Triumph Discussion

[Delorean]

Hi All

I recently rebuilt a triumph for some vintage racing here in Australia and it became apparent quite quickly that there really isn't much info about these cars on the net. So if there are any owners of these cool cars out there, we could keep all the info in one spot.

I'll put a few pics of mine up soon, it placed 5th out of about 20 vintage 2wds all powered by 540 motors. though I didn't have the best front tires, so the car tended to understeer which i'll get right for the next race. Also im moving to the 20 deg front nose plate to reduce the caster. I've fitted the LA245 unis on now though I was making do with a mixed set of CVDs i'd made from DB01 rears and some 3 racing axels. the db01 shafts are 64mm long so dogbone plung was a bit too much but with up-travel limited a big, it worked

I was able to replace the standard spur with a Durango one and slipper pads by putting a bearing in the centre of the spur. to get the slipper to lock down properly I had to put a 4mm washer up against the outer slipper plate to make up for the narrower spur gear

I don't know if it was just my car but all the ball cups had perished and crumbled while driving it. So I moved it to ball studs and cups (at 1am before the race day of course)

So just looking for others to share their stories and info. A lot of people came up to me during the day and commented that they'd never even got to see a Triumph race back in the day so it was pretty cool to see one running at vintage day. I will need to get it dialled in though if im any hope of keeping the cougars and rc10 graphites honest

Cheers

Mikey

[jkelm24]

I don't have any race setup info, but recently restored a Triumph and might put together a runner with the leftover bits.

I like the info you provided on the Durango spur setup, as the standard spur and slipper are a big pain-point on the Triumph (non-standard, and hard to find). Be careful with your upper deck. Those are nearly impossible to find (I've only seen one for sale in the past two years). If you're going to continue racing it, maybe think about cutting a replacement out of stock carbon to run on race day.

I'm guessing that reducing your front kick up will help your steering issue, along with correct tires for your track.

Share some pictures with us, and let us know how things go! I'm happy to hear that you're competitive with the other cars! Placing 5th out of 20 is darn good!

The Triumph has become one of my favorite 2wd buggies from the early 90's. Kyosho packed every single trendy feature of the time into one single car: double deck carbon chassis, long suspension arms and shocks, adjustable front rake, adjustable rear toe, belt drive tranny, etc. It has it all... unfortunately that really didn't translate into positive sales or race results at the time. But, I'm not sure if that was due to a poor performing car, of if it was more due to Kyosho's distribution issues during that time. Maybe both... *shrug*

[Coelacanth]

I'm guessing that reducing your front kick up will help your steering issue, along with correct tires for your track.

I just found this a few minutes ago...it does an excellent job of explaining all the variables and how adjusting something changes some aspect of car driveability, one way or the other...I saved a copy for future reference. It looks quite comprehensive.

http://richardchang.com/hobby/rctips_tc_summary.pdf

[highwayracer]

I have some experience with the triumph...building and racing. The problem with the steering is the 20 degree kick and the stock front tires. I increased it to 30 degrees and used a 25 degree castor block. I also used wider front tires...that had a different rib configuration.

The front shock tower also had a lot of flex...so I made my own 3mm fiberglass tower. I also doubled up the rear shock tower. The rear arms had too much flex....so, I ran RPM rear arms for the jrxt.

Overall, the car ran fine, but it just had too much flex in the suspension. It worked better on larger tracks vs. tight tracks because of the longer wheelbase. Here's one that I built and sold a few years ago. I also used triumph components on my scratchbuild.

Regards,
Roger

[highwayracer]

Here's a pic of my "RC10" racer...that was a frankenstein build. I'm still modifying this...and I sent the top plate to a fellow member for his project (but I traced one for my car)

[Hcp22]

This is a bad picture on my Triumph Works and Kyosho named it "Experimental" and it was delivered in a plastic bag without manual.

[highwayracer]

Did they shorten the front arms? Looks like a stock bulkhead with plates to make it wider. Front shock tower has that zxr look to it. Did they do something different to the rear arms?

[Delorean]

wow!!! lots of posts/info already!!!

I wonder if the car HCP22 posted is the triumph proto they gave the team drivers which was meant to solve some of the front end dramas and then kyosho put out the pro-x

Yeah i'll give the 20 deg caster in the front end a try to see how it goes, I just don't like huge amounts of caster and im only racing 540 so straight line stability is not an essential if I can get the car to hook around corners better.

Good tips about the weak parts, I know someone was talking about seeing if fibrelyte have done the triumph parts in CF. if they don't, im happy to send parts to them so they can take measurements

Tough racing make a replacement belt for the car too (TM17) they don't seem to run it on ebay but I've found it on their website. im running an original belt at the moment and just the 1 belt due to running the low power 540

[RichieRich]

Wider front tires are a must.

[Delorean]

The other thing im going to run is the wide crp axels to allow Tamiya rims to run on the front. by the looks of it, that should widen the front end track too.

Also team c /ansmann rims are an excellent rear rim substitute with the right offset. great because they also work on my team c 2wd and the back of my lazer zxr

[Hcp22]

If you use CRP axles at the front you can run this modern front wheels.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-DE-Racing-Borrego-Buggy-Wheels-Durango-DEX210-Fr-Black-DER-BB-DFB-NIB-/291036868133?pt=Radio_Control_Parts_Accessories&hash=item43c3262e25#ht_1014wt_829

[EvolutionRevolution]

Did they shorten the front arms? Looks like a stock bulkhead with plates to make it wider. Front shock tower has that zxr look to it. Did they do something different to the rear arms?

Looks like the rear uprights use a small (carbon?) plate to move the camber link attachment point. Were they also drilled to put the hinge pin in another position? Hard to see.

Is the rear shock mount two parts? Kinda look like it.

Top deck is also different. Are those shocks Kyosho?

[Hcp22]

All is as Kyosho delivered it to me except for the battery brace that is homemade by me. And yes its prototype Triumph and the shock's are Kyosho's. I will take some decent photos later on; I don’t have the car at home.

[Delorean]

Thanks lars. My plan was to run tamiya trf201/dn01 rims but those look like a great option too

I've added a couple of pics. The slipper setup there I used a second slipper plate to space it out enough. I've now switched that for a 4mm washer

[Hcp22]

A few more bad pic's