Beginner
 

Hello all,

My father and I have been discussing getting into R/C cars. However, we have just realized that we have no information of the hobby. We found a track about and hour from our house, which is great. Also the track has a pro shop with everything R/C related (so their website says). We are thinking about taking a trip down next weekend to take a look, however I am the kind of person that likes to have an idea of what I am going to look at lol.

I would seriously appreciate any advise or information that could help, such as how much would you suggest spending to get competitive gear. Would $500 be enough? As far as brands go, which brands places where in the "quality hierarchy"?

Thank you all so very much,

-Tom

RE: Beginner
 

if you are planning on racing only advice that is good is look at what the people are running, and look what the shop carries as when something breaks you WILL need replacements, and it royally sucks to wait 3 days if you need it right away at a track ;)

Basically you will have to pick a class, and power source before anyone can really recommend much

if looking at Short course trucks (they seem most popular) for 2wd The HPI Blitz from what I read is a pretty good starter, and as HPI is fairly common most hobby shops should have parts available. I've actually looked into getting one a few times when I had some spare cash laying around, but just couldn't find a good deal on one at the times.
4wd short course the nexx 10SC (but high chance parts will have to be ordered online, and its sold as a kit so it will cost $100+ to get running on top of kit cost). I have its predecessor which shares like 90% or parts, and can say the parts are pretty robust


as for how much to spend you will need to factor in the support equipment so if electric figure in at least $150-$180 for 2 sets as chargers are around $40-50 a pop batteries $20-30 a pop (this is ordering online if from a hobby shop the equivalent stuff will be 2-3X more ;))

so for example if you go with the blitz flux which is $350, and need 2 the total cost will be around $900 for the RC's and support equipment.

Now if you want $500 total for 2 that might not be possible...

btw this hobby is expensive at the start cause the support equipment really racks up the cost, but once you have that it gets relatively cheap over the long term next to most hobbies.

RE: Beginner
 

Oh boy. Firstly, well done for taking this approach and not going straight to the hobby shop and taking only their recommendation, so many do this, then discover this site, then wish they had taken more time to decide before pulling the trigger on a $400+ RC.

You don't 'need' to learn to 'bash' (bashing is what we call random non-racing RC use and can be anything from running up and down the street outside the house, to extreme stunts in gravel pits, its anything that isn't racing) before venturing to the track, but it might not be a bad idea to find an area with some different surfaces and get a handle on the way the cars behave, the control method, etc, as having a TOTAL novice on the track when you're trying to practice can be frustrating, but is something we all must deal with, never be embarrassed of your skills or feel that you are causing another driver a problem, you paid the entry fee too, just try not to be a rolling road block. ;)

So, let's take this one step at a time. Your ultimate goal is track racing (or at least having fun at the track on practice day), so you need to first find out what classes are run at the local track and how popular they are, so you can make a decision about which class to run. Bear in mind that 'stock' classes are cheap to run in usually, requiring everyone's equipment to be at the same level, some tracks even hand out motors and tires which must be used on the day. Mod or 'Open' classes are where the rich kids will shine, as anything goes in terms of hopups to the cars and electronics/engines, as long as some basic racing rules are followed.

The decision about which class you want to run in will probably make the decision for you regarding power source. In case your track runs many classes and you are free to choose, you have 2 choices, nitromethane burning combustion engines, or electric. At the bottom end of the budget scale, nitro engines are faster than electric motors, but at the top end of the scale, the opposite is true. Still, both power sources have more than enough power to get round a track as fast as possible. Electric's torque advantage means little on a track that was designed designed for nitro (as most are), however it does start to shine when just messing around.

For your first foray into RC, you will probably be looking at 1/10th or 1/8th scale, as they are the ideal power/weight scales. 1/10th is cheap enough and easy to work on and get into, however, 1/8th offers more in every way. The 1/8th cars are much stronger, much better made, much faster and generally more evolved. I you can afford to get a 1/8th buggy or truggy and your track runs those classes, I would say you have to give them a try. 1/8th truggy particularly is for me, the best class in the hobby. It has everything, all the advantages of a monster truck (for good bashing) and buggy (for knife edge racing) in one platform, none of the disadvantages of either.

RWD Short Course Truck is a 1/10th class and is no doubt popular at your track. The cars are relatively cheap, as are parts, and they do not require many modifications, therefore the racing is pretty even, even when budget isn't limited. This would be a great choice for starting a racing career.

Regarding your final choice of vehicle, whether you get it from the local store or online, especially when starting out racing, you really want to choose something that is already popular in your area and at the local track. If your LHS sells Losi and loads at your track are running Losi cars for that reason, then it would be sensible to get a Losi for reasons of immediate local parts support if needed, and setup advice at the track.

There are so many brands in RC and so many cars, I could give you a list of brands in order of quality in my opinion, but it wouldn't be very relevant until you told me which class you want to run, as some are better than others at certain classes. All the premium brands are capable of making a car that can break a lap record and stay in one piece throughout a race. Some have slightly better materials than others, some are prettier than others, some are more fun to build than others. Have a think over the above and let me know what class interests you, what brands this LHS carries, and I'll give you a rundown on the popular models in that class, and the brand advantages/disadvantages.

RE: Beginner
 

hate to say it but $400 for an electric setup is slim pickings, a SC10 FT kit is already $270, and then a $150 speed passion ESC combo, and then a basic futaba radio is $120, charger is $65, battery is $60, servo is at least $30

you can get by with a SC10 RS combo your right at $380 Ready to go, all you have to do is upgrade little by little but will get your feet wet out of the box. Team associated makes very good race cars, and are one of the most popular so parts are cheap and easy to get.

alternativly, you can race 1/10 2wd buggy for $330 for a B4.1RS combo, these cars are much faster around a track but demand a higher level of skill to master, there is no brushing tubes or other drivers with these, since they are open wheel, they will "tangle" very easily. buggies are my favorite because they teach you how to be a good driver.

if nitro 1/8 is doable, hyper 7 for $300, only thing is tires for this class can be expensive, but the cars are very very tough. when racing you need a tech to fuel you up during a race and tune during a pit stop, so keep that in mind, you really can't race alone.

RE: Beginner
 

Thank you all so much for you're replys. I did some more digging on their website and found the classes that are legal at this track.

<h2 style="margin: 0px; font-size: 22px; text-align: center; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; background-color: rgb(230, 230, 230); ">Off Road racing
in the following classes:</h2><ul style="line-height: 23px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; background-color: rgb(230, 230, 230); padding-left: 40px; margin: 0px; "> <li style="line-height: 18px; ">1/10th Scale 2WD Buggy <li style="line-height: 18px; ">1/10th Scale 4WD Buggy <li style="line-height: 18px; ">1/10th Scale 2WD Short Course Truck <li style="line-height: 18px; ">1/10th Scale 4WD Short Course Truck <li style="line-height: 18px; ">1/10th Scale Stadium Truck[/list]I'm not %100 sure what it all means though lol. I would probobly go with the "most popular" class, whatever it is and eventually branch out to others (assuming I get hooked, which I have no doubt I will). Unfortunatley the tracks are at least an hour away, the one I am looking at is an hour and a half, but my dad and I figured we would split the gas and driving time so it wouldnt be a problem.

Anyways, I can not seem to find anything as far as the power sources permitted, am I to assume that they have a class for both? or does that depend on the track? Due to it being so far away and my father and I having different days off we are trying to pick a day to go check out the track but I figured I would gather as much information as possible prior to making the long drive.

So it's obvious that I would be looking at a 1/10th scale vehicle of some sort. So my question is what class do you all feel would be the easiest (if there is such a thing :P) to dive right into? Is there a less steep learning curve to one class than another? Other than the car's themselves (and remote of course) what other items would we need?

You all are a great help, thank you for bearing with me I appreciate it a whole lot :P<br type="_moz" /><br type="_moz" />

RE: Beginner
 

By the way I should have mentioned that I am 21 and my father is 45. We have our own money so we will be buying our own Setups... I am sorry for any confusion lol.

RE: Beginner
 

You should probably start in Short Course 2wd, for a number of reasons...

1) It's very popular (I'd be surprised if it isn't the most popular class at the track)
2) The vehicles, parts and electrics for this size and scale are relatively cheap and durable
3) Short Course trucks have closed wheels (body covers tire treads), which makes racing easier, you can bump people and not ruin theirs or your own race, whereas in buggy or truggy racing, wheel contact usually turns one or the other over. Rubbin's racing, boi. ;)
4) They look really cool
5) They're relatively easy to drive.

There are MANY good 2wd short course trucks.

Since you're venturing into racing, I strongly suggest you get a kit and separate electronics. You will learn a great deal just from building the kit and fitting the electronics. In order to achieve this you will need...

The car itself, in kit form or as a 'rolling chassis' (rolling chassis usually means 80% prebuilt, a lot of cars come like this, but I still suggest you build your own). The mainstream cars in this area are as follows, in order of quality, best first...

Kyosho Ultima SC (may be a little on the expensive side for a beginner, but a good investment nonetheless).
Team Losi 22SCT
Team Associated SC10 Factory Team
HPI Blitz ESE Pro

Any of these cars above, properly setup and driven, would be capable of winning a major national race.

The tools required in the manuals of these cars, but basically that means: Screwdrivers, hex drivers (aka Allen keys), a body reamer, paint for the body, threadlock (blue), tire glue (any good cyanoacrylate) and possibly a few nut drivers (though box wrenches supplied with all kits cover you for most needs).

For electrics for any of the above, you will need...

A speed controller and motor combo of the '540' variety (this refers to the length of the motor can). Talk to the hobby shop or guys at the track about this, as it may be worth you buying whatever they insist on their stock racers using, for example a specific motor that must be used according to track rules, to make sure that everyone is one a level playing field.
A few 2S lithium polymer batteries (suggest 2-4 depending on budget to start with. There are many ways to get cheap lipo batteries (www.hobbyking.com for example), NEVER buy these locally, you will get badly ripped off.
A steering servo (would recommend something with 100 oz-in of torque or more and as much speed as you can afford)
A good charger (extra spent on a good charger is never a waste of money in my opinion, get the best you can afford)
A radio set. No need to think about this one, a great radio is available for the beginner racer and its only 40 bucks. The FlySky GT3B or GT3C.

Final note...many tracks run a Slash spec class. This means that everyone is using a 2wd Traxxas Slash (same kind of truck as these above), this can be a really fun class to race in, but the Slash is not even close to a match for the cars mentioned above which are thoroughbred race cars.

Here's a taste of 2wd SC racing. These are good drivers on a technical track of course...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdeQDr0r3vo[/youtube]