Ardent Raceway and HPI 24hr Le Mans RC challenge!!

[jasonb]

Originally Posted by jamesg

I've never been on RCBearings, just had a look - £13.20 for a full set. Cheers Jason, good shout.

Don't know if they are metal or rubber shielded, personally I'd rather have metal shield in the car. You should see how much they want for ceramics, while your at it

Jason

[jasonb]

Just checked,
Looks like they do rubber and metal shielded sets

Jason

[jamesg]

I dunno.. I thought rubber offered a better seal against dirt and in our case carpet fluff. I would proberbly accept the slight increase in drag for the better protection and reliability. With rubber sealed bearings lasting the distance and then some last year, its tried and tested. Thats not to say metal shielded wouldnt last, you just wouldnt know. They may offer marginally better perfomance but we should be replacing kit parts with kit parts and in this case, as close as we can get.

The new teams with the new kits wont feel the need to buy a new set of bearings that way.

Have you brought any bearings from there? Just wondering about the quality, I hope the price isnt too good to be true.

[Jonathan Vince]

In my experience, WMCC had a really fluffy carpet up until 2 weeks ago, both bearing types ingest fluff and dust, it’s just easier to remove from rubber shields.

With regards to increased endurance from a certain shield type. It’s an endurance race, why shouldn’t we prepare our cars to reflect this? The actual advantage is probably that marginal it’s not worth stressing about.

I've used RCbearings before. Can’t fault them really, they've sold me bearings at discount before. I'm guessing it’s just a case of approaching them...

[jasonb]

Originally Posted by jamesg

Have you brought any bearings from there? Just wondering about the quality, I hope the price isnt too good to be true.

Not used them myself, someone did recommend them to me a while ago but I can't for the life of me remember who.

Their kit includes 22 bearings so as best I can make out that would include the steering and replacements for the 4 bushings that the diff outdrives run in. Looks like £13.20 is exc VAT

Jason

[jasonb]

Jonathan,
I think James was more concerned about the quality of the bearings rather than quality of service, have they been ok?

Jason

[Jonathan Vince]

I wouldn't base any purchase on my view of quality but I can say i've run sets from RCbearings in both my Mini and TC for as long as I care to remember without a problem regarding quality, fit or slop. Nor have I read about any from others. In fact a quick google reveals only praise.

Side by side I struggle to tell them apart from the stock HPI bearings in either appearance or the scientific bearing test of spinning them to see which 1 stop first test.

[jamesg]

Thanks both, I'll get me 2 sets. A bulk order will get complicated I think with who pays/collects/orders then repost out.

Just changing the subject slightly.. does anyone know if any other tyres have been tested yet?

[jasonb]

Originally Posted by jamesg

Just changing the subject slightly.. does anyone know if any other tyres have been tested yet?

We have been testing on the same tyre build as last year Sorex32 JB blue insert and HPI 26mm 3/6 offset wheel.
I have heard mention of using the Moorespeed tyres but nothing more than that at the moment.

Jason

[SlowOne]

On the subject of bearings...

The life of the bearings is dependent on two things - materials used and fit. Since our applications are not in a harsh environment, we can accept almost any materials based on hardened steels which will usually be a stainless type. Shields are not a problem since the amount of dirt needed to cause a problem will usually sneak by a rubber of steel shield. With the oil that seeps out, the dirt that sticks to it will be drawn past almost any seal. Furthermore, it is more likely that the wear on the cages will cause small particles to come off inside the bearing anyway.

Fit is the key here. When bearings are correctly assembled, there should be no clearance between the inner and outer races and the balls. If there is slack, then the bearings will bounce up and down a bit causing vibration and accelerate wear. As our bearings usually have a radial load on them at all times, this is less of an issue. If the inner and outer races are overly compressed (outer) or expanded (shaft) when the bearing is fitted, then the race is 'crowded' and the pressure on the races and balls will severely reduce the life.

Whatever ball bearings you choose, make sure that the fit in the housings and shafts is good, but not too good. By choice, the shaft fit should be close with no play and easy to push on by hand if there is any interference in the fit, and the housing fit should be a nice press fit with a thumb. If they are any harder to fit than that, the chances are you will crowd the races and shorten the life.

There's a lot of misconception about the use of ABEC grade bearings. This grading will tell you how much clearance there is in the bearing, and provide a guide as to the interference fits you should aim for. Putting an ABEC 9 bearing in a tight housing and crowding the races will shorten its life considerably. Putting an ABEC 3 bearing in a tight housing may give you the perfect clearance. Since we are talking about holding sizes of down to 0.0002" to get the right interference fit, you can see that a plastic moulding is never going to get you where you need to be as it is probably got a tolerance of 0.010"!!

If you want to get the most life from your bearings, focus on fit, not shields and ABEC numbers. And, of course, stop hitting the boards and denting (crowning) the races leading to a lot of wobble, friction and broken cages!! HTH

[Lee24h]

Is it going to be standard kit or are people just
Going to run options where will it end cvds
Alloy hubs
Is there going to be some clear rules on what
Can be done to the cars

[jasonb]

John didn't allow any last year I guess it will be the same this time round. Standard drive shafts, outdrives, wheel hexes, diffs, hubs, shocks, chassis, side plates, shock brackets, trackrods and ends.

Last year we asked John if we could change screws and a servo horn which he allowed.

Jason

[lotussmart]

Hi Guys, nearly there, over the next couple of weeks you will see a flourish of rules, information and time scales regarding the 24hr event at Ardent (The last 24 hr event at our current location). So far we have the following teams (Make sure you join the 24hr Group on Facebook

PWS Ltd
Chand-a-Cola
Ardent Red Hoodies
Harry Sidwell's Team (Name to be confirmed)
Kettering MCC
Worcester Warriors
Team Dudley RCC
Doris Racing
Ar-Don (Team Donny)
SPC-UK (verbally confirmed)

So if the following teams from last year want to join us again please let me know ASAP at sales@ardentracing.com.

Team missing are:
MMR Flux/ Chippenham Model Car Club
Keighley Team A
Keighley Team B
Snoop Dog
RCDisCo Racing Team
Stoke RCMCC
Team Under Dogs
Essex Monsters

We would love to see you back again, it was an awesome event and £200 will get you everything required including a 17.5 brushless motor (Will work out cheaper this year ;-)

For those already signed up do you want another car or are you using last years, as this will lower your price by between £50 and £75 per team (this is a total guess at the moment but just gives you an idea).

Hope you join us!!

[Slotcar]

Some of the 24hr cars ready to be collected, 4 spare team slots available if anyone fancies a go :-)

[Kudders]

Am just getting back in to racing after a 4 year break and have just seen this. What an awesome idea!!! Pity I have no racing buddies and that my skills are a bit rusty, otherwise I would be in like Flynn!!

[SlowOne]

A great big thank you to All the Crew at Ardent for another terrific event. Hero of the hour has to be Mooney who got us all organised, stayed up all night and was never grumpy!

Congratulations to Ardent for a win well managed, a car well prepared and for terrific driving. If anyone thinks that an RTR car is weak and unsuitable for people to use at the Club, think again - several times! Apart from a couple of fans on the motor and speedo, some spring and oil changes and a couple of belts clipped in where the instructions don't say they go (!) it was out of the box. The guys just drove it!

A great big thank you to everyone who entered and made the event so much fun to be at. There were stories of heroism and laughs galore right across the teams, with great banter, and a few mind games!

i'd say I was looking forward to next year, but right now some more sleep is a higher priority. Thanks everyone - it was a blast!

[Kudders]

Is there an event review posted anywhere? Sounds fantastic and would love to hear more about it

[Andysan]

Hey kudders - there's a good write up of the 2011 event here - sadly Dez is no longer with us and I don't think anyone else wrote-up this years event.

http://www.rc-area.co.uk/2011/06/14/...-by-dez-chand/

[AdamBurgess]

Hopefully the event will return in 2013. Despite Ardent no longer existing, John said he would like to run it again somewhere.