newcomer - Please advise !
 

Hi All,

My 11 yr old son and I are looking at getting into racing Mardave V12 at a local club. I am the sort of person who likes to find out as much as possible about things before diving in, so I wondered if I could trouble people here for a bit of a grounding about the cars.

Basically trying to understand the best car to get - I initially thought start cheap (basic club kit) then upgrade. Then I wondered about that. Assuming my son (who will be the main driver lets be honest.. ) enjoys it and can drive OK, I thought maybe I should start off with a decent car that could last a while. The guys at mardave say that basically everyone is running lipo and brushless, so I don't want to get a car that would put the boy at an immediate large disadvantage. Mardave recommended the new vrx cec kit, and build it brushless and lipo, but that looks like it could get pretty expensive!

Can anyone give me their educated advice about what I would be best doing? Im not one of those people that wants to throw lots of money at things, but at the same time this would be a 'hobby' and a shared interest for my son and I, which I am sure we would both enjoy (we both have alot of fun at the moment with Tamiya M series minis, and a Tamiya Brat and use them most days!). I want to make an informed decision, and spend an appropriate amount to get the most out of the experience. We are thinking that the car could be a Christmas job, with relatives maybe contributing parts to the overall build too!

I found it confusing all the different types of car - I see reference to hot rod, racer etc and wondered what they all are? or are they essentially the same?

Many thanks for any information and advice given!
Cheers
Craig

Go down to your local club that your looking at on a race night and ask around what is being used by the quick guys there or if they have any rules or anything that you may need to know.
Nearly all racers of mardaves will be happy to chat away and offer some advice.
You can always pop back on here and ask if you feel you need a second opinion on your findings.

Brushless can be very cheap to race and run and the new pace 1s speed control removes one of the more expensive elements to brushless and a decent 13.5 motor can be picked up for £45-55 brand new.
Someone at the club may have an old motor you can start with for maybe £20.
The thing is with the 13.5 1s stuff is that it maybe abit of an outlay but the stuff can last you years.
My speedo is going strong for 6years now in my brushless car.

Agree pop down to your local club, could save yourself a lot of money
Where do you live ?

Some places do not run Brushless/Lipo

I have not raced Mardave for about a year but from my opinion the Mardave Circuit Series has moved on a lot from standard Mardaves :
Brushless/lipos/new chassis etc etc

The Oval Series was back to grass roots racing:
Brushed motor etc and alot of people especially at club level ran standard mardaves.
I think they tried a brushless class at Nationals, but not sure if it took off.

The club local to me will NOT run Brushless or Lipo's

Thanks guys, good advice. Yeah, we are popping along to a practice night on Friday. I think they are even going to let us have a go on track with the tamiya minis.. :lol:

I live in Scotland, near Glasgow. local club is the Lothian model racing club in Broxburn.

Probably best to just wait and see what they are racing I guess. I would be happy for us to start off basic if there is say for example, a class with just basic cars (no ESC, brushed, Nimh etc) and then advance as skills improve, but not sure they are doing that. I have seen some of the cars on the website and they look 'all singing all dancing'.

Will let you know how it goes on Friday.

Cheers
Craig

If you are looking at a Mardave there are only 2 real choices, the basic club kit at £60 - £70 or if you look at any of the others you may as well go for the top end one V12VRXcec at £100 as it already includes all the hop ups you will probably end up buying.

thanks, yes I think you are right - I was kinda coming round to that way of thinking. To be honest, I hope that there are some folks at the club running basic cars, or even better maybe there are different classes within the mardaves (dont think there is though), as I think it would be good to be able to start off with a basic car.

Do you think that even with the basic club car, a decent driver could have a chance of occasionally not coming last against those all running esc's, lipo etc?

Cheers
Craig

I've made A finals at 1-12th oval nationals with a standard car.

Gotta change the standard turnbuckles, servo saver and rear wheels bearings not bushes.

Saying that I don't know what the standard kit has nowadays !

I have also raced against lipo cars with brushed motors with a 4 cell Nimh and cheap brushless and there was not much difference on a tight twisty track

All depends on what they say when you have a look at the club.

Mardave racers are normally quite approachable

Are you interested in racing circuit or oval? Mardave have traditionally been oval based - only venturing in to circuit in the past few years. Dont dismiss oval as being 'easy' and there are many more formula available to you, Hot Rods, Saloon Stocks, Mini stocks, Stock cars, Bangers and even Reliants have the largest following in the BRCA after 1/10 Touring - there are quite a few clubs up your way too :woot:

Hi there just read the post, this is the mardave kit, http://www.mardave.co.uk/rc-car-kits...-kit-1461.html

also want to look for a core rc brush less speed controller and brush-less 13.5 motor (or a cheap set up)...
my 6 yrs old son has just sarted racing 12 wks ago i got i a cheap normal mardave tin can motor.... but this weekend just bought him a brushless set up and i wished i had done that in the first place as i have had to pay out twice:woot:...
my advice spend what you can afford but buy a cheap decent brushless set up as it will last a lot longer.....

hope this helps.
dan

if your just wanting to test the water then there is a mardave kit that comes with a mtroniks oval esc included, if your wanting a more serious circuit kit then i would say the vrxcec which is £100 then on top of that a full 13.5t lipo bl combo which schumacher do is £100,

Thanks guys. In the end, picked up some second hand kit which all said and done has got us 'on the track' with a brushed setup for £60. Assuming that he sticks with it for a couple of months, he will get kitted up with brushless 13.5 and lipo, with maybe a cec kit, frmo 'Santa'. I am then going to take on the brushed car (it's a worlds car) and 'upgrade' it to brushless, and I will use this car. Seemed like a low risk, low cost way of getting into it, as we always intended of having a car each if we liked it.

Will need to look into the schumacher BL combo - didnt know about that. What model numbers is that?

Cheers
Craig

http://www.racing-cars.com/pp/Manufa..._RC/CR175.html

this is the link to the deal schumacher is doing for a full brushless lipo combo not sure how the gm motor in the deal compares to the thunder power 13.5 that most people are using