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Car PreparationTo win or do well you have to consistently finish races. To do this you have to have a reliable car. Your car is only as reliable as you make it. Speed is not really an issue – we all use 27 turn motors, so there is no problem here. With speed out of the equation there are only four things affecting your results: how you drive the car, how it handles, how reliable it is and a bit of luck. Reliability comes from good preparation and maintenance. Before a club night (or any meeting) thoroughly check the car over. Make sure all suspension components move freely. The best way to check this is to remove the shocks and see if the suspension drops freely under its own weight. Check that all bearings spin freely. This is very important indoors on a Tuesday night. The carpet can easily work its way into the bearings and hinder their performance. Ensure all wires are tidy and away from any moving parts, plugs fit into receivers tightly and for best performance speed controller wires are only as long as they need to be. A lot of the above may sound obvious, but a well maintained and tidy car will make a big difference. Car Set UpThis is obviously quite important! For newcomers, unless you know somebody with the same car, getting the right set up can be quite tricky. If you see someone running the same car and it seems to be going well ask them how they have it set up. If you can’t get any advice the only way to achieve a good set up is through trail and error. It is important to make one adjustment at a time and see what difference in handling it has made. If several things on the car have been adjusted it will be difficult to determine which has made the difference. At Club (Indoors) Get the chassis as close to the 5mm ride height limit as you can, with the rear of the car set slightly higher, I run 5.5mm at the front and 6 – 7mm on the rear. This height is measured when the car is ready to run (battery on board) and the suspension is at its resting point, it is adjusted by adding or removing pre-load on the shocks. Camber should always be set at a negative value (wheels leaning in towards the car from the top). Run 1 – 2 degrees on the rear and 1 – 1.5 degrees on the front. The above is only a rough guide, set ups will obviously differ from car to car. Below is the set up I run on my Tamiya TA04. Set like this I find the car very easy to drive. It works very well on the carpet and is also very stable on the wood floor. Usually the only change I will make is to fit a softer front spring as the front tyres wear. The softer spring counteracts the understeer that the worn tyres give. You don’t have to replace the tyres straight away when they show signs of wear, try softening the front suspension first to see if this will increase grip levels. The following is some general setting advice that you should find useful. ShocksShock absorbers are the part of the suspension that keeps the wheels in contact with the ground. Soft damping produces most grip by allowing the chassis to roll during cornering but because of this, gives a decrease in cornering speed. Hard damping gives less grip overall but gives increased cornering speeds as the chassis will not roll as much. Soft and hard damping can be achieved by different weight oils and springs, the number of holes in the piston and the amount of pre-load on the spring. Shock Position The highest setting (shock more upright) decreases chassis roll. This gives less grip but increases the cornering speed because of the reduced chassis roll. Lowest setting (shock more led down) increases grip, but also chassis roll which is not good for fast corners. OilThinner oil gives a faster shock action. This means the suspension can work faster to keep the tyres in contact with the ground which equals more grip. On the negative side it makes the chassis more susceptible to roll which may make it become unsettled during sharp direction changes. Thicker oil gives a slower shock action. This gives a slower chassis weight transfer from side and more stability during direction changes, but less overall grip. Roll BarsThe installation of roll bars is often the easiest way to resolve a handling problem. I very rarely us a roll bar on the rear of my car. This is because roll bars reduce chassis roll thus reducing rear end grip. Installing a roll bar to the front of your car is often a quick and easy way to sort out a car that oversteers. Indoors, where grip is plentiful it is usually a good idea to run a roll bar on the front. As you may have gathered, setting up a car can sometimes be a bit of a compromise and it is usually achieved through trail and error. Don’t panic! It will come with practice and experience.
Good luck. |
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© 2008 Chippenham Model Car Club |
