Quote:
Originally Posted by Cockerill
I'm sorry, but if you are running the same tires surely you have the same contact patch, but less pressure. However, as there is less weight to move around you don't need as much pressure.
As batteries have got heavier I have not seen a harder compound released.
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If the tires were solid with no flex, then there would be no change in contact patch, just pressure as you said. But tires are made of flexible rubber compounds that flex and conform to the track surface, especially during weight transfer while corning, braking or accelerating. less battery weight = less contact patch and less weight to transfer (for an increase in contact patch) = less traction. Ask a tire manufacturer. You will still need just as much pressure for the same given tire for the same given traction conditions to go through a corner at the same speeds. You will end up needing softer tires, trust me, thats why everybody adds the weight back to their car with lead. Another bit of physics...by reducing the weight of the heaviest part of an r/c (the battery) that is located in the lowest part of the car, you effectivly raise the center of gravity of the car. Thats why is not just less damping and softer springs to make the cars handle right. Alot of things change when you reduce the weight of our little precision toys by 200 grams.
The minimum weights allowed for the cars haven't changed, so over the years as the batteries got heavier, the car designers designed lighter chassis to bring the cars to minimum legal weight...tires did not need to be harder because the net weight of the car and batteries were still the same.