nitrosportsandrunner

at the hobby shop with a friend today. He bought a RTR SC10. With both have wednesdays off and he wants to go to the track and race each week.
We have raced before, but only on his backyard dirt track. On that track, setup doesnt really matter much.
But at the hobby shops new track (its a pavement or tar) short course track I know that setup will make a big difference.

I have already boosted that my truck (ecx torment) will "torment" him on the track. (I know, lame, but couldnt help it)

So, what things should I consider/try to make my torment able to compete with his brand new SC10?

My truck, other than having alloy rear shocks, is stock.

With will both be running stock motors on 2s lipo packs.

Is neg or positive camber best? The track is very tight, with several hair pin turns. Even the widest points are not much more than 6 feet. Getting the truck to rotate (not push or spin out) will be the key.

I think I have a tad bit better driving than my friend, but not much. And considering the chassis advantage he will have, how I tune my truck will be important.

i8tweety

My Feedback: (11)

My best advice is not to overdrive the track or the truck. As for setup, here's a online guide: http://www.competitionx.com/rc-racing/rc-tuning-guide/


Personally, I use the Hudy setup guide book that came with my all-in-one system for fine tuning the setup (identifies what each adjustment affects and how much).

Foxy

You are not ready to even start looking at tuning the truck beyond the rough basics (box stock setup in case you changed something adversely yourself over time) until you can put in at least 10 laps without crashing and within a second of each other. This will take hundreds of laps, but is the foundation of the game; learn the track on a mild setup, then adjust the car. Tires are critical, get the same as the guys who are winning locally, everything else will come in time on its own as you learn the track and your own driving style. The Hudy setup guides are very good and good tools are essential to good setup.

nitrosportsandrunner

thanx for the tips.
Im hoping my driving skill and setup will be enough for my lowly torment to beat his expensive sc10

Last year, he had a slash 4x4 and I had the torment when we went to the track 1 day.
The track was a bit smaller last year. My torment was stock, running a 2s lipo....as was his slash. On the straights the slash was faster...but the straights were not more than 25' long. On the corners, my torment was far better. We were bumper to bumper at many of the corners. It was pretty cool to have the torment toe-to-toe with a brushless 4wd truck. Granted, it was largely the track setup which allowed this, but it still made for a fun race.

nitrosportsandrunner

so me and my friend went to the track today.
Usually, its setup for SCT racing.
Today however it was setup as oval. We almost didnt bother, but figured we are there and would give it a shot.

Holy crap, I couldnt believe that going in a circle could be soo much fun. There was another guy there so we had 3 trucks going around. The other buy had brushless sc10's and brushless gambler's (4 trucks!)...I had my lowly torment, and my buddy had his brand new losi XXX.

Im happy to say that all trucks were pretty even! The guys' brushless trucks killed me on the striaghts, but then He had to much speed to corner tight. My torment however cornered very well. It had a very nuetral fell....not spinning out or pushing to much. If I pushed to hard, it would traction roll....but no more so than the sc10, xxx or gambler trucks.

I had the stock brushed system from a losi xxx (cause the esc has LVC)...but the torment uses lower gearing. On the track, my gearing helped with slightly faster acceleration and stronger braking power.

I ran 3 lipo packs threw my truck...as 2s 5000mah packs.

My buddy only ran 2 packs in his....because at the end of the 1st pack he hit a barrier and broke the lower chassis plate. Took him 1 hour to replace it, as he had to tear down the whole front end. And since it was his 1st time working on the truck it took awhile.

I had a blast today. The other guy was older and had been a oval racer back in the day. He now races oval with SC trucks on sundays. I didnt even know they did that at my hobby shop. I guess since soo many people have SC's it just made sence to do SC's on the oval.

My truck spent soo much time leaning on the front right wheel....that that shock is now weaker! Ill have to rebuild it now. My torment handles so well for a stock truck, the lean looks cool and I can dive to the inside of the turns and take the lead alot.

Now im looking forward to next wednesday

FahrtAutoRC

Yea, the best advice I can give anyone new to the racing scene is PRACTICE, PATIENCE, and remember, even though it won't feel like it, slow is fast! The cleaner you run and the less you need marshalled, the better!

kevinocarro

It was pretty cool to have the torment toe-to-toe with a brushless 4wd truck. Granted, it was largely the track setup which allowed this, but it still made for a fun race. 

nitrosportsandrunner

yeh, alot of tracks I see on youtube are fairly large.
the one at my hobby shop is maybe 80'x80'. And the short course setup will have 10 turns or so in that space with 6-8' lanes(mostly 6')

Racing the oval against a brushless 2wd, my truck was actually easier to drive because it wasnt Overpowered. The other guy's truck enterened the corners faster so his braking point (and when he let off the brake) was very important. My torment I usually didnt have to brake, just let off the throttle into the corner and threw the middle...then power out. Even if I got on the throttle too soon, the inside rear tire would unload instead of spinning the truck out.

Next week Im gonna leave the torment as-is. Mine is stock Except for the alloy rear shocks. I may get the alloy fronts, just so I can play with preload tuning and such.

The crazy thing was the gambler, sc10, XXX and torment all had different tires as well. The XXX and sc10 had pin type, mine has a more realistic looking truck type tread and the gamblers had a street looking tread.
I guess it goes to show that setup is only half the battle and driver skill is just as important. I consistantly turned tighter that the other guys. Slower on the straights, faster in the corners[8D]

nitrosportsandrunner

well, went to the track again...

today it was setup for SCT

and today my friend's XXX really showed up my torment[&o]

Seems my succes on the oval was more me than the truck. I was always hitting th apex better than him, but it was still a wide...smooth turn.

on the very tight SCT track however, his XXX turn far tighter than my torment.

I did have some servo slop (will need new servo) but it was more than just the servo.

On the flip side, my friends stock losi servo DIED completly and he had to buy a new servo. Also, his steering links popped of several times. My torment still had more runtime than the XXX as it didnt need to be worked on as much.

So now im thinking of putting something for sale to buy another SCT. I wont sell the torment, as its a good "all-around" truck. But I do want something more track worthy.

question is, what to go with? XXX?(not really, want a different truck than my buddy), SC10? Seen them and not sure if they are right for me. Blitz?
Just not sure which is best. I want something that can handle tighter than the torment. doesnt have to have better electronics, but I dont want a "fragile" racer. I know that factors which make good race trucks can also mean parts that break easier.
My torment has flexable shock towers, arms ect. wicked hard to break. But too much flex aint good for racing.

What will have a good balance of race worthy, and durablilty?

martijefre

The Hudy setup guides are very good and good tools are essential to good setup.