2016 Tasman Cup Round 1 Southern Loop

[Slo]

This might take a couple goes and I will endeavor to get a pic of your car and comment up.

Edited April 11, 2016 by slo1quick

[Slo]

Heres some of my thoughts. Apologies bout' not being able to get the pictures up

 

# 18 Really enjoyed this drive Viv. even though down on pace it was a smooth runner. Its higher stance made it hard to push it harder, good power and brakes

 

#100 Shadow, nice runner, just couldn't get competitive pace out it, more grip would benefit.

 

 

# 69 Marek. Smooth runner but couldnt hold slot

 

 

#6 High stance on this one made it really difficult around the bends. Excessive bounce in the front end on acceleration

 

 

# 2 No Brakes Neil, found its way to the 'Peters" sign at the end of the straight regularly

 

 

# 78 Something about this car I really like. Much better planted this year but no brakes at all. Had to back off before the halfway mark on the straight in order to make the turn at the end

 

 

#14 Really nice car to drive, smooth. Struggled with grip so difficult to get pace out of it. Really liked this car, held on well.

 

 

# 64 A consistent runner and fun to drive. Felt a bit tippy when trying to take it to the next level

 

 

# 61 Really taily, held slot well just struggled with grip, it was fun to drive

 

 

# 30 Smooth runner, plenty power but no brakes

 

 

# 23 Much better after a motor flush. Held on really well, was a bit taily but felt I could push this one

 

 

# 16 Spritely little car, fun to drive, good power. Light in the front so wasnt confident to push harder, good pace.

 

 

# 5 Fun car to drive Charles, really held on well, if only it had more grip... but then again...it had no brakes. You build nice runners. You could do with a test track eh!?

 

 

# 33 Lim, Its a green rattler.. I suggest that when your in Melbourne you treat yourself to a ride on a tram...the old green one...Man the inline crown is offset more than an offset one, I just dunno how you do it. Still it is a fun car to drive, just loud.

 

 

#32 Nice drive Phil. More grip would benefit

 

 

 

#1 This one too struggled with grip, they held slot well though Nice cars to drive

 

 

# 10 Sideways Terry! Everywhere sideways, sideways all day but hang on it does.

 

 

# 28 My favorite build, what a gem Stewart! I always admired your builds, they a very clean and detailed. This one feels a bit lighter in the slot, could get good pace out of it but was always a bit tentative into the corners. One pokey BWA.

 

 

# 8 Great car, Had good pace. Didnt feel as confident holding slot through the corners approaching the straight. But everywhere else. Good grip, good power, great all rounder.

 

 

# 4 Wow, what a turn around from last year Alan, well done! Really well planted felt confident to push it. Really good to drive this year.

 

 

# 3 Well Slo.. You didnt alter the chassis height/ground clearance orientation with those 22mm diameter rears did you!? Still, it hung on pretty well and had good pace.

 

 

# 56 The class of the field Stubbo. Hung on like a pit bull, though I did manage to get it to let go, oooops. Could really push this one, well done!

 

 

# 9 Great little car, really smooth, good power, good grip didnt feel as steady as last year. Is the body float different?

 

 

 

Many thanks to everyone for the effort in building they are a great bunch to drive... and its great to see so many with good pace.

 

 

Not able to get pictures up for some reason.......The all appeared on the preview but didnt load to the post??

[kalbfellp]

Interesting that our rubber tyres do not suit the Southern loop, yet last year had too much grip on some tracks.

Probably due to the difference in rubber build up on the tracks.

[chenglaw]

"# 33 Lim, Its a green rattler.. I suggest that when your in Melbourne you treat yourself to a ride on a tram...the old green one...Man the inline crown is offset more than an offset one, I just dunno how you do it. Still it is a fun car to drive, just loud."

As I said, I didn't get to test it after making the chassis changes and in addition to switching the front end, I also changed the bearings on the rear axle, so in the process must have soldered them offset. Let's wait and see if the Green Rattler is still rattling at the end of the series.

[kalbfellp]

Loki g at the spec sheet I think my car and DM s info is transposed!

[difinity]

Thanks for the report on the #6 Cooper.

I can't think how to sit the stance lower without looking really strange - it does mean a higher roll centre though.

 

Strange also the front bouncing - might be too much grip?

[Terry]

"# 10 Sideways Terry! Everywhere sideways, sideways all day but hang on it does."

 

Appreciate the feedback Stewart, although a bit surprised about the lack of grip as it had pretty good grip when it left here, a the vagaries of proxy racing!

 

Well done to the podium finishers, you've all done very well!

[dangermouse]

A few mentions of no brakes - is there a secret to getting some braking with these little cars? I tried more weight with my car - but found that while my quickest times were similar I was consistently quicker with less weight.

[rosco01]

Thank you, Stu - really happy with your report. It's feedback such as yours which gives me thought for improvement - much appreciated.

 

As for body float, well - I believe you may have hit the nail on the head (not that this is a Brabham).

When I separated the chassis, I found the mount post had a piece missing. There was still plenty of the 10 BA countersunk screw in it, but I wasn't happy to send it off again without fixing it. I made up a c/a poultice and drilled/tapped it out again.

A new screw was set with Loctite 262 at 1 1/2 turns out for body float, which I believed I had done for last year.

It may very well be that it needs another 1/2 turn.

I expect that you believe the body float was insufficient - not excessive?

 

Again, thankyou very much for your feedback - and for all information posted on all cars..

 

frats,

Rosco

[manimmal]

The usual congrats to those who are putting together a quick Tasman car, and thanks gents for running the round. My car had a gear ratio change over the 'off season' so I'm disappointed that I didn't cure the braking issues of last year. That said I'm pleased to hear she's gained lead based stability

[Stubbo]

Danger, I thought your car was a big improvement over last year. I didn't find the braking that much of a problem. BTW what gear ratio are you running? I found the three cars with Solarbotics motors had the main issues with brakes.

 

Manimmal, I think its time for a motor change.

Spoons, I think its time for a motor change.

Chas, I think its time for a motor change.

 

Diffinity, Your car sits up really high. There is around 5mm clearance between the track and the chassis rail. That does make it harder to handle.

[Slo]

Phil will be interesting to see how the rubber tyres perform against the urethanes on other tracks

When I say would benefit with more grip, while there might be other limiting traits, grip was the obvious one preventing the car to reveal its next limiting trait. ie it didn't display any deslotting , tipping, hoping, lack of grunt etc. As drivers we are looking to get the most out of any one car. Your car ran at a fast pace, up into the 3.2 's comfortably looking for that next bit or tenth, so to speak, the car started to be untidy, it still hung in there or held slot really well just felt for it to move up a tenth more grip would help. It doesnt necessarily mean the grip was bad. It is a typically Tassie car in thats its a great build/runner and would handle more grip. Same can be said for Terry's car, its just Terry's cars pace was a bit slower. It could run all day at 3.6 in a tidy manor but pushing it up a tenth made it untidy and loose but the car is a very good build and held slot really well. Comments are relative, I guess if one looks at the fast time, generally most the heat is run close to that time. Stubbos car could probably do with more grip too....but dont tell him that!

 

The same cant be said about the #6 difinity car (Im not picking on this car Tony just answering your query and showing a point) Its center off gravity is really high and the car was very tippy, if it had less grip the car would be able to slide more readily making for a more forgiving drive and yes less grip may possibly limit the front hoping, BUT lowering its COG would benefit it big time. It'll be interesting to see how it goes on other tracks. For your next build, dont change this one use it as a bench mark.

 

Most get used to driving our own cars in testing them, as such, learn how to best drive them. Drivers only get a few laps at best to see what traits or idiosyncrasies a car may or may not have. Running a car without brakes, which is inherent in the solarbotics motor, after a car with good brakes is, As Phil once put it, "a steep learning curve" ! A crash hurts more than a slow car, generally.

 

Ross maybe a loosening of the body might help, In stage 2 and 3 it fell over at exactly the same spot through the esses. No dramatic loosing slot and flipping through the air grinding down the road with sparks everywhere. It just flipped on its side like a dead dog.....some cars just catch you out!

[rosco01]

Thanks Stu, wow - would I like to spend some time with you when you are testing and tuning cars.... I'm completely inept an any of this.

Yes, I expect that I may have wound down the mount screw 1/2 to 1 turn too far. I didn't notice it statically - but obviously, a bit more float most likely would have allowed the lift on the inner side a bit more affording more lateral rather than vertical weight shift of the body... if I have this correct?

 

Thanks again,

notes being taken all the time..

 

frats,

Rosco

[kalbfellp]

With the gearing on those Solarbotics motors the car are sure to be a problem trying to stop at the end of the straight down here.

I have several cars with these motors geared 8/23 8/24 and they still do not brake very well.

[chenglaw]

"With the gearing on those Solarbotics motors the car are sure to be a problem trying to stop at the end of the straight down here"

 

That's why I stopped using Solarbotics in my F1's. Until I can find a readily available set of gears which can give a ratio of at least 3.5:1 without the crown grounding on the track or hitting the rear deck of the bodyshell. But if it's straight line speed you're looking for, this is the one - all you have to do is to find a way to stop it!

Edited April 12, 2016 by chenglaw

[lenny broke]

I'll interested to see how the solabotics will go on my new track. With the fairly long straights and long constants radius bend they will be fairly quick but pulling them up for a couple of corners will make the difference, especailly the dogleg and hairpin in front of the drivers panel.

[oldslot]

thanks for the feedback slo 1 I will have to look into getting the car a bit lower I guess but hey it was enjoyable building it and if blokes can have a bit of fun with it, that's the go isn't it

[kalbfellp]

DM the SRP motors have very good brakes compared to the Solarbotics motors!

The Solarbotics have almost no brakes, even running 8 /24 they do not have brakes as good as the SRP, so in a proxy race where each driver only has 3 minutes to get the best from each car it is hard to change from one motor to the other.

Last year the drivers were braking about half way down the straight here with the Solarbotics cars with 10t pinions, to get around the corner.

Edited April 12, 2016 by kalbfellp

[Peter Gunn]

Hmm really enjoying the feed back on the cars seems like always lads horses for courses and were building a car for many different courses, as regards 14 have always tried to build smooth cars as others are driving it so compromised on speed to some degree to try and get a all round performer, but the tyre issue always seems to come up, first time at this proxy so had a choice of MJK or PG's on the rear so tossed a coin and it came down MJK , but always still learning about slot cars so one for the memory files.

[Slo]

Hmm really enjoying the feed back on the cars seems like always lads horses for courses and were building a car for many different courses, as regards 14 have always tried to build smooth cars as others are driving it so compromised on speed to some degree to try and get a all round performer, but the tyre issue always seems to come up, first time at this proxy so had a choice of MJK or PG's on the rear so tossed a coin and it came down MJK , but always still learning about slot cars so one for the memory files.

 

Mjks for Ozrally, PG, maybe Tassie devils and dart too, for Tasman.

But keep an eye out to see how those Pendle tyres go. BRM are rubber too.... arn't they?

DM is running His own Dangers and Marek is on cupcakes.....can see Marek is really serious about his tyres.....love his humor!

 

In the meantime.....we'll try a pic........

 

The Pendle clad at it again. The grandkids putting pressure on, Im amazed with wonderment how Phil can see where he's going

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[Terry]

I pretty much use Pauls tyres 100%, but I use the "XPG" compound which are somewhat softer than the "PGT" compound.

 

I have found that the XPG tyres wear out quicker and I've been caught out with the situation that I haven't been getting good mileage out of my tyres, seems that once I grind the tyres down to a reasonable diameter then I haven't got much wear left in the tyres, practicing the car at home found me caught short a few times, I'll need to get some PGT compound to compare the 2 types.

 

Of the Pauls tyre users, which compound do you go for?

[Slo]

XPG for me Terry

[Slo]

Neil checking out the 'Peters' sign at the end of the straight...again

[Slo]

Rosco doing that thing

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[Slo]

It appears I can only put one pic per post up at a time, so be patient guys

I have to turn the spuds......