Mini-T Discussion/Feedback

[Doughty]

OK, I thought I would add a topic here for the Mini-T.

What have you done to your Mini-T? what problems have you had with it and how did you fix them to make it run better?
Have you raced your Mini-T?
What batteries/motor/electrics/servo are you running and how hard was it to fit them?

Anything Mini-T related really, hopefully we can get together a load of useful information on the Mini-T. as it is such a new product/concept it would be good to collect all the things you have found out so far.

[Doughty]

First thing to do is to check the mesh of the motor, out of the box I know most of the Mini-T's are meshed WAY too tight. dont go too loose though, and check all the way around the spur for correct mesh.

The stock Mini-T using normal 4xAA batteries is actually quite slow for anything other than 'living room' racing. I have also found there to be some glitches on my T using such a low voltage.

If you are going to run the car outside or anywhere with some space then the any 7.2v battery pack for the Mini-T will make an immense differance to the speed of you T.

Bearings are another 'must have' for frequent use of the Mini-T, I was supprised at how much differance in speed I got fitting these.

You must remember that the Mini-T is a miniature version of the xxx-t. everything is scaled down, though the truck is quite quite capeable of jumping as high as a 1/10th with the right batteries/motor you must bear in mind that the car will be far weaker that your 1/10th truck/buggy/saloon. you can 'tank' it up by buying after market parts but dont be suprised when your weak point moves somewhere else, and that somewhere else may be more expensive to replace.

How is everyone else getting on with theirs?

[joatham]

Out of the box, the car is fun for indoor bashing at home, but a little too slow for anything else.

So the first thing I did was to make up some 7.2V battery packs. That made a difference, the car was instantly a little faster. (If you want more details on building your own battery packs, PM me for pics/instructions).

Following that, I added a 300 motor and a new motor mounting plate, and ball bearings. The bearings alone made a big difference in top speed, and now that the larger motor is in, the little truck is insanely fast ;D

Now, the problems/moans I have about the car ::) The wheel bushes supplied are terrible, it should come with ball bearings in the wheels. The front tierods and steering rods are not strong enough to survive even a minor shunt; they are made of soft metal and they bend very easily. The shocks supplied with the car are terrible! If you upgrade the motor and/or bearings, you will find that turning any corner on a grippy surface (like carpet) will result in the car cartwheeling its way across the track, and probably bending the tie rods in the process. The gearbox is noisy, sometimes loosening the mesh can sort this, but sometimes it doesn't make a difference.

Overall the car is fantastic, it certainly is a crowd puller, when hopped up and wheelying it's way over our 1/10th TC track ropes. It looks good, and doesn't take a lot of room so it's easy to take out with you. Batteries last ages, even with the hopped up motor. But, at the price, it should really come with oil shocks and ball bearings as standard, and I wish they would do something about the fragile steering rods.

Oh, and the aerial tube gets bent/broken very quickly with all the rolling :D. I have seen a mod where someone placed a spring at the point where the aerial comes through the body, I think that's something worth doing.

There are a lot of hopup parts coming on the market, some from Losi, and many more from other manufacturers. Also, the availability of Losi spares seems good, I got my LHS to order a screwset and e-clips last Monday, and they arrived in 2 days. There's nothing worse than having a unique car break on you and finding you can't get replacement parts for weeks whilst they are shipped to the UK, so kudos to the Losi main distributor for that...

[Dan Reynolds]

I think you have covered all the points I was going to raise, the one other issue I have is the rear axle roll pins, they are too small and when I first took the rear wheel of one fell out and now cos the things so dam small I can’t find it, I think that they should be made bigger to avoid this happening
does anyone know where I can get replacement ones from as this is really annoying

[Dave G]

try a small body clip to see if it fits thru,then cut to size.

[Dan Reynolds]

Thanks Dave that worked a treat ;D

[Dave G]

no worries..i ran my b4 all season with a body pin in..much better than the kit ones....spring steel doesnt snap as easy :)

dave

[Doughty]

good points John,

Re drive pin, in my 1/10th cars I used snapped alen keys, can take a hell of a lot of power!

any more points in additions to Johns? I might have some solutions/answers on some of Johns points made earlier.

[joatham]

I'd be particularly interested in what people have done to the tierods ("LOSB1031: Camber and Steering Link Set"), as I don't want to be forever straightening or replacing them every run :o

[Doughty]

not sure about that one, but they have Ti turnbuckles in the pipeline
http://www.teamlosi.com/newprod/2004prods/mini-t_turnbuckles.htm

[joatham]

They look just the ticket, a bit stronger than the stock ones, if a bit pricey. Think I'll see if my LHS can get some in though, cheaper to buy one set of good ones than keep buying the soft ones.

[Doomanic]

Got 'em on order, no idea when they'll arive tho'. :(

[spierce]

And dont say doom going to be on your mini t straight away ;)

[Doomanic]

Yep! ;D

Just got to decide whether to go blue or red with all my bling.
Depends on what I do with the radio gear, Nosram or LRP. 8)

[jono_brook]

ne 1 now how 2 get the pinoin of when up gradin the moter??

[joatham]

Gently prise it off using a pair of thin nose pliers or by hand, it comes off fairly easily. Then you can just push it onto the spline on the driveshaft of the new motor.

[Doughty]

I was mini-t racing last night and the ball cups/balls/turbuckles on the std car are a real pain to say the least! ::)

[TimG]

Chris,

Just looked into the Ti turnbuckle set. It's only the rods, no ends or balls !!

[Doughty]

Some information on a possible 'official' race format


Removed speculation about rules

[Doomanic]

I'm not keen on the restriction reguarding battery packs.
In fact, I am positively opposed to it!

[Doughty]

It might be worth you speaking to helger about that.

[Dave G]

in other words they want you to race what they want you race..wheres the freedom in that?..

dave

[TimG]

Look guys, nothing has been decided yet. Everything is speculation at present.

I think we all need to carry on with what we are doing and then see what the rules are WHEN they have been decided and published.
I too, would like to have some form of input into the rules, BUT only on what I would like to run in my Mini-T.

I do not want to be held responsible for a rule or rules that excludes people, nor one that people dont like.

[joatham]

I agree about the battery packs, I didn't want to spend out on the ones available from manufacturers, so I made up my own. I think that any spec for cells should just state how many cells are allowed, not who they should be manufactured by.

The other suggested classes sound fine though, and it would be good to allow stock to have bearings in them.

[Dave G]

can someone please explain to me:

1.why is it upto helgar to decide what the class should be?(so you can only use losi parts?)
2.is anyone going to take any notice when its upto the club thats racing them to decide??or is this just for helgar run meetings?...

i wonder if speed 300 motors will be on that motor list or will they plump for the same motors but with a £20 sticker on them :P
dave

[Doughty]

I think Helger are trying to promote racing with these cars instead of insane bashing in your back yard.

as Tim said earlier, nothing is final yet. I posted information I saw elsewhere in here as it *might* help people when buying stuff for their mini-t if they are going to race it.


<EDIT>This post was meant in a way to give extra information on Mini-T racing, not pushing people to buy a certain product.

[Doomanic]

Sorry Chris, but by feeding us these snippets of information you are setting up Helger to control all aspects of Mini-T racing.

[Doughty]

Based on this duscusion I have thought it best to remove the rumoured rules from my post.

my intention was to keep people informed on what might happen with Mini-T racing and in no way pushing people into buying certain products.

[Michaella Webster]

i haven't managed to bend or break a trackrod yet, however i don't have a hot motor in it yet.

with regards to the race series that helgar are organising.. it would have its advantages and disadvantages, it would obviously level the perfomand therfore making it fairer.

As with most clases of racing why not run a standard class (out of the box, with 6 cells and wheel bearings) and an unlimited class where anything (within reason) goes.. then they and we get the best of both worlds!!

[sosidge]

I think people are taking things out of perspective.

HPI form "rules" for the HPI Challenge - but nobody complains about 15-40 tyres, or Orion Core Stock motors, or a restricted pinion. It's a manufacturers class, not a BRCA class. Same with Tamiya Eurocup.

Same for Mini T's. Helger would appear to be working on a "Losi Challenge" - and you have to agree, kit motors and pre-assembled packs are a lot easier to scrutineer than the multiple versions of the sealed 300 motor that are out there, and packs that are hand-made from cells that aren't widely available in the UK, or even Li-Poly cells. The cell idea does seem a little restrictive though.

It's still very early days, and I'm sure any BRCA rules will be more open, and any club rules more open still.

[Dave G]

i understand rules need to be made..but ill be damned if im going to have to pay £30 for a motor which is EXACTLY the same one i have that cost me £7 and £16 for a pack of cells i dont want.

i think stock with 6 cells and bearings as pointed out before
and super modified..max 300 size motor,6 cells max(no lithiums),truck dimensions have to remain the same but anything else goes
dave

[Doughty]

OK, let me give my stand point on this.

As some of you may know I have strong conections with Losi, LRP, KO and Helger.
I race for Helger using Losi LRP and KO. this is for EVERYTHING, motors, batteries, speedo's recievers, cars the lot. I reciever support from LRP and Losi direct also.

making the post about something I read in another post was simply to give you as much information as I know. I thought that the more information you have the better. it is not inteneded to push you to a certain product. If anything the products that I should be advertising/promoting dont fit into this. my main 'job' for Helger is LRP/Losi, Losi have the only car out there that can run in thi class and LRP have nothing (motors/batteries) that could be used either.

I have a set of LRP batteries that I made up for my Mini-T and they are really good, I wont be able to run them though

Regaring my stand on promoting products. I race the car/motor/speedo (everything) that I feel is the best and gives me the best chance to win with. I NEVER promote something that I don't believe is good. Michaella and the High Wycombe club saw my TC on monday night, it was very quick with an off the shelf(right out the packet) LRP motor and last years cells(my 'last years cells' didn't get run that much last year so they are still very good). thats why I use them.

I have a set of LRP batteries that I made up for my Mini-T and they are really good, I wont be able to run them though

OK, now to the 'rules'



I think people are taking things out of perspective.

HPI form "rules" for the HPI Challenge - but nobody complains about 15-40 tyres, or Orion Core Stock motors, or a restricted pinion. It's a manufacturers class, not a BRCA class. Same with Tamiya Eurocup.

Same for Mini T's. Helger would appear to be working on a "Losi Challenge" - and you have to agree, kit motors and pre-assembled packs are a lot easier to scrutineer than the multiple versions of the sealed 300 motor that are out there, and packs that are hand-made from cells that aren't widely available in the UK, or even Li-Poly cells. The cell idea does seem a little restrictive though.

It's still very early days, and I'm sure any BRCA rules will be more open, and any club rules more open still.


Thanks sosidge, thats what I feel these rules are aiming for.

Do all the Touring car (ex off-road) drivers remember the Tamiya scale saloons? and the Tamiya Eurocup?
Look what that has turned into. that is what started 1/10 scale touring with the rules that we all know and love now (any subC cell and motor size/turn limit)

hope that clears things up a little.