Touring Car Personal Best
A great day racing today. Just a normal club meet at SHMCC Bashley.
I got the car going well, and got a personal best with 17.5, which is always nice.
The interesting thing of the day for me was ditching Sorex 28s. I’ve been finding they just don’t last, I think they’ve changed from last years 28s. I put on Sorex 32s and they were so much better, more stable, and they looked as good at the end of 4 runs as at the beginning.
It’s the sidewalls that knacker up on the 28s, they flex more and deteriorate, but on the 32s they don’t do that in the same way, or at least not as quickly.
I think I’ll stick to 32s for a while, maybe 28s if it’s a cooler day.
Written by simon.
Tamiya M03 Mini Tyres
I struggled with tyres last night on my Tamiya M03 Mini, I was using S-grips on the front and M-grips on the back. Both were very well worn, and had been repeatedly glued, so the sidewalls were pretty coated in superglue.
Supergluing the sidewalls is a great technique to reduce the bite of a tyres, but when they start wearing, you don’t get enough grip from them at all!
I then tried a new set of Express tyres on the front, and they were TOO grippy, loads of turn in sure, but also grip roll, which isn’t really necessary.
I think it’s time for some new Tamiya Tyres… I’ll get a couple of pairs of each, and play around. The common forumala for indoors is M grips on the rear, and either ‘kits’ or S-grip on the front. Though, getting S-grips to work can be problematic – they can be too grippy. Hard foam inserts are fine, especially on the front. And perhaps they’ll make the M’s on the back wear more evenly?
Here’s the part numbers etc.
53254 M-CHASSIS 60D SUPER GRIP RADIAL TYRES(1 PAIR)
50683 M-CHASSIS 60D RADIAL TIRES(1 PAIR) **’kits’
50684 M-CHASSIS 60D M-GRIP RADIAL TIRES(1 PAIR)
53255 M-CHASSIS 60D INNER SPONGE HARD(4PCS.)
Written by simon.
Almost Enough Speed…
Did all my mini fiddling work? Yes, almost!
I raced tonight, and instead of being 3 or 4 laps down off the pace, I was only a lap down. I made the A, by the skin of my teeth, hurrah.
A little room for improvement though… I managed to trash the motor I was using whilst cleaning it, not sure what I did, so I was on motor 2, which wasn’t quite as quick in testing. So I’ll revisit the motors again and do some running in etc.
And, the track was very tricky, lots of chicanes etc, and I think my slow servo isn’t cutting it… I might have to try the fast Futaba one out of the touring car to see what difference it makes, if it’s noticeable I might have to get a quick servo for the mini.
Tyres, in the final I was struggling with understeer, fronts were Express, and bald, and rear M grips. I’ve got some new Express but not on rims, so I’ll mount them up and try them on the front, with a veriety of rears to see what’s working.
Springs, I’m running it pretty hard, I think I need to soften it up a bit to let it roll a bit, and hence grip a bit more. A couple of times I was getting the diff spinning up in a tight corner.
All in all, good stuff, and a little more room for improvement, I’d be frustrated if there was nothing left to try!
