TOPIC:

Hi all,

I'm looking at racing my TT01e in a club, where they have strict rules in the way that I can't hop-up or heavily modify the chassis.

I can install the aluminium prop shaft, but i can't do anything with the standard plastic shocks.

My question is: do you know how to lower the chassis to at least 6-7mm clearance, as the chassis sits about 13-14mm. What can I do to the plastic shocks, as they are very "flimsy" anyway, but I have to keep them on the car. Or, is there another way to lower the chassis?

Any advice welcome, and if you have photos etc, then that would be great too!

Cheers!

I'm not 100% sure regarding your club rules but normally the springs are the bits that regulate the height. You may be able to cut a coil or two off the ends ( old school method) or get lowered springs from eBay or somewhere. If that's not allowed you could try repositioning them higher at the top mount. Some clubs don't allow any performance/handling modifications to keep it a level playing field, so it's all down to prep and skill of the operator. Don't they allow the plastic hydro shocks?

No the car is to be raced pretty much straight from the box... so apart from breaking in the motor, and changing the spur and pinion to 26/55 (FDR = 5.5) that's about all I cam allowed to do. Saying that, some of the other drivers must have modified something(s) as they are putting in faster laps and after 5 minutes of racing, have completed 3 extra laps!

how about tyres, spring rates, caster/camber set ups?

Porsche959Boy wrote:

... some of the other drivers must have modified something(s) as they are putting in faster laps and after 5 minutes of racing, have completed 3 extra laps!

What's that as a percentage of the total laps? If it's 10% (i.e. you've done 27, they've done 30) or similar, then I'd say that's well withing the range of racing & they're probably just a more practised racer than you & you could probably learn from their technique - they're probably not going faster than you at any given point, but will be smoother & more consistent, no spins, never needing marshalling, few to no slides, if someone is coming up fast behind them letting them through at a point where it loses them no time, hanging back for a lap wen they come up behind two drivers battling for position to let them sort it out rather than risk a collision etc etc. (ps I'm a rubbish racer but I can see how championship winners get there).

That said, are you doing everything that's within the rules to help yourself? If there's no limit on ESCs, then a higher rated one will have higher quality components & will perform (very fractionally) better than the stock Tamiya unit. Did you get a decent steering servo that centres properly, or just a regular cheap one? Do the rules allow 2S Lipo, but you're using 6N NiMH? (That would be a BIG difference come to think of it ) And so on ...

How carefully did you put the chassis together? Just carefully/tidily, or obsessing over every detail? Did you check every component for alignment &/or binding, reaming out suspension arms, polishing pins etc to get the best fit, swapping parts out side to side to see if you got a better fit that way? Check the action & alignment of each bearing, having first cleaned the factory grease out & relubing with a light machine oil? Check every wheel/tyre/hub position permutation for the best balance?

The point I'm making is they're are any number of reason why someone else's car could be "faster" than yours... If you're really convinced that ride height is the key, ask the "fast" drivers what height they're running at, and how they achieved it. My experience has been that real racers want a level playing field so they than prove they're the best driver, not know in the back of their head that they had an advantage.

Failing all that, and it's allowed, an easy way to reduce ride height is to reduce shock length, dismantling each shock & fitting an o-ring or two under the piston on each shaft will do that.

Thanks Jonny, some very good points made.

Yes I was very meticulous with the build, so I know that what you have pointed out bares relevance. I hadn't considered the ESC options out there or running with Lipo's, so that will be a good focus for me too.

I've improved over the last months with driving skills too, so there's not many "driver errors" these days... but yes, spinning due to oversteer etc doesn't help either.

Do you do any club racing?