new to buggy racing need help

[carl_rcbuggy]

Hello i am new to buggy racing i have just ordered myself a rc10 b4 buggy. i used to do touring car racing about 10 years ago so i no abit about the speed controls ect but alot of it has all changed now. i have around £1000 to get set up, so i can get a pritty good set up i am just unsure what radio gear is the best now for around £200 i have been looking at the futaba 3gr 3 ch 2.4ghz radio gear, with the new radio gear do you still use cristals becuase i read somewhere they dont how does this work? i have been looking at team orion batterys 4200 for £50 for 6 cells or matched corolly ep4600 betterys for £57 are these good batterys. i want a brushless set up so i am interested with the lrp sphere speed controler with a lrp vector 7.5 turn motor. For the charger i have been lookin at the lrp pulsar 3 competition charger do i also need a discharger? does this set up seem good what i am buying or would you change anythin on there. also what else will i need what tyres do i need for brca ? any help will be great

many thanks carl

[MiCk B.]

Hey,

Overall you seem to have a good idea about what you need.

Radio gear is very much a personal choice. If you can try to hold the tranny in your hand, all the top ones have nearly all the same functions, so it can come down to what is comfortable for you.
(I personally run a Sawna Exzes, cos I like the feel of it. At the Euros I noticed that Neil Cragg was running Futaba.)
The 2.4ghz radios do not use xtals that you would know from years ago. The tranny and receiver are 'bound' together. So when they are turned on the just know to work together, not to get too technical.

Batteries either that you have mentioned will be grand for racing, and will give you more power and duration then you thought possible 10 years ago.

The LRP is a good choice. (I personally run a Novak & 7.5 in a B4.) There are lots of people running the LRP so there will be no problems in getting any help. The 7.5t motor will leave the car quick enough but still easy enough to drive.

Charger again a good choice.

A discharge, balancer is also a good buy, look at the Novak smart tray or similar. These are used to equalise all the cells in the pack down to a level before charging.

Tyres: depends on where you are going to race, best to ask a local at the club.

BRCA: Can't help there as I'm outside of the UK.

MiCk B. :-)

[Lee]

Hi Carl, If i was you i would go for the slingshot EP4500 cells or some yuntong 4300s, these are probably better than the Orion cells and about £15 a pack cheaper :thumbsup: The rest seems fine though. Have fun:thumbsup:

[MiCk B.]

Dave Church on here can supply the Slingshot cells.

(See thread here: http://www.oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12394 )

He's a good guy to deal with.

MiCk B. :-)

[jim76]

another thing to consider is what racing you will be doing this year and where. There is a good chance that LIPO cells will be allowed next year at BRCA events, so instead of investing in 4-5 sets of NIMH cells, you may be able to get away with 1-2 LIPO packs.
If you just plan to run at a club for the next few months and then gear up to regionals etc next year, check if the club will currently Allow LIPO. If they do then this may be a better bet as you can use the cells for the next couple of years or more, unlike NIMH which tend to only last 6 months or so before suffering some drop off in performance.

If you want to get NIMH at the moment to be BRCA legal for this year, then make sure that any charger you get also has LIPO compatibility to save you getting a new one in the near future. Same goes for the speedo, most new brushless ones support LIPO cut off etc.

I'd also get a good servo for the car. KO are very good but expensive new, a second hand 2123 would do fine, or a new hitec etc.

[carl_rcbuggy]

Thank you for all your help you answered all my questions. As for the lipo batterys i have been reading that the rc10 b4 can not run lipo batterys in there buggy is this true? many thanks carl

[jim76]

er, no. The B4 is probably the easiest to fit them in! A standard stick LIPO will be fine. It's the B44 4wd that needs saddle pack that will be harder, but the saddle packs are becoming more common now.

As i said you probably need to figure out where you want to race first and check out the options, but LIPO will undoubtedly be the future so it may save you a double outlay.

[carl_rcbuggy]

ok thank you jim what i will do is get a charger that does both batterys and i will only get a couple of normal batterys then get a couple of lipo batterys. for this year im only goin to do club racing then next year do all the brca races. thanks carl.

[carl_rcbuggy]

This is where i got it from sayin you can not use lipo in the b4. jim when you said about the saddle packs did you mean they are coming less commom? http://www.rc10.com/ae/b4/b4_home.htm

all the best carl

[jim76]

that is the RTR version, not the kit version. I assume it says not compatible because the speedo doesn't have the cut off etc built in.
They certainly work in normal B4 kits, but you may have to adjust the battery retainer slightly to fit, someone who runs them should be able to advise you. Or there may be a thread in the associated section already.

The saddle LIPO packs are becoming MORE common now. When LIPO first came out there weren't many saddles around, especially hard cased. With all the 4wd cars taking saddle, they have started to appear from different manufacturers now.

you are probably best getting a couple of cheap packs of NiMH to get you going until the AGM meeting later this year when they vote on new issues such as LIPO. Once they are confirmed then you can buy them with confidence. Just didn't want you to buy new kit only to replace it a few months later! Of course, you could always carry on using the NiMH cells as they work fine, but if you are starting back from scratch then LIPO is the easy option as they aren't as tempramental as NiMH which need equalising trays etc.

[tony6187]

hi,a few of us here in ireland are using lipos in our b4's with no problem.we actually get through a whole day just using one pack(just stick it back on charge when you come back in.theres no drop of in performance)depending on what cells you get e.g trakpower 3200 or 4900,you may have to adjust the height of your battery strap(just unscrew the retaining screws abit)and maybe add some weight to help with the setup as lipos are lighter.
you can run them on a speedo that doesnt have lipo cut out just be carefull not to run them down to much(generally wouldnt go past 5 min race plus some warm up laps myselfprimarilly because it takes to long to top them up ,although i have seen 10-11 min runs without a problem)as dropping a lipo below its min voltage is what damages them and this is what the cut off prevents

jeez think thats the most iv ever typed hope it helped:)

[carl_rcbuggy]

thanks once again for the help everyone i will just get a couple of cheap batterys for the time. when i used to do touring car racing i used to use corraly clips (i think thats how its spelt) from the speedo to the batterys are these the still in thing?

thanks carl

[jim76]

yeah, corallys are the most popular still. or deans

[carl_rcbuggy]

yeah, corallys are the most popular still. or deans

thank you jim you been great help.

all the best carl