Electric On Road 2WD Traction Problems

[kenji]

I've recently acquired some older on road cars.

Bolink, RC10 DS, and a RC10L. All three are 2WD rear drive cars.

I spent the weekend getting them all up and running with ESC's,
receivers, various motors, spurs and pinions.

I thought I give this a try just for fun to see how they'd all run on
parking lots.

So far, the RC10 DS, which has real rubber...Proline tires has been the
best. The other two vehicles using direct drive from the motor to the
rear wheels are just awful.

We tried two different parking lots. One was asphalt that was coated,
and the other was a noncoated asphalt.

We had really poor traction on the parking lots with the Bolink and the
RC10L, both of which had foam tires. I even tried a new set of foams. I
also tried swapping out motors and tried everything from a 12T triple,
to a plain old stock. I also swapped out about 5 different spurs and
pinions but could never get a good bite on the road.

The cars with foam tires would get about 1/2 speed up and just spin out.
We tried adjusting various Throttle trims on the Futaba Junior
transmitters, but nothing helped.

So.....what am I doing wrong? How did folks 8 to ten years ago get
traction and not be frustrated?

Use rubber tires and not foams?

Are foams for carpet only?

[chuck_steak@nospam.com]

In article <yobubba-C5E041.23232613072003@news.ftupet.com>,
kenji <yobubba@ameritech.net> wrote:

>We had really poor traction on the parking lots with the Bolink and the
>RC10L, both of which had foam tires. I even tried a new set of foams. I
>also tried swapping out motors and tried everything from a 12T triple,
>to a plain old stock. I also swapped out about 5 different spurs and
>pinions but could never get a good bite on the road.

My experience, and I'm not saying this is "THE" answer, with
parking lots, is that the surface is dusty.
You may think it is nice and clean, but it "probly" isn't..

I have tried to practice/setup/try new things in parking lots,
and it is never the same as the asphalt oval we race on, mostly I think,
because the track is blown clean every night.

That slight layer of sandy dust on the lot, can kill any hopes of
you making any decent progress. And you can chase your tail trying to solve
a problem that is not really the car.

I'd suggest borrowing, if you can, a leaf blower, and blowing the area
off that you intend on using.

There is nothing wrong with the older cars you are trying to use,
while they may not keep up with some of the newer stuff, they should
at least provide you with some fun..

Make sure your tires aren't too hard... and also, make sure you don't
have a lot of steering dialed in. That can be a problem as well.



Dan
----------------------------------------------
If Jimmy cracked corn, and nobody cared,
why did they write a song about him?

[Rick Russell]

In article <yobubba-C5E041.23232613072003@news.ftupet.com>,
kenji <yobubba@ameritech.net> wrote:
> Bolink, RC10 DS, and a RC10L. All three are 2WD rear drive cars.

The RC10DS has a full, long-travel suspension, and it's heavier than
the other two cars. That's why it works so much better on parking
lots.

The RC10L is really designed for a cleaned, manicured track.

> The cars with foam tires would get about 1/2 speed up and just spin out.

That's often called "oversteer". You may be able to correct it by
moving some weight toward the back of the car.

Rick R.

[kenji]

In article <beuv7q$94g$1@joe.rice.edu>,
rickr@is.rice.edu (Rick Russell) wrote:

> In article <yobubba-C5E041.23232613072003@news.ftupet.com>,
> kenji <yobubba@ameritech.net> wrote:
> > Bolink, RC10 DS, and a RC10L. All three are 2WD rear drive cars.
>
> The RC10DS has a full, long-travel suspension, and it's heavier than
> the other two cars. That's why it works so much better on parking
> lots
>
> The RC10L is really designed for a cleaned, manicured track.
>

I was thinking this, and of course didn't want it to be a possibility.


> > The cars with foam tires would get about 1/2 speed up and just spin out.
>
> That's often called "oversteer". You may be able to correct it by
> moving some weight toward the back of the car.

At this point I've got the battery mounted perpendicularly all the way
to the rear, on the Bolink I'm running, and off to the side and parralel
on the RC10L, but as far back as it can go. Both of these oval racing
cars are doing the same thing.

Thanks for the reply Rick.

[kenji]

In article <beuhhv$6cp$1@bob.news.rcn.net>, chuck_steak@nospam.com
wrote:

> I'd suggest borrowing, if you can, a leaf blower, and blowing the area
> off that you intend on using.

I'll give this a try. Good suggestion.

>
> There is nothing wrong with the older cars you are trying to use,
> while they may not keep up with some of the newer stuff, they should
> at least provide you with some fun..

That's exactly what we're after with thse....FUN!

>
> Make sure your tires aren't too hard... and also, make sure you don't
> have a lot of steering dialed in. That can be a problem as well.

We did figure out that if you take the steering dial on the handle of
your radio and dial it all the way back, so the front wheels don't
travel much at all did help alot.

I'm going to try to find rubber tires that willl fit an oval cars rear
wheels.

Thanks "chuck"!

[Paul - xxx]

kenji deftly scribbled:

> The cars with foam tires would get about 1/2 speed up and just spin
> out. We tried adjusting various Throttle trims on the Futaba Junior
> transmitters, but nothing helped.
>
> So.....what am I doing wrong? How did folks 8 to ten years ago get
> traction and not be frustrated?

Careful use of the throttle, and allowing a few laps/burn-outs for the tyres
to warm up a bit .. Yes, it *does* help .. ;) Clean the tarmac, lay some
sugar soap solution down, or spray a can or bottle of coke lightly over the
corner surfaces.

Also your settings on the car. Limit the steering at the front, maybe use a
smaller length servo horn, or move any linkages to different positions to
mechanically slow down the steering throw. Soften the rear end as much as
possible. I found a pan car needs almost zero damping at the rear, unless
it's an absolute flat surface where you can get away with it set hard. Make
sure the ride height isn't too low, or high .. ;)

> Use rubber tires and not foams?
>
> Are foams for carpet only?

Nope, though different compounds can make vast differences. Generally use
wider tyres at the rear, and quite narrow tyres up front.

--
....................................Paul-xxx