[teamouellette]

I used the new "odor free" Paragon today. I trued a pair of brand new Jaco green rears and used the new Paragon all day. I have to say it works just as well as the old Paragon without the wintergreen smell. It has a mild scent similar to mineral spirits, but you almost need to put your nose right on the tire in order to smell it.

We decided as a club to take Easter Sunday off so we can all spend it with our families. We will be racing on Friday night just for this week. The doors will be open by around 4pm Joe Pelkey should be there to open the doors. We will start racing at 7pm run 2 heat races and the mains. Next week we will go back to Sunday again.

Brian

 

[teamouellette]

Good news for all the down stairs dwellers at btrc club. The hot summer season is just around the corner and the cool pit spots are down stairs!

Just wanted to let everyone know that ever had to pit down stairs in the cold, I was able to get a 100,000 BTU heater for the downstairs. I will pick it up next week. The same guy that supplied us with our fantastic compressor is willing to supply the heater for cheap. Still trying for free, but cheap is good.

Brian

 

[teamouellette]

downstairs heat

Picked up the heater for downstairs today. It is brand new and still in the box. The price on the box is over $500, We got it donated. A very special thank you to Dan Wasileuskas. He owns a business in the Lowell Mass area called The Air Compressor Guy, or ACG for short. His phone # is 978-459-4731. If anyone is in need of an air compressor from small to huge he does them all! Give him a call and say THANK YOU!:wave:

Brian

 

[RTOURANGEAU]

The website is updated, check it out, see everyone Friday night

 

[teamouellette]

Congratulations to all the points winners. Lets start off the summer season right on Friday night. :thumbsup:


Brian

 

[danallen_vt]

Track Notes

Bob, thanks for updating the link. Brian, the 100,000 BTU heater for the basement makes me proud. To me, it is so awesome that we have all the essentials for RC in our VT home ground.

 

[teamouellette]

My brother-in-law is a pretty good guy. He helped us out when we needed a compressor too. Heat in the basement has always been an issue since we moved in. Now with the new heater, it should be toasty warm downstairs. Good things just keep happening.:thumbsup:


Brian

 

[danallen_vt]

should we consider sending your brother a gift certificate to dinner or something? I'll pledge $5.

 

[c barsalow]

Heat and Re-shuffling are both great for Barre! If there is anything I can do let me know. Sorry I have not been down to race with you all but I will be back! Fridays will probably work better for me than Sunday mornings! Especially with racing (Late Models) here. Seeing as my Late Model season will be limited (lack of $$$) I am going to try to do the old RCT (Radio Controlled Tour) like Brian Hoar and I used to do years ago. Wednesday somewhere, Thursday somewhere, Friday Barre, Saturday Glens Falls, Sunday somewhere. If anyone is interested in joining me let me know. I have plenty of room!

 

[teamouellette]

Dan, we don't need to get him anything. Maybe we can take a group picture and send it to him with a thank you note.

Chuck, hope to see you on Friday. We start back on Fridays this week.

Brian

 

[c barsalow]

I want to make it just gotta find something for my Girlfriend to do?????!!!???

 

[danallen_vt]

C barsalow, there are times when a man has to decide what is important. RC racing tends to create some of those times. If you meet her half way in other areas....

... do you have children with her? That changes the picture.

 

[danallen_vt]

BRUSHLESS MOTOR?

Soooooooooooooooooo............... now that we have had a chance to run a few weeks kicking around with that brushless motor, rolling around from class to class, what does anyone think about if there is a way I can keep running that motor?

Just in case anyone wonders, the reasons I really want to stick with brushless motor if I can:

1. Cheaper. No one believes that, even when the numbers are spelled out. How much does a set of great racing batteries cost? The speed controller in your stock car? The brushes? The 3 motors you buy to find one good one?

2. More consistent. Even when I turned motors after 1-3 runs to compete in offroad stock truck, motors change over time, and no two motors are the same. The variations lead to driving complications, at least for me.

3. Faster. Ernie Povitti (President of Trinity, sorry for misspelling his name) said it: faster is more fun. I agree. Just my style. It is just so cool to be able to yank on the throttle at any time and make the car go faster. In head to head racing, it is a gas.

4. Less time. Even if the motor has to be restricted to running at low voltage to neutralize the speed advantage, I still really want to stick with brushless. It is so great never having to remove batteries or the motor from the car. All I do it is charge and go, charge and go...

Ok, batteries get replaced every 120 runs for top performance. So far, the only pack I have run in that car is 4 year old Sanyo 2000s. So, I am not even looking toward top performance out of that motor on our track yet. I have run at 75% end point on throttle, and also have geared lower than the motor needs. I do that for quicker acceleration.

The lost track time taking the motor in and out of the car is the biggest issue for me.

Ok, I have had my say... thanks for giving this a chance. I am really interested and wanting to know how other guys feel about this. I don't like being the odd man out (that much).

 

[Jarrod Li]

Dan,
I think the biggest issues you are going to face with regards to brushless motors are:

1. If I'm right, they aren't Roar approved, and from a week to week basis probably wouldn't be a huge issue. However, when we have Trophy races there are people coming from all over the region and if we aren't following Roar rules then there will be huge problems with having a "equal playing field" during trophy races (even if the cars are 100% equal, different can mean unfair for some ppl if they lose).

2. Some people really enjoy working on their motors. It's one of those satisfaction of working with your hands and being able to say "I did that" kinda things.

3. Although you do have points regarding cost, consider that everyone at the track already has the tools/parts/etc to maintain their current setups. There's a lot of money invested there and for those people you'd be asking them to shell out more money to replace something they already have that is working well for them. Granted for someone who would be just starting it might be a little cheaper but not by a whole bunch.

The major issue though is the Roar rules in combination with Trophy races. The Trophy races are what really bring in the money for the tracks maintenance & rent.

Jay

 

[c barsalow]

NO KIDS YET!

It's not like when I race my Late Model. She can find a lot to do or sit in the trailer......for a non-competitor like her it is really boring to go to R/c races......I'll see if I can find something for her to do..


Brushless motor legality would require an about face in the electric r/c world as much as I love the idea of them........

get over it, put the brushless motor set up in an airplane where it belongs, put in a brushed motor and go racing! Let the majority of the R/c world decide when it is ready for the change to brushless.....

 

[danallen_vt]

I'd quit racing before I would revert to brushed motors. My time for the hobby is too limited to stress it out with motor tuning and battery hunting. In fact, I did stop racing for a few years waiting for Novak to come out with the brushless motor after they announced it.

My hands are full trying to keep the rest of my car together, tuned, and learning how to drive it.

I have no problem sitting out trophy races and being DQ'd from points, if people are not ticked at me running in races with them.

As far as the 'legality' goes, the reason they are not legal is the rules are set by companies who cannot offer brushless technology. All the ROAR officers work for motor makers. Why were rebuildable stock motors adopted so quickly when they first came out? Answer: because all motor makers could get in the game.


This is not about RC majority... the RC majority follows the rules. The rules are set by profit motives. Am I mistaken in this?

 

[Jarrod Li]

This is not about RC majority... the RC majority follows the rules. The rules are set by profit motives. Am I mistaken in this?

Dan,
Unfortunately you are right and wrong at the same time. We need to stick to the majority to make money to support the track but your reasoning about the roar rules is probably more correct than any of us want to know.

However the other point still stands, in order for anyone to run brushless they would have to shell out more money to replace equipment that they already have that is functioning properly.

Either way I don't have a problem running with you. :thumbsup:

Jay

 

[c barsalow]

I don't have a problem if it keeps one more racer racing!


What compounds does everyone run at Barre?

 

[danallen_vt]

Jarrod, you are my hero for life giving a thumbs up to let me run with you. I mean that. Thank you a million times. :thumbsup:

barsalow, same goes for you. :thumbsup:



Regarding compound, starting tomorrow night (April 30), no Paragon classic compound allowed. At last Sunday's drivers' meeting, we discussed results trying the various colors of TQ (purple, orange, etc.) and also Jack-the-Ripper to replace our beloved wintergreen tire juice.

My recollection is that all who spoke were saying that the different TQ colors and Jack the Ripper all work more or less the same. On the track, all are effective after a few warmup laps, whereas Paragon classic (the outlawed one) did not require such warmup.

Unfortunately, even when effective, these safer-to-breathe compounds are not as intense as Paragon. But alas, we cannot keep Paragon classic around. Apparently, it's like sniffing glue or something (very very bad for brain cells), and also triggers asthma. I am friends with someone it made sick who no longer can come to the track.

Paragon has come out with new 'flavors' that are not harmful to breathe the way the old stuff was. Unfortunatey, one of our sr. members tried it and gave his can away (hint). I believe that driver is running TQ in one of its colors.

Not claiming that any of this is gospel. I have not tried any of the new stuff yet. I still have Paragon that I was hoping to use up before May 1.

Hope this helps.

 

[Jarrod Li]

Yes, Brian aka TeamOuellette did give his can of Odorless Paragon away. It seemed to gum up his tires, however we're not sure if it is because the new Paragon requires you to clean the tires often, or if it was reacting with some other chemical. Jim Clark tried it last Sunday and is going to continue to try it to see if he gets similar "gumming" as Brian. At the end of the day Sunday he was still doing quite well with it. And there definitely is no odor to it.

The variations in TQ all appear to be in lasting time and drying time. The Orange seems to be quite a bit more liquid than the old Paragon and often requires some wiping off as it seems to almost "pool" on the tires rather than soaking in. Although it does soak in and has a nice citrus scent as well. I believe the rest of the flavors are all variations in lasting time, but since we run 4min heats/races it doesn't really matter much.

Dan, as far as running goes...anytime, I just have to get the rest of my components to finish my car. I'm in a somewhat similar situation, coming back to r/c after a looonnggg departure so there's quite a steep learning curve. I'm sure I'm going to have lots of learning to do with setup and of course driving.

On another note the new Barrerc.com site should be up and running in a couple weeks along with a new forum just for us. There won't be anymore getting burried in the rest of hobbytalk. The url won't change so just keep checking it. So far there is a forum for "general chat" and one for each of the classes we run as well as a limited access forum for the track officials. If there are any more you'd like to see let me know. Right now we are held up on the design phase as other paying projects are taking precedence but hopefully the design will be finished in a couple days.

Jay