Looking to start, advice please.
 

I have just bought a Schumacher Cougar SV kit with a view to having a go at racing and would like to come along sometime in the next few weeks to have a go.

I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice on motors, ESCs and batteries?

I have built a few cars before and have a Team Orion 17x3 modified motor and an ESC which I could put in it, but would it be fast enough?

I have done quite a lot of reading about brushless motors and LiPo batteries and I understand what all the numbers mean but, before I go and spend a small fortune, what would I actually NEED to be competitive?

Your 17x3 will probably be ideal for your first few meetings, everyone needs a little time to get used to driving after a break ;)

You could be competitive with a brushed setup and cells, BUT its much harder work than today's Lipo and brushless.
Personally if buying a new motor and cells for 2wd, i'd look at an 8.5 from a reputable manufacturer, and two packs of reasonable Lipo's (two should do for a meeting, but if your feeling rich you could get more to give you less stress about recharging)

Don't worry about not being fast enough, the kit you have will be great, I run a cougar sv with speed passion 10.5 and have to back it off, I'm in my forst season after a 20yr break and all the kit now is stupid fast I'd even considered asking it out and putting in a 20t Saturn and esc till I get my control ack up to scratch

Thanks for the replies. The car is built now and I've taken it out for it's first drive. I'll keep my 17t motor in it for now, but I need some new batteries as mine are all fairly old 1400mAh NiCd ones which I doubt would last long enough for a race. Also, my charger says it will only charge up to 1400mAh, so it makes sense for me to upgrade to Lipo batteries and get a low voltage cut-off for the ESC until I can afford to go brushless.

Regarding batteries, does it really matter what C rating and mAh I go for (apart from making sure it will deliver enough current for the ESC and motor I choose)?

if lipos are what you are after mb models are selling some for a realllllly good price the c rating is higher the better i believe and as for mah i use 4400 which is plents but more is aslways good


http://www.oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94830


mike is a really nice bloke so is ross who works there give them a call they are good for advice and wont sell you somthing you dont need

While Shane's link may be a good deal, these Lipo's are really aimed at the top end of the racing market. There are others which would more than suffice if budget is a concern :)

Don't worry about discharging the lipo too far unless you're running round in the street until it dumps, they last ages now! With your motor you could probably do a whole days racing and only have to top the battery up mid way through the day. Even with a few warmup laps at the start I typically only put about 1100-1200mAh back into my lipo after each race :)

Thanks for everyone's help. I think the best thing to do is just to buy something about mid-range and come along and have a go and take it from there. It is likely to be the end of the month or maybe after easter when I get chance to come, but I hope to see you all fairly soon.