Time Trial Fun

[LBRC]

Was playing around with a stock Epoch and a Core Timing System on a 2 x Wide-L, HFAY #1 track layout.

LoL temporarily out of small transponders so I had to go with the oversized spoiler.
http://lbspd.com/v-web/gallery/albums/album109/MVC_700L.jpg
Good news, if you use a peak charger like the Triton or Ice a stock Epoch will consistently make it over 50 laps if you don’t smack the wall over a dozen or so times, which means I could get a comparison with the current HFAY Mini-Z, and one Xmod entry times.

So where would an Epoch stand if it could compete in the Stock HFAY Time Trials for Track #1? (http://hfay.tinyrc.com/Default.aspx?tabid=88)
Answer it would be #33 out of 35 entries for track #1:
04:12.33, MR-02; Fastest stock Mini-Z time Track 1 #1
07:29.94, Stock Epoch; My first Stock Epoch timed 50 laps.
07:48.07, MR-02; Slowest stock Mini-Z time Track 1 #33
07.58.37, Xmod EVO; Only Xmod Entry Track 1 #34
Not great but hey at least it beat the Xmod.

Lap Times: (in seconds)
1 - 9.49, 2- 8.87, 3- 8.23, 4- 10.37,
5- 10.70, 6- 8.57, 7- 9.07, 8- 8.79, 9- 8.54,
10- 8.38, 11- 8.97, 12- 8.25, 13- 8.89, 14- 8.83,
15- 8.85, 16- 8.33, 17- 8.91, 18- 7.90, 19- 8.72,
20- 8.31, 21- 8.63, 22- 8.62, 23- 8.37, 24- 8.76,
25- 8.70, 26- 9.86, 27- 9.07, 28- 9.65, 29- 10.34,
30- 8.44, 31- 9.07, 32- 8.77, 33- 8.35, 34- 8.63,
35- 8.18, 36- 8.78, 37- 9.28, 38- 8.18, 39- 8.80,
40- 11.33, 41- 8.75, 42- 8.69, 43- 9.27, 44- 9.29,
45- 8.78, 46- 8.87, 47- 9.00, 48- 12.85, 49- 9.14, 50- 8.52

Since my fastest lap (number 18) was 7.9 seconds a perfect 50 and the Epochs limit should be somewhere around 6 ½ minutes which means #28 on the list is about as high as a stock Epoch could aspire to but hey that’s not too bad for a bone stock out of the box micro, bet those 4 and 5 minuet MR-02 and MA-010’s didn’t come straight out of the box with stock tires.

I also did a few laps with a Shotgun motor mount and 195mAh battery pack (no Turbo) but due to wipeouts and stopping for adjustments the time was not worth posting, what was interesting though was even with all those wipeouts I still got over 140 laps in on one charge compared to the ~60 of the stock Epoch.

[cdog4w]

Nice. I keep hoping that hfay will put up some smaller tracks for those of us who don't have 2 wide L. I'd love to throw up some times to compare, and I even have a mini-z now, so I wouldn't have to complain about lack of an epoch class :)

You'll have to give a few more runs and see what the shotgun can do against the mini-z's :) I'm guessing the feeling will be similar to when we ran our 1/18 trucks with the stock 1/10 trucks at tacoma raceway the one day we drove down to it. My buddy drew (m18t) was only 4 laps behind the leader who set the track record that day! Not bad for a much smaller truck on a difficult offroad dirt track. But if there isn't competition at your scale (we were the only 2 18th there), why not compete in the bigger class!

[LBRC]

Hopefully I will get a chance to post some good SE times before I have to return the system aside from my real job, as my wife likes to call it, I have a lot to do in a very short time with the Core system during it's visit. On the Epoch side of the house I hope to use it for accurate comparisons between:

Stock Epoch
Epoch w/ Shotgun only
Epoch w/ Shotgun and battery upgrades, both 195 NiMH and LiPo
Turbo Epoch w/ Shotgun and battery upgrades (Basic Super Epoch)
Full ball bearing modded SE
And the works i.e. Shotgun, Turbo, Batteries, ball bearings, Steering Servo, everything.

Won’t be looking for the best possible 50 lap race times, since I want average runtimes I will actually need a few wrecks in each set. With luck I wall be able to get some hard data on just how much of an improvement each mod really is for the track. For example does the steering servo and/or front ball bearings actually help, and if so how much. But I will certainly be posting my results and findings along with any good 50 lap times that happen to pop up. I would also like to run some single Wide-L times if I could/can find the time to squeeze them in.

I also have some tires that need testing too including the slicks from my Windracer NASCAR modified Epoch. Speaking of the racing slicks Apex and A1Hardwareman are planning on putting one of the SE’s I sent them on eBay with a Speck-1 body and a set of the rare and much covited prototype racing slicks/hubs. These hubs and tires are an improved design, they have taller sidewalls that extend over the back of the hub to help hold the tire/hub assembly on the wheel. They seems to work quite well, the set I have at least are a massive improvement even on an SE with repeated wall bashing and rolling they stay on without glue, yea. Unfortunately there were only a handfull of the Prototype tires and wheel sets made so they can't be ordered, yet.

[cdog4w]

I'm guessing most of those will be somewhat to very measurable, minus the steering servo. I'm guessing that one will be more driving style. Everyone at the track thinks having a fast servo is super important (0.12s/60deg) whereas I drive better with a slower servo (0.20s/60deg).

For tires, have you tried rubber cement for gluing? Nice and semi perm, I know its a good way to glue small foam tires to the rim...

Oh, and did you see Tim Johnson from Kyosho America dropped part numbers (over at MZR) for mini-z lit and its parts/accessories?

[LBRC]

Been using a drop of the non-hardening thread-lock, but that’s what I like about the prototype racing slicks you don’t need glue to keep them on even with a fully modified SE.

No I didn’t see TJ’s list at MZR but it didn’t have anything I hadn’t already see either and he sort of forgot a few items like these:

LT011 RC Unit Set, est. retail ~ $55.00
LT014 Battery (150m Ah), est. retail ~ $12.00
LTT002 Tire Set: Copen, est. retail ~ $3.99
LTW001 Ball Bearing Set, est. retail ~ $19.00

[LBRC]

Update
Turns out a modified Epoch can easily shave a full second off the stock Epochs best lap time. I managed to put quite a few six second + laps in, 6.49 being the lowest but most in the 6.8 to 6.9 range, and was well on the way to a halfway decent fifty laps (~05:50) when on lap 37 the car felling I was getting a bit full of my self and not paying enough attention decided to leave the track, unfortunately on the opposite end. If it wasn’t for that little difficulty I could have easily come in under 6 minutes.

[cdog4w]

Nice. Not bad at all considering!

So where did you get the pricing info? Is there a full kit price yet?

[LBRC]

Got the prices from a friend in Japan.

The ready set price has been on Kyosho Americas current price schedule for some time now and is rather ugly with a MSR of $299.99 which means unless something changes we are not likely to see it advertised in the US for under $199.99. The price is more or less consistent with the current listings in Japan of ¥20,000 (~$172 at today’s rather good exchange rate) + shipping of course. Just like the AM cars the US frequency range will be restricted to conform to the rules listed in our quaint somewhat outdated Federal Register.

Hopefully the price will go down a little, but it does sort of highlight just how much of a good deal the Epoch is.