Thinking of trying rc car racing

[robemcdonald]

Hi I’m looking for a bit of advice.

I’ve been thinking of trying rc car racing for a while, but I am a bit undecided about which type might suit me best.

I quite like buggies, but prefer the semi realistic look of the Tamiya kits.I get the feeling it’s not worth turning up with one of these as they would in no way be competitive.

At the moment I think I’m leaning towards touring cars. There is a weekly club near me that races only the Tamiya tt-02 chassis and it’s variants.

I’m also toying the idea of crawlers too as this seems as though it might be a bit lower paced, but challenging.

Id be interested to hear your experiences with the various types along with any pros and cons worth considering.

Thanks

[robemcdonald]

I’m going to give this a bump.

I can’t believe no one has any advice…

[blueST]

I’ve been thinking of doing the same, but have been put off a bit.

The general advise is find your local club(s), see what they race and do that. No point buying a touring car if the the club you want to join only does buggies.

Trouble for me was when I enquired at my nearest club, they didn’t really have anything beginner, it was sjustbrace top end Schumacher and XRay buggies and it would cost me too much to get into. Other clubs are too far away.

[robemcdonald]

I’m pretty fortunate.

In Stevenage (about 8 miles) there is a touring car club that meet in a sports hall on Thursdays.
They put you in groups according to ability, so unless you’re a complete Wally (like I probably will be) you’ll get a good race.

I also have an outdoor buggy track about the same distance away.

I think I’m leaning towards touring cars as it seems a bit more accessible (everyone has a Tamiya tt-02 albeit hop ups are allowed (not the motor though)

[generationx]

Mildly off (a very interesting) topic, if you’re going the (budget) TT-02 route take a look here:

https://www.thercracer.com/2014/08/tamiya-tt02-gui...

[robemcdonald]

generationx said:

Mildly off (a very interesting) topic, if you’re going the (budget) TT-02 route take a look here:

https://www.thercracer.com/2014/08/tamiya-tt02-gui...

That’s very helpful.

There is a new SRX chassis too, supposedly it has all the mods you really need (except for an alloy motor mount)

The question is do I just get the basic chassis and build it up as I go along or just buy the all bells and whistles version as it’s cheaper in the long run?

[shedweller]

blueST said:

I’ve been thinking of doing the same, but have been put off a bit.

Trouble for me was when I enquired at my nearest club, they didn’t really have anything beginner, it was sjustbrace top end Schumacher and XRay buggies and it would cost me too much to get into. Other clubs are too far away.

It was the same for me.... My nearest buggy racing club is a fair trek and the overall cost of being to race spec and travelling time etc was off putting.

But to be honest when I turned up on a club night and made enquiries as to joining and taking part I wasn't made to feel like it was a particularly warm welcome amongst a clearly tight community..... Other people's experiences may vary but it didn't feel like I would enjoy it initially.

Fortunately 200yds down the road in the village hall everyother Wednesday there's a club that race tt02 on 21t brushed setups with only certain stiffening mods permitted/dampers and a control tyre, in mostly a rally setup on a mix of carpet and parquet.

It's a proper club, timed,very competitive and good fun for a startup of around £220 and it's a small bunch of guys/boys never more than 15 of us with a broad range of experience and is much more social.

I'm also a member of a Facebook group that have secured a piece of land for regular rallying events that is focussed on competitive fun gatherings although not official BRCA races.....with the cars being 1/10 tamiya or LCracing and the only limits being on the motor.

It seems the landscape of these clubs have changed a lot in the last 20yrs since I stopped racing...... I blame Minecraft


Crawling..... My son enjoys it and we've only just got a couple of decent crawlers, after being a speed and handling guy for forever I am finding the whole new discipline really engaging and challenging.

We've joined another Facebook group and went to our first "meet"..... A small mixture of deadly serious scale enthusiasts, general RC enthusiasts and their kids.
We met up at a known good spot and basically went for a walk with our trucks.... It was good muddy, challenging fun and I can see the appeal.


I've lived in this village for 7yrs and didn't know they did RC racing 200yds down the road or that groups meet 5 miles away for trailing/crawling every now and then..... And it took some serious sleuthing to actually find these little niches outside of the larger established racing clubs....

[robemcdonald]

shedweller said:

blueST said:

I’ve been thinking of doing the same, but have been put off a bit.

Trouble for me was when I enquired at my nearest club, they didn’t really have anything beginner, it was sjustbrace top end Schumacher and XRay buggies and it would cost me too much to get into. Other clubs are too far away.

It was the same for me.... My nearest buggy racing club is a fair trek and the overall cost of being to race spec and travelling time etc was off putting.

But to be honest when I turned up on a club night and made enquiries as to joining and taking part I wasn't made to feel like it was a particularly warm welcome amongst a clearly tight community..... Other people's experiences may vary but it didn't feel like I would enjoy it initially.

Fortunately 200yds down the road in the village hall everyother Wednesday there's a club that race tt02 on 21t brushed setups with only certain stiffening mods permitted/dampers and a control tyre, in mostly a rally setup on a mix of carpet and parquet.

It's a proper club, timed,very competitive and good fun for a startup of around £220 and it's a small bunch of guys/boys never more than 15 of us with a broad range of experience and is much more social.

I'm also a member of a Facebook group that have secured a piece of land for regular rallying events that is focussed on competitive fun gatherings although not official BRCA races.....with the cars being 1/10 tamiya or LCracing and the only limits being on the motor.

It seems the landscape of these clubs have changed a lot in the last 20yrs since I stopped racing...... I blame Minecraft


Crawling..... My son enjoys it and we've only just got a couple of decent crawlers, after being a speed and handling guy for forever I am finding the whole new discipline really engaging and challenging.

We've joined another Facebook group and went to our first "meet"..... A small mixture of deadly serious scale enthusiasts, general RC enthusiasts and their kids.
We met up at a known good spot and basically went for a walk with our trucks.... It was good muddy, challenging fun and I can see the appeal.


I've lived in this village for 7yrs and didn't know they did RC racing 200yds down the road or that groups meet 5 miles away for trailing/crawling every now and then..... And it took some serious sleuthing to actually find these little niches outside of the larger established racing clubs....

Excellent post. Thanks for sharing that, it’s exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for.

It’s sounds like the local touring car club could be the way. My only issue is Thursday is a bit of a crap night with lots of other stuff frequently on, so I’m definitely not going to able to go every week.

[shedweller]

robemcdonald said:

Excellent post. Thanks for sharing that, it’s exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for.

It’s sounds like the local touring car club could be the way. My only issue is Thursday is a bit of a crap night with lots of other stuff frequently on, so I’m definitely not going to able to go every week.

I'm only looking to improve myself with a bit of friendly competition and was never able to make every meeting and haven't been for a while due to illness in the family since last year but I will be returning by the summer hopefully....everybody has the same difficulties with life!
But I am glad I found the right fit for me..... I was a bit dejected after visiting the big club!

It is very (very) small with only 3 or 4 on track and akin to drifting though

Rally B from this week


Invitational vintage all-sorts

Edited by jeremyc on Monday 27th February 10:47

[blueST]

I’d be well up for something like that, looks great fun. I’d be up for crawling too, I bought TRX4M and it’s quite addictive trying to negotiate tricky terrain.

There’s a good club about 1h20m from here that race TT01E trucks, really tight rules, but it’s just too far to go an evening.

[generationx]

robemcdonald said:

generationx said:

Mildly off (a very interesting) topic, if you’re going the (budget) TT-02 route take a look here:

https://www.thercracer.com/2014/08/tamiya-tt02-gui...

That’s very helpful.

There is a new SRX chassis too, supposedly it has all the mods you really need (except for an alloy motor mount)

The question is do I just get the basic chassis and build it up as I go along or just buy the all bells and whistles version as it’s cheaper in the long run?

Really good, useful thread, thank you all. Returning to Rob’s question it will be much more cash-efficient to buy the hopped-up version - the other way the costs really mount up. But check the mods are allowed in the class you want to enter.

[generationx]

robemcdonald said:

generationx said:

Mildly off (a very interesting) topic, if you’re going the (budget) TT-02 route take a look here:

https://www.thercracer.com/2014/08/tamiya-tt02-gui...

That’s very helpful.

There is a new SRX chassis too, supposedly it has all the mods you really need (except for an alloy motor mount)

The question is do I just get the basic chassis and build it up as I go along or just buy the all bells and whistles version as it’s cheaper in the long run?

Really good, useful thread, thank you all. Returning to Rob’s question it will be much more cash-efficient to buy the hopped-up version - the other way the costs really mount up. But check the mods are allowed in the class you want to enter.

[sgrimshaw]

The best advice is to go along to the various clubs in your locale, see what they run, how serious they take things, how friendly they are etc.

Chat to the people there and get a feel of the club, don't be shy in asking questions.

[fatfunkymonkey]

I'm one of the regulars at the Stevenage club and its a good place to start.

The Tamiya cars are cheapish and simple to get you going. As much as upgrades are permitted all you really need for a while will be ball bearings (essential) followed by oil shocks and a decent set of tires. It can get addictive thou, I started last year after a 25 year gap with a Tamiya M-05, then a TT-02 shortly after.... I'm now running the Schumacher Mi-8 in various classes and clubs and have just got hold of an LD-2 for a bit of buggy racing.

If you pop to the club at any point and fancy a chat to take you through it all feel free to give me a shout.

[robemcdonald]

fatfunkymonkey said:

I'm one of the regulars at the Stevenage club and its a good place to start.

The Tamiya cars are cheapish and simple to get you going. As much as upgrades are permitted all you really need for a while will be ball bearings (essential) followed by oil shocks and a decent set of tires. It can get addictive thou, I started last year after a 25 year gap with a Tamiya M-05, then a TT-02 shortly after.... I'm now running the Schumacher Mi-8 in various classes and clubs and have just got hold of an LD-2 for a bit of buggy racing.

If you pop to the club at any point and fancy a chat to take you through it all feel free to give me a shout.

Thanks for the reply. I’m going to try and come next Thursday.

Is it tt-02 only?

[fatfunkymonkey]

robemcdonald said:

Thanks for the reply. I’m going to try and come next Thursday.

Is it tt-02 only?

Stevenage has 3 classes,

Tamiya stock. Most Tamiya chassis as long as they are not classed as "pro" so TT02 - TT01, M Chassis are fine. No Lipo batts. Kit ESC, Max of a sport tuned motor and £50 limit on a servo. any hop up is fine. If you were to go with this class I'd go with one of the TT-02D kits as they come with the essential hop-ups.

Tamiya truck, as above but with a truck body and tires.

"Pro" mod. Anything you like really, limit of 13.5 turn motor.

Without sounding like a stalker, someone with a name very similar to you has just been welcomed into the facebook group of one of the other clubs I race at (HRCC). rules there are a little tighter and geared more to the higher end cars but you still could do it on a budget. they run to BRCA rules. FWD and 17.5 TC.

if you are in that sort of area you also have 3 or 4 off road tracks, Ware, Stotfold, Watford (indoors on carpet) and I think there is a smallish one over at Hemel.

[robemcdonald]

fatfunkymonkey said:

robemcdonald said:

Thanks for the reply. I’m going to try and come next Thursday.

Is it tt-02 only?

Stevenage has 3 classes,

Tamiya stock. Most Tamiya chassis as long as they are not classed as "pro" so TT02 - TT01, M Chassis are fine. No Lipo batts. Kit ESC, Max of a sport tuned motor and £50 limit on a servo. any hop up is fine. If you were to go with this class I'd go with one of the TT-02D kits as they come with the essential hop-ups.

Tamiya truck, as above but with a truck body and tires.

"Pro" mod. Anything you like really, limit of 13.5 turn motor.

Without sounding like a stalker, someone with a name very similar to you has just been welcomed into the facebook group of one of the other clubs I race at (HRCC). rules there are a little tighter and geared more to the higher end cars but you still could do it on a budget. they run to BRCA rules. FWD and 17.5 TC.

if you are in that sort of area you also have 3 or 4 off road tracks, Ware, Stotfold, Watford (indoors on carpet) and I think there is a smallish one over at Hemel.

Yes, that is me.

I put out an introduction post and no one replied, so I guess it might not be the club for me.

What are the key differences between the different chassis types?

[fatfunkymonkey]

Both clubs are friendly but Stevenage is more active on social media and also has the Tamiya classes that are probably better for a complete novice. I love both clubs but for different reasons.

The TT-01 and TT-02 based cars are similar. Both are plastic tub chassis, shaft driven 4wd with independent suspension all round. TT-02 is a newer variant and has more hop ups available. Not really much to choose between them apart from what body you take a fancy to. All the trucks are TT-01 out the box but the 02s are aloud if you want to convert one.

The M-chassis cars are smaller and 2wd, even numbers are rwd and odd fwd. body shell choice is limited due to the smaller size. Personally I’d steer clear of these, great fun but you won’t ever beat a TT based car.

What ever you choose you will want to at least ball race the car, no point even building it with the plastic bushes as they melt quickly. The TT-02d civic is a great starting point. Comes with the ball races that 99% of the kits don’t. Along with decent shock absorbers and a sport tuned motor, for for an extra £20 over a non “d” spec kit you get about £70 or more of upgrades.

After that you have the mod spec cars. Anything really goes here depending on how much you want to spend. These are massively adjustable and can be very quick

[dhutch]

sgrimshaw said:

The best advice is to go along to the various clubs in your locale, see what they run, how serious they take things, how friendly they are etc.

Chat to the people there and get a feel of the club, don't be shy in asking questions.

Absolutely this!

[White-Noise]

shedweller said:

robemcdonald said:

Excellent post. Thanks for sharing that, it’s exactly the sort of thing I was hoping for.

It’s sounds like the local touring car club could be the way. My only issue is Thursday is a bit of a crap night with lots of other stuff frequently on, so I’m definitely not going to able to go every week.

I'm only looking to improve myself with a bit of friendly competition and was never able to make every meeting and haven't been for a while due to illness in the family since last year but I will be returning by the summer hopefully....everybody has the same difficulties with life!
But I am glad I found the right fit for me..... I was a bit dejected after visiting the big club!

It is very (very) small with only 3 or 4 on track and akin to drifting though

Rally B from this week


Invitational vintage all-sorts

Edited by jeremyc on Monday 27th February 10:47

That looks great! Some of the videos online look so fast and consistent it's like jumping into f1. I just picked up a tt02 because well.. I always wanted one. Now to find a club haha