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Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



Octopus Magic posted:

The tracks I used to race on outside of a carpet oval were real backyard specials. Think like BMX track looseness, or there's something like this I found which looks fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OskaaUJTGs

Look at how they're really grooving up the tracks with even old Tamiya stuff. Much more bumpy. As goofy and slow as these cars are, it looks a lot more welcoming to people than some clay track where the electric cars are clearing triple jumps with ease at national events.

IDK Maybe I'm being too "old man yelling at cloud" but like there have been multiple articles of people saying that Off Road is dying because of how fast the cars are/how ugly the cars are/how clique-y it is now.

No, I'm 26 years old and fairly new to the hobby and that video you linked looks 1000x more fun than the carpet/clay ones Ive seen irl. Ive been to them and they were fun but didnt make me wanna race in RC, it actually kinda made me more happy to stick with crawling. The video you linked makes me wanna RACE!!

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Nerobro
Nov 4, 2005

Rider now with 100% more titanium!
Traction is a problem in .. all of american racing right now. Nearly all. Traction is so high that cars are being optimized for LCG as opposed to having the chassis work. The exception is people running in actual parking lots, or outdoor asphalt tracks.

In the old days, off road was on "dirty" surfaces. ~actual dirt~. Mini-pins could dig in. Long pins were an option sometimes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JCPlLtt_yg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odYYjUk17IE

That's exciting, and fun to watch. The modern stuff.. not so much.

Beve Stuscemi
Jun 6, 2001




I was always jealous of the carpet guys because they didn’t have to clean their cars afterwards

Nerobro
Nov 4, 2005

Rider now with 100% more titanium!

Beve Stuscemi posted:

I was always jealous of the carpet guys because they didn’t have to clean their cars afterwards

... but you do. The fuzz accumulation can be hilarious.

On the other side, you're not breaking knuckles or ball ends as often.

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



Nerobro posted:

Traction is a problem in .. all of american racing right now. Nearly all. Traction is so high that cars are being optimized for LCG as opposed to having the chassis work. The exception is people running in actual parking lots, or outdoor asphalt tracks.

In the old days, off road was on "dirty" surfaces. ~actual dirt~. Mini-pins could dig in. Long pins were an option sometimes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JCPlLtt_yg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odYYjUk17IE

That's exciting, and fun to watch. The modern stuff.. not so much.

what does LCG mean in this context?

Nerobro
Nov 4, 2005

Rider now with 100% more titanium!

Kvlt! posted:

what does LCG mean in this context?

Low Center of Gravity.

In on-road? people were shaving the roofes of their cars to lower CG. Now the body plastic is so thin that bodies border on disposable. Cars are getting support struts to stop bodies from collapsing due to air pressure at speed. Lower shock towers, shorter shocks, even cars with worse performing, but lower mounted shock designs dominate the sport.

Beve Stuscemi
Jun 6, 2001




Nerobro posted:

... but you do. The fuzz accumulation can be hilarious.

I always assumed you could blow it away but now that I think about it any accumulated grease or oil would glue the fuzz down for sure.

Sloppy
Apr 25, 2003

Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.

Octopus Magic posted:

The tracks I used to race on outside of a carpet oval were real backyard specials. Think like BMX track looseness, or there's something like this I found which looks fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OskaaUJTGs

Look at how they're really grooving up the tracks with even old Tamiya stuff. Much more bumpy. As goofy and slow as these cars are, it looks a lot more welcoming to people than some clay track where the electric cars are clearing triple jumps with ease at national events.

IDK Maybe I'm being too "old man yelling at cloud" but like there have been multiple articles of people saying that Off Road is dying because of how fast the cars are/how ugly the cars are/how clique-y it is now.

That looks amazing. I have 0 interest in any kind of flat/hard surface racing, but I'd love something like the old-school Offroad video game. I want a field of TRX and Axial crawlers flooring it through mud pits and poo poo, intentionally knocking each other off edges, etc.

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



Sloppy posted:

That looks amazing. I have 0 interest in any kind of flat/hard surface racing, but I'd love something like the old-school Offroad video game. I want a field of TRX and Axial crawlers flooring it through mud pits and poo poo, intentionally knocking each other off edges, etc.

I have a SCX24 chassis I've been trying to decide what to do with...a racing SCX24 has me excited even if I just build a little dirt track in my backyard for it

antimatt
Sep 12, 2007

ultima ratio regum

Nerobro posted:

Traction is a problem in .. all of american racing right now. Nearly all. Traction is so high that cars are being optimized for LCG as opposed to having the chassis work. The exception is people running in actual parking lots, or outdoor asphalt tracks.

In the old days, off road was on "dirty" surfaces. ~actual dirt~. Mini-pins could dig in. Long pins were an option sometimes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JCPlLtt_yg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odYYjUk17IE

That's exciting, and fun to watch. The modern stuff.. not so much.

I'm currently trying to learn to drive carpet off-road after a long break in racing, and having only raced on dirt. It's maddening, and also a modern 17.5t 2wd buggy is just as fast as any mod motor car I'd driven years ago.

At least the battery life with lipo and brushless is amazing.

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



i always thought offroad meant dirt, what is on road? Asphalt?

Nerobro
Nov 4, 2005

Rider now with 100% more titanium!

Beve Stuscemi posted:

I always assumed you could blow it away but now that I think about it any accumulated grease or oil would glue the fuzz down for sure.

Compressed air helps. It doesn't clean the stuff stuck inside hubs. And traction compound, and other stuff makes it stick pretty darned good.

Kvlt! posted:

i always thought offroad meant dirt, what is on road? Asphalt?

On-road is carpet mostly. There's some pavement. But mostly felt like carpet. Off road is clay, sometimes astroturf/outdoor carpet, or actual on-road carpet with jumps.

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





Yeah, at this point the definition between "off road" and "on road" is primarily "jumps".

When the first short course trucks like the SC10 came out, they dragged me back in for a while because the way they moved looked much more like a real offroad truck, instead of how modern truggies/buggies handle. But of course everyone wants to go fast no matter what and this is why we can't have nice things.

antimatt
Sep 12, 2007

ultima ratio regum

IOwnCalculus posted:

Yeah, at this point the definition between "off road" and "on road" is primarily "jumps".

When the first short course trucks like the SC10 came out, they dragged me back in for a while because the way they moved looked much more like a real offroad truck, instead of how modern truggies/buggies handle. But of course everyone wants to go fast no matter what and this is why we can't have nice things.

Amen. Short course trucks are my favorite class for just that reason. They're also a bit lazy because of the added mass and bodies. But they're not popular because people seem to love driving the fastest, most uncontrollable cars.

GOD IS BED
Jun 17, 2010

ALL HAIL GOD MAMMON
:minnie:

College Slice
I'm doing a stock Slash race this weekend, and I'm super hyped for the previously mentioned reasons. I hope it grows in popularity, it definitely seems more beginner friendly than a lot of other classes.

Somewhat Heroic
Oct 11, 2007

(Insert Mad Max related text)



Nerobro posted:

Traction is a problem in .. all of american racing right now. Nearly all. Traction is so high that cars are being optimized for LCG as opposed to having the chassis work. The exception is people running in actual parking lots, or outdoor asphalt tracks.

In the old days, off road was on "dirty" surfaces. ~actual dirt~. Mini-pins could dig in. Long pins were an option sometimes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JCPlLtt_yg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odYYjUk17IE

That's exciting, and fun to watch. The modern stuff.. not so much.

This kind of racing still exists with large scale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C-50vyQt6M&t=11s

The cool thing is the field is not jam packed full of "pros" so literally anyone willing to put in the time to practice can dial their cars in and become competitive.

The whole racing scene is a total mess right now. That was largely brought on by the manufacturers along with external pressure of the economy; primarily real estate. People that race want the best. They want the best batteries, the best motors, cars, tires, servos - all of it. Manufacturers then push design and materials and everything which increases cost. Speaking generally - racers feel entitled and think they are better than they actually are and that by choosing Brand Z; Brand Z owes this racer something? So they seek a sponsorship. Manufacturers started caving ~15 years ago in giving these "driver deals"; where they were a 50% driver (getting 50% off of retail). So these drivers essentially become a contracted driver. They leverage that first deal into other deals; now they are getting 50% off of the chassis, then tires, then electronics. They are now buying directly from the manufacturer rather than buying from the hobby shop and race track that they are racing at. The only utility the race track provides is a place to race. They then start pushing the track owner by saying "I am a sponsored driver, I will pay for races, but I should get practice free" and these bro deals start to permeate through everything. Then you have a sponsored driver break a part at the race track and they want the shop owner to sell them the replacement part at a discount because "They are a team driver, and they know the shop owner gets them for X price and blah blah". The drivers get extremely entitled. You get that track owner that pushes back and says "No". Racer throws a fit and rage quits and "never comes back".

This scene has played out so many times over. The track owner that started out of a passion years ago is now ground down to nothing. Fielding complaints about track surface, refereeing drivers behaviors, tech inspections, ballooning lease payments and more make the romance of owning a track less fun. Only a very few amount of people are capable of weathering the finances and bullcrap of track ownership that this is a diminishing market. I would not hitch my horse to the wagon of competitive racing in the RC segment at all right now. We are going to see a major brand fall in the future (TLR, Associated, XRAY, etc). Some brands just did not diversify as well as they should have and I don't think they will make it. The bashers are the large majority of the market.

Kibner
Oct 21, 2008

#1 Pelican Fan
Speaking of bashers, what is a good, low-maintenance basher for fairly tall grass (like 3 inches)? Strong after-market support would be a plus, but not necessary. Being somewhat stable while taking turns on steep inclines/hills would be a plus, too.

I've been having lots of fun with my little SCX24 crawler, but it has gotten me craving for something a bit bigger and a bit faster. I owned a brushless Losi LST previously and that was way too fast for what I'm wanting for right now.

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



Speaking of SCX24s, I got into RC cars by getting myself one. I call it the "truck of theseus" because at this point the only thing I have left to replace on it is the motor and battery/ESC.

But it made me realize I have a few questions:

1) My controller has 3 modes on it (Low, Medium, High). Is the increase in power an increase in voltage coming from my battery? So "high" is putting out more voltage, therefore making my car go faster?

2) I am upgrading my motor to a 50t injora one, do I need to upgrade my battery too from a stock one? If so, is there a way to calculate which battery works best with which motor?

3) Does a new motor require a new ESC (im using the stock ESC), or require me to make adjustments to the current ESC? Or it just a "unhook the old one, hook up the new one" thing?

Thank you!!

GOD IS BED
Jun 17, 2010

ALL HAIL GOD MAMMON
:minnie:

College Slice

Kibner posted:

Speaking of bashers, what is a good, low-maintenance basher for fairly tall grass (like 3 inches)? Strong after-market support would be a plus, but not necessary. Being somewhat stable while taking turns on steep inclines/hills would be a plus, too.

I love my Traxxas Hoss for bashing. Tears through grass up to a foot tall. It did require me to upgrade the servo and driveshafts before it became "low maintenance" though.

Kibner
Oct 21, 2008

#1 Pelican Fan

GOD IS BED posted:

I love my Traxxas Hoss for bashing. Tears through grass up to a foot tall. It did require me to upgrade the servo and driveshafts before it became "low maintenance" though.

I looked that up and it looks neat! However, this one looks truly incredible to me because the scale model effect on it is just doing something that tickles my brain in all the right ways:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOOn09WkG_w

e: i might go with the far cheaper and slower 2WD (and not quite as scale-accurate) version, though: https://traxxas.com/products/models/electric/58094-8-raptor

Kibner fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Mar 25, 2024

GOD IS BED
Jun 17, 2010

ALL HAIL GOD MAMMON
:minnie:

College Slice
The Raptor is indeed awesome. It's basically a Slash with better apprearance. I would recommend a 4x4 version if you want to drive it in grass, the 2wd version of the Slash cannot handle anything but the shortest of shrubbery.

Kibner
Oct 21, 2008

#1 Pelican Fan

GOD IS BED posted:

The Raptor is indeed awesome. It's basically a Slash with better apprearance. I would recommend a 4x4 version if you want to drive it in grass, the 2wd version of the Slash cannot handle anything but the shortest of shrubbery.

Thanks! I figure I could always put a throttle limiter on the ESC or radio to stop it from going quite so dangerously fast. lol

Nerobro
Nov 4, 2005

Rider now with 100% more titanium!

Kvlt! posted:

Speaking of SCX24s, I got into RC cars by getting myself one. I call it the "truck of theseus" because at this point the only thing I have left to replace on it is the motor and battery/ESC.

But it made me realize I have a few questions:

1) My controller has 3 modes on it (Low, Medium, High). Is the increase in power an increase in voltage coming from my battery? So "high" is putting out more voltage, therefore making my car go faster?

2) I am upgrading my motor to a 50t injora one, do I need to upgrade my battery too from a stock one? If so, is there a way to calculate which battery works best with which motor?

3) Does a new motor require a new ESC (im using the stock ESC), or require me to make adjustments to the current ESC? Or it just a "unhook the old one, hook up the new one" thing?

Thank you!!

The controller just changes the endpoint for the ESC. Low is going to have the throttle travel limited to say.. 50%, medium? might be 70%. high, will be 100% on the ESC. It doesn't actually change anything "on the car".

Batteries, motors, aren't.. really... related. You'll see benifits with better batteries across the board (that is higher C rating, or higher capacity with the same C rating) With hotter motors, you can generally run worse batteries and still have a good time.

You may need a new ESC, depending on the amp draw of the new motor. ESC's are limited by the amps they can carry, and supposing your pinion is small enough, and the actual load on the motor is reasonable, even stock ESCs do just fine with lower turn motors.

Nerobro
Nov 4, 2005

Rider now with 100% more titanium!

antimatt posted:

Amen. Short course trucks are my favorite class for just that reason. They're also a bit lazy because of the added mass and bodies. But they're not popular because people seem to love driving the fastest, most uncontrollable cars.

I hate short course trucks with a passion. They're.. essentially 1/8th scale cars, flying the flag of 1/10th scale. The bodies are disposable, they're built on chassis designed for buggies, so broken arms and knuckles are the name of the day.

They're always upside down. They're always blocking most of the lane. They're always ... wrong. Every race I've seen with SCT has been a race of attrition, not of driver skill. And that's just trash.

"stock" and "modified" buggies are both far to fast. I think we need to see 25.5 turn buggy classes with how fast 17.5 is. And traction is to high.

Edit: whoops, double post

ColonelJohnMatrix
Jun 24, 2006

Because all fucking hell is going to break loose

I remember back when the Slash released and spec racing started with them. It was fun but it was drat near a straight up demolition derby, and it got old quick.

Nerobro
Nov 4, 2005

Rider now with 100% more titanium!
The slash is such an awful platform. Pokey steering servo, soft servo saver, chassis from a ~bad~ 1/10th buggy, wheels to big for any of the other components..

Stadium Trucks are still amazing. :-) But people wanted the long wheel base? I dunno.

As bad as slash is, EuroTruck is good. Screwing up a chassis with intent, and giving it slippy tires makes for great racing.

antimatt
Sep 12, 2007

ultima ratio regum

Nerobro posted:

I hate short course trucks with a passion. They're.. essentially 1/8th scale cars, flying the flag of 1/10th scale. The bodies are disposable, they're built on chassis designed for buggies, so broken arms and knuckles are the name of the day.

They're always upside down. They're always blocking most of the lane. They're always ... wrong. Every race I've seen with SCT has been a race of attrition, not of driver skill. And that's just trash.

"stock" and "modified" buggies are both far to fast. I think we need to see 25.5 turn buggy classes with how fast 17.5 is. And traction is to high.

Edit: whoops, double post

Woah, I was talking about 2wd SCT. You're right about 4wd SCT, which is in a weird place because they're VERY heavy for the ESC and motor they use, and the races still use 2S batteries which put a lot of strain on the electronics.

2wd SCT is more like traction-limited stadium truck with more body roll. Stadium trucks are meh to me, not a fan, but I can understand why some people like them. 2wd SCT has style and the bodies are large enough to actually justify good paint schemes. The wheels and tires are a bit wonky tho.

T1g4h
Aug 6, 2008

I AM THE SCALES OF JUSTICE, CONDUCTOR OF THE CHOIR OF DEATH!

Visited my parents today and decided I'd get some shots of dad's various projects that he's working on:


Cessna... 150, I believe? He's building this for one of his friends in the RC club he's in. It is absolutely bonkers how huge it is in person. I've asked him how the dude plans on transporting it because he's gonna need a trailer and he just laughed and said he's just building it, it's up to the dude to figure that out. Pictured hanging upside down at the top there is the FlightLine OV-10 Bronco, which has a 1400mm / 55" wingspan and this Cessna just utterly dwarfs it.


His various helis. Well, most of them. There's at least one Blade on a shelf elsewhere in the room :v: Pictured at the bottom there, next to the Bath & Body Works bag, is the front half of the fuselage to his other project that he's doing for another friend:

https://i.imgur.com/rciqa53.mp4
Scale Airwolf, with fiberglass body, retractable landing gear, and marker lights that he just wired in today. Apparently the body alone is $500 so he was a bit nervous about working on this one :v:

Apologies if aircraft stuff isn't really welcomed here! If there's a thread specifically for RC aircraft point me in that direction and i'll happily go post these there :shobon:

Rexxed
May 1, 2010

Dis is amazing!
I gotta try dis!

T1g4h posted:

Visited my parents today and decided I'd get some shots of dad's various projects that he's working on:


Cessna... 150, I believe? He's building this for one of his friends in the RC club he's in. It is absolutely bonkers how huge it is in person. I've asked him how the dude plans on transporting it because he's gonna need a trailer and he just laughed and said he's just building it, it's up to the dude to figure that out. Pictured hanging upside down at the top there is the FlightLine OV-10 Bronco, which has a 1400mm / 55" wingspan and this Cessna just utterly dwarfs it.


His various helis. Well, most of them. There's at least one Blade on a shelf elsewhere in the room :v: Pictured at the bottom there, next to the Bath & Body Works bag, is the front half of the fuselage to his other project that he's doing for another friend:

https://i.imgur.com/rciqa53.mp4
Scale Airwolf, with fiberglass body, retractable landing gear, and marker lights that he just wired in today. Apparently the body alone is $500 so he was a bit nervous about working on this one :v:

Apologies if aircraft stuff isn't really welcomed here! If there's a thread specifically for RC aircraft point me in that direction and i'll happily go post these there :shobon:

There it an RC aerial vehicles thread but that stuff is cool as hell so it should be posted everywhere.

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



Nerobro posted:

The controller just changes the endpoint for the ESC. Low is going to have the throttle travel limited to say.. 50%, medium? might be 70%. high, will be 100% on the ESC. It doesn't actually change anything "on the car".

Batteries, motors, aren't.. really... related. You'll see benifits with better batteries across the board (that is higher C rating, or higher capacity with the same C rating) With hotter motors, you can generally run worse batteries and still have a good time.

You may need a new ESC, depending on the amp draw of the new motor. ESC's are limited by the amps they can carry, and supposing your pinion is small enough, and the actual load on the motor is reasonable, even stock ESCs do just fine with lower turn motors.

Hey thanks for this post! Very helpful. I think I gotta do some research on the electronics side of it, I'm pretty good at figuring out the physical parts but the electronics have me scratching my brain. Is there a good kinda "begginers guide" or primer to modern RC electronics more in depth?

Kibner
Oct 21, 2008

#1 Pelican Fan

Nerobro posted:

As bad as slash is, EuroTruck is good. Screwing up a chassis with intent, and giving it slippy tires makes for great racing.

What are some EuroTruck bashers you would recommend?

I'm not tied to Traxxas (though their headquarters is within a half hour drive of me, which would make dealing with them easy). I do value the basher looking somewhat realistic to a real vehicle, even if not to the extent of that F-150 Raptor I linked earlier. If it comes as a kit instead of RTR, that is actually preferred.

antimatt
Sep 12, 2007

ultima ratio regum

Kibner posted:

What are some EuroTruck bashers you would recommend?

I'm not tied to Traxxas (though their headquarters is within a half hour drive of me, which would make dealing with them easy). I do value the basher looking somewhat realistic to a real vehicle, even if not to the extent of that F-150 Raptor I linked earlier. If it comes as a kit instead of RTR, that is actually preferred.

All of the EuroTrucks are made by Tamiya, based of their entry-level shaft drive on-road kits.

https://www.tamiyausa.com/shop/radio-control/cars/

Kibner
Oct 21, 2008

#1 Pelican Fan

antimatt posted:

All of the EuroTrucks are made by Tamiya, based of their entry-level shaft drive on-road kits.

https://www.tamiyausa.com/shop/radio-control/cars/

Thanks!

Kibner
Oct 21, 2008

#1 Pelican Fan
Dammit, now I'm looking at the DT02 Nissan Titan Truck:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS7iCOmT8q8

Nerobro
Nov 4, 2005

Rider now with 100% more titanium!

Kibner posted:

Dammit, now I'm looking at the DT02 Nissan Titan Truck:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS7iCOmT8q8

Eurotruck is for racing. DT02 is for bashing. :-) Get the DT02. You won't regret it. With the stock motor, they can pull a wheelie on grass! I like the DT02 better than the DT03.

Kvlt! posted:

Hey thanks for this post! Very helpful. I think I gotta do some research on the electronics side of it, I'm pretty good at figuring out the physical parts but the electronics have me scratching my brain. Is there a good kinda "begginers guide" or primer to modern RC electronics more in depth?

Not.. a whole lot... Most people buy the motor/esc that match the class they're running. But on the smaller end.... the real information is kinda light on the ground.

Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



Ah ok thank you! I've seen vids of people tweaking settings on their computers or phones like like race engineers for RC cars, but that mustve been some sort of specialized thing.

Nerobro
Nov 4, 2005

Rider now with 100% more titanium!
Oh, you sure can.

You buy a car, you drive a car. There's a long way between "driving the car" and "being able to feel the difference in punch settings, motor timing, expoential curves.."

This gets.. really.. really.. long. I wouldn't concern yourself with programmable servos, and ESCs. Most racing locks you down to a blinky mode anyway....

What you DO need to concern yourself with, is buying a good servo (Something with a better than 0.1 second 60deg time) and a computer radio. Basic radios "might" dual rates. You want endpoint adjustment and exponential curves. Those are things you will ~absolutely~ be able to feel, and things you can adjust and have make sense.

Truth be told, I don't want an ESC with lots of options. That locks me "to that ESC". And... i'm cheap, and I want to easily be able to swap hardware if I do something dumb like hook an ESC up backwards.

A lot of car/chassis tuning is done with radios. r/c car steering response is frequently quite non-linear, so a a descending rate exponential curve is surprisingly useful.

Braking is frequently benefited by expo curves as well. Throttle can be if you're running a hot setup, but for most classes linear is fine there.

Edit: And, if you're doing it right, you'll have a notebook, and youll be taking notes and doign real race team stuff. I did.... I tracked every heat, and changes I made between races. It helped me, a lot. Also, "real books" about "real cars" are real information, and really work for r/c cars. caster, camber, spring rate, sway bars, toe, antisquat, antidive, everything translates. It just happens MUCH faster at smaller scales

Edit again: R/C cars are typically setup to push a bit, because "controlling a slide" or "neutral" is hard to maintain when your butt isn't acutally in the car. Touring cars will have spools or very tight diff settings up front. RWD cars are setup with either much wider tires out back, or setups that throw out traction up front to keep the push going.

.................. God I love racing. R/C lets you really get into it, for the cost of a set of tires to go to a trackday.

Nerobro fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Mar 28, 2024

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Kvlt!
May 19, 2012



Nerobro posted:

Oh, you sure can.

You buy a car, you drive a car. There's a long way between "driving the car" and "being able to feel the difference in punch settings, motor timing, expoential curves.."

This gets.. really.. really.. long. I wouldn't concern yourself with programmable servos, and ESCs. Most racing locks you down to a blinky mode anyway....

What you DO need to concern yourself with, is buying a good servo (Something with a better than 0.1 second 60deg time) and a computer radio. Basic radios "might" dual rates. You want endpoint adjustment and exponential curves. Those are things you will ~absolutely~ be able to feel, and things you can adjust and have make sense.

Truth be told, I don't want an ESC with lots of options. That locks me "to that ESC". And... i'm cheap, and I want to easily be able to swap hardware if I do something dumb like hook an ESC up backwards.

A lot of car/chassis tuning is done with radios. r/c car steering response is frequently quite non-linear, so a a descending rate exponential curve is surprisingly useful.

Braking is frequently benefited by expo curves as well. Throttle can be if you're running a hot setup, but for most classes linear is fine there.

Edit: And, if you're doing it right, you'll have a notebook, and youll be taking notes and doign real race team stuff. I did.... I tracked every heat, and changes I made between races. It helped me, a lot. Also, "real books" about "real cars" are real information, and really work for r/c cars. caster, camber, spring rate, sway bars, toe, antisquat, antidive, everything translates. It just happens MUCH faster at smaller scales

Edit again: R/C cars are typically setup to push a bit, because "controlling a slide" or "neutral" is hard to maintain when your butt isn't acutally in the car. Touring cars will have spools or very tight diff settings up front. RWD cars are setup with either much wider tires out back, or setups that throw out traction up front to keep the push going.

.................. God I love racing. R/C lets you really get into it, for the cost of a set of tires to go to a trackday.

This was basically the exact right up I was lookong for! Incredibly helpful thank you! I love to tinker and tweak stuff so this part of it really appeals to me. Im looking into computer radios now, do you have recs for a good one or are they more car-specific?

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