JUST SAW A NEW VXL RUN 70+
04-29-2008, 08:13 PM
#26
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RE: JUST SAW A NEW VXL RUN 70+
ORIGINAL: jm_obrien
firstrc, noone's upset, at least not me and I understood that it was the owner's estimation not your's so don't sweat it. I hear speed claims all the time and when it's from the manufacturer such as Traxxas or even the rest of them you can be assured that it was done with "light optional mods" such as gears, top of the line batteries etc.
On the other hand when a well respected magazine such as XtremeRC does a 5 page article on nothing but trying to get the VXL Rustler to 70 mph and then failed to do so, you must respect that opinion as well. As for the youtube videos, anyone can find a cheap non-calibrated radar gun to give you whatever number you're looking for and those videos are a dime a dozen. In other words trust ONLY the experts and use the rest for small talk around the pit table, not factual experiences. I don't care the actual mph, if you have one of these coming at you in the 60ish ballpark, your male member may get excited with or without you, LOL!
Jon
firstrc, noone's upset, at least not me and I understood that it was the owner's estimation not your's so don't sweat it. I hear speed claims all the time and when it's from the manufacturer such as Traxxas or even the rest of them you can be assured that it was done with "light optional mods" such as gears, top of the line batteries etc.
On the other hand when a well respected magazine such as XtremeRC does a 5 page article on nothing but trying to get the VXL Rustler to 70 mph and then failed to do so, you must respect that opinion as well. As for the youtube videos, anyone can find a cheap non-calibrated radar gun to give you whatever number you're looking for and those videos are a dime a dozen. In other words trust ONLY the experts and use the rest for small talk around the pit table, not factual experiences. I don't care the actual mph, if you have one of these coming at you in the 60ish ballpark, your male member may get excited with or without you, LOL!
Jon
HaHa.. Still laughing from that one.
Gatta say guys... I'm going to have to agree with everything jm_obrien said in this one!
Well stated jm_obrien!
04-29-2008, 09:56 PM
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RE: JUST SAW A NEW VXL RUN 70+
With all this talk of speed now you got me looking on Ebay for a basher VXL Rustler................my wife thanks you!
Jon
Jon
04-30-2008, 12:59 PM
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RE: JUST SAW A NEW VXL RUN 70+
ORIGINAL: jm_obrien
As for the youtube videos, anyone can find a cheap non-calibrated radar gun to give you whatever number you're looking for and those videos are a dime a dozen. In other words trust ONLY the experts and use the rest for small talk around the pit table, not factual experiences.
Jon
As for the youtube videos, anyone can find a cheap non-calibrated radar gun to give you whatever number you're looking for and those videos are a dime a dozen. In other words trust ONLY the experts and use the rest for small talk around the pit table, not factual experiences.
Jon
04-30-2008, 01:22 PM
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RE: JUST SAW A NEW VXL RUN 70+
I use radar guns for 'verification' all the time, since I find it hard to estimate speeds over 40mph, and yes calibration is often a problem... if you are ever caught by a cop with a radar gun that is one of the first things you should ask in court but the thing with a gun is that in most cases, such a small vehicle going along the ground, and you holding the gun at your eye level, the actual ground speed is going to be off it's a simple geometry problem. Since actual speed is in relation to the (parallel) ground, and the gun is measuring an angular the closer the vehicle gets to you, the less accurate it is. My gun came with a brochure explaining this, and for RC vehicles which are nowhere near as tall as an actual car it is an issue.
And another thing that can go wrong with a radar gun is you happen to hit the top of a spinning wheel, getting what is essentially double the real vehicle speed, but in most cases this is pretty obvious.
But all things considered, radar guns are among the best tools we have, the only thing better would be a timed speed-trap and that is a pain to set up... even if a radar gun is 'off', it is hopefully consistently 'off' and can still be used to measure speed increases / decreases when setting gearing, etc. I sometimes see vids where people use a handheld GPS device and those are among the least accurate, especially when measuring speed.
The other thing is, most people have very little ability when it comes to estimating high speeds, whether in person but even moreso just by looking at a video where you have no actual idea of the relative focal length / zoom factor of the recording device. I can use this to make a slow car going fast, or a fast car going slow, just by zooming in and out and all that.
And another thing that can go wrong with a radar gun is you happen to hit the top of a spinning wheel, getting what is essentially double the real vehicle speed, but in most cases this is pretty obvious.
But all things considered, radar guns are among the best tools we have, the only thing better would be a timed speed-trap and that is a pain to set up... even if a radar gun is 'off', it is hopefully consistently 'off' and can still be used to measure speed increases / decreases when setting gearing, etc. I sometimes see vids where people use a handheld GPS device and those are among the least accurate, especially when measuring speed.
The other thing is, most people have very little ability when it comes to estimating high speeds, whether in person but even moreso just by looking at a video where you have no actual idea of the relative focal length / zoom factor of the recording device. I can use this to make a slow car going fast, or a fast car going slow, just by zooming in and out and all that.
04-30-2008, 01:33 PM
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RE: JUST SAW A NEW VXL RUN 70+
I've compared the speed shown on my Garmin handheld GPS to the speed on my 1:1 car and the speed is exact. The only problem is you have to travel at a consistent speed for a few seconds for the GPS to calculate the speed. And travelling for even a few seconds at top speed with a VXL means you need a LOT of room.
