad news part 1: The front one has the little pin with e-clip missing, so I can't connect the universal joint! I've hunted. For some reason, I don't have it. This is a real shame, because I could have had a completed rolling chassis. Bad news part 2: The rear knuckle weights are supposed to fit these axles. They don't. You have to screw four grub screws in through the weight and into a locking ring, which squeezes the locking ring (bottom of the picture) onto the axle. This doesn't work. I've tightened them as much as they'll go (to the point that the grubs screws strip) and the weights still slide on and off the axle, with no resistance. They aren't even close! I wonder if they've sent me the (very similar looking, but non-compatible) BRX70 rear knuckle weights. Anyway, I've emailed Boom Racing. We'll see what happens. In the meantime, I've continued without the rear weights. The wheels are PERFECT! Love them! The Gmade MT1903 tyres are too big, but I already knew that. These are just for testing, as they're all I had. They are ~110mm high. I expected to buy some Gmade MT1901 tyres (as seen on my HPI Venture), which are 105mm (and have an awesome tread pattern), but even these may be too big, looking at the Winnebago arches; bearing in mind, I'm trying to get the wheels and tyres to tuck under the arches. Boom Racing do some nice looking 97mm tyres, for a very reasonable price. Hmmmm... Black diff covers will need to be ordered! Can't be doing with the bright red! This photo shows off the extended wheelbase. Drilled-out the six spotwelds that held on the Winnebago axles. Sits too high. It's sitting on the shock hoops. This needs addressed, but I really want to keep the interior intact, so I'll have to figure something out. Perhaps home-made, shorter shock hoops and shorter shocks (or cantilever suspension)? Thinking to be done. The motor and mount will need to come through the floor, but that's OK, because they'll be under the table! Speaking off shocks; I'm very impressed that the Gmade units managed to put up with the weight of the winnebago, even when I threw the roof parts and interior back inside it. I expected them to instantly compress, but they don't. It actually floats pretty well! Stronger oil will be needed, though. As stated previously; the tyres are too large. If the body sat down on the side plates, I reckon that would be pretty spot-on. Yuck! Red diff cover! Also, since I bought the BRX90 axles, Boom Racing have released the BRX80 axles, which are 14mm narrower. This is annoying, as the BRX90 axles appear to be approximately 14mm too wide!! If the BRX80 axles were out at the time, I would have bought them. Actually, I'm considering buying them, although they are pretty expensive and the similarly-expensive BRX90s are brand new, unused! Yeeeaaahhhh... 7mm either side... that would be pretty much perfect. Should I? Shouldn't I? Anyway, this is where I'm up to, Thanks for reading. Any advice would be greatly appreciated and sorry for my crappy phone pictures... my phone was the base model... back in 2015! Cheers!

I bet it takes some pretty crazy terrain to get that thing stuck! The truck, not the bass guitar...

OK, so this isn't going to last, because of the drop-score system. The top guys will rise to the top. But, in the meantime... Waaaaaaaahhhh!!!

I just got into No Man's Sky. I know it launched poorly, so never looked at it. Since buying it in December, it's basically all I've played. It's the closest I've ever experienced to my "dream" game, where I can travel the stars, explore strange alien worlds and have complete freedom to be the master of my own destiny. NM'S isn't quite that game, but it's not far off! MASSIVELY looking forward to Tears of the Kingdom (BOTW 2), though!

Yeah, I get you. I definitely miss the tweakability of the touring cars. GT12 just doesn't have that same scope of adjustment. Man, I love touring cars! I saw that. You seem to be doing really well and (more importantly) having a lot of fun. I honestly think the whole "latest and greatest" thing is a little overrated. A good driver with an old TC is going to be faster than a not-so-good driver with a new TC. Touring cars were amazing 20 years ago. They are better now, but not by a huge amount. Not like showing up with a 20 year old Mardave and trying to compete vs modern GT12 cars! That would be a bloodbath!

The GT3C certainly has enough functions for you to start racing. My Futaba T2HR system doesn't have dual-rate adjustment and I've never really felt it has held me back. I can still adjust the amount of steering, just not left/right, independently. As for response... I mean... is there a delay? If there is, don't use it. If there isn't, then go ahead! I'm sure that there are top radio systems that, on paper, have faster response times. However, if yours is already so fast that you cannot perceive any delay (very likely the response time is considerable quicker than human reaction speed), then what's the benefit of spending more money? ESPECIALLY if you're running TT-01 trucks. Surely that's meant to be a fun class?

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, it's good to steadily begin to understand the technical side of the little GT12 cars. How did you get on? Have you written up anything? I'm so envious of you, being able to run touring cars! EDIT: Just saw your write-up on various race meets and classes. Good stuff! Thank you, much appreciated! It certainly did... it doesn't now! Cheers, at least I have a new goal... beat Steve! Thank you and thanks for prompting me to update this, I have been meaning to. Definitely do it! You'll have a great time and it's really nice to meet like-minded RC enthusiasts. Honestly, I'm loving GT12, but I'd recommend the TT-01 trucks. It's not just cheaper, it's much cheaper! I think my GT12 has probably cost me £600+, not including wheels/tyres and additive. I imagine the TT-01 truck rules keep upgrades minimal and costs low. Plus, they'll survive crashes much better. If my club ran TT-01 trucks, I'd run a TT-01 truck!

Hello @bertberr and all. I was planning on keeping this up-to-date, but I'm rubbish! Anyway, a lot has happened since March. I started to make progress up the "rankings", so to speak. The championship didn't start until much later in the year, so most of the meetings were not for points. However, the computer allocates you in the appropriate heats, depending on your skill-level-score (out of 100). As a result, I started finding myself regularly put in the top half of the C heats (if it was busy), or the bottom of the B heats. I managed to get the Sky RC motor in a good place, with regards to timing and gearing. It was running pretty well and would finish a race consistently around 49 degrees celsius, without a fan. It was also reasonable on acceleration and top-end. Although, "reasonable" was as far as it was ever going to get. It was underpowered, especially in the B heats and finals. Some people would slightly pull away, some would utterly leave it for dead. It was the slowest down the straights, but almost as quick as the next slowest. I needed more power! I was leaving a lot of time on the table, compared to my rivals. Almost all of the top guys used the Hobbywing G3R motor (most have now moved to the newer G4), which was 3600Kv, vs my Sky RC's 3050Kv. Plus, the Hobbywing had bags of torque. This was the motor everyone recommended, However, I'm a bit of a Trinity fan-boy. I've raced brushed Trinity motors in touring cars. They were the dog's dangles! I have 7 RC trophies... they have all been earned with Trinity power. However, everyone said not to go for the Trinity (The Revtech X-Factor, for those interested), because it's very revvy, with little torque and it runs hot. This motor is much more suited to the 730g LMP12 cars, not the 950g GT12 cars. Despite this: OK, let me explain: I really wanted to continue running Trinity, as I have such good memories associated with their motors. Plus... BIG PLUS... everyone else runs Hobbywing. Doing what everyone else does is boring! Variety is the spice of life, and all that! What sealed the deal was this: people said the Revtech is extremely fast, but very revvy, with low torque. Well, back in my touring car days, the Trinity Revenge of the Monster Pro was also extremely fast, very revvy and with low torque. But, geared correctly, it was easily the best and fastest 27t stock motor on the market! Touring cars are heavier than GT12s, with more rolling resistance... why wouldn't this work twice?? I fitted it on the 26th of April, with the racing being held on the 29th. So, I was running a very high-revving and hot motor (with a very unattractive, anodised-blue end-cap and I CANNOT STAND the name "X-Factor!! It reminds me of that stupid TV show!!), that no-one else ran. It was going to be interesting... And it was! It was MUCH faster! However, it wasn't quite a rocket-ship... yet. I was running it with the stock timing, the same gearing as my Sky RC motor and with no fan. It came of the track at 90 degrees celsius!! The club secretary explained that these things are way over-timed, out of the box (for some reason), so we backed the timing off a bit. I also geared it down. It was quick! And it was getting better, as it bedded-in and I started to understand the timing and gearing. Truth be told, it was too fast for me. I didn't yet have the ability to drive such a monster, although that would come. I finished 3rd in the B Final, on my first night with the Trinity. The next week, I had geared it down some more and had a fan fitted. Now, the Trinity comes off the track around 55-60 degrees after a race, which is perfectly acceptable (although, considerably warmer than the Sky RC motor, with no fan!). More importantly, I won my first B Final and I had the fastest lap! I was LOVING this car and motor! It continued that way, for a few months. With me competing for (and sometimes achieving) the top spot in the B Final. Unfortunately, it all unravelled, for a little while. People were telling me that my (albeit, very nice looking) Porsche 911 body shell was holding me back. Shells based on real cars don't have real racing R&D put into them. They don't produce anywhere near the downforce of the "racing body shells". I ignored it, for a while, but I wasn't making the next step to achieve a proper A Final appearance (save for nights where the top guys race their LMP12s and not their GT12s... those nights don't count). So, I decided to get a new body shell. Again, something that no-one else was using, because being the same is dull. This is a BittyDesign Agata. Let's be honest... it's a Lamborghini. I think it looks fantastic. This shell is supposed to offer plenty of steering and downforce, but without affecting your set-up (whereas some shift the bias forward, or back). It was looking great and I was very much looking forward to trying it. Incidentally, this was also when I started to run 2x sets of tyres, each evening (like the top guys do). Swapping back-and-forth, between heats. The reason being; I was using up a full set every 2 or 3 weeks!! This is because the tyre additive softens the foam and gives it lots of grip, but if you don't allow the tyres to have a break, they wear exponentially more, with each run. Swapping to 2x the tyres gives about 4x the lifespan. Anyway, my car was looking great. BUT IT WAS AWFUL!! I'd be fine-ish (but far from good) for a couple of minutes, then I'd all of a sudden "hit a cliff" and the car would be sliding all over the place, constantly trying to swap ends. It felt like someone would spontaneously swap my tyres for those horrible, plastic "drift tyres" that cheap drift RCs come with... with added grease, to boot! I couldn't work it out! Over the next couple of race meetings, some of the experts tried to help, but they were just as stumped. Going less aggressive with the set-up didn't help. Someone lending me a different body shell didn't help. They were convinced I'd tweaked the chassis, as it couldn't ever track straight. They advised I buy and fit the less-tweakable carbon chassis and try a different, more forgiving, body shell: The Phat Bodies GTM (it's a McLaren). I didn't want to, I don't find McLaren road cars particularly handsome, but my "Lamborghini" was pretty wrecked, already! Such a shame. So, I did that. Armed with a new body shell and a new chassis (not to mention the chassis-specific and quite expensive top-deck conversion), I showed-up with another iteration of my Atom 2. This is an awful photo and it's very recent (hence the tinsel in the background). Plus, I've now run this car for months, so it's rather beat-up. Mostly because of what happened next (below), but anyway, this is how the car currently looks. Take my word for it, this Tamiya bright yellow and bright sliver combo USED to look good! After all that, the car wasn't really any better! I got it to the point that it was basically on-rails for a couple of minutes, then it would very suddenly become utterly evil, just like above! I couldn't work it out! It was affecting how much I enjoyed the racing, because I couldn't seem to stop that transition and I couldn't trust the car. However, we finally cracked it! MY TYRE PREP!! I was doing it wrong! Remember how I started using 2x sets of tyres? Well, the tyres were no longer being constantly bathed in additive (a good thing), but I hadn't adjusted my soak-time, accordingly (a bad thing). It took me several weeks, 2 body shells, 2 chassis', 2 top-deck conversion kits and many tyres to work it out! Leave the additive on much longer, but dry them off, THOROUGHLY! Leaving them air-dry for the last 10/15 minutes. So what happened? Well, the theory is that the Porsche body shell did not produce enough downforce, to ask questions of the tyres. As soon as I introduced high downforce levels, the lack of tyre-prep came to light, as the tyres were worked so much harder. With that worked-out, I ditched the emergency, ultra-conservative set-up and started chasing the elusive A Final. As the weeks went on, I got the motor in a proper sweet spot. It's a missile! Easily one of the fastest there. Although, I have to run it about 6 -7 teeth lower than the guys running Hobbywings! I've also swapped the ball differential for a geared one. It's more consistent. I've won several B Finals, since. Then, on the 25th of November, I made my first, legitimate A Final!! Goal achieved! I've done it every week, since! So, I'm basically now at the same level as I was with the touring cars, all those years ago. I'm pleased with the progress. I also have a sworn rival! His name is Steve. Last official club night, I bumped him out of the A Final... by 17 hundredths of a second!! That's right! 0.17 seconds. 1.7 tenths of a second. Not over a lap... over a whole 5-minute race! And our best-10 lap average was identical, down to the hundredth! Amazing! We have started to do things like that, basically every week. There's nothing between us. It's great fun. On the Christmas event, we finished equal second, overall! Because, of course we did! My skill-rank, out of 100 is now at 96. So, yeah. A LOT has happened. Some good, some bad, but it's all been a real learning process and I am soooooo happy that I got back into racing. It's a blast! Next is to find out where I'll finish in the championship... Right next to Steve, I suspect! His rank, FYI, is 96 For next year, Shark Fat is doing another body shell for me. This time, it'll be another BittyDesign Agata. Because it looks great, no-one has one and it was proven to be not the cause of my issues! This will be in a GT3-esque racing livery, albeit created by myself and Shark Fat. Cheers.

Thank you. yes, plenty to update. I'll try and get to it later.

Hello and welcome! Touring car racing is the bee's knees, I really wish it was still popular. You're lucky to have a club nearby you that still does it. Enjoy and keep us informed of how you do.