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- #41
The night runs are cool, I need to get some lights even for my daytime runs so I can see which way the car is pointed when I turn it around.Its quite ballsy to do it there and then, it adds loads of adrenaline compared to running it on a relatively dangerless runway (like Raz)
Also crazy how much work and money goes into like 2min of adrenaline rush. We could be renting and driving fastest cars for fraction of costs and for 10x more time
However, I think @K-BASH gets the Big Brass Balls award for running 143MPH on a city street with traffic.
We have another thread talking about 2wd Speed runs. The consensus is that it can be done and there is merit but it's alot more work.The Icon 2 is surely a fine vehicle. But that's definitely not what I'd recommend for speed running. A RWD car is a whole other challenge and not something I'd recommend to start out with. You're going to have problems with traction, finding gears that are suitable for the task (that car is made for carving up tracks, not straight line speed). Go with a 1/8 or, better yet, 1/7 scale long wheel base AWD platform. They're far more forgiving and docile and are a perfect platform for speed running. They're not cheap, but they're durable, there are mountains of aftermarket parts for them and they where it's at right now when it comes down to which cars are the fastest.
Also you will need space. I'm running a stock Limitless body and finding new and creative ways to arrange me gear to be more efficient. If you go with a GT body you get a ton more space. Most of my problems come from my choice of batteries - the gigantic CNHL 9500's.
This is good advice that I did not exactly follow.Start on low voltages. 3S - max it out. 4S - max it out. 6S - max it out...try to forego bankruptcy for as long as possible by having less accidents. Working your way up from lower voltages will help you have less accidents. If you jump into it on 6S or, God forbid, 8S, you will wreck. Badly. 100% probability.
Instead of just using smaller batteries, I used the ESC Max power setting to reduce the power output. This bit me in the butt because messing with all the buttons and knobs in the ESC is a bit complex and I had a hard time tuning it correctly. The car did weird stuff. I ditched that setting and now use the throttle D/R on the radio to do a couple of warm up passes. Then open it up as I go. Eventually I hope I don't need to warm up.
Right now I think I'm plateaued because I was consistently doing 117-120. After the runs I noticed scratched on the bottom of the pan and confirmed that with video. This means I have too much down force. I'm working on that now and think it might be another 5 mph. Then I will gear up. This is all baby steps.
When I decided to do this I thought, build it send it, no big deal. Oh boy was I wrong. Just keeping it straight at 100 mph is a challenge at first. I've had a few crashes, the worst was the curb at 76 mph. It was a rookie move, I ran out of talent. The damage was minimal, but still a lesson. I'm sure there will be more crashes and more expenses, but that's part of the budget.