Driving advice request
 

Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong here?

https://youtu.be/iXDt6RyT0-g

It's hard to get the car to stay flat on the first jump and it keeps nose diving, but I can get it to stay flat on the other three jumps ok. I'm trying to quickly blip the throttle to keep the car flat just as I hit the ramp.

The first ramp/bump seems to have a much sharper angle than the other three jumps and it's much shorter too. So I'm not sure if it's my bad timing with the throttle or whether it's just a hard jump to tackle smoothly. ...listening to the sound of the car in the video, I'm wondering if my timing is just too early. Or should I just reduce my speed?

The car is a (probably 5-year-old) Associated B5M with 400cst oil in standard set-up: white springs at the front, green at the rear, 24mm ride height.

EDIT: Hmm...guessing I should have posted this under 1/10th off-road. If there's an admin around, feel free to move it.

Ride height is generally lower for carpet I believe eg 18mm. Other than that I would say perhaps timing of when you are power on in relation to the jump. I can only suggest watching some quick guys and seeing / listening what they do. (I’m an amateur myself so just my thoughts)

Running on carpet you would need to be around 15/16mm ride height. 24mm is way too high.
You also need higher weight oil in the front shocks, try 450cst.
When you go over the jump, give a little throttle. It’s only a small jump so will need a bit of power on to keep the nose up.

is the back end kicking up? this suggests too low a ride height but I agree with the previous answers?? More power off the ramp to keep the front up.

The reason car jumps flat is because your transmission is rotating, effectively creating a gyroscope in your car. As such, you can control the angle of your car with the throttle: increase revs to point the nose up, decrease revs to point the nose down.


When I started racing I had problems with jumping, and found that I let go off the throttle in the air. However I only clearly felt this once I switched my sensorless brushless for a sensored one, which delivers power a lot more precisely.


Another issue can be ride height, but I agree with the others, 24mm is too high, in fact it is even considered high for clay and dirt these days. Go to 16 to 18mm and work your way from there. Also, the white and green springs are the kit springs of the car and are meant for low bite like dirt and clay. For carpet, you need harder springs, like white on the rear (1 harder) and blue, yellow or red up front (2 to 4 steps harder), and you need to thicker oil accordingly too.

Last but not least, how are the other doing on the jumps? Designing and building a good jump is easier said than done, and the wrong shape of the jump as well as too sudden transitions or bumps in the jump can make it really hard to land a jump correctly.

If that's your first time which the video suggests, then you are doing great! Dont be so hard on yourself. A great idea would be to have a look at the fast guys, especially in Finland you have some amazing AE guys and girls, they can tell you a setup, including tires to use.. Then just give yourself a break and drive and you will get faster. You are already thinking right with throttle adjustments so follow that line of thought. You may find you are just going a little quick as it may be designed to be hit slower..

Cheers!

Personall

to me it looks like the jump is stepped and your lifting the front of the car going over the initial part of the jump then tapping the back on the top of the jump hence the back end of the car is lifting, not the nose diving... but just my opinion of what I see...

Really simple answer, stay on the throttle over the jump as it's not a proper jump the chassis will definitely be hitting it and throwing it forward.

In 2wd I run between 13-15mm ride height dependent on grip levels. On that small jump i would be aiming to keep the throttle on over it and it should take off flat buddy.

Rear wing can improve stability on jumps and landing.
I use 2mm xray rear wing...bulletproof for beginner :D

That's what I was thinking.

Many thanks for the fantastic responses, everyone! I honestly only expected one or two people to reply...

After a couple of you mentioned the 'step' in the jump I had a look at the video again and I can also see it myself now that someone's has brought it up. So it's good to know that I've not necessarily been doing anything wrong. The left side seems to be a little smoother, but I'll take closer look at this when I'm back at the track and still play around with the throttle.

Also thanks for the set-up advice regarding ride height and springs etc. - I guess it goes to show you shouldn't always follow five-year-old user manuals.

:thumbsup: