new to club racing

whittaker52 · #1 15-05-2012

Hello all,

I'm a newbie on here so please forgive me if i'm posting in the wrong area etc. I've been in and around rc cars for ages, but over the past weekend I had the chance to visit my local club - Hinckley RCCC, and i'm now interested in getting into a bit of racing if only for a bit of fun. I'm used to doing a bit of bashing with friends, but all my cars aren't really suitable for the sort of racing they do at the club, so i'm looking at getting something to start me off. Now I don't have a mega budget, but I've been looking at a couple of cars - namely the LRP S10 BX Blast 4wd Brushed, Caster SK10 4wd Brushed, Maverick strada XB EVO brushed, FTX Vantage Brushed, Yokomo B-MAX4 and Schumacher SV.

I've already got spare batteries, radio gear and the odd motor etc, so i'm just after the best I can get that will get me all set to have some great fun, and a good chance of doing well.

Any comments and thoughts most welcome

swappyd · #2 16-05-2012

Hi!

I just started racing at Hinckley last weekend and loved it!
I is a really friendly club so good choice!

Just restarting after 20+ years things have moved on and so I'm starting from fresh, one thing i've noticed is that cost and availaiblity of spares is important so personally I would and did take that into consideration when getting the new car. So Ii would not go down the Bmax route great cars even from the original dogfighter days but spares are not easy or quick to get hold of here.

You seem very determined to go 4wd is there any reason for that?
You can get more for your money down the 2wd route so it may be worth considering.
For example JE are selling the Cougar SV for £140 ish and spares are easily availaible if not the cheapest! Or there is the Mad Rat which is a capable car.

When you are down next have a lookout for a black BMW estate and say hello.

Dave

Danny Harrison · #3 16-05-2012

Get yourself a b44 roller, you cant go wrong with one of them, handle great and spares are real easy to get

lordnikon · #4 16-05-2012

Welcome to oople - while i dont know that club personally i would say you are probably better of getting a brushless setup that can be turned down to begin with and then gradually back up as and when you want it

whittaker52 · #5 16-05-2012

Thanks for the welcome

Brilliant! next time i'm down at the club, i'll be sure to say Hi Dave. Bit of a rookie mistake on my part, but I didn't consider ease of getting replacement parts! My only real reason for going 4wd was most of the cars I have at the moment are 2wd, so I was thinking about giving 4wd a go, but in hindsight, 2wd takes more skill, and as you say, is better value to start with. I did see a few of the Ansmann buggies running, and they didn't look bad at all, so i'll probably have to consider one of those more serious, i've heard they tend to be more fragile though? the Schumacher Cougar SV does look good though, although it looks like they've gone to ground, so must now be end of line?

In terms of budget, i'm looking to keep things sub £150 for the car, and will definitely upgrade to brushless at some point, I just wanted to get to grips with the car first before developing it a bit more.

RandomConflict · #6 16-05-2012

There are some great cars out there now and with the inclusion of brushless motors and LiPo batteries, racing is probably more affordable than ever. You only really need 1 motor (around 8.5 turn to be competitive) a speedo and 1 LiPo battery (ensuring that you use a proper LiPo ready chager). I myself have only recently got back into the sport after a few years out, I couldn't believe how much it has changed over such a short time! Things really have moved on for the better though. Cars are faster, electrics more reliable and you get much more run time using LiPo batteries!

I suppose it comes down to what class you would prefer to race, and as people have mentioned, good spares availability and cost of the car etc... The most common electric class pretty much in most regions is 2wd off road, with lots of different cars available, it may be best to check at your local club to see what people are using (people are usually more than happy to help with spares back up if you need it during a meeting). As well as Hinckley, Coventry is a good club with a number of tracks and race all year round outdoors. Their website is www.cmcc-online.co.uk

If 2wd seems to take your fancy, I have an RC10B4 for sale as I have recently moved over to Schumacher. The B4 is a great car, spares are available almost anywhere and it is still an extremely competetive car, with many new mid motor conversions available for it. I have my car listed here: http://www.oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=101054 It's up for £140 but will do it a little cheaper for cash, I am only based in Coventry as well so not to far away for collection etc. The car is in great working order and comes with a shed load of spares that will keep you going for a long long time!

oOple is a great source of knowledge and has helped me alot as I've recently got back into racing, any questions just post them in the relevant sections and people are more than willing to help where they can! Any questions, feel free to PM me on here as well and I'll help where I can!

Alex

TARTMAN · #7 16-05-2012

I cam back to the hobby in Oct last year having been away for 22 years.

Lipos, brushless and 2.4ghz were the things that amazed me the most.

No more dumping, going at balistic speeds for way for time than needed.
No more lost cars/signal cos some plonka turns on his car in the pits to TEST something!!!!

one motor does all tracks!!!!

One or 2 lipos for the entire DAY!!!!

wow.

I got a cougar SV to come back racing and loved it, it does suffer a little from the chocolate strength syndrome when driven by a newbie, and i broke lots of things on it. but once you get the thumbs working again, they break less lol....

the new SV2 is the laest in the Cougar clan, and at £235 retail for the kit is not to bad. but plenty of used SV's about so easy to get a roller SV for sub £100 now.
I have a 22 now and love it, a bit tougher, but tight on the room for electrics, if you have small stuff its fine but room for the normal saddles and full size servo when using a small ESC and micro RX.

The B4.1 is also a great car, as is the DEX210 Durango. really plenty of choice.
he X2c is a great starter and also upgradeable for the top racers. there are a few top club people with ansmann's and they do very well.

Go see what your local club runs mostly and what your local hobby store stocks, that will give you a decent idea what you will be best buying.
Spares for me at the start was a big issue hence the schumacher route.

I have an SX3 4wd schumacher as well and its great. its really a "what you fancy" sort of thing.....

Happy Racing.

dazzlerr6 · #8 18-05-2012

Hi I also have returned after 16 years and as yet not finished my cars just need batteries. It's took me ages to sort to cars out and also will go to hinckley club but just to let you no I bought to cat sx,s off opple and a good price I no they bit old now but still a good car I've put a sp 7.5 motor sp esc in it so should go ok so keep looking on here and bag a good cheap car so keep us up to date on how you getting on .

whittaker52 · #9 18-05-2012

Thanks for all the great advice! I'm keeping an eye on the for sale area in case something pops up that catches my eye. I'm currently thinking of either the Schumacher Cougar (i've managed to find a supplier that still has a new factory built chassis) or perhaps a Team Durango DEX210. I'll probably start out setting one up brushed, and then upgrade when I feel I need the extra speed, hopefully it'll mean less broken parts too. When I was spectating down at the club, a lot of people seemed to be running losi 22s, TA B4s, Schumacher Cougars, Schumacher Cats as well as a few ansmann mad rats. So quite a bit of variety. I'll keep you all posted. Thanks again for the help and advice

TARTMAN · #10 18-05-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by whittaker52

Thanks for all the great advice! I'm keeping an eye on the for sale area in case something pops up that catches my eye. I'm currently thinking of either the Schumacher Cougar (i've managed to find a supplier that still has a new factory built chassis) or perhaps a Team Durango DEX210. I'll probably start out setting one up brushed, and then upgrade when I feel I need the extra speed, hopefully it'll mean less broken parts too. When I was spectating down at the club, a lot of people seemed to be running losi 22s, TA B4s, Schumacher Cougars, Schumacher Cats as well as a few ansmann mad rats. So quite a bit of variety. I'll keep you all posted. Thanks again for the help and advice

dont go brushed, pointless. cheap enough to go the new modern brushelss way and all upgreadable........ get a cheap brushless motor/esc and lipos and go for it, once set up, no need to maintain it etc....

whittaker52 · #11 20-05-2012

Well you'll all be pleased to know i've finally bought a car! a Schumacher CF Cougar SV. I've taken your advice too, and gone straight to brushless. I've also ordered a nice Power HD servo for it too, so it should run really nicely. All I need to do now is sort out a pinion for it, and i'm away. Now the car runs an 83 tooth spur gear, and i've been recommended to run a 24 tooth pinion gear. Would this be the best set up to go with?

Thanks,
Oliver

Danny Harrison · #12 20-05-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by whittaker52

Well you'll all be pleased to know i've finally bought a car! a Schumacher CF Cougar SV. I've taken your advice too, and gone straight to brushless. I've also ordered a nice Power HD servo for it too, so it should run really nicely. All I need to do now is sort out a pinion for it, and i'm away. Now the car runs an 83 tooth spur gear, and i've been recommended to run a 24 tooth pinion gear. Would this be the best set up to go with?

Thanks,
Oliver

You need to know what motor is going in there and the internal drive ratio to work out what pinion range you'll need. Faster motors will require smaller pinions.

If your running an 8.5t motor at a guess id say get pinions ranging from 21 upto around 25 and do a bit of trial and error. You'll end up changing them anyway for different tracks (ie, outdoors you'll likely want more top end)

mY spur on my b44.1 is 84T and I use between an 18t and 22t pinion on it depending on the track (6.5T motor though). I would imagine the internal drive ratios are somewhere close.

whittaker52 · #13 20-05-2012

I have a 9T motor and a 5.5T motor, but I suspect the 5.5T will be a bit too much, so will probably switch to the 9T.

Danny Harrison · #14 21-05-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by whittaker52

I have a 9T motor and a 5.5T motor, but I suspect the 5.5T will be a bit too much, so will probably switch to the 9T.

Ye the 5.5T would be a bit uncontrollable on the track to say the least.

Pinions from 21 to 25 should see you right. The RW racing ones are excellent and pretty cheap.