After buying a secondhand TC5 chassis for VTA racing, I had a leftover HPI RS4. Rather than letting it collect dust, I asked Jules if he’d like to invite his cousin Reese to go racing with us, of course the answer was yes. We had an extra unpainted Mini Cooper body and I was able to load up the unused chassis with super-cheap electronics like a silver-can motor for $4 and brushed ESC for $10.
1S-2S Electronic Speed Controllers
Looking for an electronic speed controller (ESC) for your R/C car than can handle both 1-cell (1S) and 2-cell (2S) lithium polymer (lipo) batteries has proven to be a difficult landscape to navigate. Some of this has to do with what the market will bear. Typically if you’re running a 1/12 scale car, you’re only running 1S batteries. If you’re running a 1/10 scale car, it’s 2S.
The 1S need for me comes from the fact that here in Minnesota, the local track runs a variant of Vintage Trans-Am (VTA) that uses a 17.5 turn motor and single cell battery. It was a carry-over from 1/12 scale cars that ran on 4-cell NiCad or NiMH batteries. The idea was to keep the VTA cars relatively slow, and to keep the cost down.
[Read more…]Half Off R/C Racing Gear List
Here it is, a list of how to get into on-road R/C racing in two different classes (your choice) on the cheap. I’ll update this list and go into detail about the the components I find important. Mostly I wanted to make a list of everything I’ve purchased to keep things honest.
Young Kids in R/C – Training Mode
Since Jules was so excited to get out my radio control car from the garage, he was naturally excited to drive it. I failed to explain to him how fast it goes before turning the controller over to him. It was like the first time I shot a rifle with a hair trigger. As my friend had just begun to explain how sensitive the trigger is, I had already shot it. It went something like, “Now, you’ll want to – BOOM!”
