RC10Talk - The Net's Largest Vintage R/C Community

I do wish though that more tracks here in the states would use more artificial types of surfaces for more consistent grip and a whole lot less cleanup. With that said, it is pretty darn fun to do it in the dirt.

US indoor clay is predominately a tire and tire prep war-

Fully agree.

And what works on one chassis doesn't do so hot on another. The JConcepts Barcodes are the most popular tire at my local indoor, and I like them on the rear, but they were for poo on the front of my vintage stuff. Ended up running Proline scrubs MC on the front, even went to 4WD version on Proline wide wheels for one of them. Tried Proline suburbs, left me with a "meh" feeling, have yet to try the Ions.

And as to the outdoor tracks, yeah......mid or rear motor, 3 or 4 gears, the local outdoor track here just isn't friendly to 2WD 1/10 buggies.

i'd like to try turf, but i happen to be very lucky and have two excellent indoor dirt / clay tracks to run on anytime i want.

bitd we had a carpeted offroad section on the inside of an indoor dirt oval, it was fun for what it was. it was made of scraps though not good turf.

our outdoor tracks are abusive though. we need to build out 1/10 2wd buggies for durability, or else your day will be short. lol

At least where you guys come from you have a wide selection of tracks to drive on, back in good. Old Brisvegas they are as rare as hens teeth , I will give the B5M as a basher/ something to put on the shelf. On a side note does any 1 know of any good hobby shops in Rome, I am staying close to the Spanish steps for the next 4 days and then To Dubai, any suggestions would be appreciated.
Cheers

kaiser wrote: whoever invented sugaring a dirt track should be drawn and quatered.....i jest, i jest.

It was almost 20 years ago, we were trying to find a way to maintain traction during the winter months when the county turned our water off and I said "Lets try sugar, they do it at the onroad track" as a joke. Next thing I knew, we were trying different ways to apply it to our track in Albuquerque NM. I'm like 99.999% sure that the idea came from me for a dirt track anyway. Sorry! But that is the reason we started doing it. Not as a permanent thing but as a winter solution. It did become the normal thing at that track though, even in summer months.... Still used today.

True story! I have yet to find anyone to have tried it before our little group of about 5 people that ran that track at the time.

^ lets get him!!!!

Before anyone draws and quarters Sean...I'd like a show of hands from those that have raced on a sugar-prep track

+1

Pretty much everyone that races on it the first time has the same reaction as we did. It usually goes something like this: "Holy Poop" or "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn"....

Holy Poop?? LOL (Its mostly the other version of poop, )

Charlie don't surf wrote:Before anyone draws and quarters Sean...I'd like a show of hands from those that have raced on a sugar-prep track

+1

+2

I'll raise my hand. Grip is good but sugar = tire wear galore. It wouldn't be so bad if you could run slicks however.

It goes like this;

Daaammnnnn - My tires done wore out quick

RC10th wrote:I'll raise my hand. Grip is good but sugar = tire wear galore. It wouldn't be so bad if you could run slicks however.

It goes like this;

Daaammnnnn - My tires done wore out quick

The Proline X2 and Jconcepts Orange (my fav for sugar) hold up really well, and generally decrease lap times by smoothing out the "twitch" that can go with sugar, I've gotten 5 weeks with my 22SCT in summer 37c outdoor sugar track with no decrease in performance until that point. My B44.5 and my 22 were a little harder on the rear tires due to the 6.5 motors, but still got 6-8 runs if you drove smooth and fast- if you ran super aggressive, they were roasted in 2 runs (and increased lap times)

any un-needed wheelspin will roast them quick!

i've never raced on sugar, but there have been local rumblings about possibly sugaring local indoor dirt tracks.
thats got me worried a bit. i'm a club racer, no interest in big races, BTDT, hated every long minute.
i'd hate to see this trend hit our clubs, the wanna be pros will just get faster, spend more $$ on tires and leave us club guys in the dust. unless we drop the same $$ on tires everyday.

I would advise against it indoors... We tried it once and if you like the smell of dog poop, and I mean dog poop multiplied by a thousand... then its not a good plan. It ferments, and smells bad even outdoor, but outdoor is bearable... indoor, not good. The track that did it, had 3 racers show up on every race night for 3 weeks. that's how bad it was.

good to know. too bad my favorite indoor track already smells like urine. lol

Indoor tracks are very finicky, especially in extreme climates of the Northeast and the Southwest.

Natural clay in the NE is outstanding, dark and very pliable and grooves well...but tack on cold winters and Clay laid on a concrete floor, plus building heaters and the tracks can become super slick, unless abrasives like sand or silica are added when the track is being "mixed". Softs and Super-Softs seem to dominate these natural clay tracks, with moderate tire wear issues...but traction compound (if it's not dusty) tends to be used a lot, which seems to irritate a lot of guys. They are also hard as rock when they dry out, and take insane amounts of effort to dig up (more literally, break up into chunks and dust) and change.

If the track has added or natural abrasives like sand and or silica then they seem to favor "clay" compound tires (which appear to contain silica as well), this type of track is easier on maintenance for the owners, and grooves pretty well too. More tire wear, but probably the best overall balance in track for the racers, and track owners. Most "clay" tracks also seem to benefit little from serious traction compound usage. (at least where I have run)


Sooooooo little of this thread is about the B5 by now, it's almost funny