Recommended budget setup and some guidance

[G-reg]

Hello everyone,

firstly I would like to say Hi! My name is Greg and I live in Birmingham

I have been interested in RC for a while now but not had a car for a few years (been attempting to fly rc planes ).

I am looking to buy a mad rat because they look great value and good fun with a few mods.

Since I had my last electric model brushless motors and lipo batteries have taken over and they are all pretty foreign to me.

Could someone please give me a breif update on the new kit out there, including how the motors and batteries are rated.

Also any tried and tested budget kit. I would buy a RTR and go from there but I do not like the pistol like controllers and I would upgrade the motor anyway so I mayaswell buy a kit and fit my own ESP, motor, battery and radio.

I think Coventry model car club is the only off road track near me so Im going to pop down there when I get a minute and check it out.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I can see this is a great forum full of really helpfull people, thanks in advance- Greg.

[Fast Eddie]

Hi Greg,

I was in the same boat a month back and can assure you that you are in the right place for help.
On the car, I bought a Mad Rat brushless and quickly put it on ebay again. The main reason for this was that although yes it was value for money, I could do much better going second hand to get a car already hopped up. You are right to go kit form and supply your own electrics as it is not too fast out of the box and the speedo is rather basic.

I ended up going retro due to budget with a brushed Mardave cobra but still ended up with a quicker and more robust car.

All down to budget I guess, good luck.

Eddie

[RogerM]

There is plenty of racing around Birmingham ..

http://www.brca-midwest.co.uk/

hope to see you track side.

As for the car recomendation I will stay out of that one (other than to say I bought a madrat for my girlfriends nephew at Xmas)

[gerbil]

hi mate car wise is a good one as every one has there opinion the best one imo is b4 but thats my taste
saying that im running the ansmann midmotored car this season
btw check your pm mate cheers

[danDanEFC]

I would suggest you gonto your local club or clubs and see what others are using. This will allow you to get access to spares and setup help.

[john333]

I recently started up again and bought all my stuff second hand (mostly off this forum) and have built up a great set up for very little money.
Motors and batteries are different now (they don't wear out after 3 meetings!) so it's fine to buy second hand (I bought 2 sets lipo's and a motor for £60 odd and the car flies!)

just keep looking at the for sale section on here, or put in a wanted ad

cheers, John

[G-reg]

Thanks for your responses.

Il keep my eyes peeled and continue to do some research on affordable good kit.

I like the idea of off road racing but all the clubs seem to be indoor carpet racing which seems a bit boring to me. Any suggestions other that Coventry model car club in the midlands? I live in sutton coldfield and drive.

[RC944]

well my story is almost similar.... i decided to get a vintage roller in the form of a rc10 b3 and then fit modern electrics with a lot of help from the kind folk here

ive bought all my gear second hand and i know that if i ever want to get out ill get most my money back - thats the big advantage of buying good gear

just to give you idea

rc10 b3 team from ebay with all electrics and box, manual etc 46 (sold the acoms tranny and old esc for about 20)
sanwa exzes 40mhz tranny and rx 70 from oople
bantam bc6 charger 70 oople
trak power and bionic lipos about 20 each from oople and ebay
lrp sphere comp esc 30 oople
lrp x11 10.5 turn 28 oople

so total outlay less than 200 and i have a car that flies with some top gear in it and its fun to look around and buy stuff on the fly...

im now hopping up the car by getting bits from liquid rc and from oople

best thing you can do is to buy something secondhand and then spend some quality time researching and punting on decent gear knowing that it wont break the bank and that youll get more bang for buck

[RogerM]

Originally Posted by G-reg

Thanks for your responses.

Il keep my eyes peeled and continue to do some research on affordable good kit.

I like the idea of off road racing but all the clubs seem to be indoor carpet racing which seems a bit boring to me. Any suggestions other that Coventry model car club in the midlands? I live in sutton coldfield and drive.

I've raced in the west mids area and over recent years we have seen a sharp fall in the number of "club" meetings to the point where I think the only three options are Coventry (a good venue, both grass and astroturf tracks for 1/10th and astroturf and clay for 1/8th), Ledbury (grass and astroturf) and Hinckley (flat grass ... like racing touring car on carpet but outdoors in the rain IMHO).

Coventry have meetings Sundays when bigger events aren't on and in the summer months get together on a Thursday evening.

Ledbury who run over the spring - autumn months on a wednesday evening and again on Sundays when there is isn't a bigger meeting on. Grass and Astroturf tracks again.

Hinckley I think run on a Saturday.

There are a couple of other venues that run buggies indoors but Hereford is the only one I KNOW of (but I think either Dudley or Marston club run buggies on carpet on a Friday night ... not sure which or if both do as I'm on the very southern most edge of the region).

All that said there are options to race almost every weekend not to far from your part of the world.
Whilst I agree that carpet racing is a bit of a waste of a good buggy I must also admit that Ardent (by Donnington race track)have done a really good job on their winter series and as they aren't too far from you I'd give them a go for sure (2hrs for me but worth it for good racing in the dry).

Hope that helps.