Racing Guide

Well here it is - our attempt to help the new R/C racer do the best they can! This is meant for on-road Touring Car racers but all of the basic concepts apply to off-road and truck racers too. After all, they all have four wheels, shocks and independent suspension! The only differences are the size of the kit, racing surface and types of tires. Much of the information transfers over, more than you might think.

Let's suppose you already have your kit in hand, so we know what class you will be racing in. In recent years the explosion of Touring Cars (spawned in part by HPI Racing with the original RS4 Touring Car) has led to many new hobbyists getting some sort of Touring Car chassis. At first the Touring Cars were electric only, then we released our Nitro RS4 car to an eager public, and the Touring Car racing scene was never the same. From that point on the smell of Nitro fumes and the sound of high-RPM engines changed the landscape of parking lot racing! For this reason, we will devote some of our sections in our Racing Guide to the specific of Nitro Touring Cars.

THE BASIC RULES OF R/C RACING

There are some basic rules you must understand before we get started. The first is

CONSTANT PRACTICE

is the only way you will get better. The more you run your car or truck, the better you will get at driving. Hand-eye coordination can be improved only by practice, and experimentation with your car is the only way to find out what happens when you move a camber link, try a new insert, use a new tire compound, etc. The best drivers in the world practice every day for several hours at a time. No one expects you to be a World Champion, but the lesson is this: the more you practise, the better you will do, period. You may not be able to practice every day, but showing up at the track an hour earlier than your competitors is a small but significant step in getting ahead. The next basic rule is

THERE IS ALWAYS A COMPROMISE IN SET-UP.

What this means is that whenever you change something on your car (for example, to get more steering), you will affect another part of the car, usually at the other end (in our example, you will probably lose some rear traction if you add more steering to your car). You will learn to work around this and what you must do to the car to balance out the changes so adding a little steering doesn't take away all your rear traction, for example. In this case, moving from a blue to a yellow tire insert in front is a big step, so try a green insert instead (a move of one "step"). Our next basic rule is

KNOW YOUR RADIO CONTROL TERMS,

which should be obvious, but you would be surprised the number of racers who don't know what caster, roll center or end point adjustment means. To this end, we have had a fairly comprehensive R/C Dictionary available for quite some time. It is online and available whenever you need a definition of some obscure (or not so obscure) radio control term.

HAVE GOOD SPORTSMANSHIP

is a basic idea of all competition, yet a surprising number of racers blame their equipment, other racers and a multitude of other reasons for a bad performance. If a turn marshal didn't get your car quickly, who crashed in the first place? Who glued the tire that came off the wheel in the main event? Who was supposed to charge the battery that dumped early? 99% of the time, racers are responsible for their own mechanic's duties and maintaining their car and equipment, so unless someone hits you repeatedly on the track or turns on a radio in the pits, the only person to blame for a bad performance is yourself.

On the other hand, a gracious winner is respected much more than a loud braggart who claims he can beat anyone at the track. Either way, when you have a good battle with someone on the track, shake hands with them and tell them they ran a good race! It really helps to ease the tension of a tough race and helps make the track a friendlier place. Yet another basic rule of racing is

CONSISTENCY IS THE KEY TO WINNING RACES.

If you don't believe this, look at the guy who is fastest down the straightaway of the local track. Then look at the same racer in the tight areas. Does the car go wide, hit barriers and other cars? That racer isn't consistent. The other extreme is the guy who runs the same racing line in every turn, every time. If you looked at this racer's lap times, chances are you won't find them more than 2/10 of a second off of each other. Once you can get your lap times within 0.1 or 0.3 seconds of each other, you can feel really good about your driving abilities.

PROPER MAINTENANCE

is the best way to find out anything that might be wrong with your car before something breaks or comes loose.

PRACTICE

The most important word in learning about car setup is compromise. Altering one part of your car will always effect another. You will almost always have to make some kind of compromise between two conflicting requirements. The second most important word in learning about car setup is practice. The only real way to learn is to alter your car, drive it, alter it again, drive it again etc.

This publication is not designed to take the place of practice, or experimentation - nor should it be considered to be infallible. What we hope to achieve, however, is to give you some ideas to contribute towards your learning about car setup.

I have been racing off-road buggies for over 10 years and in that time have achieved much both on and off the track within the sport in Queensland. I make no claim to know everything there is to know about R/C racing, but have collected some knowledge of car preparation and setup during that period. It is this knowledge that I hope to pass on to you.

During my R/C career, I have raced in all classes, with cars from such diverse manufacturers as Tamiya, Kyosho, Marui, Mugen, Schumacher, Team Losi, Yokomo, Team Associated, Traxxas etc. I have used electrical gear (including motors, batteries, speed controllers and radios) from just about every major manufacturer. I trust that I will be able to translate some of the information I have been lucky enough to glean through this wide experience into useable data for you.

Heavy’s Hobbies is Queensland’s premier R/C car specialist retailer. Heavy’s has been trading since 1994 and during that time proved to be an invaluable source of products, and more importantly, advice and assistance, to Queensland’s R/C racers. Heavy’s Hobbies is proud to be able to further contribute to the development of the sport of R/C racing in Queensland through endeavours such as the publication of this book, and running of associated seminars.

We take this opportunity to wish you all the very best in your R/C racing. Remember above all that we’re here for fun. Race hard, but race clean and walk off the driver’s stand with a smile on your face. We’ll see you at the track....(actually, we’ll race you there!).

getting a setup

There are, however, some basic ground rules which we can lay down to help you when you go to practice, or tune your car. Take note of these:

Basic Setup
Try to develop for yourself a stock, or basic setup. These are the settings you should use every time you go to a new track, or anytime the conditions at your track are much different from normal (e.g. new dirt, new track layout etc). In most cases, your standard setup should be the kit settings. Associated provides setups for many of its kits.

Be an Individual
It’s good to share setup information with others - particularly if they’re using the same equipment as you. It’s important to recognise however, that each individual drives a little differently, and prefers a different balance to their car. Once you’ve reached a ballpark setup (usually tyres, shocks and springs) do the fine tuning on your own. Don’t worry if you’re not using exactly the same settings as the guy next to you - you’re just as likely to be right as he/she is!

Write it Down
Get a notebook to take with you to the track. When you change your car make a note of what you changed, what affect the change had, and the track conditions at the time of the change. Pretty soon you’ll build up a good database of information about what tuning adjustments do to your car’s handling. Ideally, many manufacturers now produce blank setup sheets for their cars. These setup sheets let you mark all your settings in a simple, easy to understand manner. I’d suggest you grab a blank sheet, do some photocopies and keep them in a folder in your track box. Then after each race day you can make a note of what settings you ended up using and what the track conditions where like. Again - you’ll soon build up a database of setups for different tracks and track conditions.

Don’t be Afraid to Ask
Never fear asking for help. If you’ve got some difficulty adapting your car to strange conditions, your just not sure how to change it to get more steering (or less!) - ask. Without exception, all top racers are happy to help those less experienced than themselves - until you start beating them! Look around for someone whose car is running hot - and ask them for some advice. You’re also always welcome to call us at Heavy’s Hobbies or see us trackside - we’ll do our level best to get you going.

Change One thing at a Time
One of the most important rules of car setup, is to make changes one at a time. If you change tyres, and suspension settings - how will you know which cured you steering problem? If you lift ride height and add a stiffer spring - how will you know which cured your jumping problem? My advice is to always make one change at a time - then try the car. If it doesn’t work - change back, and try something else. This is the most effective way to track down the correct settings - and at the same time to learn about setting up your car.

driving

After all this effort setting up your car, you’ve still got to drive it. If I could tell you exactly how to become a perfect driver, I’d be a pro racer on my way to the Worlds. The fact is, we can’t all drive like Masami Hirosaka or Mark Pavidis. We can, however, all improve ourselves. Here’s a few tips to keep in mind when you’re striving to improve your driving:

1. Know exactly where you want to drive. Sounds simple doesn’t it. This means - go for a walk around the track before racing starts - look out for nasty holes or bumps - figure out where to hit the jumps and exactly (like down to the centimetre) what you want your racing line to be. When you go out to drive, try to remember everything that you decided on earlier. Don’t try and think of the whole track in one go - just concentrate on the corner you’re on now and the next 2 or three corners. If you notice yourself getting off your chosen line - it’s easy to fix - SLOW DOWN until you’re back where you want to be.

2. When you have your first run at a new track, take the first few laps slowly. Try different lines - figure out where your car is best over the jumps and bumps. If you’re having trouble on one particular jump try different lines, different throttle openings - keep experimenting until you have a method of consistently negotiating the whole track.

3. Watch others drive. Next time you’re at a big race meeting, take some time to watch the 2wd or 4wd modified races. Pick out the fast guys and watch them closely. Look at the lines they take, listen for their throttle movements (especially when the car is in the air). I’ll guarantee you - they will be smooth on the throttle, and gentle with the steering. They’ll also be utterly consistent. What you need to learn is this - if your car is consistently on your chosen racing line - you’ll never crash, and you’ll win more than you’ll lose. Simple huh?

4. If you’re attending a big race meeting, try to draw out a complete map of the track on some paper. Mark in corners, jumps, ruts, holes and bumps. Mark in your preferred line and make notes to yourself about things to remember for each corner or jump. Take it home, and spend a little time the night before the race just reading through the comments - memorising the whole track - exactly as you want to drive it.

5. YOU MUST PRACTICE! Race on your own, get to club meetings, drive with other (and better) drivers, race on-road whatever. The more you drive, the better you will drive - provided that you think about what you are doing and strive to improve.