Ardent Raceway and HPI 24hr Le Mans RC challenge!!
 

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Ardent Raceway and HPI 24hr Le Mans Sprint Challenge.

From 15:00 on 11th June to 15:00 on 12th June.

We are looking for a minimum of 8 teams and a maximum of 13 teams of 6 people to take part in the Ardent Raceway 24hr Le Mans Sprint Challenge. Cost is just £25 per person and INCLUDES THE CAR!! (well, you wouldn’t want to use your own would you!).
The car we have selected after weeks of testing is the HPI Sprint 2 as pictured below.

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You receive your car 1 week before the event to enable you to customise and to fit your LED lighting kit (also included, and YES we are going to do some dusk racing).
The tyre choice will be announced before the date along with the number of tyres you are permitted. Spares will be provided at cost (but of course you won’t need them because these cars are solid beasts!!)

The observant ones of you would have noticed this date is the same as the real 1:1 Le Mans 24hr. That’s because we are going to run at exactly the same time and attempt to share the experience without the cost. Camping is free, either outside or indoors in small tents, as is sleeping on the floor under a pit bench. It’s bound to get messy and dirty, tiring and frustrating but you can be assured regardless of the outcome, it’s going to be a memory that lasts with you forever!

If you are interested but can’t find 4 others that are, then please let us know as I’m sure there will be others that you can make a team with.

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So just to recap, 6 people (or less, but the overall team cost stays the same), 1 car, 24hrs, beer, BBQ, as many spectators and mechanics as you wish, you supply your own cells, chargers and radio gear, you can change the kit servo but not motor or speedo, LED lights must be fitted, setup changes to the car permitted and cars must be painted or stickered to identify your team. £25 a person and your team can keep the car or sell it afterwards or even raffle it on the day for charity, it is your choice!!! This is thanks to HPI I might add. Thank you HPI!!!

BONUS FEATURE, Saturday afternoon we will have Alice Cooper and System of a Down playing in a field nearby at the Download festival (please note due to the times we are racing we will not have trouble with event traffic)

We already have 5 teams committed and paid up so THIS EVENT IS GOING TO HAPPEN, so register your team ASAP by emailing [email protected], payment is required in advance so we can buy the cars in ready.

Which team will win? Will your club be the champs? Will you come for the experience?? You won't need accommodation :-)

Best book Monday off work!!!!

This sounds amazing!

Have beeb wanting to do something like this for ages (think Ashby we're going to do something like this years ago).

Do we have to use the kit radio, and is that stick or trigger?

Have beeb wanting to do something like this for ages (think Ashby we're going to do something like this years ago).

No, you need to put your own radio gear in, so as a team you decide what you go for, or do you swap between the two? :-)

It is going to be an experience, I can't say a pleasant one, i'm sure after 18 hours you might be thinking WHY DID I DO THIS!! But it will be an event you look back on for years to come and for £1 an hour including a team car it has got to be good value for money :-)

Is this the same weekend as the cotswolds national?

Looks ace! 24hrs would be quite gruelling as the combination of tiredness and drink would be quite brutal.

Still interested though

It is, but we want to do it at the same time as Le Mans so we can watch it, hear it and experience it on our own 1:10 scale way. There are plenty of RC racers not doing the Cotswold National, so this gives them something exciting and interesting to do. Remember you get the car as part of your entrance fee, so anyone into RC racing can do it!! :-)

Not sure if this is a question or a request, but gearing.

Can we change this, or, are we all to run the same gearing, as that might make it a bit more interesting too.

i am well interested in this is there electrics in the cars or is it a diy job? ha may have fun finding a team though as i am a buggy guy normally :thumbsup:

Gearing can be changed, as can springs and any other adjustable components. Cars include servo, motor and speedo, so you need lipos and radio gear. Carl if you want to join a team then take a look at our posts on our Facebook Page, team Chand-a-Cola are looking for racing drivers :-)

Teams so far are Chand-a-Cola, Frome Racing Team, Team SPC-UK, Team Ardent, Derby Racing Team, HPI Racing Team, and we have bites from Worcester and Norwich. :-)

Team MMR Flux / Chippenham MCC just booked a slot.

This sounds like a brilliant idea :woot:.

I can't take part but I bet its a fantastic event, especially with the house lights down and the headlights on!

Why not... I'd be up for it

yeah james lets get a team together im up for it

Teams booked in so far:

Chand-a-Cola Racing Team
Frome Racing Team
SPC-UK Racing Team
Ardent Racing Team
Derby Model Car Club
HPI Racing Team
MMR Flux/ Chippenham Model Car Club
Doris Racing Team

And we have teams interested from Worcester and Norwich :-) It's going to be bloody brilliant!!!!

Shame this clashes with a National :cry: Would have loved to do it...

James me and Steve would be up for it too :thumbsup:

Ooh, I'm tempted! I'm getting flashbacks of Donisthorpe already! Is Dez still looking for drivers?! :woot:

Sorry more questions the cells we are running must they be brca legal?

more like the above with a 24 hour race

Looks like Team Keighley is going for an entry :thumbsup:.

I've checked the callender and its all clear for us.

Lovin it! I can rig the lights to work on the 3rd channel, how ace would that look :woot:. It would be rude not to fit brake lights too.

Your only in it for the lights ar'nt you :woot:

any 2 cell lipo or 6 cell NiMh. :-)

I believe so :-) Don't miss this one, it would be great to have you there ;-)

Please confirm by emailing [email protected] at your earliest opportunity, my next post will show you why.

13 teams booked in so far:!! Room for 2 more at a push. :-)

Chand-a-Cola Racing Team
Frome Racing Team
SPC-UK Racing Team
Ardent Racing Team
Derby Model Car Club
HPI Racing Team
MMR Flux/ Chippenham Model Car Club
Doris Racing Team
RCDisCo Racing Team
Worcester Warriors (name tbc)
Team Richards
Percy Racing Team (name tbc)
Dan Brown Racing team (name tbc)

and we also have a club in Norwich interested!!! It's going to be awesome this one!!

If needed the Ardent and Derby Team could be combined so i'd say we could squeeze another 1 maybe 2 in maximum!!

Don't miss out!!

These teams are fully paid up
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Ardent Racing Team (Paid in full)
MMR Flux/ Chippenham Model Car Club (Paid in full)

These have paid their deposits and have a guaranteed spot
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Doris Racing Team (Deposit paid)
Worcester Warriors (Deposit Paid)
Dudley Radio Car Club (Deposit Paid)
Keighley Team A (Deposit Paid)
Keighley Team B (Deposit Paid)
Team Ward (name tbc) (Deposit Paid)
HPI Racing Team (Deposit Paid)

These need to pay their deposits before Tuesday otherwise I might have to let it go to the others I have on the reserve list :-0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chand-a-Cola Racing Team (need deposit before Tuesday)
Frome Racing Team (need deposit before Tuesday)
SPC-UK Racing Team (need deposit before Tuesday)
RCDisCo Racing Team ((Need deposit before Tuesday)
Team Richards (Need deposit before Tuesday)
Percy Racing Team (name tbc) (Need deposit before Tuesday)
Dan Brown Racing team (name tbc) (Need deposit before Tuesday)

16 teams so 1, maybe 2, of the unconfirmed teams might have to be dropped. Awesome!!!

Important - Team RCDisCo have stolen 4 of my team mates and I need to wreak revenge on them. Do you want to race for TEAM ARDENT? You must use sticks and in the best position to help me beat them! pm me if you are interested. Please do not be offended if I do not reply, I imagine I may get a few.


These teams are fully paid up
--------------------------------------------------------
Ardent Racing Team (Paid in full)
MMR Flux/ Chippenham Model Car Club (Paid in full)

These have paid their deposits and have a guaranteed spot
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Doris Racing Team (Deposit paid)
Worcester Warriors (Deposit Paid)
Dudley Radio Car Club (Deposit Paid)
Keighley Team A (Deposit Paid)
Keighley Team B (Deposit Paid)
Team Ward (name tbc) (Deposit Paid)
HPI Racing Team (Deposit Paid)
Team Richards (Deposit Paid)
Chand-a-Cola Racing Team (Deposit Paid)

These need to pay their deposits before Tuesday otherwise I might have to let it go to the others I have on the reserve list :-0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Frome Racing Team (need deposit before Tuesday)
SPC-UK Racing Team (need deposit before Tuesday)
RCDisCo Racing Team ((Need deposit before Tuesday) Entry will be cancelled very quickly if I do not get deposit :-)
Percy Racing Team (name tbc) (Need deposit before Tuesday)
Dan Brown Racing team (name tbc) (Need deposit before Tuesday)

16 teams so 1, maybe 2, of the unconfirmed teams might have to be dropped. Awesome!!!

I've got a few questions about the cars and electrics, Am I ok to bug you now or am I best waiting for the next update? I'm super keen :woot:.

Bug away, but before you do here's a bit more info/Q&A

Use your own lipo's We have managed to fit 5000 and 5600 cells in. Over this and it's tight so would have to do some nifty shim work on the top deck.

You only Marshal your own team car, if you touch another teams car you will get 10 penalty laps

Rostrum position is drawn out of a hat

You need to add servo, receiver, transmitter and battery to make the car work.

Any adjustable components on the car such as droop, ride height, weight, camber, caster, shock oil and springs can be changed.

Cars must remain stock apart from springs, pinions and spur gears.

We will publish a working setup 1 week prior to the event so you can get the cars performing well from the very start. This will be given to you with your shell and is done by someone who is not competing (most likely Andy Moore or Jonny Bowden)

The stock motor is a 15t, it is damn fast and gets pretty hot so we are doing some tests with 21t to see if we can increase life of a motor. Ideas around motors is that whatever we choose you can have up to 3 to help with performance, but we may allow you to have more if you are burning out motors.

BBQ and beer is bring your own, i.e. BBQ is there but you cook your own food, beer and other stuff is also up to you.

The RTR kits usually come with Red shells, we are having clear one's made especially for this event.

The car belongs to the team afterwards and we suggest you keep it as we are going to run this annually and you will be invited back each year.

Tyres, kit tyres are like drift tyres :-( so looking at around 32 compounds, grip/longevity compromise.

There will be night racing (more like dusk due to the pitting area illuminating the track

LED lights have to be fitted in the front and are provided

You can change the connectors

If you pit for any reason you have to do a driver change

Everyone gets 2 x random 5 minute scrutineering checks, teams can not touch the car during this time and the same driver goes back out after the check

Any other things I have not addressed :-)

Thats a few of my questions answred, but I have more :D

I know we're supposed to use the supplied ESC but does it have lipo cutoff? And if not can we use one that does or will we have to use a seperate lipo cutoff unit?

Good question, of which there will be three answers:

1) We are hoping the new upgraded ESC will be available before the event, this has lipo cut off built in. If it is HPI are going to swap them for us.

2) If the new upgraded ESC is not available then you can fit a lipo cut off module

3) or you can just decide when the car is loosing power and stop immediately. This depends on all your drivers ability to detect this.

Hope that helps. :-)

I might invest in a cutoff unit just incase :).

Right, now for another one :D .....

The cars are 190mm but the RTR shells are 200mm with offset wheels and I'm assuming the supplied clear shells will also be 200mm so will the control tyre be availiable unglued so it can be mounted on offset rims to bring the car back upto 200mm?

To be confirmed nearer the time. ;-)

I know on the Novak smart stop one, it has an attached LED that flashes when you're near the cut off voltage. My plan was to run till this flashed then change over drivers.

Still looking for 4 more drivers for Team SLD Models (pm me via oople or via my facebook). Will be using my wheel control, but if you want to use sticks, as long your radio can take a Spektrum 2.4 module (that goes in the KO Helios) then module changing is an option.

We did some more testing tonight, the kit 15T motor ran far too hot and so did the speedo, lap times were around 15.3 seconds, compared to a top 13.5 driver doing 12.5s, normal 13.5 without timing (what we call 'old school') were laping around the 15 mark. We then swapped the 15T for the 20T Saturn motor and geared up 6 teeth on the pinion. Laptimes came down to 15 dead and the motor and speedo were tepid after 20 minutes of constant running.

So we will be swapping the kit motors for Saturn 20Ts, and fix the gear ratios at 34t pinion and 78 spur to prevent over gearing and burnt motors.

After the motor testing we focused on tyres and found Sorex 28s had grip roll and Sorex 32s were perfect. Not the cheapest rubber but we think 2 sets might do the 24hrs. But we are not decided on this just yet. Whatever we choose we will provide them in kit form with the original HPI wheels for this kit, with the correct off-set as this is what looks best with the shells.

Clear plastic shells have been produced already for this event :-) Great work HPI.

After the testing tonight we fitted the LED kit and turned out the lights over the track. I have to say I was like a big kid and it bought back memories of watching my Scalextric cars with the lights dimmed. We even had the light casting a glow on the track markings and walls around the track as the car went around the corners and my laptimes were just half a second down. THIS IS GOING TO BE SOOOO MUCH FUN :-) I'm not going to be able to sleep until June!!!!

I know Schumacher do the 32's cheaper for the BRCA and BTCC, but they also do a set with the JB insert (at the normal rrp) if that helps.

This is going to be awesome!
Couple of quick questions, How stock is stock? Screws? Shimmed top deck?
Does the body have to be stock? Cooling holes?
What will be checked at the random scruitineering?

The driver change rule could be hectic, no long stints :-( how do you check the driver is always changed everytime you stop for cells?

Sometimes the less rules the better. Less things to check, Scruitineer and penalise for.

Single handout transponder? Or pt?

Getting itchy thumbs already! Just want to get racing!

Ross
Worcester warriors

I can see problems with marshalling your own car, and possible (sorry for mentioning these three words) "health and safety" issues with people rushing to marshall cars. Wouldn't this just be easier by marshalling the way we're all used to, you race, then you marshall?