New to r/c Racing Any tips?

[Anderson58]

Just wandering if theres any tips as im just starting off?

[Stu]

Yeah, go to your local club and talk to the guys there.

Internet forums are nice, but you'll get the best advice face-to-face.

[eyeayen]

Welcome to the forum.

Work out what you want to do ? Race ? Bash it in the park ?

If you want to race, get to your local club/s, see what they're running ? See if it's what you want to do ?

Go to your local shop, see how much it's going to cost.

get back on here, search the forum for people saying good and bad stuff about what you are planning to buy. Go from there.

Good luck !

[jukeboxman]

Dont go spending vast amounts on equipment that supposedly makes you faster - get gear that's reliable and practice being a consistent driver and race finisher before lashing out on the bling and hype of the model race car world. Try and get more than one person's 'good advice' and don't make rash decisions.

The only expensive stuff I would consider buying from the outset would be tools.

The most important thing is to enjoy the experience and the camaraderie, learn from it all, winning is merely a bonus.

[Mad-Wolfie]

find out what your local clubs race before you pick a class.. no good picking Nitro off-road if the nearest clubs to where you live are all racing electric touring cars

big, powerful fast motors do not make you a better driver.. learn to drive the car by going slowly & then progress from there. when you can get a car round a track without crashing, flipping over or slamming into the barriers then consider upgrading to a faster motor & keep climbing the ladder until you know your limits & how the speed increase changes affect the way the car behaves.

always buy a kit instead of an RTR (by all means buy an RTR, but consider a kit at some point).. if you know how to build a car you automatically learn how to repair a car when something breaks or needs adjustment & understand what all the parts are doing.

try driving round a couple of cones in an oval to get a feel for the car, sounds boring but you will begin to know by instinct when the car reacts & the trick is to learn how to get round them faster without going wide.. then consider doing figure 8's or using a 3rd cone to make a slalom & watch how the car behaves & how confident you can get, in time you will see how your reactions sharpen. even some of the top drivers do this from time to time to polish their skills or simply to see how a car is reacting to set-up changes.

[Swerving]

Hi,Relative newbie here, Wolfie's advice is very sound, Go to your local club, chat to the guys etc.

If you buy an RTR car check out what you get in the set up, try to get one with a 2.4 ghz system. the older stuff can be a real pain and you will no doubt end up buying a 2.4 system anyway so best get one to start with.

Cheapest is not always best, if budget is an issue, having asked the guys at the club, check out ebay for a pre loved kit. I decided Touring Cars were far to fast, expensive, and difficult to start with.

At my club we run Buggies with road tyres on tarmac, round the same track as the Touring cars and it's great! 3 months in I have 3 buggies, my original kit, which is too fragile for a newbie ( I have spent the price of the kit again on spares).

A second Buggy that I bought as an RTR just to race because I had used up the worlds stock of parts for my original buggy! This is the one I run mainly, tough, reliable if noisy!

My third buggy is under developement, bought on ebay for less than the first 2 but much tougher, faster, and I will progress to racing this one soon.

You WILL break it, be prepared for that, spares are not expensive, but factor in the cost of p&p, and time waiting for stuff to arrive.

Of and try and get your spares from JE Spares, service is excellent!

Most of all, enjoy it, coming last in races, is something that you get used to but eventually you will get better or another newbie comes along!

[ch!3f]

do your research 1st before buying anything!

if you dont know or not sure about something stick a question on here someone will answer it for you.same goes for prices too people will try to rip you off because your new to the hobby some cheeky offers via pm because they have seen this for example.

like some of the other guys have said go to your local club bash place n speak to people to see what they run.

for a 1st car you dont want to go over the top spending wise haggle with people on there prices set your self a budget what you are willing to spend and aim so you have spares and tools to not everything on your car then have to spend extra on bits and bobs you didnt plan on.

[Chrislong]

Remember to have fun, and don't take it too seriously. Some people forget!

[eyeayen]

When people ask for tips is anyone else tempted to put the normal things like don't eat yellow snow, don't make your granny jump when she's shaving, don't try and stand up in a canoe... or is it just me...

Sorry to derail the thread.

[tisher]

buy a brushless rtr team associated B4 and go and race at a local club you will soon be addicted

[teamorsum96]

first, welcome mate, and all i can say is it takes time, build up slowly with the speed and remember have fun, we find that fun banter on the rostrum is always good to,

and finally, dont be like some nancys that stand there shouting MAAAAARSHAAAAAALL when they crash.

[beckybean66]

not really a tip but....
it takes FOREVER to get your first win, but as soon as you have it they just keep on coming, so stick at it ...
AND..
i find that improving in your own races rather than trying to win other people helps LOADS.. eg, tring to beat the amount of laps you do each time you race, or try and knock as many secs off your laps.. i find it helps me lots cos im not cometetative at all, the most competative i get is when i find a driver that is about as equally skilled as i am, and just pretend im only racing against him, and see how many meetings it takes before i beat that person afew times, then i can see how fast im improving

[Mad-Wolfie]

Originally Posted by teamorsum96

and finally, dont be like some nancys that stand there shouting MAAAAARSHAAAAAALL when they crash.

although when touring car drivers are marshalling you will have to.

[Big G]

don't crash. 1 crash will loose you more time than you pushing that little bit harder for the whole 5 minutes. you can gain fractions of a second by pushing, but you can loose 5 seconds in a single crash

[RogerM]

I think most stuff has been covered.

Practice, practice, practice .. sleep a bit then more practice!

When I see people who are struggling and having less fun than they should it is normally due to one or more of the following;

1)too fast a motor (keep it sensible, I like 5.5s but I'd not recomend anything more than a 10.5 to a novice)

2)poor car choice .... choose one where you can get help setting the car to suit YOU, it's all well and good getting the world champs setup off the internet but it's unlikely to be what YOU need at the track that YOU go to.

3)poor setup, both of the car and the electronics. Everything needs to feel smooth and easy for a novice, punchy and aggressive it's what a novice needs to be fighting!

4)poor tire choice ... if you look at what the fastest guys are running you will find the fastest tire ... look for the guys that look like they are getting around without errors at a pace closer to you own and you will often find the easier tire to drive on.
An example of this is at the Coventry track Ballistic Buggy Green Minispikes are a little slower in ultimate track time than Schumacher tires BUT much easier to handle .... as Big G suggested you have to do a lot of laps with a 0.1s advantage to cover a 5s marshal nap!!!

5) Setting unrealistic goals. We would all love to be lapping Lee Martin every meeting but that is somewhat unlikely! I always say to the youngsters just starting that you should aim for the following;
a) 3 full laps without a mistake
b) half a race without a mistake
c) a whole run without a mistake
d) from that point try to move up 1/2 a final every meeitng (so if your now running back of the D final try to be mid D before making any equipment changes ... then top of D) and so on .... sometimes you will, sometimes you wont.

If you are struggling and not going home with a huge smile something is wrong! This is friendly sport / hobby for the most part so please never be afraid to ask people for help ... if they are busy they will say and point you at somebody else who WILL help you.

[hide]

Buy a decent set of tools. It will last you forever and help you so much. You won't strip screws and won't be that annoying guy at the track borrowing tools all the time. For screw drivers I'd recommend EDS - http://demonpowerproducts.co.uk/prod...oducts_id=1687

[mark christopher]

slow is fast......

[teamorsum96]

Originally Posted by Mad-Wolfie

although when touring car drivers are marshalling you will have to.

i tend to go slower to some one shouting marshall, or if its buggies spinnin there wheels