Quote:
Originally Posted by carborush
track is combination of wornout (outdoor) astro turf, hardpack sand and loose fine sand mostly in corners, so the surface is constantly changing
i'm running with the fastest rookies laptime wise (even winning occasionaly) but i'm 1-2 secs off from the more experienced riders in the non rookie classes
(so i guess it's fair to say my driving skills are average and I am able to get the car around the track in a propper manner)
I would guess i'm able to gain 1.5 secs just by improving my driving skills and getting to know the track better, and 0.5 sec by better setting up the car.
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1) this would suggest you need a very versitile set-up, one that does well on a multitude of surfaces - so again, there is no magic wand fix or magic set-up that will do.
2) it appears that you're trying to replicate lap times of the more experienced racers, and while it's something to shoot for (when
you get more experience) using their times as a comparison is just going to leave you frustrated -- nothing replaces experience, and the experienced guys likely have years of time behind the wheel/sticks....and IMHO it's the worst mistake newbies/rookies make, trying to go as fast as the fast guys.
3) part of racing, and setting up a car, is about "compromise" - how experienced guys set up a car is to have certain sections where the car is set optimally for, and other sections where they're forced to give up a little (relative to their gains elsewhere).
Quote:
Originally Posted by carborush
the whole lap the car is running fine grip wise
one uphil corner with loose sand is always getting me
compared to the other b44 I have to loosen the throttle to much to gain grip again, car is "almost doing donuts" having to countersteer hard to keep going. resulting in lesser throttle... until the other (rookie) drivers seem to go trough this part with much less effort and gaining time again on me.
now one could easily go on saying this is another "newby driving error blaming the setup case"
but seeing the "slower rookies" going trough this section with lesser effort and the more experienced drivers saying to sort out the diff's has led me to ask for some pointers here on this forum
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"Loosing the throttle," along with knowing when and how to do it, is called
DRIVING - while mashing the throttle in the hopes of staying in front of the guy behind you is called (well, I don't even know a proper word for it) a sign of a rookie driver....
no offense
There is an old, and often used, expression that comes to mind,
"You have to go slow to be fast" - and what that means, and what your complaint calls to mind, is that
you're overdriving the car ....
too much throttle, too much power, too much steering input - all resulting in you being fast in the fast sections, but being all over the place and slow in the slower (dustier, dirtier) sections. LET OFF THE GAS FOR CRIPES SAKE AND LET THE CAR MAKE A SET, and learn to properly modulate the throttle. Again, nothing replaces experience.
For example, it seems that every time I go to the track some rookie/newbie will be on the driver stand next to me during practice, and he'll complain when I blow past him through a particularly slow section of the track - and he'll ask me to give his car a go for a lap or two, to "see what I think." I'll blast around for a lap or two, hand him back the controls and say "yeah, that works pretty good," and they'll look back at me and say "my gawd, you drove it like it was on rails. how come it doesn't work that good when I'm driving it?" and my only response is to tell them
"you need to slow down."
Another typical rookie mistake is their motor choice, as they seem to pick the faster mills and the highest powered batteries all under the auspices of going fast - when in reality it's like giving a kid that just got their driver's license a brand new Ferrari. Facts are, in the greater scheme of RCing and racing, you've still got the training wheels on your bike - and likely would benefit from going to a slower motor/batt combo under the auspices of slowing down to learn proper car control. I've seen very few situations where a car, especially a 4wd car, suffers with traction issues with a "stock" motor and battery type of set-up under the bonnet.
But, the one final thing you've apparently missed in all of this is three-fold: you haven't consulted any of the "slower rookies" to see how their set-ups might be aiding them in getting through your problem section a bit faster, we still have no idea what you're using relative to shock oil or springs
(or if you've bothered consulting one of the set-up threads here so as to replicate the actual set-up used by one of the more experienced drivers) as it can make a HUGE difference on how a car gets around, and "sorting out the diffs" means to me that it's time to go through the car and quite possibly time for a rebuild..... because just running diffs, without proper/routine maintenance, from day1 till the end of time, is just asking for problems - and definately something a little yanking on the diff adj screw won't cure.
~ hope that helps,
but as was suggested before by another poster "there is no magic wand" and looking for one isn't the answer