Well, last week marked the final race for the Kawada - at least for now. It wasn't a great week either, falling prey to stripping the rear belt and not having any power in the main. I still almost managed to finish third, but for a single boarding incident near the end of the race.
It's kind of sad too - I just put together the best handling version of the car too - I reverted to the Kawada steering after the servo debacle of the previous week, and reinstated the center support and ran my battery in the typical saddle pack fashion. Oh, and that new technology I poo-poohed in post #1 or #2... ya, I added droop screws to the arms!
I think the car can still be competitive at a lower level, but I race with some of the best, and I'm hoping to take a step up. I bit the bullet and purchased a BRAND NEW TOP Photon. Two nights ago was it's maiden voyage, and I feel the car performs much more consistantly, and I alread beat last weeks fast lap time already (by .2 seconds).
I'm going to keep on blogging the exploits of VTA - just at a different URL
http://vtaphoton.blogspot.com
Did I answer the question of being able to compete with old tech?
Friday, July 24, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Vintage Trans Am : 0 for 2 in July!
Well, last night was just a typical Wednesday night racing VTA at MSI. Well, typical, if by typical I mean a new/fu$#@ed up track layout, and typical if last week and this week are the start of a new trend.
To start, the track layout was unlike anything I've had the pleasure/displeasure of running on. The "straight" was actually directly below the drivers stand, and had enough obstacles to make a Ninja Warrior flinch. However, if you were brave, you could go full blast through there - John said it best "clenching [your a$$ cheeks] was worth 3 tenths".
I've drawn up how I remember the track layout - it's not exact, but the pattern and corners are all there :
The first qualifier for me has often been my quickest, and tonight it didn't disappoint as I managed a 24/5:12 right behind Kevin's 24/5:10 and both of us 2 laps down to James (why does he torture us so?). I knew avoiding marshaling was going to be key especially with how far from the marshals most of the action was, and managed to make it through this qualifier marshal-free. I used last weeks gearing of 4.5 FDR, and came off a little hotter than I prefer while lacking pull out of the corners. This run was with the Tamiya spool, and I could visibly see the car struggling in the front end on the track, but managed a fast lap of 11.9. Kevin had a fast lap of 11.5 and James was probably in the high 10's (surprise!)
Before the second qualifier, I swapped out the spool for a differential to see if the car would be any better behaved. I love running the one way, but didn't see how it would do well on this track. I also changed the gearing a bit and ran a 4.75 and drove a bit conservatively. Sometime on the 20th lap or so, the car went straight when I wanted it to go left, and I was on that stand thinking about how much threadlock I used when fixing the lost screw problem from last week as it hopped a board. I got it off the board and it drove fine back around the track to the exact same spot where again it wouldn't turn left. I left it against the board and would check it out after the race to find that I had stripped a gear inside the servo. I don't recall hitting anything of any significance, and people laughed when I told them it was the servo and showed them the Futaba S3003 from 1996 I was running. Hey, if it's not broke, don't fix it!
I spent the $14 to buy a Futaba S3004 as I didn't have any spare servo's with me. The car felt just like it did before, but I moved the end points in a bit as the Ackerman provided by the TC5 steering is a bit more than the Kawada stock unit.
I managed to qualify in third overall with my first qualifier, right behind Kevin (by about 10 seconds) and James added to the beating by turning a 27 lap run. Matt qualified fourth overall for the night and made the A-main for the second week in a row, and was the first time we met in a main!
I geared up a bit more as my fast lap time dipped down to a 12.2 (maybe I forgot to clench?), and was ready for the main. The tone went off, and somehow James had trouble with the first corner, and I was a turn or so behind Kevin when he stuffed the car in the infield as I easily went around for the lead! I had smooth sailing for a couple laps until James finally caught up and ran on my bumper for an entire lap as I was very meticulous about not opening the inside door on any turn. He finally thought he would try something going into turn 7, but I left no room, and he wound up spinning me out to which I said very loudly "Fu$#@!ng hacker - oh sorry!" to the crowds amusement as he was pulling over to let me by once I got pointed the right direction. We battled for another half a lap and then I started having steering issues again which put me all over the track before I realized what it was. I somehow managed to jump a board and land smack dab in the middle of the front straight facing exactly 180 degrees from the racing direction. I pulled the trigger, but heard nothing but the sound of a shredded spur gear as I then proceeded to watch James come through there and through my car at full speed. I was already planning on moving everything to a new chassis so I haven't had the heart to actually look to see what all was broken, but I'm sure I'll find a few things. What I did find immediately after the race that the gears inside this brand new servo were completely stripped along 90 degrees of the mating surface (right where it had been mated). One servo lasts 13 years, its replacement lasted about 4 minutes! Luckily I have a couple of metal geared Airtronics servos that I'm not currently using!
Wednesday points series starts next week, so I've got some work ahead of me to have a reliable car again. July has not been my month and I already know I'm going to have one drop when I go to Indy for GenCon, which only leaves me with one!
To start, the track layout was unlike anything I've had the pleasure/displeasure of running on. The "straight" was actually directly below the drivers stand, and had enough obstacles to make a Ninja Warrior flinch. However, if you were brave, you could go full blast through there - John said it best "clenching [your a$$ cheeks] was worth 3 tenths".
I've drawn up how I remember the track layout - it's not exact, but the pattern and corners are all there :
The first qualifier for me has often been my quickest, and tonight it didn't disappoint as I managed a 24/5:12 right behind Kevin's 24/5:10 and both of us 2 laps down to James (why does he torture us so?). I knew avoiding marshaling was going to be key especially with how far from the marshals most of the action was, and managed to make it through this qualifier marshal-free. I used last weeks gearing of 4.5 FDR, and came off a little hotter than I prefer while lacking pull out of the corners. This run was with the Tamiya spool, and I could visibly see the car struggling in the front end on the track, but managed a fast lap of 11.9. Kevin had a fast lap of 11.5 and James was probably in the high 10's (surprise!)
Before the second qualifier, I swapped out the spool for a differential to see if the car would be any better behaved. I love running the one way, but didn't see how it would do well on this track. I also changed the gearing a bit and ran a 4.75 and drove a bit conservatively. Sometime on the 20th lap or so, the car went straight when I wanted it to go left, and I was on that stand thinking about how much threadlock I used when fixing the lost screw problem from last week as it hopped a board. I got it off the board and it drove fine back around the track to the exact same spot where again it wouldn't turn left. I left it against the board and would check it out after the race to find that I had stripped a gear inside the servo. I don't recall hitting anything of any significance, and people laughed when I told them it was the servo and showed them the Futaba S3003 from 1996 I was running. Hey, if it's not broke, don't fix it!
I spent the $14 to buy a Futaba S3004 as I didn't have any spare servo's with me. The car felt just like it did before, but I moved the end points in a bit as the Ackerman provided by the TC5 steering is a bit more than the Kawada stock unit.
I managed to qualify in third overall with my first qualifier, right behind Kevin (by about 10 seconds) and James added to the beating by turning a 27 lap run. Matt qualified fourth overall for the night and made the A-main for the second week in a row, and was the first time we met in a main!
I geared up a bit more as my fast lap time dipped down to a 12.2 (maybe I forgot to clench?), and was ready for the main. The tone went off, and somehow James had trouble with the first corner, and I was a turn or so behind Kevin when he stuffed the car in the infield as I easily went around for the lead! I had smooth sailing for a couple laps until James finally caught up and ran on my bumper for an entire lap as I was very meticulous about not opening the inside door on any turn. He finally thought he would try something going into turn 7, but I left no room, and he wound up spinning me out to which I said very loudly "Fu$#@!ng hacker - oh sorry!" to the crowds amusement as he was pulling over to let me by once I got pointed the right direction. We battled for another half a lap and then I started having steering issues again which put me all over the track before I realized what it was. I somehow managed to jump a board and land smack dab in the middle of the front straight facing exactly 180 degrees from the racing direction. I pulled the trigger, but heard nothing but the sound of a shredded spur gear as I then proceeded to watch James come through there and through my car at full speed. I was already planning on moving everything to a new chassis so I haven't had the heart to actually look to see what all was broken, but I'm sure I'll find a few things. What I did find immediately after the race that the gears inside this brand new servo were completely stripped along 90 degrees of the mating surface (right where it had been mated). One servo lasts 13 years, its replacement lasted about 4 minutes! Luckily I have a couple of metal geared Airtronics servos that I'm not currently using!
Wednesday points series starts next week, so I've got some work ahead of me to have a reliable car again. July has not been my month and I already know I'm going to have one drop when I go to Indy for GenCon, which only leaves me with one!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Vintage Trans Am for July starts really rough!
So, I have these shiny new Tamiya parts in my car, and I'm trying out a real spool in the car. The track hasn't changed since last week - it's the third week for this layout, which should give me a good comparison since I've only changed the one way out for a spool and tamiya CVD's up front (saving about 18g of rotating mass along the way).
First qualifier starts out, and I'm hearing that I'm setting the second fastest time after about 10 laps! The car was definitely different - I don't think it was faster than usual, I just think other folks were having more problems. So, on lap twelve, my car is a little wide going down the straight, and I go to cut in for the sweeper and the car follows one of Newtons laws of motion - something about a body in motion staying in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. Well, that force was not the steering as it should have been - The steering did absolutely nothing when I turned the wheel. The force that did act on it was the outside wall of the track. It acted loudly and mercilessly on the front of the car.
When I assessed the damage, I found that the lower M3x5 screw holding the TC5 steering post in place was missing and the whole steering assembly was flapping in the wind. Also, the front body posts were both broken off at the shock tower. I searched and searched my spares box, but only had one body post spare with me. It took up until my second qualifier was about to start to get another solution rigged in place since I had to figure out what might work, and Ryan was really busy up front with working on ordering parts for someone and fixing someone else's nitro car.
I dropped the car on the track just as the second qualifier was about to start, only to hear that I lost a tooth or two on the spur in the crash as well. I didn't want to hold everyone to to take the time to change it, so I was going to just give it the old college try, and managed to get a whole lap in before it stopped completely. I pulled it off and changed the spur and got back on track to turn another 3 laps before time ran out.
I qualified dead last that night, and was in the B Main for the first time ever in VTA. Ironically, Matt snagged the final spot in the A due to this, so I still haven't raced against him in a main!
The B main was boring and uneventful. I stayed put when the tone went off and waited until everyone was almost to turn one to take off - it may have looked like a dick move, but it wasn't arrogance so much as expecting a pile up in turn one. Sure enough, by the time I got to turn one, two of the cars had wrecked and I slid right past them, and was on Bob's tail for the lead. I stayed behind him for the remainder of the lap as I couldn't make it around without risking wrecking us both. I passed him on the inside on lap two and never looked back. I even managed to avoid Tom's green 'Cuda the entire race, regardless of his best efforts, and turned an okay time of 24/5:09 being that I was over-geared. The spur I threw on was 5 teeth less than I was running in qualifier #1 and I didn't have the gears I wanted, so I left them on the car for the main.
My fast lap for the night was only an 11.7, which is down .2 from last week, but I also didn't have a chance to get in the zone like I did last week. This coming week will be a new layout, which should bring the traction down and require different gearing, so we'll see if I can put it in the top three or not.
First qualifier starts out, and I'm hearing that I'm setting the second fastest time after about 10 laps! The car was definitely different - I don't think it was faster than usual, I just think other folks were having more problems. So, on lap twelve, my car is a little wide going down the straight, and I go to cut in for the sweeper and the car follows one of Newtons laws of motion - something about a body in motion staying in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. Well, that force was not the steering as it should have been - The steering did absolutely nothing when I turned the wheel. The force that did act on it was the outside wall of the track. It acted loudly and mercilessly on the front of the car.
When I assessed the damage, I found that the lower M3x5 screw holding the TC5 steering post in place was missing and the whole steering assembly was flapping in the wind. Also, the front body posts were both broken off at the shock tower. I searched and searched my spares box, but only had one body post spare with me. It took up until my second qualifier was about to start to get another solution rigged in place since I had to figure out what might work, and Ryan was really busy up front with working on ordering parts for someone and fixing someone else's nitro car.
I dropped the car on the track just as the second qualifier was about to start, only to hear that I lost a tooth or two on the spur in the crash as well. I didn't want to hold everyone to to take the time to change it, so I was going to just give it the old college try, and managed to get a whole lap in before it stopped completely. I pulled it off and changed the spur and got back on track to turn another 3 laps before time ran out.
I qualified dead last that night, and was in the B Main for the first time ever in VTA. Ironically, Matt snagged the final spot in the A due to this, so I still haven't raced against him in a main!
The B main was boring and uneventful. I stayed put when the tone went off and waited until everyone was almost to turn one to take off - it may have looked like a dick move, but it wasn't arrogance so much as expecting a pile up in turn one. Sure enough, by the time I got to turn one, two of the cars had wrecked and I slid right past them, and was on Bob's tail for the lead. I stayed behind him for the remainder of the lap as I couldn't make it around without risking wrecking us both. I passed him on the inside on lap two and never looked back. I even managed to avoid Tom's green 'Cuda the entire race, regardless of his best efforts, and turned an okay time of 24/5:09 being that I was over-geared. The spur I threw on was 5 teeth less than I was running in qualifier #1 and I didn't have the gears I wanted, so I left them on the car for the main.
My fast lap for the night was only an 11.7, which is down .2 from last week, but I also didn't have a chance to get in the zone like I did last week. This coming week will be a new layout, which should bring the traction down and require different gearing, so we'll see if I can put it in the top three or not.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Tamiya parts go/no-go?
Well, I got the Tamiya parts in the mail!
The bad news? I pretty much struck out on what I ordered.
The Tamiya axles (53939) for the 415 turned out to be the wrong ones - the drive pin was inside the hub when fully seated.
The rear belt, even with the rear tensioner all the way engaged, was still too loose to propel the car without slipping.
The 44mm swingshafts (54077) were too short to mate with the Kawada differential or one-way.
I did manage to make some trades and acquire axles for a 416, which were the proper fit (with 2 shims). Then, I did a lot of clearancing, and was able to get the 416 Spool with the TAO5 wide pitch pulley on the front of the car without binding. This configuration allowed the use of the 44mm swingshafts. The front belt was a fit (if a bit loose) so I was able to use the whole front end assembly eventually!
The rear end is still all Kawada, and I have two choices : I can order 46mm swingshafts as the 44's are just a bit too short, or I can put a 416 differential in the rear. The rear diff in the Kawada is a delrin diff and is really smooth with the ceramic nitride balls in it, so I'm hesitant to spend $50 or so on a diff that may or may not improve the car. I can get the swingshafts online for between $30 and $40 after shipping, which doesn't thrill me either, so I'm currently not doing either as the rear CVD's are in decent shape (for now).
The bad news? I pretty much struck out on what I ordered.
The Tamiya axles (53939) for the 415 turned out to be the wrong ones - the drive pin was inside the hub when fully seated.
The rear belt, even with the rear tensioner all the way engaged, was still too loose to propel the car without slipping.
The 44mm swingshafts (54077) were too short to mate with the Kawada differential or one-way.
I did manage to make some trades and acquire axles for a 416, which were the proper fit (with 2 shims). Then, I did a lot of clearancing, and was able to get the 416 Spool with the TAO5 wide pitch pulley on the front of the car without binding. This configuration allowed the use of the 44mm swingshafts. The front belt was a fit (if a bit loose) so I was able to use the whole front end assembly eventually!
The rear end is still all Kawada, and I have two choices : I can order 46mm swingshafts as the 44's are just a bit too short, or I can put a 416 differential in the rear. The rear diff in the Kawada is a delrin diff and is really smooth with the ceramic nitride balls in it, so I'm hesitant to spend $50 or so on a diff that may or may not improve the car. I can get the swingshafts online for between $30 and $40 after shipping, which doesn't thrill me either, so I'm currently not doing either as the rear CVD's are in decent shape (for now).
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