Vampire SR1 - The Future of ESC's?

[andys]

Interested to see what people make of the Vampire ESC's advanced features......

So, looking around at Speedo's - having tried many and melting my brain with the crazy options available regarding 'timing', 'boost' and 'turbo' etc, and having recently bought a Renventon Pro with 'Hybid Boost' as my latest speedo, i'm not entirely convinced.
It's all complicated, and yet another thing that I need to set correctly to get the best out of it at each track.

Then - it was brought to my attention that the Vampire speedos do all this for you, no crazy settings, the speedo just works it all out for optimum performance!

Quote from Jimmy's news page - "The SR1 Series both use Vampire Racing exclusive “PTS – Power Timing System”, providing a distinct advantage over most other brushless systems. Designed as an adaptive system which continually calculates the ideal timing value gained from multiple parameters, resulting in a much improved feel for your car. This not only provides more performance, it especially means that it can handle the massive power of today’s brushless systems better than ever before…."

Link to news article : http://www.oople.com/forums/showthre...hlight=vampire

Having seen a 7.5 system run in a 4WD, it was an absolute missile, much quicker than one would expect of a 7.5, so maybe this is the way speedo's will go now - removing the 'user' from the equation and the speedo working out the optimum settings / timing etc based on these elusive 'multiple parameters'.

So - question is, is this 'distinct advantage' really fair play?
Also - looks like Vampire dropped the 'distinct advantage' text from many press releases....

If I were to buy a speedo, based on what I know and I have seen, it would be this one

What do other people think - is this tantamount to a driver aid I wonder, as electronics are stepping in and making changes throughout the race.

[jimmy]

Sorry , just re read that. You were talking about my car after all. I just bought another

[andys]

Originally Posted by jimmy

Sorry , just re read that. You were talking about my car after all. I just bought another

Indeed Jim - there were a couple of team drivers running them too and their cars looked nice and smooth in the infield - but plenty quick on the straights

You were just ballistic everywhere!

I'm kind of fed up with all the complicated ESC settings - and the Vampire stuff looks like a 'step change' in ESC technology - simple to use and optimum performance.

Seriously considering selling my gear and swooping, but I am interested to see what people think re the advantage this must give you?

When I explained it to one racing pal he was very surprised it was allowed....

[neallewis]

I believe it's the same unit (internally and mostly externally) as the Yokomo BL-PRO2TW Turbo that Bally (MB) has just started doing: http://www.rccarshop.co.uk/index.php...rs/yokomo.html It's the same apart from a plastic moulded part of the case, everything else is the same, specs, leads, caps, even the box they come in. Software may be different though?
I've just picked one up for my GT12 car, which is great as it runs 1S lipo without a booster. I run it in blinky, so not played with the timing, but have been very impressed with it so far after my first meeting.

[jameswilkinson7]

I've been running the sr1 in both my cars since they first came out. I moved on to them from speed passion, which I always rated as being nice an smooth. I was nervous of the change at first, but needn't have been, the vampire stuff is very smooth, and easy to set up. I've been very happy with mine.

[andys]

Anyone else switched and rate the Vampire?

What are the available settings - and does the adaptive system give you the best of both worlds, smooth at slow speeds, and high top speeds?

Neal - I did wonder about the Yokomo ESC - not cheap though!
I wish Bally (MB) sold the Vampires now!

[super__dan]

I don't think Vampire are doing anything fundamentally different to others, but they have done it really well. They're not measuring any external parameters more so than anyone else, throttle position and then the variables available from the sensor wire. The key is in the software and user interface.

I run a 7.5 in my 4wd (and an 8.5 in 2wd), commonly with up to maximum timing. This is because this allows for an extremely smooth bottom end but winding up to a great top end. The difference compared to the manufacturer I ran before and compared to some other manufacturers I've tried when trying others cars is that the software makes the transition completely smooth and linear and as a result it feels like you've motors that are like a 7.5, 7.6, 7.7 etc.

If you're at Batley today you're very welcome to have a go on my car.