Well, the new packs came in. 1.17 on average. I was hoping for higher but I will take that. 429 runtimes. I was a bit baffled by MWHRs of 4100! I don't recognize the initials but I assume that is capacity. I had heard that the GP's were well above their 3300 rating but that is insane!

OK, just woke up and divided the 4170 by the 1.17 to get a capacity of 3550ish mAH. Still pretty insane I think. And I wonder what GP's new 3600's will actually be.

Typical 13 yr old. Jesse opened his b'day present (the batts) and said "cool". I had him check the numbers and he said "wow". And then he moved on. I guess once the track opens or the roads clear so he can test it out maybe then he will be more enthusiastic. Probably not though. He is 13 after all. :rolleyes:

Buy more parts. :freak:

Those are good numbers, equal to my best packs. The cool thing about the GPs is that you can run the one pack all day & they just seem to get better each run! 1st run feels good, second run feels awesome & the 3rd and 4th feel as good or better.

That's good to know! Now we need to actually run them. :) With run times like that I could see getting two heats out of a pack! Especially the way I drive when so much of the five minute heat is spent wheels up waiting for the marshalls! :freak:

Finally got back in the shop for a bit today. Rather than working on the XXXT I picked up the Pede. I haven't run it in quite a while and decided it was time. I stole the rear shocks off it for the PRP TLT so I set out to replace them. My trouble was that the only "good" shocks I have are 4.5" Losis. I figure I can shorten them with a length of fuel tubing in the body but they have a different mounting system than the stock Traxxas (or the Hot Bodies I stole). They needed a 7/16" standoff so I spent some time with the drill press and a file making such a beast. I think it will work but I am not quite done.

With our track reopening I have started thinking about racing the Pede again. I was horrible last time but that was with M2K tires and not a lot of thought to how to make it better. (yes, I am a lousy driver as well- I didn't think I needed to add that, Bill!). I now have the 5800 in there so power is NOT an issue. I figure with the batts mounted below the chassis and the electronics in the chassis the CG should be OK. Depending on the fuel tubing I should be able to drop the arms quite a bit. That, with standard stadium truck tires (whatever they find works best at the track) should make it interesting at least! If I am really lucky I can get some other Pedes and we will have our own race! I know of one other guy who claims he does well against regular stadium trucks. I don't want HIM in my race! :p

I know a bunch of people who slam the body for Pede racing but I don't see the purpose. The body weighs nothing compared to the rest of it. Maybe aerodynamics?

I loaned my Pede out last month to a guy for a charity race I went to. If he hadn't made the mistakes he did driving he probably would have put it in the A main in Stock Truck, but he was in the B. I do have the body lowered on my Pede, but not "for racing", I just like it better lower. Tire clearance doesn't seem to be an issue so I lowered it and moved it back 1/3 of an inch, I think it looks much better. I'll have to get a Pic (sometime).

The only ones who laugh around here when we talk about your driving skills are the buffalo.:lol: w/horns

buffalopie= target. That IS how it works isn't it?

I am busy trying to stir up trouble over on the track's website. As we approach opening time I asked how they were going to deal with practice time. They now have both an on-road and an off-road track. They will race on-road on Tuesday evening and Saturday and off-road thursday evening and Sunday. I wanted to know when one could practice. They are closed Monday and only open until 8 on Wednesday and Friday evenings. There seems to be a vocal group that wants to ban all practice on the opposite track during racing while others want an odd/even crystal system (odds for on, evens for off...)

It is a legitimate concern that somebody will screw with your channel and wreck your truck or race and one guy is adament that no practice occurs during racing. He says "racing only takes a couple hours..." Last time I was there it was a whole day thing. That would eliminate any chance of going out on Saturday to practice before the Sunday race day. It would leave me a couple hours on Friday to practice (unless I leave work early, head home 25 minute drive in the exact wrong direction to pick up Jess and head back out)- with the worst traffic of the week. I questioned how many people (newbies in particular) would be willing to drop some $400 or much more on race equipment with those sorts of restrictions on the use. Especially if they do on-road! A real race sedan is not one you want to be slamming around in a parking lot, I wouldn't think. At least off road you have a chance of finding some outdoor space to set up a practice area though I have never seen anything that imitates the jumps and turns of a track.

Everybody says the only way to get better is "practice, practice, practice".

maybe the spectra module will catch on at your track. then no need to worry about crystals and crossing over of channels. i think it will be a rough start, but will even it's self out.

the nearest off raod track to me is in canada. and i have lost interest with the onroad cars. a friend of mine(he manges the local hobbytown) was going to hook me up with motors and batts to try 10th scale stock. but i just not feeling it. we have had thr weather you east coast, southwest guys wish you had. last week was sunny and 60's.

we are having a little rain now, but just a few light showers. but my daily driver car took a dump on me yesterday. the tranny went out. no forward gears. so i am typing this as i wait to meet the tow truck. i had a really good run with this car.

dit's my '77 olds cutlass salon. my uncle and i put 200,000 miles on it in 5years. the car has 320,000 on the original engine. always new the tranny was the weak link. but she sufers from a few terminal alments. i hope to take to the one junk yard that will part her out and not crush her. the prob with that is it's 30+ miles away.

but it is time to get a cheap 4 bangor for the wofe to drive to work so i can have me cadi back.

hope things are dry and warm for you guys with the heavy rain and the fluffy white stuff.

peter
-:)-

Sucks to have the car die! I have been lucky recently. Never have the chance to put that kind of miles on a car though! 320,000 is a BIG number!

The reason I wanted the track is for Jess. He really enjoys the racing thing. Of course it isn't he that is struggling over rebuilding the diff, replacing a shock shaft, turning a motor, etc. before the next heat. I just like driving on the jumps and corners. Racing would be cool if i were better at it but it ins't the be-all and end-all. If he is cool with driving without any practice then all is good. The thought of paying $10 for a couple hours of practice though isn't a happy one. Once vacation hits or an early release from school we can go out and do a real practice. That is a possibility I guess.

The spektrum is a fine idea assuming you have a synthesized radio in which to drop it. Which we don't have.

my son is hot and cold with his tlt. he wants a rc18(if i buy it). and my daughter likes the venom mini giant. she is a scarlet bandit fan. at 10 she is almost as tall as the driver!

been cought up with life to get things rc running well. and still waitng for parts. i will have my TSC soon but still haven't gotten my tranny back. but a friend found a guy who sells new complete pede trannies for $30-something shipped. he is to email us when he gets a new supply in.

77 Olds Cutlass Salon?? Cool! I used to have one of those! I really liked that car ALOT!

$30 something is a good deal. Especially if that something is less than 5...

When I was planning on running RC here at camp and began to think about things from a track managers view point, thing got confusing very fast. From my limited knowladge of the subject it seems like your track managers need to go back to the beggining and start over. The tracks function should be to get as many people using it as much as possible. To do that they need to serve both racer and begginer. If they don't then their customer base will brake down.

How nice it would be to see the track open, and warm, from noon Friday until midnight Sunday. That lets them run the races and still leaves plenty of time for practice.

Thanks guys, that was fun and got thinking about something besides ground water and bad roads. One good thing about this weather my 4x4 skills have improved 10 fold. Over the last 6 weeks I think I been in 2x4 maybe twice.

the local on road track is having a hard time building new blood. some of the hardcore racers scare off the newbie. but a few folks are trying to help the owner grow her product inventory, racers and fun.

bill hope you dry out soon!

:)

Well, I hope this track flies. The first one was nice with plenty of practice time available. Very low key but OK comfort wise. The second one was bigger and a complete disaster- right down to the porta potty outside when it was -10 degrees! There was some heat (one torpedo) in the shop area but the pits and the track were both at -10. Their arguement was that you were only out on the track for five minute heats so it wasn't so bad. Ever try to rebuild a diff with ski gloves on? We didn't go back and within a couple months they had been shut down.

This one is a huge step up with a larger shop, bathrooms (!), a cafe where one can buy food (the first one had a nightly order from the local pizzeria), quality sound systems and computers for the whole place. It is insulated if not heated ont he track. The pits are heated. They have two tracks now. Gneerally the whole place is trying to go upscale. I hope they have enough people to make it work. People do come from quite a distance to race but they are losing one evening and one full day of "pay to play". Maybe they will make enough with the racers. Time will tell.

"Time will tell" That's the truth. If they are the only game in town then they'll have a chance, but that will depend on how they run it & how the track "works". Meaning if track layouts are good, the surface holds up well, has good traction or not, and stuff like that. Them having both on and off road at the same facility is cool, but can also be a major headache for scheduling as you have already said. Even on practice days you'll have On Road & Off Road guys fighting for frequencies. You'll always have a small group of guys who are real happy and another group that is not, trying to keep the balance with 2 types of racing & racers is gonna be real tough.

It is funny how when you talk about something it happens. I just mentioned how my 4x4 skills have improved, well yesterday I went to Avalon for a school function and we took the camp van. No rain forcasted and the roads have just been graded. While we were there it started to rain. As soon as the dinner was over we took off out of town knowing that every minute the new roads were rained on the muddier they would get.

The rain had let up, just heavy mist, but the clouds had come in low and made it like driving in fog. So at about 5 MPH we traveled the island. Slowly up the hills and sideways down the hills. Most stressful driving I have ever done.

And speaking as the only ther one here that knows the roads he is talking about, I can very much relate! Way too many places you do NOT want to slide off the road! Long long way down to the bottom.

Glad you made it. Take the Jeep next time, eh?

4x4 all the way.

Chris is right I forgot to mention that 90% of the roads on the westend are on a cliff above the ocean so if you miss a turn, you swim if you have survived the fall. Well over 100' in most locations.

The eastend of the island does not hang you over the ocean as much but the falls off the road are now anywhere from 50' to over 1000' before you would stop rolling.

So if you don't stay on the road, you die. That is why it is a bit spooky when you have the back of your vehicle pass you on a down hill grade, or the front of the van not turn when you approch the turn, and of course having your wheels brake loose and spin as you start an up hill grade.

Ya, the jeep next time. Thanks goodness there will be a next time.

indeed!

Well I guess I'd rather shovel some snow than fall off a cliff. But I would still rather have your weather, even with the wet. I'm so tired of Snow. I'd probably be tired of rain if I was in your area though. But I wouldn't be tired of the temperatures!

MORNING GUYS! :p

I realize all of us live in our own little bit of hell from time to time. I have seen some people drive in snow and nothing gets more dangerous than shareing the road with them.

Besides I'm with Tom I would rather be stuck in the mud and warm than stuck in the snow and cold.

Enjoy the day.

usally it's not the rain it self but the lack of sunshine that gets me down. i spent a few weeks in cali, and arizona and i missed the color green! :)

bill glad your okay!

Ah, you see, we have the best of at least two of those worlds right now! Snow AND sun! I have gotten out on my cross country skis at lunch the last three days! There are trails less than a 10 minute drive from here so I jump in the car, zip over and have a good romp in the woods. Way better than almost anything one could do at lunch! Well, if I had folk to drive R/C with here at the lab that might be pretty nice too!

The snow will leave soon enough. Then we get mud... I would rather have the snow frankly.

I guess we all suffer from the "Grass is always greener on the other side of the fence." syndrome. Although I don't think I will ever think that cross country skiing for lunch is my cup of tea.

Thanks for the kind words Peter. And by the way you can have your weather back. It seems like your rain has moved in down here. My sister said the same thing about missing the sun when she moved out of WA and back to CA last year. To bad the weather followed her here :D .

We are quickly becoming an outstanding location for RC. The ground is not wet but damp which = no dust. Most of our flat land grass has been cut so I've got large fields to run in. I live in basher heaven. Even the track is starting to dry out (our wettest location) and should be workable in a couple of weeks. Even the winds are starting to settle down and combat wing flyings are starting to come out for there seasonal rebuilds. I'm so excited.... as the song goes.

Well, the track opened! I was thinking of heading out yesterday but got busy. Jesse and I might head over today to check it out. They will be racing off-road. If Jesse has tires that are anything like compatible he might give it a go. I actually have no idea of the condition of his truck right now- he has put no time into it despite my urging as this day approached. My XXXT is still in parts. I have actually gathered all of the diff bits into one bag and I will be bringing to the track to let THEM build it up. All the other times I did a diff it didin't last very long. I also want to find out about tire types, inserts, oil wt etc for this track. I mostly just want to see the place. If we go I will bring the BL Pede along just for yucks. I am pretty sure the M2Ks will blow on their surface but time will tell.

And somewhere along the way I need to find a new belt for my "new" snow blower. :rolleyes: It seems that I smoked the old one. Makes throwing the snow a tad difficult. As we MAY have another storm this week that might even take priority over playing in the dirt...

I dont have to worry about the belts getting "smoked" on my shovels....... :freak:

I thought you bought a larger capacity/more heavy duty blower? or was the snow you had to move this year just too much for it?

Well, the belt to turn the auger is held tight by a tension wheel pulled on by a cable. The cable stretched and I didn't realize it was slipping until the belt had been badly worn. Oh well.

But, we went to the track anyway! The place is huge! There is still work to be done on it- mostly paint, the cafe and the like. The main issue though is that the dirt track is still a quagmire! Every step left a footprint 1/4-1/2" deep! It was a mess. I will post some photos later but bottom line was that they cancelled the racing as noboy really wanted to race. You could get a few laps in before your tires weighed about a pound each. Marshalling was hilarious. If you needed help you would have expected about a 20 second wait as people gingerly tried to reach your truck. Jess walked right out of his sneaker once! And of course had to put his foot down. :rolleyes:

Jess rean the XXX4 for a while but slapped the wall on a corner and popped the camber link off that busted delrin arm. I never got around to fixing that. No worse the wear other than a ton of mud. I brought the Pede to run and the TLT to show. Good thing since I forgot the Pede had an AM receiver. and I didn't bring the transmitter for it... I finally decided to only run the Pede out in the snow and puddles rather than in the mud. It came out much cleaner! :thumbsup:

Sounds like the Pede would have done good on the muddy surface with the M2Ks on it.

The local indoor Clay track (Dirtburners) has the same problem when their track is freshly re-done, but it only takes a day for it to settle in & a day or 2 firm up solid.

When they brought the dirt in for this track it was so wet that you sank in right to the concrete. That was a few eeeks ago. It is getting better but it is a bog.

Yup, the Pede might have done well but I just didn't feel like trying to clean it! It took Jesse about 10 minutes just to get down to the screws to remove the bumper to pull the A-arm so I could fix it today. He will have to spend many hours scrapping the rest of it off. Even the battery pack is caked from the holes in the chassis. My shoes are permenently clay covered I think!:p.

Another thing that would have gone well for the Pede was how rough the track was. What with all the footprints in it! Jess's little XXX4 was getting lost in the ruts. He was running what amounted to slicks and had infinite traction!

Turns out the cause of the problem was that in an attempt to deal with the moisture on the track before we got there in the morning they tossed down many bags of kitty litter, figuring the clay would soak up the water. Well, it turned it into gue...

THey didn't use muck to build Dirtburners track. they actually has to wet it a bit to get it workable.

Oh boy! More snow!!! Just what I wanted. It has been so warm all weekend and then today it rained most of the day- 45 degrees. Then, in about an hour it dropped to 25 and now it is 15 and blowing like crazy. Bill, come and visit some time! It will make you appreciat eyour little island paradise that much more.

At least our roads are intact if a bit slippery.

that happened to us on Monday, it was 50 mid afternoon, was high 30s when I got home from work at 4:30, and by 7 it was 20 something and snowing. We had alot of black ice advisorys yesterday morning, they even had to close one major road because of it. The runoff that was flowing down my driveway froze solid and took most of a bag of salt to knock it down to a reasonable level.

Mother Nature must be having a big ol' laugh at us....... :(

She is just reminding us who is really in charge on this planet, that is all.

We actually got lucky with thsi storm. Only about 4". Windblown but minimal. Some co-workers got over a foot! Same 40 mph winds though.

So, our track, excuse me, our mud puddle also has an on-road carpet track. Some of the guys driving thee on Sunday were insanely fast! It was awesome to watch them zip around the corners. Way impressive. with that in mind (and the fact that they don't have mud issues) I have started thinking about getting a sedan to play with. There are several XXXS cars available, on this site and out at the track. Tom, any thoughts? The "best" I have seen is a XXXS Graphite + roller for $110 shipped. I have a decent servo (Hitec 625 or 645), a spare receiver and plenty of motors but would need an ESC and a lid. Small expense to giv eit a try I think.

110 for a g+ don't sound so bad if it's in good shape.

One thing to consider when thinking touring cars is belt (XXXS) or shaft (TC3) drive. That decision will depend on your driving style, if you are smooth thru the corners and can carry speed the XXXS will be good, if you tend to drive hard in and yank the throttle out of the corner the TC3 is a better choice. The shaft drive of the TC3 gives a little better "out of the hole" acceleration. Now would you or I actually notice the difference? Probably not :freak:

I miss Touring cars in a way.

On a Pede note, I was really interested in getting the new IMEX All-T tires for my Pede. But then I saw the real pictures and comparison shots on RCMT and I need to re-think that, them things are HUGE! Very close to the height of a Maxx tire, but no pic comparing width.

We have a season ending "fun run" at the indoor track I race at (it's a seasonal track) and I think I'm going to run my Pede in the stock truck class and see how I can place it. I want to see if I can make the A main with it, I think that would be cool! The guy I let borrow it last put it in a good position in the B main & the truck looked good on the track so I think it can be an A-main vehicle.

i am awaitng the ALL-ts(back ordered!), they are 5 1/2" tall and very soft. at rccrawler their are reports of premature wear. the face of the tire folds in and the truck runs on the side lugs..... people are trying custom foams to try fix this issue.

http://www.one18th.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=7626 here is apic of a tlt with all-ts running a pede proline body

The onbly thing I'd be using the All-T for is to bash around up at my camper. Real sandy soil with sparse grass growth (because of shade). I'm just not sure I want to go that big on a somewhat stock Pede. I may just have to settle for the M2Ks, but I didn't really want Chevron treads.

Is there any other 2.2 tire out there the size of the M2K that is not a chevron tread? I know I can go smaller, but I dont wanna!

their are the imex j-hawgs and pullers(waiting for the lhs to get a set of four in). but i have heard mixed things about them. i run claw dogs and they do well in grass and lose dirt, but not mud. the small treads get packed if it's clay like. i also run them without foams. and a tlt weighs more then a stock pede. but i really like my cut pede tires. i ran those the most wheni was testing the TSC chassis for plays_with_toys.

here is a thread with pics of my cut tires http://www.one18th.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11639&highlight=cutting+tires+saturday

i ended up at the lhs this afternoon and sized up the i'mex pullers next to the proline mashers, and mashers 2k. they are all about the same hight bu the pullers are wider. i thinkt he added width of the pullers will help in the sand.

-peter-

I have pullers on the Clod and they are nice! You will like them. Especially for the sand!

I cut the tires on the rear of the Pede, they did work better but not quite what I want. I really want something that has a tread pattern similar to what you could get to run on a street legal truck. That's why I was liking the All-Ts looks. There are the Pro-Line Dirt Works or Dirt Hawg II tires but I think they carry a lower profile than the M2K. I'll have to look around I guess.

I guys:wave:

and Chris

well i have seen real off road tire like the G-hawg and swamp dog. i lik ethe looks of the swamp dogs. their are 3-4different tires i would buy(if the lhs would get some in!) and the are the all-t, pulers, masher 2000, and the swamp dogs. they all seem to be very good multipurpose tires, and can be mod'ed for what ever terrain your tackling.

Are the Swamp dawgs the size of the M2K? They are like the Interco Super Swampers.

i am not sure. picked up mashers 2ks and the all-ts today. i was surprised that the mashers were taller then the stock pede tires, but are dwarfed by the all-t tires. the foams that come with the all-ts are very hard. i poked a hole in one getting it out of the package. :( lol want to try the claw dog foams are a combo of the mashers and claw dog foams. hope to get things running agian this week.


hope everyone is well!

-peter-

Hey all!

Just got back from a long weekend of awesome skiing!!! Up north of here they have been getting snow every day for the last week and it was pretty amazng. That plus staying in a 5 star hotel didn't stink!

I have been feeling pretty cocky about how well I skied-I have been doing this for about 40 years. Well, my days are numbered as the top dog around here! My 10 yr old, Sean who has been skiing for three seasons is going to be blowing me away in short order! The fact that he is stupid fearless is definitely in his favor! :freak: After his lesson he needed to show me how his instructor took him over the cliffs. Now these are tiny cliffs- maybe 6 ft vertical with a huge FAST runout but they were intimidating! No problem for the squirt though. All I have to say is that when he adds 65 cm to his skis he should come and talk to me about the bumps! I did really well but watching him was a hoot! Perfect weekend!

We did miss the openiing race at the track though. It sounds like it went well. There was one guy who brought his "race-ready Pede". Apparently he broke on every heat. :rolleyes: He vows to return though. So, another Pede and we have a race! Could happen.

Well, back to reality. Hope all are doing fine.

Good to see prople posting again!

Peter - Do you think the All-Ts are too big for a stock length pede? from the pics I've seen around they look to be. I'd really love to find a tire the size of the M2k with the All-t tread pattern! Please post how you like the All-Ts.

Chris - Sounds like a good weekend to me! even though I havent skied since I was like 8 or something :freak:

I raced the Pede last saturday & did OK, although not as well as I had hoped. Seems that the stock class was abnormally fast! Normally a fast 9 lap run (9/5:02 or so) would put you on the bubble in the A, but Saturday you had to have a 10/5:14 or better! I pulled a 9/5:08 with the pede, got a few comments on how well it ran, but couldn't make the A as I had hoped to. I probably should have geared up another tooth. My motor went south on me in the first qualifier & I had to change it out, but that's all that "broke"!
I did have a weird sound coming from the transmission at first, sounded like something inside needed lubrication REALLY bad, it was barking like a shitzu! I didn't have time to tear it down before the 1st race due to other more important repairs to my Maxx, so I just ran it..... Came off the track and the noise was gone :rolleyes: ....... Musta killed the shitzu! But since the noise was gone I left it be for the day, I'll have to tear it down and take a look before I run it again.

tom that is funny! my shi tzu dose kinda sound like that! i snapped the spacing washers in my p2k2 stock motor. the arm is nice but i can't get it shimmed right.

but back to the all-t. my first impressions getting them out of the bag is not good. the tires are a poor multi peice mold. my center section of tire looks well worn and chunked, they don't spin true. the stock foam is also a joke, punhced a hole in one getting it out of the bag and ripped another in half taking out of the tire to clean it. :(

but on a truck with less them 12" of wheels base they are way to big. found out that most of the guys running the all-t are running them on "scale" clod rigs with 11 3/4-13" of wheelbase.

but hope to have m TSC running after some new tires and maybe struts to my new old '91 buick.
later

think i fixed ;)

Well the All-T's don't sound to good for me then. Thanks for the Heads up.

You OK Peter? The one part of your post looks like you're on medication.... (No offense intended, we all have our moments!)