Tamiya F104 Pro II F1 Build

 Chassis bought in September 2021 and build completed in December 2021.

TA08 Pro Touring Car Build

I picked up a TA08 Pro Touring Car chassis over July 4th weekend!  The last TC I raced was an Associated TC3.  Also a plastic chassis car! 

I bought all the options parts from Tamiya for the TA08!!  Sway bar kit, titanium screw kit, carbon fiber shock towers, and aluminum servo mount.  I also picked up an Exotek clamping fan mount so I could use their fan shroud in the future.

I went with a Trinity Xfactor 17.5 motor tuned by Rotor Ron.  I also mounted a Yeah Racing 30mm motor fan with Booster housing to it with the Exotek motor fan clamp.

I designed my own battery holder system for a Protek 5700mah 120C HV lipo pack.  This battery is narrower than a standard width long battery, so it wouldn't fit in the stock battery mount.  I also changed to a hold down strap instead of the "finger" hold downs.  My strap floats in the mounts and one end is slotted so that it doesn't impact chassis flex.

I also made my own transponder front bumper mount so I could place the transponder up front for faster lap times!

Tried using some small diameter wiring spiral wrap for the 1st time on one of my RC cars.  I like it!  Makes it easy to tidy up all the wires, as I don't like to shorten them so I can move my electronics to different cars.

Chassis build completed!

Body trimmed and mounted (off-center)!

Ready to race!

F1 Car!

 I bought an F1 car!  It's a Tamiya F104 Pro II pan car based chassis with a live rear axle and T-plate suspended rear motor pod.

LMP1 Car Ready to Race!

 Finally got my LMP1 body for my TC01 chassis!  I can use this body or the Formula E body on my TC01 chassis.  Maybe my car will handle better with the full front end and wing and fin?  Looks cool at least.

First Win for the X4 on Race #4!

I finally get the win in the Main on my 4th race the X4!  No TQ this time though.  The night before I changed out my pistons from 2x1.6 / 2x1.7 to 2x1.5 / 2x1.6, to reduce the bouncing when landing the big jumps of the current layout at SDRC.  I guess it worked, as my fast lap and race times improved!

In Heat 1, I finished in 2nd with a 16:11, fast lap of 18.617, average lap of  19.497, and consistency of  96.80%.

In Heat 2, I finished in 1st with a 16:13, fast lap of 18.842, average lap of  19.570, and consistency of  96.88%.

Before the main I noticed that stripes of worn rubber were forming on all 4 of my tires.  I might need to toss these tires soon I guess, but for now I'm not noticing any change in grip on the track.  These have been excellent slicks!  I may need to pick up some new in package clay compound slicks from Raw Speed for my next set of tires!  Still have a bunch of older tires to burn through and toss though.

I qualified 2nd for the A Main and managed to win the race after the leader crashed early in the race.  First win for the 22 X4!  I finished with a 16:12, fast lap of 18.422, average lap of  19.431, and consistency of  96.52%.

22 X4 Race #3 and Another TQ!

This was the 3rd race out with my X4 and the setup is getting better and the car is getting easier to drive fast!  I switched out my JC Octagon front for Raw Speed tires to get a little more steering and turned down my dual rate to 87% to reduce the twitchy feeling some.  I might try a bigger front sway bar and turn it back up to 90%.

In Heat 1, I finished in 1st with a 16:17, fast lap of 18.930, average lap of  19.818, and consistency of  97.22%.

In Heat 2, I finished in 1st with a 16:15, fast lap of 18.883, average lap of  19.688, and consistency of  96.15%.  I was able to keep my TQ by setting a faster time.  In fact it was the fastest run of the day over all classes racing!

I qualified in the TQ position and finished in 3rd (after a few driver errors) with a 15:07, fast lap of 18.751, average lap of  20.595, and consistency of  88.27%.  At least I finished on the podium and improved my fast lap?  But, I really should've won the race! :(

For the next race I'm going to try smaller piston holes (1.5/1/6) instead of the standard 1.6/1.7 setup, with the same springs and oil.  Hopefully this lets the car land smoother off the big jumps of this layout and I can get back on the gas sooner!

Ready to race!

Re-gluing the outer beads of the rear tires right before the Main!

RCRSD Iceman Winter Series Race #3, DHW, San Marcos, 3/14/21

I made it back out for race #3 of the Iceman Series to race my Formula E car.  This time out I geared up one tooth on my pinion, softened my rear springs, and increased my rear toe-in to 3.5 degrees.  Hopefully these changes increase my rear grip and straight away speed! 

In Heat 1, I finished 3rd with a 20:09, fast lap of 14.892, average lap of  15.452, and consistency of  96.79%.  This time out I used my tire warmers, as it was COLD!  I applied my tire sauce then put the tire warmers on and left then on until a few minutes before my race.  The tires were warm to the touch and tacky when I took the warmers off.  Not sure how beneficial using them is.  I guess it takes less time for the tires to heat up during my warm up laps?

Trinity tire warmers from the early 2000's!

The new extra large track marker was very unforgiving if you hit it.

In Heat 2, I finished 2nd with a 20:12, fast lap of 14.351, average lap of  15.630, and consistency of  95.54%.  For this race I increased my throttle speed and changed my throttle curve from linear to -50% expo.  My fast lap decreased as I got more used to the layout and the fact that the truck parked at the entrance of the straight left, which really opened up the entry onto it.

I qualified 3rd for the A Main and finished 2nd with a 19:04, fast lap of 14.493, average lap of  15.170, and consistency of  95.91%.  For the main I geared up another tooth on my pinion to 32 teeth.  I also changed the sauce on my fronts to Blue Liquid Wrench and used Paragon FXII on the rears.  My fast lap was a little slower, but my average lap decreased by 0.5 seconds.

For the next race I plan to lighten my rear shock oil to 42.5wt from 45wt.  I also need to change out my motor fan as the current one started spinning slowly and can't start spinning now.  I guess it's taken too many hits in crashes?

My pit area for the day

Ready for the Main

A rivet in my chair broke :(  I should be able to fix it with a screw and nut though.

Club Racing at SDRC! 22-X4 Getting Dialed In!

This was the 2nd club race for my new 4wd buggy, TLR 22-X4.  For this club race I centered the front hinge pins and maxed out the kick-up angle.  I then increased the front roll bar diameter from 1.0 mm to 1.2 mm.  I also tried out running JC Octagons on the front with Raw Speed Radar slicks on the back.

During practice I checked my motor temps as last time my motor kept going over 165F.  With an 81:21 gear in the car my motor temps were about 150F.  Much better!  Hopefully the temps stay between 150-160F during racing.

I also stripped my 2nd plastic kit servo horn 2 minutes into my 1st practice run landing a little bit sideways on the big triple.  Enough was enough!  I stripped the plastic servo horn in the Main at the last race, then again on my 1st practice run of the day.  I went in the shop and bought the optional TLR aluminum servo horn for the 22-X4.  The splines of this horn fit much better and clamp onto the the servo shaft.  I think the fit of the plastic horn isn't as tight as it should be, thus it strips rather easily.

On my last practice run my motor temp alarm went off again?  It alerts me if the motor temp goes over 165F.  I pulled the car off the track and the plastic Muchmore motor fan stopped working.  Time to replace it with my Yeah Racing aluminum fan!  Maybe this will keep the temps lower and I can gear back up?

To get the fan out, I need to remove the center diff.

Time for racing!

 

In Heat 1, I finished in 1st with a 15:04, fast lap of 19.643, average lap of  20.331, and consistency of  96.88%.  This layout is fun to drive with grip!  Big triple!  Double-triple!  Big step-up! :)

In Heat 2, I finished in 3rd with a 15:16, fast lap of 19.384, average lap of  21.119, and consistency of  92.37%.  Made too many mistakes that run trying to go a little faster.

I was able to score the TQ starting position with my run from the 1st heat.  But I blew out in the main after a crash on the big triple on the 2nd lap :(  I finished in 4th with a 14:04, fast lap of 19.389, average lap of  21.868, and consistency of  84.51%.  At least I had the fastest lap of the race?

RCRSD Iceman Winter Series Race #2, DHW, San Marcos, 2/28/21

I finally made it back out for some on-road parking lot racing!  My last race was in mid November, right before the Covid case surge.  I had some setup changes and new tire sauce (Paragon FXII) to try out on my Tamiya TC-01 Formula E car.  I also has come ESC setup changes to try out.  All these changes were meant to reduce the steering entering the corner and add rear grip on corner exit. 

In Heat 1, I finished in 4th with a 21:00, fast lap of 13.551, average lap of  14.306, and consistency of  93.06%.  I didn't get the greatest start due to starting in the back half of the 8 car field and getting run into by cars behind me.  Coming on the straight I was in last :(.  I worked my way back up to 3rd, but got passed on the last lap :(  I was also trying out a new motor fan I bolted to the side of the chassis.  My motor temps at the last race were about 150F.  This time I was coming off at 120F.  Not sure if its because the weather is cooler or if the fan helped?  Typically a fan will reduce motor temp 20-30F, so maybe my motor temps are lower because of the fan?  I plan to gear up 1 tooth for the next race on 3/14 and pack my pinion gears so I can adjust gearing at the track.

In Heat 2, I finished in 6th with a 18:03 (after getting run into multiple times), fast lap of 13.312, average lap of  16.839, and consistency of  74.63%.

With daylight running out, the race was on to get the Mains in before it gets too dark!  Luckily I was able to run my main right at sunset, so there was still enough light to see.  I qualified 4th in the A Main and finished in 2nd with a 21:03, fast lap of 13.498, average lap of  15.433, and consistency of  73.29%.  I did get missed for 2 laps, so my race time, average lap, and consistency are off.

Random pics from the race.

Maiden Race Day for the TLR 22-X4!

Finally its time to race my X4 after waiting for 7 months to get the composite ring and pinion gears I needed to finish my diffs.  This thing has twitchy steering!  To calm the steering down I moved the front shocks out on the arm.  That helped, but as the grip came up the car became harder to drive smooth.  I decided to also add the front gearbox brace to remove some flex from the front end and calm down the steering more.

Installed the front gearbox brace to take away some steering.

In Heat 1, I finished in 1st with a 17:10, fast lap of 17.452, average lap of  18.271, and consistency of  97.49%.  I was geared at 78:22 and my motor reached a peak of temperature of 172F at 4 minutes into the race!  For the 2nd heat changed to 81:22.  I guess I should've started with an 81 spur gear, as that's what I use in my Tekno 410.

In Heat 2, I finished in 2nd with a 16:01, fast lap of 17.346, average lap of  18.840, and consistency of  91.41%.  My motor reached a peak of temperature of 167F just before the end of the race.  For the main I changed to 81:21.  Hopefully this time I don't reach 165F!

I qualified 2nd for the A Main and finished last due to a stripped servo horn while I was in 2nd.  My fast lap was 17.516.  At least my motor temp alarm didn't go off?

Looking forward to racing this buggy again and getting my setup dialed in!  Then I can compare my lap times to my 410.

TLR 22 X4 Build Complete!

As I finally got the composite ring and pinion gears for my X4, I was able to complete the build after waiting 7 months for back ordered parts!

V2 servo mount installed

Corner weight completed! 50/50 with no adjustments!

Stock body painted 1 color (practice body)

Proline Axis body with the latest version of my signature paint job.

Matching paint jobs on my 2wd and 4wd buggies!

Finally ready to race!

22 X4 Composite Gear Diffs!

 Finally got my back ordered composite ring and pinion gears I needed to finish building my X4!

Front

Center

Rear

Unfortunately the diff bearings didn't slip fit onto the diffs.  I had to sand down the OD of the bearing seats on all 3 diffs to have the bearings slip onto them.  I could have pressed them on, but then they would be very difficult to remove when performing maintenance of the diffs.