Are new cars becoming too complicated set up wise?

[RC10th]

Are new cars becoming too complicated, too many options etc?

It seemed a while ago things were pretty standard and 3 - 4 spring/oil combos worked. With the new .2's they offer 9 different front springs and 6 rears, couple that with flat and dome pistons, half wt. oils etc where does it end?

Touring car chassis were 3mm, now chassis and top plates are offered in various thicknesses and you can also control flex by adding or removing screws from the top deck.

Getting boost and timing dialed in right is an art all in itself.

Is it just me or are things starting to get too complicated?

[GoMachV]

I think at the pro level it has always been complex as far as adjustments go, it's just now trickling down to us. Racers were mixing oil before half weights, drilling pistons before multiple pistons were sold, and on and on. Schumacher was always the king of way too many confusing adjustments and I think nowadays they are pretty average

[kaiser]

i thought they were easy until i built a durango. talk about getting lost in the setup.
IMHO it's overly overcomplicated.

[DerbyDan]

I guess if you look at the earliest of cars that were intended for competition - short arm RC10, JRX2, Schumacher CAT etc then it is true that the adjustments for shock angles, camber links etc were very minimal... but very quickly the cars developed all sorts of adjustments & upgrade parts for tweeking this & that - just look at all the holes in the rear shock tower on a JRX Pro.... or a Cougar2

My current 2wd buggy racer (a TeamC TM2) doesn't really have too many obvious adjustments, but when you start getting into shock oils, diff oils drilling pistons, caster/toe/antisquat... & then modifications to increase chassis flex (to increase rear end traction) its quite mind blowing! But no different really to any competition grade car of 20 years ago.

What is easier now is the motor & battery management... I can remember stripping down a motor, skimming the comm & replacing brushes after almost every run when I used to do National touring car meetings, then making sure you had the correct battery pack on charge (letting pre-used ones rest) etc - & that was before thinking about car set-up & tyres.

I wonder if now that we are older & wiser, we are more aware of the adjustments & their effects on the car's handling? Personally I think there is alot talk about individual 'must have' adjustments & modifications that 'tranforms' the car which is very subjective... I like to start with a basic kit set-up & try small one-at-a-time changes until I'm happy with how the car drives, normally the kit set-up is not far off for most tracks.

[Coelacanth]

Over-engineering isn't always a good thing. Just look at the Avante. Over-engineering complexity gives the hardcore racers a myriad of options, but for the vast majority of us, the options are wasted on us.

[fredswain]

I agree that the earliest cars didn't have enough adjustment options and the new cars have too much. I think the current trend is quite frankly a gimmick. Let's face it, the average consumer is a complete idiot. They want "more" and having more is all that matters. It doesn't matter if it's worthless or unnecessary, it's more and more is better.

Saying that, I do think you need a degree of adjustability and some options are good. The unfortunate part is that most people will just get online and either copy some pro driver's posted setup sheet which has little relevance or they'll ask other equally as ignorant people how to setup their car. All of those extra options just don't get used and in the end they don't really learn much anyways. If a car had only 1 way to set it up and some team driver was using it and winning, few people would care if there were any others.

[SRTracer121]

yall havent seen oval cars recently huh?

http://www.customworksrc.com/ProductDetail.jsp?LISTID=800008DC-1331223286


actually the cars have gotten more complex and more adjustable but a little cleaner and less "lets just drill a million holes in every mounting point" type designs

[Chris K]

I guess if you look at the earliest of cars that were intended for competition - short arm RC10, JRX2, Schumacher CAT etc then it is true that the adjustments for shock angles, camber links etc were very minimal... but very quickly the cars developed all sorts of adjustments & upgrade parts for tweeking this & that - just look at all the holes in the rear shock tower on a JRX Pro.... or a Cougar2

My current 2wd buggy racer (a TeamC TM2) doesn't really have too many obvious adjustments, but when you start getting into shock oils, diff oils drilling pistons, caster/toe/antisquat... & then modifications to increase chassis flex (to increase rear end traction) its quite mind blowing! But no different really to any competition grade car of 20 years ago.

What is easier now is the motor & battery management... I can remember stripping down a motor, skimming the comm & replacing brushes after almost every run when I used to do National touring car meetings, then making sure you had the correct battery pack on charge (letting pre-used ones rest) etc - & that was before thinking about car set-up & tyres.

I wonder if now that we are older & wiser, we are more aware of the adjustments & their effects on the car's handling? Personally I think there is alot talk about individual 'must have' adjustments & modifications that 'transforms' the car which is very subjective... I like to start with a basic kit set-up & try small one-at-a-time changes until I'm happy with how the car drives, normally the kit set-up is not far off for most tracks.

I very much agree that in the world we are now racing in, most vehicles have more adjustments and 'tuning options' than the majority of us can understand and benefit from on the track.

BUT, for decades we've asked for 'stuff that the factory drivers have' and I think in the MAJORITY of cases, we have that! NOW, if we can just upgrade our 'skillz' to utilize and benefit from these set ups we will be a LOT more effective on the track. Sadly, many of us scramble for that .1 second when eliminating one crash will give more benefit than that!

I have always believed that ANY kit set up is about 95% of what WE (meaning non factory drivers) are capable of driving well and enjoyably. I've been privileged to drive a few 'team driver' set up cars and quite frankly I looked like a total rookie on the track! Most 'top level' drivers require much more responsiveness then I can drive well. NO tuning of ANY r/c vehicle is going to put me in the A at big races!

I prefer a car that suits me, my driving (dis)ability and that is dumbed down enough to I have enough time to respond. I never drove better using the high response set ups that many 'think' they need...

I firmly believe that complex set ups and the tools to achieve them are what killed on road; which for whatever reason is now making a bit of a comeback here in the good 'ol USA.

Just a few thoughts from one of the many on here who have 'been there' and 'done that'.

[RC10th]

I agree the older cars weren't adjustable enough as well but new cars are the other extreme. It's always nice to get the edge but at a big meet who can get their car completely dialed in within 6 races without a team of people behind them?

[bearrickster]

YES they are. I miss the days of just fun racing. I can remember killing everyone with my lowered Lunchbox all I did was toss it out their and it ran I never had to change anything.