Speed Vs Strength

[jsw123]

Having just taken part in my first club race this weekend (it was awesome btw, I frickin' loved it) I now have even more questions for all you ooplers.

The one that I'm most in need of opinions, as the thread would suggest, is the question of the cars speed vs it's strength.

I entered my first race with my TLR22 and in a reduced field of 7 I finished 4th. After 4 heats I had qualified 3rd for the two legged B final of 7 cars.

In the first leg, with a rush of blood to the head, I shot off the track at the first corner and went straight into last. After 5 or 6 laps I'd got back to 4th and had 3rd place in my sights. But alas, I could see something looking a little odd at the front of my car. My left shock had come loose and the car was no longer drive-able. Gutted. A screw had threaded and come loose, I'm guessing in my first corner crash.

My question is, at this stage of racing should I get as many aluminium/titanium hop ups as possible and carry the extra weight, or, accept that I'm going to crash and break stuff regardless and keep the lighter plastic parts?

[Groomi]

Sounds like you were at EPR?

TBH there did seem to be a crazy amount of crashing going on (myself being one of the main culprits) which was perhaps a result of the first dry race for months. I guess if things ate a bit calmer around you, then you'd calm down and crash less too.

I've only been racing again for 6 months, but from what I've seen it's just luck whether you break anything. I've gradually increased the power to limit the severity of crashes and was running brushless and lipo for the first time on Sunday. Is have destroyed everything if I had it at my first race!

Just keep a stock of spares and keep going. Enjoy!

[Hpi_guy]

I wouldn't add ally to compensate for crashes, the 22 is naturally a tough car, adding ally will only cause something harder to get to to break, stick with it as standard and improve your driving, When i got my first buggy I kept breaking it all the time but eventually I could race it without breakages

[jsw123]

I was indeed at EPR!

So you seem to be edging towards the 'your gonna break stuff either way' side of the fence. If it wasn't for other people spares I wouldn't have made the second leg of the final so I definitely need to stock up.

[jsw123]

Originally Posted by Hpi_guy

I wouldn't add ally to compensate for crashes, the 22 is naturally a tough car, adding ally will only cause something harder to get to to break, stick with it as standard and improve your driving, When i got my first buggy I kept breaking it all the time but eventually I could race it without breakages

To be fair to the car, considering the battering it got on it's first race meeting, nothing expensive broke. That could of course be temping fate...

[Groomi]

Spares give you peace of mind, learning not to crash gives you results. Tell me when you work out how to do the latter!

[Lee24h]

The tlr 22 is very strong also more speed = less strength
Both parts and driving wise
Keep your speed down and practice lines and you will go quicker and not break your car

[StevenBest]

Originally Posted by Lee24h

The tlr 22 is very strong also more speed = less strength
Both parts and driving wise
Keep your speed down and practice lines and you will go quicker and not break your car

A lesson for yourself possibly lee

[smokes]

If you add stronger parts something else will break or bend.Better break a wish bone than a chassis. And ally part will bend and cause handling woes.

[Lee24h]

Originally Posted by StevenBest

A lesson for yourself possibly lee

oh i practice what i preach
last week i was very consistant i ll show you tommorow
lets not ruin this thread

[Lee24h]

Originally Posted by smokes

If you add stronger parts something else will break or bend.Better break a wish bone than a chassis. And ally part will bend and cause handling woes.

thats true on my xray t2 008 i bent a knuckle arm didnt realise for weeks then swapped it for a plastic one and the car was superb again

[terry.sc]

If you are crashing a lot adding alloy parts is the last thing you want to do. They will bend long before a plastic part will snap.

If you want alloy parts, the front pivot support and camber mount would help guarantee that breakages are confined to the suspension parts so a little bit quicker to repair between races, but as the alloy parts have no give in them it would also mean an accident that breaks suspension parts might not break anything if you had used plastic parts.

[jsw123]

Very interesting advice, not what I was expecting really. I guess that's why we have Oople?!

[Shaun_TLR]

I've not broken anything serious on my 22 (touch wood) and I'm pretty much a noob. I wouldnt go investing in shiny ally, as your gonna break it anyhow. I guess you could upgrade it as you break stuff, but pointless replacing before breaking if you ask me

[Burty248]

Originally Posted by jsw123

My question is, at this stage of racing should I get as many aluminium/titanium hop ups as possible and carry the extra weight, or, accept that I'm going to crash and break stuff regardless and keep the lighter plastic parts?

You probably wont notice any significant drop in speed from adding some alloy. I dont have any experiance with the losi but if your breaking the same part and nothing else then you might want to consider a upgrade depending on what it is and what it is attached to. And any alloy parts that look like they would bend properly will.

What you should be doing is trying not to crash and building up your speed a slow but clan lap is always quicker than a fast car crashing every jump / corner, but that can be hard when all you want to do is go flat out.

[jsw123]

Originally Posted by Burty248

You probably wont notice any significant drop in speed from adding some alloy. I dont have any experiance with the losi but if your breaking the same part and nothing else then you might want to consider a upgrade depending on what it is and what it is attached to. And any alloy parts that look like they would bend properly will.

What you should be doing is trying not to crash and building up your speed a slow but clan lap is always quicker than a fast car crashing every jump / corner, but that can be hard when all you want to do is go flat out.

That totally makes sense, I had a couple of early heats on a wet track where I was only marshalled once. Unfortunately I then suffered a little over confidence and got worse! The track was drying all the time and as I got more grip I crashed more rather than less. In the second leg I just went back to basics, nothing too clever, and I finished 3rd.

[jsw123]

Originally Posted by Shaun_TLR

I've not broken anything serious on my 22 (touch wood) and I'm pretty much a noob. I wouldnt go investing in shiny ally, as your gonna break it anyhow. I guess you could upgrade it as you break stuff, but pointless replacing before breaking if you ask me

I'll second that, mines taken and absolute pounding and really only needed the odd nut and bolt.

[Burty248]

Originally Posted by jsw123

I'll second that, mines taken and absolute pounding and really only needed the odd nut and bolt.

If your loosing screw then after each round cheack for loose screws loose nuts ect, as some tend to slowly work there way out. Also if your cars relativly old look at the plastic parts as after a while some parts dont have any thread at all and this may cause loss of screws.

The worst thing about loosing screws is that it only takes one somtimes and then your car undrivable. When its a big part you know it was a big hit but vibrations on track will cause some loosing.

[jsw123]

Originally Posted by Burty248

If your loosing screw then after each round cheack for loose screws loose nuts ect, as some tend to slowly work there way out. Also if your cars relativly old look at the plastic parts as after a while some parts dont have any thread at all and this may cause loss of screws.

The worst thing about loosing screws is that it only takes one somtimes and then your car undrivable. When its a big part you know it was a big hit but vibrations on track will cause some loosing.

That's absolutely the frustration, all because of one loose screw the car wasn't able to finish my first ever final! I guess there's lots to learn and checking screws, nuts and bolts just didn't occur to me. It will now!