Thinking about getting back into 1/10th racing....

[Steamer]

Many moons ago I used to race RC cars 1/10th in the midlands, and I did fairly well, but then women & real cars averted my focus and money.

But I still miss it!

I used to race a Lazer ZXR - I was quite a Kyosho fan boy, but after a quick look at model shops website last night I was amazed how much its developed.

Whats happened to the Lazer? The ones I looked at were all per-built!

I'm very busy with work at the moment and no time to find out where my local club is to go and ask questions. But would someone with a bit of free time like to update me on who's ruling the roost in the RC car game now?

For comparison my old set up was:
Lazer ZXR
Tekin Speed contol
KO Fet servo
Trinity 14x4 motor
5 sets of 1700 SCRC cells
+ a rather nice charger that cycled cells

How much would this setup be now? (ie: good level race kit)

[motormania]

It's funny how so many on here seem to be following a similar trend... used to race, women and family came along and now after many years away they want to get back into racing.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, for those coming back into the RC arena after a long break, sell all your old gear on eBay - I made updwards of £400 notes

Then go LiPo and Brushless with the power and motor.

As for the cars making the grid these days in 1:10th touring (best series to get back into):

Xray
Associated
Corally
Yokomo

All the above produce stunning 1:10 touring cars for you to enjoy

With regards to LiPo, make sure you get a LiPo charger, these packs must be charged correctly for safe use. The Brushless motors, if running to std class must be 13.5, anything else will drop you into modified classes.

I would hihgly recommend going 2.4GHz with your transmitter - never have to worry about crystals again

FYI my setup:

Xray T2 008
Futaba 2.4GHz transmitter
Futaba Digital (metal gear) steering servo
Novak 13.5 Brushless and Speedo
BC6 LiPo charger and TrakPower LiPo cell

Run on rubber slicks on carpet indoors, very little changed from standard kit apart from springs on the shocks and removed the rear anti-roll bar. Still a bloody fast car out of the box and having great fun with it, just finished 12th in autumn championship at my club, getting into top 10 was very hard as the standard of driving is excellent, with several of the top guys being sponsored drivers. Still very pleased with my position. To move up those extra 2 places next year will be one hell of a fight.

[TedMaul]

Steamer said:

Many moons ago I used to race RC cars 1/10th in the midlands, and I did fairly well, but then women & real cars averted my focus and money.

But I still miss it!

I used to race a Lazer ZXR - I was quite a Kyosho fan boy, but after a quick look at model shops website last night I was amazed how much its developed.

Whats happened to the Lazer? The ones I looked at were all per-built!

I'm very busy with work at the moment and no time to find out where my local club is to go and ask questions. But would someone with a bit of free time like to update me on who's ruling the roost in the RC car game now?

For comparison my old set up was:
Lazer ZXR
Tekin Speed contol
KO Fet servo
Trinity 14x4 motor
5 sets of 1700 SCRC cells
+ a rather nice charger that cycled cells

How much would this setup be now? (ie: good level race kit)

You can get pre-build Lazer zx-5 as a toy car, but you can buy proper race version too. There are two versions, Lazer ZX-5 SP and the FS version. The latter is the same car, but supports saddle pack batteries.

For buggy info, register at www.oople.com as its a great site for all RC stuff, 99% of it is 10th off road. Also, if you want to look at kyosho gear, dms racing sell it all (http://www.dms-racing.com/fruzat/tupraphe.asp?manufacturer=Kyosho) and it you want to download latest manuals and stuff, petit-rc is the place to be (http://www.petitrc.com/view_news.php?id=4565)

oople is you best start though, the forums there are great if a little tame compared to P&P

[Steamer]

Thanks for that! Looks like I've got a bit of homework to do!

Sadly I sold all my old kit to fund my first real car.

Just found my club on the net too... I dont even recognise what it is they are racing now they all have touring body shells and not many cars in each race.

Back in the day - it was all exposed wheels and 10 cars in a heat - Chaos!!!

[TedMaul]

Steamer said:

Thanks for that! Looks like I've got a bit of homework to do!

Sadly I sold all my old kit to fund my first real car.

Just found my club on the net too... I dont even recognise what it is they are racing now they all have touring body shells and not many cars in each race.

Back in the day - it was all exposed wheels and 10 cars in a heat - Chaos!!!

There are plenty of buggy clubs about, if you can't find one on oople, then put a post up and ask as many clubs are fairly low profile for some reason. Also the BRCA do have a club list, bit its not very up to date (www.brca.org)

Touring cars are good fun, but buggies are still better imo - I have a Lazer zx-5 and an Associated TC3 (both 2nd hand and getting tired) and the buggy is much more fun to race. Its so easy to drive, even my 3 yo gave it a spin with a 12x1 motor in it.... only broke one wishbone and a front brace....

ETA lipo is the way forward as far as cells go, dont go back to NIMH but make sure you get a proper lipo charger, or a very good fire extinguisher!

Edited by TedMaul on Monday 15th December 13:17

[PeetBee]

Definitely go for brushless and lipo if you're looking to race again and I raced in the mid west regionals last year (1/10 off road), it was great fun and am hoping to do the same again this year.
I was in the same boat as you and am really pleased I've taken it back up again.

I've been happy with my Novak GTB but Tekin still do good escs as do LRP.
With brushless just make sure you go for a sensored setup though.
And I can recommend www.oople.com too, there's a good for sale section which should save you some money!

[motormania]

The Novak brushless esc's have sensors in-built, no need for plugon extras.

[Holst]

Steamer said:

Thanks for that! Looks like I've got a bit of homework to do!

Sadly I sold all my old kit to fund my first real car.

Just found my club on the net too... I dont even recognise what it is they are racing now they all have touring body shells and not many cars in each race.

Back in the day - it was all exposed wheels and 10 cars in a heat - Chaos!!!

Where did you race?
I used to do the midlands regionals racing a procat and later a bosscat. It wouldnt supprise me if we had raced eachother some time during the mid 90's (when I would have been 14/15)

If you want to be competitive it will cost you a stupid ammount of money.
I think the general standard of driving is much higher these days as well.

The best bet will be to go along to your old club and see if you fancy having a go again.

Second hand kit will cut your startup costs and will save you alot of money if you find you dont have the time to take it seriously.

I keep meaning to go back to Hinckley RCCC and have a go again, but ive been too lazy. Also the guys who I used to race are mostly sponsored and are spending silly ammounts of money.

[Steamer]

Its funny looking at the set-ups now: Shaft drive or lots of belts, motors mounted the other way round... or even longitudeally now! Brushless motors & Lipo cells!!

It was all arguments about whos cut-brushes were the best back in my day - and we had just about got to roller clutches on 4x4 at the time I quit.

Can't wait to get back into it - but I'm gutted my local club now only does saloons & I've heard they lost the outdoor track too because the local council claimed they were going to build on it But I know for a fact its still there unused.

Wish I had held onto my old kit now though. So is the Kyosho Lazer still worth a look (obviously not the pre-built version though)?


ETA: Sorry Holst - missed your question, I used to race around the Midlands (south) but Worcester was my regular club.

Edited by Steamer on Tuesday 16th December 16:58

[PeetBee]

motormania said:

The Novak brushless esc's have sensors in-built, no need for plugon extras.

Are you thinking of lipo cutoffs?
Whilst the GTB is sensored, Tekin have only just brought out a sensored esc.

[PeetBee]

Steamer said:

So is the Kyosho Lazer still worth a look (obviously not the pre-built version though)?

Lots of 4wd choice now. Kyosho are finally sponsoring a couple of drivers this year, so there's more support, but if you want the Lazer then I'd avoid the RTR version and look for the SP or FS.
But... if the car you want uses saddles and you want to race in a BRCA event, then before you buy any lipo saddles wait for the new list to come out as it doesn't look like there's going to be much legal choice - I know mine won't be due to size restrictions.
If you just want to run at club then check what everyone there is running and go with the flow! (you only need 1 or 2 packs for a whole day's running as you can charge straight after running)

Forgot to mention, I would also reccomend going for 2.4ghz radio gear - no more worrying about crystals or interference from other racers! It's fantastic.

And finally, you don't have to spend a fortune to be competetive, but it's easy to spend spend spend!

[Holst]

Alot of clubs are going only racing touring cars now which I also think is a shame as its much more equipment based, rather than skill based.

I remember racing at a offroad regional and I was soundly beaten by one of the top touring car guys when he was using a borrowed car with completely innapropriate tires.

I wouldnt buy anything until you go to the club and find out what classes they race. If your going to race offroad they may only run 2WD, and will probably race touring cars during the winter.

I think the only thing that might have been worth keeping from your old kit would be the KO servo

[Steamer]

Well its good to know there are a few of you out there that hang around on PH too - I'll be back when I've done a bit more research I think!

I'll grab a copy of Model Cars too - assuming thats still running!


ETA: I remember just how easy it was to let the pounds slip away - back when I was 16 with my ZXR EVERY pound I earned / begged / stole or borrowed went into that car! I even used to sneak bits into my CDT lessons to drill and linish just to make them a bit lighter. Happy Days! (I just hope its still the same game)

Edited by Steamer on Tuesday 16th December 17:35

[PeetBee]

radio race car is still going too.

You can look forward to telling anyone who'll listen, "Eee when I were a lad it were none of these fancy brushless/lipo/etc it were all fields"!!

[Holst]

Steamer said:

Well its good to know there are a few of you out there that hang around on PH too - I'll be back when I've done a bit more research I think!

I'll grab a copy of Model Cars too - assuming thats still running!


ETA: I remember just how easy it was to let the pounds slip away - back when I was 16 with my ZXR EVERY pound I earned / begged / stole or borrowed went into that car! I even used to sneak bits into my CDT lessons to drill and linish just to make them a bit lighter. Happy Days! (I just hope its still the same game)

Edited by Steamer on Tuesday 16th December 17:35

You dont see many garage mechanics these days.

When I was racing the bosscat I had home built suspension and alot of other custom parts on the car. I even made my own carbon firbe chassis. These days the cars are much better built and are already using the best materials, so there isnt any need to change or mod anything. Its alot less fun than it used to be as far as engineering is concerned because the cars as so much better designed than they used to be.

[thehos]

the newest kyosho off roader is a zx-5 i think, my story is the same as yours i ran a cat xls, then real cars and girls came on the scene, so rc took a back seat for a few years.
When i got back into it i found my old stuff out the loft/garage, and managed to get some spares off ebay, motor esc, battery then i joined my local club and i started again, now 2 or 3 years on i race a cat 3000, 3700mah nimh, novak 5.5, still looking for a good handset though, tried acoms 2.4 steering wheel, didnt get on with that now back to acoms 27 sticks

[wacattack]

Get onto www.oople.com

this is the place for all things offroad, everything you will ever need to know is on there. Club information, car reviews, technical help, random stuff etc...

I currently race a RC10B4 which is 2WD. Thought about getting a 4WD but cant justify the expense of runnig two cars. A very good 4WD kit is the Losi XX4. This design is over 10 years old but is still regarded as one of the best suited cars to UK grass/Astro tracks.

The new Schumacher Cat SX is also extremely good and again suited to the UK. Other options are the ZX5, Associated B44, JConcepts BJ4, Tamiya Durga (although very cheap has received some good reviews)