|
||
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
#1
18-05-2010
|
||||
|
||||
F1 Tips Part 2 - Tyres
F1 Tips
Second part of my F1 guide, and probably the most important subject; tyres. Tyres Tyres are the most important aspect of any racing class. They are the only part of the car in contact with the track, so if the tyres aren’t working, nothing else will help very much. This is especially true for F1 cars on tarmac; you only have two wheel drive and primitive suspension, so the cars rely even more on their tyres than other classes. Wet Weather The ideal wet weather tyre would be a very soft, treaded rubber tyre. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a soft treaded tyre for the F1 class. There are some treaded tyres, but they are too hard to give decent grip. So instead, we use the next best thing; a soft slick tyre. These work from heavy standing water, right up to the point where dry spots start to appear (which is the signal to move to foam tyres instead). The specific tyres which I know work well in the wet are:
A few other tips for rubber tyres:
Dry Weather In dry weather you want foam tyres. Maybe in the future someone will make a rubber tyre for the F1s that can keep up with foams, but I won’t hold my breath. Pan cars have been around for decades and have always used foams. Probably always will. Foam tyres are generally rated using a shore scale, from about 25 (softest) to around 45 (hardest). Different manufacturers can use different scales, and different types of foam, so a Brand-X 25 could have less grip than a Brand-W 30. The only way to tell is by testing them on the track. F1 cars generally struggle with a lack of rear traction out of the corners, and oversteer into the corners. To combat this, you usually want the grippiest (softest) rear tyre you can find, and a fairly hard front tyre. A good starting point would be 25 rears and 38 fronts, which is quite a popular setup. Truing & Gluing Some tyres are available trued and glued, but the best ones I’ve found all come unglued, so you will have to do it yourself. I’ve tried all sorts of methods of gluing tyres (EvoStik, tyre tape and superglue) and have found the best thing to use is a thick, slow setting superglue (I use Slow Zap, which is available in the UK). This takes about 60 seconds to set, meaning you can reposition the tyre after applying the glue. If you use fast setting glue, you’ll never get the tyre straight. You’ll then need to true the tyres. You can buy a tyre truer for about £90 (I use the Fastrax one which is excellent), and a few companies make adapters for the F1 wheels. Or just borrow one at the track, which is definitely cheaper! I generally true the bare minimum off the rears; just enough so that the tyres are totally true. A larger diameter tyre will give more grip, so keep the rears as big as possible! The ones I use are around 58mm when trued. You then use the rear axle cams to adjust the rear ride height to around 5-6mm for outdoor racing (do not use the shock collar to adjust the ride height; set this so that the front of the pod is level with the rear of the pod, then leave it alone). The fronts I true down to about 56mm. F1 cars tend to have very limited front ride height adjustment, so this pretty much dictates the tyre size to run (again, you want 5-6mm ride height). Quick tip here; I cut 1mm off the top and bottom of my front hubs, then use two 1mm spacers on each king-pin to give some ride height adjustment. This will give 2mm adjustment per side, which allows the tyres to wear by 4mm without the ride height getting any lower. While the tyres are on the truer, round off the outer edges of the rear tyres a bit to help prevent them chunking. Put quite a large radius on both edges of the front tyres as well, which will help reduce front-end bite, especially at high speed. The specific tyres which seem to work outdoors are:
Tyre Additive Foam tyre additive seems to work by softening the surface of the tyre, therefore increasing the grip. This is fairly permanent; once the foam is softened, it will stay soft. It may harden back up a bit if left unused, but it won’t be as hard as a new, untreated tyre. However as the tyre wears out, the treated portion will be worn away, which is why it’s necessary to reapply the additive. On pan cars it is normal to coat the full width of the rear tyres with additive before every run, for maximum rear traction. Having said that, I’ve had success in the past by just coating the tyres before the first run of the day, and not bothering for the rest of the day. This can be good if the track is dusty and you don’t want to have additived tyres picking up the dust each time you go out. If the car feels slidy at the start of the run and gets better towards the end, it probably means the fresh additive is making things worse rather than better. I recommend never coating the front tyres; as mentioned before, once you’ve put additive on a tyre, it’s softened forever (at least until the softened part wears out, which may take many runs). A better option is to have a couple of different front tyre compounds available (e.g. 35, 38 and 40) and change the compound to adjust the amount of front grip. Another option is to have two identical sets, and keep one set ‘clean’, and one set for additive. If you do additive the front tyre, don’t do the whole width. Try just doing the inside 1/3rd, and adjust the width of additive to vary the front traction. I generally put the additive on as soon as I’ve finished the previous run, to give it the maximum amount of time to soak in. I then clean it off about 5 minutes before the run. You need to get as much off as possible, so that the tyres don’t feel slimy when you go out. A quick burn-out before you start will also help. Different additives will work at different tracks, but Corally ‘Jack The Gripper’ seems popular and should be a good starting point. 
|
|
#2
18-05-2010
|
||||
|
||||
|
Thx, great read.
Which F1 car is the beter one to get in your opinion?
__________________
...... KYOSHO ...... 
|
|
#3
19-05-2010
|
||||
|
||||
|
Assuming cost has to be considered the 3racing F1-09 is the easy winner. You need the alloy front castor adjuster; without it the front end has so much slop and tweak its useless. And adding the F104 diff and axle so that you can remove the wheels without losing the diff setting is also an essential upgrade in my opinion. But the kit and those upgrades will only cost you about £130, which beats the other cars hands down.
|
|
#4
19-05-2010
|
|||
|
|||
|
I would echo what Dale says about the cost/performance of the F109, however as someone who is abit rubbish at keeping cars in the greatest shape, I would probably say that the F104 suits me as the T bar system means that I'm not likely to have the rear pod pointing in the wrong direction. Andy Webb has also proved that the F104 with its narrower track can be as quick as the older wider cars even though its probably that bit harder to drive it as fast
|
|
#5
20-05-2010
|
||||
|
||||
|
Despite my advice, I don't actually run an F109, as I also prefer a t-bar setup. I think it's stronger and actually works better with F1 aerodynamics.
So if cost is less of an issue, I'd get hold of a Tamiya F103, then add an alloy motor mount, F104 ball diff, rolling damper conversion etc etc. This would get you close to what I run:     
|
 |
|
|
Linear Mode
