HPI Racing - 24 hrs of Le Touquet!

We finish 4th, with only some electronics problems (speed controler and receiver that we change). The car was great, probably the fastest car on the track, and we only have to change the rear diff outdrive twice (see pictures). These parts are the only bad point of the car, and I notice this all this year even on the sprint race. All the rest was great, and I think the car is ready to start another 24h race, we need to change just bodie and bumper...

Race : 24 hours of Le Touquet
Surface : Carpet
Number of Team : 12
Official Teams : Schumacher (x2), Tamiya, Kyosho and of course HPI
Our team : A.Ledun, A.Constanty, S.Leonard and myself
Motors : Orion 15 triple
Batteries : Orion RC2000 V-Max
Tires : Medial Pro
Speed Controler : LRP IPC V6
Radio and servo : KO

Results
1st - Schumacher
2nd - Kyosho
3rd - Schumacher
4th - HPI
5th - Kyosho
6th - Tamiya

Before...

...and after

HPI M GTR

The outdrives!

There are a few reasons for the wear on the rear outdrives: The angle of the rear universals in relation to the outdrives combined with the acceleration squat factor, the lack of lubing the outdrives with the grey thrust bolt grease (hard to do when you have 5-second battery changes!) and the fact that the race was 24 hours, which is the equivalent to 288 5-minute races! These reasons are why there is seemingly excessive wear on the rear outdrives.

For a 24 hours race, it's important to have a very good setup. The car have to be very easy to drive, stable but with enough steering to be efficient when you need to go fast. You need to have 4 driver with a similar driving style (so they can have the same car setup). We use KO radio with memory on the transmitter so every driver can have is own setup for streering travel, exponential and brake efficiency. Each of us drive beetween 1 to 3 or 4 hours in one time, and we stop when tired or making mistake. I'll send you as soon as possible a picture of our team after the race. The most important is to get a quick change bettery system. We use an old PB system wich is very fast and strong : we need less than 3 seconds to change the pack and we were the faster at this point with the Schumacher team. I prepare the car (gluing all the screw...) but everything is stock, out of the box. I just use ball bearings on the steering system, a foam bumper, the new belt tensioner and a slipper from the RS4 (so the car is easier to drive and I was hoping the rear diff outdrive will last longer...).

We start the race with radio problems in 2 parts of the track. We lost some time with this, but we were still in 3rd place after 3 hours of race when we had a problem with the speed controler. I first think it was the motor so we change it, but it didn't work better. We change the speed controller and the receiver and we didn't any more electronic problems. At 4 AM, we brake a rear shaft because of the rear diff outdrive so we change both for the first time. We change it again 7 hours latter, before having problem, because in any case we couldn't finish the race with this 2. At the same time we change the motor (using the first motor re-trued with new brushes). After 16 hours of race we change the body, and the tyres every 3 hours. We use slick tyres from French tyre maker Medial Pro developed especially for indoor race, great on carpet (see the picture).

Setup of the car :
Front shocks : 30w #1 piston, gold spring
Rear shocks : 30w #2 piston, gold spring
1° of front camber, 0° of toe in
0° of rear camber; 0° of toe in (with this setup, the car is faster, and
need less power from the battery; also the tyres last longer).
15T one-way pulley
Orion motor 15 triple 28/90 ratio

I use a short wheel base configuration, with the rear arms mounted in reverse position. Whith this, the rear of the car have more grip (because more weigh on the rear), and more steering (because of the short wheel base).

About Corally motors, it's true they were the best motors around (it's my opinion and that's why I was racing for them). But in fact Corally motors where made by Oscar Jansen which is a friend and now he move from Corally to Orion to make new Orion motors. So I don't know how good will be the next Corally motors. But what I'm sure is that Orion will have very good motors soon (probably as good as the Corally, and maybe better). I'll race next year with Orion motors, and I already did it at the 24 hours race. I can guarantee to you they are very good... You'll find also a picture of the motor and battery use in the 24 hours race.

Here is a shot of the team after the race was over. Pictured from left to right is Arnoud Constanty, Arnaud Ledun, Sylvain Cachard and Sebastien Leonard from Medial Pro.