upon3
01-20-2008, 10:20 AM
Some of you may have seen a previous threads on RCtech.net and other R/C forums about Vintage Trans-Am cars based on TC chassis. There are currently a handful of tracks around the country running various iterations of this class, and most have had decent success with the new/old idea.
There are a handful of guys in the Midwest who are putting together a sort of mini sanctioning body for these cars, and we'd like to try to get the word out to racers and track owners about it. It's been a massive amount of fun and real benefit to what I personally believe is a class that is suffering (touring cars).
Our website outlines the class (http://www.usvintagetransam.com), specifications and Association ideas to enough detail that you can take the rules and implement them right now at your track, and have a class running within the week. To start with, we are putting together a series of races in the Midwest (for now) to get racers back to the grassroots of R/C racing, which has really been lost completely in the last many years. The class is growing rapidly, and racers are coming back to touring cars after years of being away.
This is the rules base, as it has been run for a while at Trackside in Brookfield, WI, and The Track in Winthrop Harbor, IL and is now being run at numerous other tracks. We have added a brushless motor option and a weight minimum to the fold, rules updated below.
http://www.apexspeed.com/doug/rc/usvtar/vintage_003_s.jpg
Rules updated 1.17.08. All rules subject to change and expansion should need arise.
Trans Am Class Rules and Specifications
Body Specifications:
Late '60s to early '70s American pony car Vintage Trans-Am bodies only.
HPI part numbers:
17510 - 1970 Plymouth AAR 'Cuda
17519 - 1966 Ford Mustang GT
17508 - 1965 Ford Shelby GT-350
7494 - 1968 Chevrolet Camaro
Parma part numbers:
10143 - 1969 Z28 Camaro
10141 - 1970 Boss Mustang
10113 - 1970 'Cuda
Pegaus Hobbies part numbers:
PGH4001 - 1970 Camaro SS
PGH4002 - 1970 'Cuda
PGH4003 - 1970 Mustang
Body provided deck lid spoilers allowed (not wings). No additional skirts or raised/extended wings or air control surfaces allowed. Body must be trimmed at body trim lines. Full rear bumper required. It is highly preferred that bodies are detailed in race type livery in period-correct paint schemes.
Tire & Wheel Specifications:
The only tires allowed are HPI tire part #4793 front and #4797 rear, using stock tire inserts provided with tire and any HPI Vintage wheels designed to fit these tires. Five or Eight spoke wheels available in various colors. 0mm offset front wheels and 6mm offset rear wheels are intended for 26mm width fronts and 31mm width rear tires. 8-spoke Vintage wheels from #3805 through #3814, 5-spoke Vintage wheels from #3815 through #3822 and Vintage stock car wheels from #3854 through #3860 are all legal wheels. Grinding of tire tread is NOT permitted. Sanding of mold seam to remove seam is allowed. HPI Vintage Slicks are not allowed. Tire traction compounts are at the discretion of the track. No other altering, changing or softening of the tire is allowed.
Chassis Specification:
Four Wheel Drive touring car chassis only. Any era or brand 4wd chassis is allowed.
Motor Specifications:
Option 1:27-turn ROAR stock motor: No FDR limit, bearings are allowed to replace stock bushings
Option 2: 17.5 brushless motor: 4.00 FDR limit (3.99 or below not legal)--obvious cars will have gearing teched. Main DQs or loss of qualifying times for offending cars. Timing advance is allowed.
An Excel spreadsheet (ZIP file) of most touring car chassis with all internal transmission drive ratios is available here (http://www.apexspeed.com/rules/fdr_calculator.zip). Use as a printed out sheet for quick reference, or plug in spur and pinions into open fields to calculate a given FDR of any chassis at the track.
Note: Outdoor asphalt tracks will have the option of mandating a 13.5 brushless/19T brushed motor choice.
Batttery Specifications:
4 cell NiCd or NiMh batteries
4600 mAh limit.
Ride Height Specification:
Minimum ride height is 4.5mm.
Weight Specification:
Minimum 1450g in race-ready trim
Race Specification:
5 minute qualifiers
8 minute mains
Suggested Main Variations:
- 12-20 car A-mains, depending on car counts.
- Invert qualifying order based on random hat pull (top 6 cars).
- "LeMans" type starts where all cars are lined up on a 45° angle to the racing line in qualifying order.
- Run track in reverse rotation for mains.
If it's not in the rules, consider it illegal. The class is based on slower, equal playing field competition with less traction, lower aerodynamic aids and older carpet racing technology. To be eligible to be a participating USVTA host track, these rules must be used without exception.
************************************************** *******************
The object of this "Series" or sanctioning body is to try to get everyone on the same page right off the bat, and not have this class become bastardized across the country. It would be ideal if everyone followed the same class rules (generally) and was able to go to a different track that supported the "Official" Vintage Trans Am rules, and be able to race and compete with anyone.
There is nothing preventing tracks from running their own rules, but we will not sanction them as an official U.S. Vintage Trans Am race track. And obviously, being different right now doesn't help anyone. Keeping these rules simple and a tested formula that has shown to work very effectively will help get this class off the ground, where it can evolve and grow in the future.
http://www.apexspeed.com/doug/rc/usvtar/transam_002.jpg
http://www.apexspeed.com/doug/rc/usvtar/transam_007.jpg
http://www.apexspeed.com/doug/rc/usvtar/cuda/savage_cuda_001.jpg
If you manage or own a track, or know of a track that would like to be a part of this growing class, feel free to PM me here or on AIM/Yahoo (upon3) about joining the group of tracks who are have committed to running these rules or are in the process of developing the class. I'd be more than happy to talk to you about getting on board.
doug
There are a handful of guys in the Midwest who are putting together a sort of mini sanctioning body for these cars, and we'd like to try to get the word out to racers and track owners about it. It's been a massive amount of fun and real benefit to what I personally believe is a class that is suffering (touring cars).
Our website outlines the class (http://www.usvintagetransam.com), specifications and Association ideas to enough detail that you can take the rules and implement them right now at your track, and have a class running within the week. To start with, we are putting together a series of races in the Midwest (for now) to get racers back to the grassroots of R/C racing, which has really been lost completely in the last many years. The class is growing rapidly, and racers are coming back to touring cars after years of being away.
This is the rules base, as it has been run for a while at Trackside in Brookfield, WI, and The Track in Winthrop Harbor, IL and is now being run at numerous other tracks. We have added a brushless motor option and a weight minimum to the fold, rules updated below.
http://www.apexspeed.com/doug/rc/usvtar/vintage_003_s.jpg
Rules updated 1.17.08. All rules subject to change and expansion should need arise.
Trans Am Class Rules and Specifications
Body Specifications:
Late '60s to early '70s American pony car Vintage Trans-Am bodies only.
HPI part numbers:
17510 - 1970 Plymouth AAR 'Cuda
17519 - 1966 Ford Mustang GT
17508 - 1965 Ford Shelby GT-350
7494 - 1968 Chevrolet Camaro
Parma part numbers:
10143 - 1969 Z28 Camaro
10141 - 1970 Boss Mustang
10113 - 1970 'Cuda
Pegaus Hobbies part numbers:
PGH4001 - 1970 Camaro SS
PGH4002 - 1970 'Cuda
PGH4003 - 1970 Mustang
Body provided deck lid spoilers allowed (not wings). No additional skirts or raised/extended wings or air control surfaces allowed. Body must be trimmed at body trim lines. Full rear bumper required. It is highly preferred that bodies are detailed in race type livery in period-correct paint schemes.
Tire & Wheel Specifications:
The only tires allowed are HPI tire part #4793 front and #4797 rear, using stock tire inserts provided with tire and any HPI Vintage wheels designed to fit these tires. Five or Eight spoke wheels available in various colors. 0mm offset front wheels and 6mm offset rear wheels are intended for 26mm width fronts and 31mm width rear tires. 8-spoke Vintage wheels from #3805 through #3814, 5-spoke Vintage wheels from #3815 through #3822 and Vintage stock car wheels from #3854 through #3860 are all legal wheels. Grinding of tire tread is NOT permitted. Sanding of mold seam to remove seam is allowed. HPI Vintage Slicks are not allowed. Tire traction compounts are at the discretion of the track. No other altering, changing or softening of the tire is allowed.
Chassis Specification:
Four Wheel Drive touring car chassis only. Any era or brand 4wd chassis is allowed.
Motor Specifications:
Option 1:27-turn ROAR stock motor: No FDR limit, bearings are allowed to replace stock bushings
Option 2: 17.5 brushless motor: 4.00 FDR limit (3.99 or below not legal)--obvious cars will have gearing teched. Main DQs or loss of qualifying times for offending cars. Timing advance is allowed.
An Excel spreadsheet (ZIP file) of most touring car chassis with all internal transmission drive ratios is available here (http://www.apexspeed.com/rules/fdr_calculator.zip). Use as a printed out sheet for quick reference, or plug in spur and pinions into open fields to calculate a given FDR of any chassis at the track.
Note: Outdoor asphalt tracks will have the option of mandating a 13.5 brushless/19T brushed motor choice.
Batttery Specifications:
4 cell NiCd or NiMh batteries
4600 mAh limit.
Ride Height Specification:
Minimum ride height is 4.5mm.
Weight Specification:
Minimum 1450g in race-ready trim
Race Specification:
5 minute qualifiers
8 minute mains
Suggested Main Variations:
- 12-20 car A-mains, depending on car counts.
- Invert qualifying order based on random hat pull (top 6 cars).
- "LeMans" type starts where all cars are lined up on a 45° angle to the racing line in qualifying order.
- Run track in reverse rotation for mains.
If it's not in the rules, consider it illegal. The class is based on slower, equal playing field competition with less traction, lower aerodynamic aids and older carpet racing technology. To be eligible to be a participating USVTA host track, these rules must be used without exception.
************************************************** *******************
The object of this "Series" or sanctioning body is to try to get everyone on the same page right off the bat, and not have this class become bastardized across the country. It would be ideal if everyone followed the same class rules (generally) and was able to go to a different track that supported the "Official" Vintage Trans Am rules, and be able to race and compete with anyone.
There is nothing preventing tracks from running their own rules, but we will not sanction them as an official U.S. Vintage Trans Am race track. And obviously, being different right now doesn't help anyone. Keeping these rules simple and a tested formula that has shown to work very effectively will help get this class off the ground, where it can evolve and grow in the future.
http://www.apexspeed.com/doug/rc/usvtar/transam_002.jpg
http://www.apexspeed.com/doug/rc/usvtar/transam_007.jpg
http://www.apexspeed.com/doug/rc/usvtar/cuda/savage_cuda_001.jpg
If you manage or own a track, or know of a track that would like to be a part of this growing class, feel free to PM me here or on AIM/Yahoo (upon3) about joining the group of tracks who are have committed to running these rules or are in the process of developing the class. I'd be more than happy to talk to you about getting on board.
doug