Getting into RC Racing | #askHearns

Video sure quite a few families coming through over the last few weeks, yes uh and uh, trying to get the kids prepped something up and running with with uh, with the race button yep. So this is a four wheel drive this one is also four wheel drive. I also get two drives. You can get two drives one up here, so yep, so that’s a two drive option so before we drive – and she will drive main difference – is that you’ll drive like the rear, Τροχούς, uh driving. Ναι, the four wheel drive, obviously will have all the four wheel, uh driving and uh. Apart from that, the components required to get the car ready ready are very similar but yeah. So you got your advantages and disadvantages. Φυσικά, so obviously, two wheel drive cars will be running together with other tools, cars and full drive. Likewise, now a tour drive is a lot simpler in its um engineering design. So you’ve got one gearbox, Ναι, and then you have the motor and one pair of driving wheels. Ναι, Um, so it’s a simpler machine but it’s more of a challenge to drive absolutely at the end. You’Ve got your four wheel drive, which has got gearboxes on both ends. Προφανώς, so four wheels are driving it’s going to have a lot more grip. Ναι, downside is it’s, got a lot more moving parts, so it’s a little bit more complex and they’re a little bit slower, so some people embrace both classes.

If you want to just begin, i suggest just do the one class and then expand at a later stage. Um and then, Φυσικά, you know once you’ve got a kit like this you’ll need a few other bits and pieces and get it going. Definitely so let’s get a few things yep, so you’re gon na need this. So you need a controller up. So when you get these controllers, it’ll come with the um, ο πομπός, which is your handpiece uh, they’re generally in wheel type configuration now because it’s evolved to a point where wheels tend to be um easier for most people to control. So it gives you a little bit finer touch with steering also with the throttle, because your throttle is controlled with your index finger um and within these sets, you’ll normally get a receiver as well so hand. Handpiece is transmitting the signal of your movement okay. So if you turned it, the beam it’ll bend through this aerial go to the receiver, which is this little small box which is mounted inside the car, and then that will send a signal to the steering servo to move the particular amount that it was told by The transmitter so likewise with the um, the trigger the trigger controls, um your throttle, so as you squeeze it gives you forward throttle, definitely and then, as you push it forward, that will give you breaks. So one thing to mention – i guess when you’re racing you’re not allowed to use reverse, because reverse can be quite dangerous if you just pull it um, while there’s uncovered cars, so this is usually set for braking now.

Προφανώς, if you’re just practicing – and you had a forward and reverse speed controller – you use this. This part would also be using your reverse so with the receiver. So we’ll get a close up of receiver, so that’s what the receiver looks like so that’s your main unit, and this is a receiver with the antenna yeah many receivers today. Don’T have an antenna anymore. They have an integrated antenna. That’S right. I think one in my car does have an integrated antenna but that’s a very important thing, so never chop it or damage it, because if you damage his antenna, you will pretty much damage the product he won’t have the same ability of of uh controlling the car. Yeah so the tune to the particular length. So once you cut it, you’ll lose a lot um of range. Definitely, as you can see here, you have all the ports for the different channels. Ναι, Um, Ξέρεις, uh you’ve got normally the channel one channel two, which is the most used for steering in throttle. So let me see if you can see it steering throttle yes and then you may have a third channel which um could control. You know this additional buttons when you’re ready for radius and multi channel radio. Ναι, you can control, perhaps um. It could be light switches if you were to use a rock roller or other things. Ναι, correct. You won’t need that you normally plug in your your transponder.

In one of these um other slots here, Εντάξει, now and transponder, is the lab counting system, so it’s a little box which sends out your own id. So when you come around the start finish line, the computer will know how to count, and this is a low profile server which is going to make your cast here. Ναι, so this server will have this type of plug, which is called uh futaba plug and will plug into your receiver like these yep. So steering is always on channel one yep. One to turn should to burn let’s, see a good way to remember it, and here we go and then the second channel will have the speed controller, which we’re going to talk about that in a second. Ναι, so that’s step, one yeah, Εντάξει, so you’ve got your controller. You’Ve got your servo for doing the steering and then there’s a few other electronics that you’ll need as well. You will need a so called speed, controller or esc electronic speed controller, which we have a few different samplers many brands of these products. There are they’re all um very similar. At the end, this preference there’s everything you know. Βασικά, what it is is a little electronic box um. So it reads the signal again like the steering so it’ll read the throttle movement and depending on which percentage of your throttle movement it’ll control, how much power to deliver to the motor from the battery. So you’ve got the this little device here controller and let me pull out the motor as well yep, so speed controllers have different ratings as well.

Ναι, i guess the temperatures they can deliver, so they go from say a 50 amp which is a good little entry level, speed controller for stock racing for junior racing. Ναι, this is well packed, actually doesn’t come up, and then you go all the way up to. You know 120 150 amps for uh um a bit more modified yeah. So if you’re not aware there’s different classes as well, so as well as the tool drive and four drive type classes within those there’ll be different. Motor power classes just keep everything. Even yes, so you’ve got your stock classes, your modified classes, so that’s modified is the very top. The stock is in the middle and then uh you may have some prices yeah or intermediate clusters, depending on the clubs. General speaking modified is open, so you can run any motor or kind of within within within some obviously regulation. But as for a number of turns in your model, you can run anything once again stock. Is there where the motors are limited? Ναι, so at the moment in two wheel drive stock, you run a 17.5 turn motor, Ναι, and in four wheel drive you run a 13.5 Μοντέλο, which is a bit quicker. Actually uh forward drive can handle a remote speed because it’s got more grip. So, a couple of years ago they switched from 17.5 to 13.5 in um in stock and it’s, actually really good fun. Yep a bit more speed, yeah be more crushing.

So let’s have a look at the uh speed controller, so that’s a what we call a speed controller. Ναι, έτσι εεε. Where are we so here? You’Re gon na have uh all your connections, so you’ll have two connections going to the battery. Ναι, positive and negative positioning and negative yep, έτσι εεε, red and black and then you’ll have it three phases to go on to your motor here, yeah to be a connection going from each one of this into each one of those uh. You have to follow the lettering that is all marked down here, to go in the right tab here, yep, so it goes up. A b goes, but yeah absolutely and then there is another connection which is a sensor cable. Ναι, that will go from this port here. Yes to the back port of the motor here, yes and that’s again, to improve um to simplify this is to improve uh, the feel and the control specifically a lower speed. I believe yes, and that will give a much better uh acceleration, yes much smoother and uh much more responsive, Ναι, absolutely so that’s, your mother and speed controller here yep and finally, you need a a battery. Ναι, in two and four wheel drive, we run what we call shorting, which is a bit of a shorter version compared to the traditional battery that we’ve seen on on most of our sea cow. You know like even the tamiya hornet for say: yes uh.

They run a traditional stick pack and so there’s a bit shorter yeah, and it was done to improve their weight distribution on these cars. Yes and uh again that’s a little shorter battery, yeah uh. They come in different uh, different uh, Um, Um, capacitors capacities, anything from say, 3, 500, milliamp, Πολύ, very thin, Μικρό, all the way to say six thousand six thousand two hundred yep um a bit heavier it’s. Going to give a bit more runtime, but also be more weight, which is always a very important factor, and so and that’s your battery here yeah. So then i guess the other thing you’ll need would be a charger to charge your battery. Yes and then um there’ll be a few little bits and pieces, some tools yeah some big news, yeah that’s right opinions for viewing, because you want to find the um uh, the right setup for the gearing uh and they can vary depending on the day too, because It’S good to do with the grip level of the track, so here let’s jump on the side again here’s everything and see. If you can see here, we go everything together so going from the front here, that’s your steering servo on this side here, yep uh, the red one here is a it’s a transponder for the lap. For that time it is actually a bit of an older version. Yeah uh they’re a bit smaller, now they’re moving on this side here, that’s your electronic speed controller yep that, as we said, connects to the motor at the back here.

Here we go yep and then again from the speed controller. You got your two positive and negative uh connection. You go to the battery, so the battery sits in here at the back yep and to finish, we have the uh receiver up here, Ναι, so that that’s one of those um antennas. Ναι, that’s right let’s, see here. We go so it’s got a little receiver yeah a little upright there it’s all inside the casing. Yeah. These are very neat absolutely so this is our forward drive bag. It looks like yeah, Um, obviously, there’s uh other things you may need wheels obviously wheels and tires. Αυτό είναι, a very important tuning factor: Ναι, so there’s different type of compounds softer and harder, based on the um condition of the truck that’s right, Um, different, different track patterns. So again, if he’s dusty or if he’s high grip, you tend to run different type of uh patterns, a few different shock holes and, most importantly, the color of the wheels. Ω, that makes it all brexit. Some can only drive in yellow wheels and some can only drive in white if you’re really different you’re, making black you’re making them back. Then you can’t see the car anymore, so let’s see let’s, see if you can get in the comments. Your preference on the color of the wheels. I know that that’s always a deal breaker. Ναι, you can’t use. If you’re on yellow wheels, you cannot go white um.

What else wink the wing is also another tuning factor. It is so you can, depending on the amount you cut it down, yeah there’s, different uh, different type of wings. A couple of different profiles that you can uh cut. You can can choose yeah uh. Here we go simon already voting for the yellow wheels. I know that because these are actually your wheels strangely uh and uh. What else can we say about this? Καλά, i guess we’re gon na have a closer look at the design of a racing car yeah compared to saying a hobby car. So the biggest difference is um, so they need to be designed to fit within some basic rules: there’s weight rules and dimensional rules once they fit within there. Then the important factor is to get adjustability within the design of the car so because the cars are being used in all different um surfaces circumstances, so you want to be able to make it tunable to any one of those, and so the suspension is very tunable. The the camber is adjustable so that’s the angle of the the wheels uh you can adjust a caster as well, which is actually the angle of the wheels in this direction as it rotates. So you normally adjust that by changing uh. Let me see this kind of component here, Ναι, so either c hub, or some of them have um inserts as well as well for changing their angles. Very finely yeah.

So camber link is this one here with this turnbuckle here you can shorten it or extend it to change the angle of the wheel. It can go be you can open it up a bit or close it. So you, you change your your camber, also suspension blocks, which will change the um, the overall angle of the suspension, arms yeah. So that changes the role center of um of the suspension yeah. So you can make the car roll more in cornering or roll less. This to sit in here so yeah this uh. This is called front suspension mount and they will contain a little pillow, so they call a little block. Yes uh. They are pretty much horse there. Let’S see if you probably can see from this side in here. You’Ll have a hinge pin going here, and this pillow is going to have a hole in a specific position which is going to determine the angle of this um of the. How do you explain this out of their arms? So this can go yeah, δεν είναι αυτό που νομίζω., more of a direction or um you’ve got semi trailing so different changes, and also you can change the track width as well, and fine adjustments absolutely and pretty much. The same goes in the in the rear end. Ναι, so you have your uh camera link, yep uh, and then you can adjust the camber position, so you can raise it all over it and then again we change the role center of the car.

Ναι, and from here you can see these pillows a lot better. Πραγματικά, Ναι, and by changing the position of let’s, see if you can see there’s a signal you can roll around, so there’ll be four different settings available in there four different holes, quite a few different settings yeah and you as you move them you you adjust the Uh it’s a minor adjustment, but the difference is actually quite substantial as you as you drive your car. Ναι, as you can see, there is also sway bar so that’s, another very important component. Yes um that you can adjust yes and then shocks. Φυσικά, shocks. Shocks are a very important component, different shock oils and springs and the angles as well and the angles. So you see on your shock tower here, probably the front. Actually you can see it better. You get multiple, multiple holes, so you can change the angle of your suspensions, Ναι, so lots of tunability, and that was we were saying before that’s uh, you have the front differential here and again, the differential can be tuned by changing. Um is a gear differential. So you can put different oil, yes and so we’ll produce a different type of uh effect. Then you have a center differential and sometime. You can have a so called slipper clutch, which is a bit of a different concept. Yep and then here you find a rear differential, Ναι, which is uh different again, Ναι, so uh so that’s, one of the the good things.

I think the interesting things about racing, because there’s so much to learn about setup and how you can actually just change. A few things and see how it makes the handling of the car different and suit different um situations. So someone is suggesting that the legal racing weight of a two wheel drive is 1.5 kilos right, whether on a four wheel drive, which is this one here is 1.6 kilos. Ναι, so you know, there’s always say a trade off between being really light nimble and having a bit more weight for stability. Ναι, so in stock you tend to be really light because you’re going to optimize the use of of the speed that you can generate with that specific motor. But when you run mod often you want to be more weight to be more uh a bit more uh stability. Ναι, so and uh as for wheels. I think we’ve got uh pink and purple good option. Yeah yeah different there’s, a couple of options, obviously yellow. I think i think yellow is um. Is it always a winner? It is very easy to see it’s much easier to see and if you put black wheels it’s going to be really difficult to say that still it’s actually it’s actually quite interesting. As you drive, it makes a big difference having having bright, Τροχούς, it’s it’s a lot easier to to understand how the car is behaving on the track, perhaps so um and i think uh that sums up your uh get interesting kind of uh brief.

Ναι, so of course, if you ever need any help, getting into racing just pop in and we’ll be able to give you uh a rundown on what might suit you best any particular budget and which particular class would suit you as well, and also the various clubs Around, i would say so yeah, so if you pop in at the clubs up in uh and killer park, for example, you go down on the saturday, Θα έλεγα 99 percent of the time there’ll be somebody there it’s, always a good thing to go there. You have a bit of a feel, you have a look and you talk to a few people. Yeah often you can pick up a secondhand kit as well, which could be quite good press start. So if you just are coming into the sport, you know we always uh, you know upgrade kit, so we we, we often sell secondhand kits so that could be a good way to get a a taste of the sport right. Uh competitors are allowed to have say, led lined bodies to really make their stand out, or is that actually against the rules it’s against the rules? Ναι, Ναι, so it’s it’s, quite specific on what additions you can put on and even though that’s probably going to hinder your performance and make it look really pretty uh it’s not allowed just to keep it all, even there’s, some specific rules on the body shelf. Actually so the the windows must be clear: Ναι, Uh, δεν είναι αυτό που νομίζω., Uh, δεν είναι αυτό που νομίζω., Um, compulsory and also when you have openings there’s, some uh regulation on on the opening you can have, because the opening is often done for cooling purposes.

Yes and obviously, if you can cool your motor or your speed controller more, you can actually put more power to them. Yes and and go a bit faster. So so there’s some rules on what you can can do on on your body shells. So it’s all documented it’s not very difficult but there’s some guidelines that need to be followed, Ναι, so it’s all a lot of fun. Absolutely so.