Your ideas please...

[Martin23]

I have been putting off joining a club because I can't find anything local (or else where) that allows racers to highly modify their cars. Sure you can tweak bits but nothing seriously, because its against BRCA rules. :'(

Surely there must me some of you out there that have played with your cars and completely over powered them. Why not all hook up and race these monster motored cars on proper tracks?

I have had discussions on the Oval section but it seems Oval is a purist game and they aren't interested in pushing the limits of these little cars, are there any circuit racers who want faster more spectacular racing or am I the only one?

To make it into a proper race series obviously there will have to be rules but they don't have to be as strict as the "STOCK" classes, if you have any suggestions post them here and we can get the ball rolling.

the class could even have different genres of racing inside it like a tri-athlon, round 1 - Circuit, round 2 - Oval, and round 3 - Drag? or any thing else that the track can accomidate...

Please let me know what you all think ;)

[Mark Stiles]

You wouldn't want anything much faster than a modified 1/12th circuit car, especially inside on a carpet track; it could get a bit expensive!

Someone asked me whether I'd consider 6 cell modified 1/12th, but I told them I wanted a car left at the end of the race!

I have put 6 cell modified in a mardave before, but it was totally uncontrollable, and I stripped the spur gear. Won't be doing that again in a hurry.

[Dave Treacy]

South Hants are having a race on a veledrome, no limits and some drivers are looking to highly modify their cars. Have a look at the thread (I think it may be in the general section if not in the touring cars section)

Dave

[Martin23]

Mark, the mods don't have to be just more power! you could cange the steering, suspension and ride or what ever.

The point is, if you just go for massive batteries and motors and don't compensate the handling then it will be uncontrollable thats why these new rules I want to put together should let you change or mod you whole car (not just the "out of a box stuff")

open your mind, not your wallet - just by lifting the front of the steering wish bones by 2 or 3mm gives you better steering, for example.

[Dave Treacy]

err, can you explain how raising the front of the car 3mm above the rear is going to improve your steering, as this is news to me....

[PDW]

What rule says you can't lift the wishbones by 3mm? (Dave, your question is my question too!!)

I think you are on your own here Martin. Oval Pro-10, unlimited Gas Track, Extreme Speed runs - they have all been tried in the UK. Since you can't find them anymore, you can see what most people think of them.

Mark has the answer - race 1/12th 4-cell modified. If you have the skill to win a National, there is no geater buzz than that - at any speed, or any price.

[Jim Spencer]

Martin

Unless I've got the wrong end of the stick, which is quite possible as I'm on some good stuff trying to shift the Flu...

Then what your looking for is a class were you can modify the car?

Well you can run a completly scratch built car in 1/12 circuit, the rules allow virtually any design of car to be run as long as it fits in a dimensioned box, any wind of motor (as long as its only got 4 cells powering it) you can run 4 wheel drive, front or rear wheel drive, in fact come to think of it your not even limited to 4 wheels..

The only thing we do get picky on is the bodyshell (quickly nails on tin hat & ducks!) which must be realistic ish.

The cars are so fast its silly, though really good fun!

I think you need to have a look at a 1/12 circuit car as compared to a 1/12 oval car (Mardave / hotrod) running on a circuit as the 2 types are totally different.

Jim

[Mark Stiles]

You would be surprised how fast you can get a mardave to go around a reasonably small circuit, and keep it within BRCA rules! At high wycombe, I usually do a quick 30 lapper around most layouts (5 min heats). With my 1/12th, I can just about manage a 35 (usually a 34) in 5 mins. Okay 4 laps sounds a lot, but it works out to around 1 second per lap (lap times with mardave approx 10 seconds). Thats not bad for a car thats less than 1/3 the price of a 1/12th circuit! 8)

[Mark Stiles]

Even though I really enjoy my mardaves, as at our club its usually real close in the a final (in nov last year there were less than 4 seconds covering the top 4 drivers after an evenings racing!), I don't think there's anything better than a good 1/12th race. At our last club meeting, I won the 8 minute final by less than 1.8 seconds ahead of brian seymour! We were both 8 laps ahead of the 3rd placed person! (we were on 53 laps, while 3rd place did 46!). It was a great battle, and we were never separated by more than about 1/4 of a lap. We both thoroughly enjoyed it!

[Martin23]

Thank you for your coments,

I worded my opening schpeel a bit wrong, what puts me off is -

From the outside a model club is quite daunting for a 25 year old. You won't relise this because your already in, but even talking in these chat rooms is quite a challenge. The problem as I see it is that there is a lot of rules that sound very strick and its not until questions like I have asked get answered that rules become more clear and not as strict as originally thought.
The whole RC scene, be it planes, boats, cars or what ever isn't very well published and seems from "Joe Public's" point of view a "closed circle"

All the people I have spoken to in these chat rooms have made me see otherwise.

Maybe my intial question should have been "How easy is RC car racing to get into" the answer would be very easy.

Although that could have already been answered if the sport was better advertised and promoted, maybe the improvements should be made there rather than in the cars.

[Andy Taylor]

Thank you for your coments,

I worded my opening schpeel a bit wrong, what puts me off is -

From the outside a model club is quite daunting for a 25 year old. You won't relise this because your already in, but even talking in these chat rooms is quite a challenge. The problem as I see it is that there is a lot of rules that sound very strick and its not until questions like I have asked get answered that rules become more clear and not as strict as originally thought.
The whole RC scene, be it planes, boats, cars or what ever isn't very well published and seems from "Joe Public's" point of view a "closed circle"

All the people I have spoken to in these chat rooms have made me see otherwise.

Maybe my intial question should have been "How easy is RC car racing to get into" the answer would be very easy.

Although that could have already been answered if the sport was better advertised and promoted, maybe the improvements should be made there rather than in the cars.


I fully understand what you are saying dude. For a long time I HAVE been saying this. Sadly many times I have been seen as interfering and NO ONE likes critisism , which is what it must seem like. ( I accept that but most people who know me realise my motives)

Anyway I dont usually post here but saw this message and felt you really do need to bring this to the Admins attention so I am taking the liberty to report the post to him I feel its a VERY VERY important statement!

Welcome anyway!

[Tim Ward]

Sounds interesting.

At Farndon Mini Racers we are just writing the rules for a class to be called 'GTi's. These cars will have a minimum specified list of Mardave components, which can be modified and all other aspects are left open. See our web site for details soon.

www.farndonminiracers.info

We are trying motor/cell combinations currently. 19 Turn spec and 6 cells seems possible!

Cheers

[Martin23]

Ideal!

That is the start I was looking for.
The GTi Class sounds fantastic, keeping the basic Mardave concept but seeing how far you can push it.

Do you race on carpet?

If not, have you seen the new rubber treaded tires for the mardaves at http://www.no links to shops please as the rules!.co.uk they are 50p over the budget in rule 9 and arn't foam but I think they could add some extra options to your new class. ;D

The rules seem almost exactly what I was looking for, you've kept the standard motor rule in which I think is a good idea, everyone banged on about more expensive motors being unfair on the poor people, and its true - the racing should be about talent, be it driving or building not about big wallets.

What sort of tracks will you be racing on? and will the GTi's always race on the same track?

Very cool rules at Farndon ;)

[Tim Ward]

Glad you liked the rules! :) We are still playing with these, to be updated soon. Maybe an option to go for 1/12 circuit motor/cell rules. GTi cars will be raced on our usual track, which is an 8m by 16m carpet circuit, yes circuit not oval. If anyone else is interested in this class then please post as I could do with getting a sense of any enthusiasm there is out there.