How can I practice at home?

[Jamie Garofalo]

What can I do at home to practice for weekly club races? Obviously, I
can't get the surface that the track has, but are there "general"
things I can work on. My 2 weakest points are setting up to go
straight after a turn (I spin out) and turning smoothly without having
to stop/go/stop/go.

Any help would rock.

Thanks!

[Paul - xxx]

Jamie Garofalo scribbled:

> What can I do at home to practice for weekly club races? Obviously, I
> can't get the surface that the track has, but are there "general"
> things I can work on. My 2 weakest points are setting up to go
> straight after a turn (I spin out) and turning smoothly without having
> to stop/go/stop/go.
>
> Any help would rock.
>
> Thanks!

Find a local 'area' that's relatively free of traffic and set a small
course up .. I often use manhole covers etc in the road for my son to
practice with. Then run the course slowly, increasing speed each lap.
Run a small and large figure of eight, again, starting slowly, but
increasing speed until tyres start to slide. Unless you run only Ovals,
there's no point turning a circle .. ;)

Once you're at a point of tyres starting to slide and spinning out, then
slow down again, just a fraction and start trying to nail the apexes of
the turns, getting as close to the edges of the apex as possible,
running on a racing line rather than just turning a corner, but still
keeping the car under full control. Going slowly, consistently, without
spinning or crashing, is harder than going faster, but if you can
control your throttle thumb / finger, speed will come. If you don't
crash at all instead of crashing on every lap, then you've already
increased speed for race night by at least two seconds a lap .. Going
slower, safely INCREASES overall speed .. and won't break the car .. ;)

Once you're getting the hang of not hitting anything and not spinning
out, then increase speed again until you do start spinning out. Now you
want to try controlling the spinout .. as soon as you 'feel' it, reverse
steering to drive into the lock, but try to do it fluidly, BUT, keep
power on slightly. If you shut off you'll invariably spin out, if you
can keep power on a bit then it more often helps drag the car around ..
Some drivers run with their throttle trim set so that they don't have a
neutral at all, and physically need to brake to slow down, and hold
brakes on to stop still. It's very 'awkward' feeling, but if you can do
this it will help immensely.

Have fun, don't worry, keep practising, enjoy .. ;)


--
....................................Paul-xxx
My house is FOR SALE ...
http://tinyurl.com/69r0

[paul werz]

go to your hobby shop and get duratrax orange racing cones they are like 3
in a pack for about $6.00 and then go find a parking lot and setup your
track.I have like 18 cones and setup a nice oval everyweekend when not racin
and practice with about 6 guys
"Jamie Garofalo" <jamie@xpedite.com> wrote in message
news:76a9728.0303120915.47158b6c@posting.google.co m...
> What can I do at home to practice for weekly club races? Obviously, I
> can't get the surface that the track has, but are there "general"
> things I can work on. My 2 weakest points are setting up to go
> straight after a turn (I spin out) and turning smoothly without having
> to stop/go/stop/go.
>
> Any help would rock.
>
> Thanks!

[dingo]

practice as much you can.
Try to find out if your car is spinnng out faster than other cars. This
could mean you have a grip problem. If others cars accelerate earlyer and
faster than yours you must find a better setup for the rear suspension.

TM

"Jamie Garofalo" <jamie@xpedite.com> schreef in bericht
news:76a9728.0303120915.47158b6c@posting.google.co m...
> What can I do at home to practice for weekly club races? Obviously, I
> can't get the surface that the track has, but are there "general"
> things I can work on. My 2 weakest points are setting up to go
> straight after a turn (I spin out) and turning smoothly without having
> to stop/go/stop/go.
>
> Any help would rock.
>
> Thanks!

[mykrowyre]

> things I can work on. My 2 weakest points are setting up to go
> straight after a turn (I spin out) and turning smoothly without having
> to stop/go/stop/go.

I'll give you some things you can work on :)

If you are spinning while getting on the gas in a turn, you need to
either add more rear traction or reduce the front traction. Way to
do this would be to do ONE of the following: move the battery back a
notch, add some front camber, remove rear sway bar, add front sway
bar, change rear suspension stiffness (this depends on the roughness
of the track and whether your car is 2wd or 4wd).

If the car is too "twitchy" try adding some toe in on the front tires
to make the car easier to drive straight. As you get better you'll
want to progress into a little bit of toe out in increase steering
turn-in to corners.

Try to look ahead a little... this will help you avoid accidents which
will keep you up front.

Try to pick out places to serve as markers where you can let off the
throttle or brake and have the perfect speed going into the corner.
Look for things in the background, like paint marks, cones, pipe
joints, whatever. This way you can be consistent and not overshoot a
corner. I can usually find something to serve as a marker if I look
hard enough... wide open ... let off at marker, coast into corner,
reach apex, roll throttle on, etc.

Relax... pretend it's practice and convince yourself that winning
doesnt matter.. this will help you avoid getting nervous when someone
tries to take your position, and possibly crashing or letting them by
because you're too excited to drive.

Last of all, drive smooth. Dont jam the trigger. Slowly roll off the
trigger into a corner (in tight corners, going slow and tight is
-usually- better than fast and wide) and roll it back on as you start
to reach the apex of the turn. This will keep your batteries from
dumping and it'll also help avoid unexpected spins.

As an example, I went from consistent 5th-7th finishes at my local
track, to 1st place and TQ in my class (with the same racers and even
more than usual) by simply driving SLOWER in the corners but taking
them as tight and as smooth as possible. Remember to take the
shortest path around the track.

P.S. You can tack metal can lids or even cardboard circles down to
asphalt with some small nails and a hammer for a practice track :)
This works great because you can hit it without wrecking completely.

Good luck !
-tom

[Bubba]

On 13 Mar 2003 20:02:25 -0800, mykrowyre@yahoo.com (mykrowyre) wrote:

>If you are spinning while getting on the gas in a turn, you need to
>either add more rear traction or reduce the front traction. Way to
>do this would be to do ONE of the following: move the battery back a
>notch, add some front camber, remove rear sway bar, add front sway
>bar, change rear suspension stiffness (this depends on the roughness
>of the track and whether your car is 2wd or 4wd).

You can also go up a tooth or two on the pinion or turn up the
traction control that your ESC may or may not have. Personally I
prefer to have the ability to light up the tires so I can use the
throttle to whip the rear end around instead of the brakes.

Bubba
Losi XXXS- http://home.swbell.net/lt1_z28/xxxs.html
HPI Micro RS4- For sale
AE RC10LSS- Also for sale:
http://home.swbell.net/lt1_z28/rc10lss_for_sale.htm

[Paradox]

"Jamie Garofalo" <jamie@xpedite.com> wrote in message
news:76a9728.0303120915.47158b6c@posting.google.co m...
> What can I do at home to practice for weekly club races? Obviously, I
> can't get the surface that the track has, but are there "general"
> things I can work on. My 2 weakest points are setting up to go
> straight after a turn (I spin out) and turning smoothly without having
> to stop/go/stop/go.
>
> Any help would rock.
>
> Thanks!

dont turn the wheel so far...