MNC offroad round 1, 2007
Date: May 12, 2007.
Venue: Titiwangsa R/C offroad track
Note: Sorry no photos for this event.
The race was a one-heat-only 45-minute mad dash to the finish on a large open track near my house.
It was the first time in a long time that we were racing in real dirt as the heavy rain kept us on the tarmac the whole of last year.
There were only 5 other vehicles in the race and one of them was a rally car, so it was a small friendly affair.
I ran a Team Losi XXX-T, powered by a Novak Super Sport Plus 5800 brushless system and two Team Orion Carbon 3200mah LiPo packs.
Since I recently sold off my last NiMH pack, my entire strategy revolved around going slow and lasting the whole race on the only
two packs of batteries I owned.
A few days before the race, I gave the truck a test to see how long it would last. I didn't have a low-voltage cutoff installed so I took the
truck off the track when it seemed quite slow, after about 15 minutes. This wasn't working out. The 8.5 turn SS5800 motor pushed the truck
at a good speed, but was draining the batteries too quickly. Also, the ESC was quite hot even though the motor was only starting to get warm.
I thought about running some slower brushed motors like a Tamiya Sports Tuned or even a silvercan Mabuchi 540, but none of them would fit on the
XXX-T motor mount plate (the bushing holders were too big for the bearing slot).
Two days before the race, I remembered the Super Sport Plus had a Sportsman mode that kept the motor from going over 24000 rpm. I turned this on
and added a Novak SmartStop 2s low-voltage cutoff unit plus a 25mm Race Innovation fan for the ESC. This seemed to do the trick and combined
with the 15-tooth pinion and the 86-tooth spur, I got about 25-minutes of runtime out of it. I had the feeling the truck was not going to
overtake anything on the straight, but at least now, I could finish the race, which was all I cared about.
On race day, I gave the truck about 2 laps of practice to make sure nothing came loose during the pre-race rebuild, and then topped up the
LiPo at a slow rate (1 Amp I think). Then we were called to the starting line and everyone drove their cars into the shade to wait for the
start. The rally car was having some electronic problems so we waited for it. I was getting nervous because the Race Innovation fan really
sucked a lot of air and I imagined quite a bit of electricity as well. Finally, the rally car was up and running and so the race began.
From the start, it was clear that the big fight for the lead was between Shem's TRF501X and Azam's DF-02. I kept my eye on my truck and tried
to calm down my driving, especially my throttle finger, but I kept my ears on the race announcements because I really didn't
want to miss the half-way point of the race. My truck had a little too much steering, but the slow speed kept it relatively easy to drive.
Shem was the fastest but he was running a Mamba Max 4600 while Azam was only running a Tamiya Sports Tuned motor, so I was thinking Shem would
need at least 2 battery changes while Azam only needed one. Meanwhile, the battle for 3rd place was between me and two Academy SB (V1) buggies
driven by Foo and Ng. Ng broke an arm during practice and his buggy was being held together by a combination of superglue, zipties and duct tape.
After a few trips to the pitstop, he was several laps behind us. The rally car, driven by Wak was really having trouble with the rutted track
surface, and disappeared for long periods in the pits. On the track, it was making its way slowly but gamely around each lap.
One of Azam's wheels came flying off and gave Shem a comfortable lead. Almost as soon as his wheel was sorted out, his motor started smoking!
The race announcer (Azhar) was making fire engine noises. Me and Foo were almost on the same lap for about half of the race when I flipped
the truck twice within about 5 minutes, and my rear
suspension link ball cup came off the ball stud both times. It was easy to fix but I was a few laps behind Foo now.
He was running a 23-turn motor, but so far he'd only gone into the pit once and the 23-minute mark had just been announced.
My truck was slowing down but I wasn't sure the low-voltage cutoff had started kicking in yet.
I was also worried the 2nd pack would not last as long as the first, so I wanted to hang in there one or two more laps just to be safe.
I drove as well as I could but Foo was widening the gap. Then, I felt the SmartStop kick in, so I drove the truck towards the pit area.
The fan must have sucked all the power because the receiver wasn't responding and the truck started crawling away from me.
A friend grabbed it for me (Thanks, Inspector!)
Back in the pit, I put the battery back on charge and put in the other battery. The wires couldn't reach the Corally tubes because the
battery was in the wrong way! Out came the snap pin and the battery strap and battery, back in went everything and up I went back on
the drivers' stand.
I think I was probably around 8 laps behind Foo then. My truck was going round the track cautiously and staying 8-laps behind for awhile,
waiting for Foo's next battery change. I was hoping he'd take longer but before I managed to make two laps, his buggy reappeared .
A minute later, I really started gaining laps on him. It took awhile before I realised he wasn't anywhere on the track. Something
nasty must have happened to his buggy. It seemed like a long time before I was on the same lap as him and still there was no sign of his buggy.
At about that time, Azam's DF-02 finally got sorted out and was back on the track, but Shem, me and Foo had basically sealed the deal for 1st,
2nd and third. Azam took fourth, and Ng took 5th. The rally car, I found out was missing a dogbone and was running as RWD most of the race.
What happened to Foo was he had mixed up his battery packs and couldn't find the ones that were charged! Shem's good strategy and great driving
put him 19 laps ahead of me.
The next round should be interesting.
Everyone will be following Shem's example - cooling everything with 2 fans, and aiming for higher speeds rather than less battery changes.
Azam will be keeping his motors cooler. Ng will finally be replacing his duct tape car with a brand new SB V2.
Foo will definitely have his batteries properly sorted out. The rally car should be back to 4 dogbones.
A couple of other Tamiya buggies might join in the fun as well. Also, I've seen a very fast Team Associated B3 practicing,
so hopefully, that will be running as well.
I'll probably be running a different car with a different motor as I have a few items I want to review.
