Thursday, November 27, 2008

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

From all of us at the Bay Area Peninsula RC Club, Have a very Happy Thanksgiving! Be sure to save room for pumpkin pie, too!

Recap: NorCal Hobbies, Nov 26 - Indoor Carpet Racing

carpet pano
The indoor carpet racing at Norcal Hobbies ROCKED! It was sooo fun! b-dog crossed the line a hair in front of me at the end! if it was an RC18-only class we would have had a fun battle ;)

The night was awesome, b-dog and pigiron - it was awesome hanging and racing with you. fabulous, it was awesome just seeing your crazy collection of rc's - that optima is the stuff! great racing guys, i am totally hooked on carpet racing, i hate to say it, but it is way fun! you had me saucin' up tires and worrying about my line - man, i might just turn into an on-road junkie yet... 18th scale first though!

IMG_0471

we had a really good turn out and lots of racers recognize the baprc t-shirts (we need a banner for our pit area!). there were 4 rc18s (mine, pigiron's, and b-dog's with one exotek r18 that was sweet) and then 3 tamiya minis that easily had 3 laps on us all and were sort of tanks on the track. no matter though, we let them finish 1,2,3 and we all fought over the rest of the spots. hopefully more minis show up so they can move them to there own class as they have a little more heft to them and really do take you out in their desire to pass you. near the end we were finally getting a little more aggressive and the minis were laying off a little, but it was getting brutal for a while - like slash class without the slash's! over the course of the night i think each of the baprcc RC18s took fourth place once and all 4 of the rc18s had 22 laps at the finish, so it was really close racing (see the race results).

the coolest cars of the night were the world gt cars - man, these things FLEW. i mean they really flew! they were easily faster than the TCs (13.5 tcs were getting 35 laps, world GTs around 44, 12th scales were getting in the 50s). man, they were riding on rails, definitely a sight to see.

tired team

we started racing a little after 7pm and i didnt get home until about 12:30am... nice long night of racing! but we were all pooped at the end.

it was great finally dusting off that rc18 and i am so happy i converted to 18r from 18t. it was fast and stuck on the track and just felt awesome. thanks b-dog for letting me borrow your nightline body, when i get back from my trip, i'll have to spend the rainy days dialing in that little car ;)

Got something to add? Join the discussion!

Monday, November 24, 2008

NorCal Hobbies, Nov 26 - Wed Night Indoor Carpet Racing


Hey All,

A few guys are talking about heading down to NorCal Hobbies this Wednesday evening for some indoor carpet racing. Most guys from our club will be running RC18R's, but any on road car can be driven there. What better way to kick off the Holiday Season?!

It looks like we'll have about 3-4 guys there for sure. If anyone else would like to come, you should definitely do so! We need some other club members faces to make some appearances!

I've got plenty of room in my car, so if anyone wants a ride, feel free to ask! You can check out the latest information about this in our message boards.


Hope to see you all there!
-Bryan

Friday, November 21, 2008

NorCal Hobbies - Sat, Nov 22 - "Turkey Shoot Out"

Looks like NorCal is doing their 3rd annual "Turkey Shootout" this coming Saturday, with Turkey and Pies for the top 3 in their classes. A handful of BAP-RC Club members will be attending. Whether you plan on racing or not, you should definitely come out to witness the action! Racing usually begins aroun 9:30-10AM. Club Members will be there earlier than that to set up their pit tables and get some warm up laps in.

You can check this thread in our message boards for more information.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

New Product: Protoform LTC-R Sedan Body

Proline releases new 1/10 TC body. This Global Body Spec ready race body is designed specifically for rubber tire racing whether it’s on a carpet or a paved surface racetrack. It was designed with slightly more steering ability than the Mazda 6 and Mazda Speed 6 body styles, yet a bit less aggressive than the Protoform R9-R body. To further aid balance and rear grip the wing mounting location that’s slightly more rearward. The LTC-R features two trim lines, one for IFMAR, EFRA, ROAR, JMCRA racing at the 115mm height as well as the BRCA’s 120mm height rule. The oversize rear wing helps performance on a poor-grip surface that’s commonly experienced in club racing but also incorporates trim lines for sanctioned style racing. Available in 2 different weights of genuine lexan and comes with protective film, decals and wing mounting hardware.

Courtesy of www.redrc.net

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Member's Rides - Featured Car: Tamiya Durga (Owner: Armand Utan)

Hello All!

I'm excited to announce a new feature of this blog that will provide more insight into our Club Members, and their R/C Vehicles. As with real cars, you can tell a lot about a person by looking at their RC car. What kind of style do they have? Are they laid back, aggressive, fuctional, maticulous, etc. From time to time, we'll take a closer look at some of our Member's rides, and get all the details from: specs of the car, how long that Member has owned it, what it has meant to it's owner, how much damage it's taken, races it's participated in, etc.

In our first ever "Member's Rides - Featured Car", we'll be taking a look at Club Member Armand Utan's (aka: FabolousRC) Tamiya Durga.

When asked to give us a summary of his experience with his Durga, Armand had this to say:

"I decided to get back to my off-road roots after unsuccessfully trying to live up to my own expectations in touring. I had looked at several cars before I decided to purchase a Tamiya Durga. Prior to purchasing, I had narrowed my choices down to either Tamiya or Kyosho but the Lazer ZX-5 was too cost prohibitive at the time and the Dark Impact was hampered by the knightmares of a short wheelbase chassis and limited (stock build) gear adjustment - Not to mention the standard gearbox wouldn't withstand brushless motor use (which was new to me at the time) . After reading a lot of positive reviews regarding the Durga, I purchased one from TowerHobbies. It was pricey, but I felt it showed a lot of promise. After I received my new vehicle, I brought the body to Lex Tyler and had it painted."


"While the body was being painted, I began work on building my new ride. It took me three weekends to complete the car, which included replacing some of the kit screws with stainless steel screws I had leftover from my touring car (which would make the car much easier to work on)."


Parts that have been broken on the car:


- Rear shock tower; twice. Handling related.
- Rear gearbox cover. "When I broke the shock tower the first time, I had to replace my shock tower with the carbon reinforced one. Well, the carbon reinforced one was so strong, it tore the shock tower mount on the soft plastic on the gear cover :lol:
So now, the gear cover is once again carbon reinforced and it was so strong, the shock tower broke again. This time from the bottom up instead of from the top."

"Generally, the Durga is a pretty durable car. If you tuen the car right, it is pretty nimble and fast. If you tune it wrong like my car, it is a NIGHTMARE! (no pun intended)."

Future Durga Projects:

"I am planning to build a Durga with all the carbon parts I have. I am currently saving up for the carbon chassis and the TRF501X original shocks. Why TRF501X original shocks instead of the DB01 optional shocks or the Aeration Shocks? The plastic shocks shaft on the Durga is shorter than all of them. It was actually perfect for the car because it kept the car level when the shocks sagged when fully equipped with the battery."

"DB01 Optional shocks and Aeration Shocks are much longer which puts the car higher off the ground, effectively raising the center of gravity. The original 501X shocks are similar to the plastic shocks in shaft length which mimicked the handling of the Durga. This car is intended to be a TCS only car, which gives me a lot of freedom in experimenting with the current car that I drive."



Now for the details and specs:

"Currently, I have the following Tamiya Options on this car":

- 54015 Tamiya Assembly Universal Shaft Front DB01
- 54016 Tamiya Assembly Universal Shaft Rear DB01
- 54018 Tamiya Slipper Clutch Set DB01
- 54035 Tamiya Carbon Reinforced L Parts Steering Arm DB01 (Center Cover Only)
- 54037 Tamiya DB01 Aluminum Suspension Mount Front
- 54038 Tamiya DB01 Aluminum Suspension Mount Rear
- TRF501X Steel Outdrives

"I'm in the process of installing these after-market parts":
- 3Racing DB01-01/LB Aluminium Front and Rear Damper Set For DB-01
- Avid RC Rubber Shielded Revolutions bearings

Electronics:

- Futaba S9402 HS HT MG Servo (non-Digital). "It is about as fast and as powerful non digital servo you can get and I have been using it since my touring days. It never disappoints me. It is a single most effective investment I ever made".
- LRP Sphere TC Brushed/Brushless Lipo ready ESC. "The hobby shop 'made me' by this. I still have not quite tinkered with it yet to the point that the setting is exactly how I want to run. I kinda screwed up while setting it up from the default setting."
- Novak 10.5 R Sensored Brushless motor (sintered rotor). "Awesome motor and highly recommended".
- Spektrum 3000 2.4Ghz Receiver with KO EX-1/EX-10 module. "I originally ran the car with a DX3.0 and it was a tad slow in reaction time. Then I was able to acquire a module for my EX-1 Mars which makes my car 10x faster in reaction. I had to readjust (still readjusting) on how I drive the car because the car is so much more sensitive to slight changes now."

Future Electronics equipment:

- Ko Propo 2123FET. "Fastest Digital Brushed Servo in the world. The part that worries me is that, the car is already super twitchy with the S9402 and how much XXXX times does the 2123FET is going to make it worse or is it going to be actually better (because I might be able to countersteer better)".
- Fantom Racing 10.5R motor. "Fantom was famous for churning modified Trinity stock and modified brushed motor in the past so their brushless effort remained to be seen. Honestly, I like it because the motor can is green which matches with the car".
- Venom Brushless ESC - " - See the reason of Fantom Racing 10.5R motor. Yes, it is green".

Battery: Team Orion Rocket Pack 5000mah Nimh Stick pack; Radio Shack GP3300 Stick Packs.

Shoes: Tamiya DB01 Fr/Rr Black Wheels or JConcepts Rulux B44 Fr/Rr with Team Losi Taper Pins Fr/BK Bars Rr or Panther Racing Bobcat 4WD Fr/Switch 2.0 Rr

Charger: Team Integy 16x7Pro; Duratrax ICE

Power Supply: Rivergate 15A

Great stuff, Armand! Thanks for sharing so many details about your ride!
To check out other Member's Rides, check out our Message Boards.

Drift Basics

Just thought I'd share this video describing RC Drifting basics - courtesy of HPI. Man, these look like so much fun!

Monday, November 10, 2008

REMINDER: Club Trip Nov 14-15, LakePort Hobbies - Clear Lake

Hey Everyone,

A few BAP-RC Members are planning a weekend get-away trip to Lakeport Hobbies in Clear Lake for this coming weekend!! If you haven't already indicated whether you would like to come, now is the time to do so!! To find out more about this trip, and let us know if you plan on coming, check out our message boards. Again, if you are interested in coming, the more the merrier! This invite is open to everyone - even those of you who check out this site, but for some reason haven't "officially joined The Club"! :)

Check out this thread in the 'boards for additional information about Lakeport Hobbies.

You can see more pictures and video of their facility and events by going to http://www.lakeporthobbies.com/

Thursday, November 6, 2008

New Product: Reedy Micro Brusless System

As mentioned on our message boards, Reedy & Team Associated have joined in on the Micro/Mini Brushless Motor and Electronic Speed Control bandwagon.
ESC Specifications:

Cells: 2‐3 LiPo, 6‐8 NiMH
On Resistance: 0.1Ω
Brakes: Proportional
Reversible: Yes, w/Brakes Only Option
Low Voltage Cutoff: Adjustable
Dimensions: 35mm x 26mm x 21mm
Weight w/Wires: 31g (1.1oz)
Power Wires: 16AWG Silicone
Connector Type: Motor/3.5mm socket, Battery/none
Motor Specifications:

Cells: 2‐3 LiPo, 6‐8 NiMH
Diameter: 22.5mm
Length: 33.6mm
Shaft Diameter: 2.0mm
Weight: 57g

Available in these motor variations:
5000kV
5500kV
6100kV
7000kV
8000kV
9500kV

Want to learn more? Join the discussion!