Fall, 2001: BCR R/C Car Racing

R/C Car Racing

I figured since I never update my site with real racing anyway, I might as well put up a bunch of my R/C car racing pictures instead. I have a Team Associated R/C truck, but it's slow and only 2WD plus it breaks the steering servo every time I take it out. As such, I pretty much stopped racing it anywhere. Brian Peters and my roommate Brady both have really fast AWD "rally" cars though, which are basically just touring cars with another quarter inch of ground clearance. That means you can race them in streets a little more easily than the ultra-low touring cars.

This photo area is pretty much pictures of their cars racing around in front of my house as well as a few pics at SRS in Scottsdale where they once raced their cars with limited success against the touring cars.

November 23rd, 2001

Brady and Brian set up a course with some small rubber pylons.
Brian chases Brady's Skyline GTR with his BMW M Roadster
After a body swap, it's Brady's Lexus versus Brian's Diablo 6.0 VT

Brian's Diablo has mechanical problems as Brady kicks up some dust.
Brian's Diablo exploding out of the pivot turn.
Brady's GS400 at speed

After a less-than-ideal showing at the SRS touring car track, Brady tries out the truck track.
The smaller jumps prove easier to clear safely.
Those full throttle launches just don't seem to work

Another small jump made to look easy.
Launching with a trail of kicked up dirt.
Posing for the camera when the fun was all done

December 22nd, 2001

Brady's garage queen 2000 EBP Civic Si body
We set up a ramp with some scrap wood and wheel chocks to make things interesting
Brian tries the jump at full speed in a manouver Brady likens to the flying Mercedes CLK LeMans racers

Meanwhile, Brady discovers that he failed to torque his center-lock wheels to spec
The Diablo makes a flying run at me
A well-executed jump

The narrow ramp makes it easy to go off on 2 wheels
Brian's car bounces hard on a good landing
Brady breaks one of his A-arms. Later, he breaks the other.

Meanwhile, Brian perfects his jumps and catches huge air
Brady's broken control arm makes for unpredictable steering adventures
It's a race for the ramp! Can two cars make the ramp at the same time?

Only one car made the jump, landing on the other sending the Diablo upside down headed for the gutter while Brady ripped around the pivot turn.
The less than perfect ramp claims another victim
Brady surveys the damage with an annoying neighbor kid's telescope. The ground wire for the antenna is identified as severed from severe road rash.

With 2 broken LCA's and a broken body post, Brady clears the ramp at ludicrous speed!
Poor steering makes for an attempt with only 2 wheels on the ramp.
The evil Lexus pounds a cone placed in front of the ramp.

Going for broke, the Lexus gets no less than 2 feet of air from the 6 inch ramp.
In spite of the damage, the Lexus retires for the day still operating under it's own power.

So what's next for BCR? Well Brian's car seems to keep going along without any problems so we don't anticipate any changes there. Brady's car needs a new body post and two new rear LCA's. My truck is still slow and needs a new steering servo, but since Brady is on vacation for the next week and a half I'm going to see if he can fix my steering and find me a new motor. I also want to try to find the smallest diameter wheels and tires possible to get my truck low to the ground, and then maybe some different gears so it will still have decent top speed.

With some luck, the truck might be quick enough to keep up with the AWD rally cars on the open courses that we run here. I'd also like to get some new ramp material so we can make ramps that don't flex so much and are 3-4 times wider so we can make it part of the official race course. That also might give my truck a better chance since it will probably be able to take the jumps at higher speed than the cars would be able to.

Update!! (December 29th)

Ok, so after looking at all the pictures and wanting to get into the fun I decided to fix up my RC10 T3 truck and see what I could do. The first thing it needed was a new steering servo, so I picked up a new servo and servo saver, which is a device that makes the steering a sprung unit so it can absorb some shock without transmitting it to the servo itself. Since I also needed a little more top end, I picked up a new pinion and spur gear as well and effectively changed my final drive ratio from 4.83:1 to 3.82:1. I was tempted to buy a new electronic speed controller and modified motor as well, but I know a few folks locally that might be able to sell me those items used, so I held off for now. I also got a can of red paint since I decided that driving around with an unpainted truck for three years was long enough.

Next I needed to do something to make the truck handle a little better. It's way too high off the ground, too soft, and the offroad tires don't make any grip at all. Brady knew how to shorten shocks by rebuilding them with fuel tubing on the shock shaft, thus preventing full extension of the shock. So we picked up fuel tubing, some big foam tires (the equivilent of super soft race slicks) and stiffer springs. The pre-rebuild ground clearance was almost two inches but with the shorter foam tires and shortened shocks it was lowered to about one inch of ground clearance while still maintaining excellent suspension travel for on-road use.

Brady decided it was time to organize the R/C Grand Prix of Chandler. Brady got one other guy to show up, Rob, who also has an RS4 Rally car like the ones the Brady and Brian have. I tried to get a few other R/C truck owners to come over as well, but scheduling conflicts and broken cars prevented that. So, the event was 3 RS4 rally cars and my somewhat converted truck. We held a bunch of practice sessions, two of which I did with my 8mm video camera strapped to the roof of my truck. At some point, I'll try to get that video online somewhere. Without the camera, my truck was definitely faster and could handle better than it used to, but it was still no match for the RS4's in terms of turning response or speed.

After the practice we did some timed qualifying laps which Brady won by something like 22 thousandths over Brian, both of whom were about a second ahead of Rob's stock motor RS4. My truck was another 3 seconds a lap behind Rob. All in all, it was a lot of fun and it's left me wondering if I should get a speed controller and more powerful motor for my truck or if I should just get an RS4 Rally like everyone else so it will be like Spec racing. Who knows.

December 29th, 2001

My truck about to be rebuilt.
After the rebuild and lowering, getting ready to paint.
After painting and an unconventional alignment

Air cooled battery charger.
The new and improved course markers.
A view of the course

A rough drawing of the course.
Rob's RS4 Focus does some practice runs.
Rob circles turn 3

Rob's Focus rounding turn 4
Exiting turn 5, going past 5a.
My truck ready for chasecar duty

Tuning and modification mania in the hot pits.
Brady's impressive array of tires.
Rob sweeps the course while Brady tells the neighborhood kids that he's got the fastest car because of his superior tuning abilities.

The Concours d'Elegance prior to the main event.
Brian sports his new anti-roll bars.
With darkness beginning to fall, the main event is on. I retire with a broken toe block and take pictures.

Rob runs his silver Audi body for the main event. Brady snaps a drive belt and has to run the event as front wheel drive instead of AWD.
The night concludes with pizza and way too much Super Bust-A-Move for the PS2.

We didn't really keep an official lap count, but either Brian or Brady seemed to win the main event. Although Brady had trouble putting power down with only having front wheel drive, the car never got loose anywhere so he never had any time-robbing spins. Brian's car was hooking up pretty well though and they seemed to run next to each other most of the event. Plans are already under way for another Grand Prix where we may actually have real timing and scoring or even run a 10-minute enduro which would require a pit stop to swap batteries.

Page updated: 1-1-2002
This site maintained by Brandon Smith

November 23rd, 2001
Brady and Brian set up a course with some small rubber pylons.	Brian chases Brady's Skyline GTR with his BMW M Roadster	After a body swap, it's Brady's Lexus versus Brian's Diablo 6.0 VT
Brian's Diablo has mechanical problems as Brady kicks up some dust.	Brian's Diablo exploding out of the pivot turn.	Brady's GS400 at speed
After a less-than-ideal showing at the SRS touring car track, Brady tries out the truck track.	The smaller jumps prove easier to clear safely.	Those full throttle launches just don't seem to work
Another small jump made to look easy.	Launching with a trail of kicked up dirt.	Posing for the camera when the fun was all done
December 22nd, 2001
Brady's garage queen 2000 EBP Civic Si body	We set up a ramp with some scrap wood and wheel chocks to make things interesting	Brian tries the jump at full speed in a manouver Brady likens to the flying Mercedes CLK LeMans racers
Meanwhile, Brady discovers that he failed to torque his center-lock wheels to spec	The Diablo makes a flying run at me	A well-executed jump
The narrow ramp makes it easy to go off on 2 wheels	Brian's car bounces hard on a good landing	Brady breaks one of his A-arms. Later, he breaks the other.
Meanwhile, Brian perfects his jumps and catches huge air	Brady's broken control arm makes for unpredictable steering adventures	It's a race for the ramp! Can two cars make the ramp at the same time?
Only one car made the jump, landing on the other sending the Diablo upside down headed for the gutter while Brady ripped around the pivot turn.	The less than perfect ramp claims another victim	Brady surveys the damage with an annoying neighbor kid's telescope. The ground wire for the antenna is identified as severed from severe road rash.
With 2 broken LCA's and a broken body post, Brady clears the ramp at ludicrous speed!	Poor steering makes for an attempt with only 2 wheels on the ramp.	The evil Lexus pounds a cone placed in front of the ramp.
Going for broke, the Lexus gets no less than 2 feet of air from the 6 inch ramp.		In spite of the damage, the Lexus retires for the day still operating under it's own power.

December 29th, 2001
My truck about to be rebuilt.	After the rebuild and lowering, getting ready to paint.	After painting and an unconventional alignment
Air cooled battery charger.	The new and improved course markers.	A view of the course
A rough drawing of the course.	Rob's RS4 Focus does some practice runs.	Rob circles turn 3
Rob's Focus rounding turn 4	Exiting turn 5, going past 5a.	My truck ready for chasecar duty
Tuning and modification mania in the hot pits.	Brady's impressive array of tires.	Rob sweeps the course while Brady tells the neighborhood kids that he's got the fastest car because of his superior tuning abilities.
The Concours d'Elegance prior to the main event.	Brian sports his new anti-roll bars.	With darkness beginning to fall, the main event is on. I retire with a broken toe block and take pictures.
Rob runs his silver Audi body for the main event. Brady snaps a drive belt and has to run the event as front wheel drive instead of AWD.		The night concludes with pizza and way too much Super Bust-A-Move for the PS2.