RC car drfiting like you've NEVER seen

[808BMW]

What kinda budget is needed to get into this? Not hardcore or anything, I just want to have fun and not worry about breaking stuff.

[e30Matt]

I'm running the Racer 2 pretty much fully upgraded, I milled a Ti chassis for it at work last summer, it's got CF everything else; pretty much musts for racing, tremendous weight savings over the stock aluminum and plastic units. I still run plastic pieces in the suspension, no aluminum, because you need that resiliency in the event you smack a board hard or get tied up with another car. Aluminum doesn't spring back.

Pick up a cheap set of kit tires or the hardest compound slicks you can get your hands on, some $4 a pair cheap-o wheels, and go at it. I'm running a Nitro Star .15SS in my nitro car, with an upgraded heat-sink head (a MUST), Traxxas carb (sounds odd, but WORKS), and some other little goodies here and there. It makes more than enough power to break the car loose, and the two speed transmission helps keep a good compromise between down-low torque and plenty of go up top.

[rs4pro3]

I've had both electric and Nitro kits. here my list in order
HPI rs4 mt(kept loosing the halfshafts like crazy, HPI finally fixed that problem)
HPI rs4 mini pro(one bad ass speed demon)
HPI Rs4 Pro-2
HPI Nitro racer upgrade to racer 2 specs
Traxxas Stampede
BMT 1/8th On road racer(never actualy drove it but so wanted too with it's .21 engine, and 3 speed tranny )
Kyosho V-One S

The Associated rc-10l is an Onroad car, it's designed to be super light weight and to be run on carpeted tracks or prepped concrete.
I haven't had an rc car since I got an e30.
I like Nitro a lot better as I'd go threw motor bushes like crazy(team kinwald 12T double) but that was mainly to the Engine getting to hot.

[AndrewBird]

I like Nitro a lot better as I'd go threw motor bushes like crazy(team kinwald 12T double) but that was mainly to the Engine getting to hot.

Should have run a lower gearing. Mod motors do not like high gearing.

Andrew

[rs4pro3]

but What is the fun in that 8) Still I'd rather just stick a bottle of Nitro in threw the window of the body and refill the car instead of stopping it pulling the body and changing out the battery.

[e30Matt]

Word.

On a side note, anyone have a good way to balance wheels/tires?

[rs4pro3]

Take them to your local tire shop and see there reaction when you pull 4 wheels out of your pocket :roll:
I think you can buy the stands for $10 or something.
The greatest thing I've done with rc cars is I went to the 98 Team Trinity losi Shootout in Dalton Ga. and wathced the race it was great as Losi put on a display race to show off the new xx-4 Desert racer body, it was crazy and Brian Kinwald and some other top guys were just baning into each other landing ontop of the cars off the jumps and the turn marshalls were never needed once during the whole 5 mins. And I got Kinwalds signiture out of it.

[ETA fro]

sweet, but i couldnt stop laughing the whole time. i think it is great

[Beej '86 325es]

Well, I ordered a used HPI RS4 3 SS off of eBay last night. I believe the body is an e46 m3. I'm super psyched. :loco: I hear these things go 72-73 mph! I saw one ebay auction where a guy had it clocked by a cop!

[e30Matt]

I would have seriously bought an R40 instead. Much beastier. :)

[Beej '86 325es]

I'll only be using it for recreational use, not competition or anything. It probably wouldn't be worth the extra money for me. Out of curiousity, how much more powerful are the R40s? I thought they were just a .12 motor.

[rs4pro3]

It's not just the power, it's the adjustablilty and the lightness of the chassis. Of course unless you racing it you don't need all the adjustments which will just confuse a newbie. Most stock nitro cars will do 40-50mph. A couple years back Radio control car action took some HPI Nitro rs4's and built them into the ultimate speed demons, they had the car clocked at 97 mph.
Most of the .12 nitro engines won't get the car above 55 and I'd only do so if you have a FM band radio. The onroad BMP car I had could of easily done 60 but it had a .21 engine in it to bad I never got to test it out.
Either way You'll have ton's of fun with your little car. :D

[Beej '86 325es]

I did a bit more reading about it last night, trying to educate myself on nitro cars. I guess this one tops out at 46 mph stock. Which is still pretty damn fast. Are these things hard to control at high speeds? My RC10L was so glitchy and sensitive to steering adjustments at high speeds.

Some of those electrics go insanely fast. I remember reading about drag racers that were built to do 110mph + !!!

[Beej '86 325es]

So, got my RS4 and played with it a couple of times. Damn it's fast. It's got an HPI 15 FE engine in it (I think with an SS head). Almost the whole suspension has been replaced with aluminum. Came with a black E46 body. The thing is so fast, it's like constantly burning out. I still need to tweek the throttle a little because when I hit the brake, it closes off the carburetor.

On my last run however, I ran into a problem. It died and when I went to restart it, the pull cord wouldn't retract back in. It's not seized though. I took apart the pull start spring assembly and it's all in working order. It has a little tension to it, but just doesn't want to pull it back in. Any of you rs4 pro's out there have any advise?
Thanks.

[Skafrog]

you HPI followers might like this, a custom chassis and top deck for the Nitro rs4-2. Anyways, Penguin R/C is an amazing source for graphite items.
This is what I used for racing ROAR races about 2 years ago, now its a nitro tc3 :-)