18 replies to this topic

[Mr. M]

Today at Vero Beach was the first brushless state wing car race on the new Gerding King. It was one of four classes and had eight entrants. Any brushless less than 6500 kv could run.

 

They were rippin fast 2.5 to 2.8 laps and they were punched on most lanes. The light wweght 45 gram cars handled magnificently and they were easy to drive. So for about $70 you had a terror ESC and motor, way good.

 

Overall it was a very clean race with not the usual crash carnage and body ripping. And these guys know what they are doing. At the end, there were four left runnin;, the others had problems from just losing its mind and stopping to motors up in smoke. Compare this to the G12 race where there were eight of nine cars running at the end.

 

Much more to learn before this is mature for sure.

[MSwiss]

What does "losing its mind and stopping" mean?

[Hot Slots]

System Overload

What Setups were still running at the end of the race?

[Mr. M]

Mike, No smoke, the ESC just stopped. It started with confusion as it was stop and go, then complete failure.

[Mr. M]

Brandon, I did not keep track, There was a variety of hardware though!

[Kim Lander]

bet the connections were the little push on connectors to the ESC....they need to be soldered...just my thoughts.

[Hot Slots]

No they smoked umm. Not a connector issue. It's the current state of brushless racing at its finest.

[Pappy]

Back in the early 60's when I started racing slot cars we didn't smoke ESC's, we melted endbells. When the IRRA started using sealed motors it took years for someone (I think it was Mike Swiss) to find a sealed motor that was consistent in speed "motor to motor" and reliable enough to run a whole race without changing motors. A motor that you didn't have to buy two dozen of them just to find a fast one. At least that's what I've heard, I don't race IRRA anymore and I don't follow it. What I'm trying to say is, brushless motors will get better.

 

I do however have some experience with the brushless motors. Yes, there is a problem with some ESC's but it is being worked out. We actually had one that got so hot the solder joints on the ESC melted the solder. Most of the time they work fine. 

 

My teammate on our Michigan 24 hour team imports DoSlot brushless motors and does testing for them to perfect the ESC. We are on our third generation of ESC's and they have improve immensely, you can now control the car at low speeds in tight corners. 

 

We ran a brushless (2500kv) motor in the Michigan 24 last year and finished second. We lost to the home track team (Clover Leaf). Our car was running as fast at the end of the race as it was at the beginning. We set the race record for most laps on one lane for the race in our last heat "400 laps". If we would have had the third generation ESC instead of the first generation I believe we would have won the race.

 

As time goes on I think people will move to brushless motors. All the other teams in the Michigan 24 are testing them for this years race in April.

[Mark Onofri]

And I thought S16-C was a waist. I'm going to pass on the brushless thank you. But, good luck to all of you who feel it's the wave of the future.
I will say this in closing: if it keeps the tracks open... I'm all for it, I just wouldn't be active in it,as long as there's still room for the brush set.

[jimht]

And I thought S16-C was a waist. I'm going to pass on the brushless thank you. But, good luck to all of you who feel it's the wave of the future.
I will say this in closing: if it keeps the tracks open... I'm all for it, I just wouldn't be active in it,as long as there's still room for the brush set.

 

There's no magic solution to keeping the tracks open...the past of slot cars is the same as the future...

What has kept slot cars interesting for decades are the innovators and tinkerers that are constantly trying something different under a slot car body between the guide and the rear axle.

 

None of them have started their fiddling with the intent of making everything more expensive and reducing the number of participants.

Most of the time they are trying to do more racing for less money.

 

My pet peeve is the dumbing down of commercial tracks to allow ridiculous speeds with expensive fragile chassis and motors...leading to reduced participation and increased costs.

[Mark Onofri]

I've been having the most fun I've had in years. We're racing sealed 16-D, stamped steal w/ motorbox,1/8"axe &48 pitch gears and ,stock car bodies. Not to distract anything from brushless or any new tech but, not being on the razors edge is ok with me. However, I'm open to anything that keeps the track open. I just might not be involved with it. Didn't I say that already?

[John Luongo]

old school works for me too. anything to keep tracks open!

[Dave_12]

At my local track i am the only person that knows how to build a motor and that includes the owner of the shop. 
If i talk to them about build motors they look at me as if i am some sort of nut job . 
That is the way it is these days 

[Bill from NH]

Not being able to build & rebuild motors provide a lack of enjoyment for the slot car hobby. I've always enjoyed building chassis & motors, almost as much as I enjoyed the actual racing. It's my opinion they don't know what they're missing. Assembled cars & motors are a better place for beginners & children. I started commercial racing in 1967 & building motors & chassis three years later.

[jimht]

Although...it would be interesting to know how many of the participants in this race would have had more fun if they had built their own motors. 

 

Remember, they were slot car racing, not slot car building. 

[Dave Crevie]

When I got into commercial track racing, building motors was part of the gig. It was the only way I could gain an advantage. And I began to really enjoy building motors, to go with my home-built chassis.

 

But things have changed. The target customer market is different. The sport needs new, younger participants. And these people, many coming from the gaming hobby, are more interested in high tech. Plus, today's customer wants instant gratification, cars and controllers already built, ready to enjoy. IMHO, it is why home racing has become so popular. You buy a ready to run car, to race on almost ready to run tracks, with no building skills required. 

 

There needs to be RTR cars, designed and built to be equally competitive. If they are powered by brushless motors, so be it. As it is, most of our cars are built from parts. It's what we are used to. Us old codgers are going to be a hard sell to  completely change to a new power system. We'll all be gone eventually. Young racers are the future market.  

[jimht]

When I got into commercial track racing, building motors was part of the gig. It was the only way I could gain an advantage. And I began to really enjoy building motors, to go with my home-built chassis.

 

But things have changed. The target customer market is different. The sport needs new, younger participants. And these people, many coming from the gaming hobby, are more interested in high tech. Plus, today's customer wants instant gratification, cars and controllers already built, ready to enjoy. IMHO, it is why home racing has become so popular. You buy a ready to run car, to race on almost ready to run tracks, with no building skills required. 

 

There needs to be RTR cars, designed and built to be equally competitive. If they are powered by brushless motors, so be it. As it is, most of our cars are built from parts. It's what we are used to. Us old codgers are going to be a hard sell to  completely change to a new power system. We'll all be gone eventually. Young racers are the future market.  

You could put any date on your comment from 1963 to now and it would still be true.   

[team burrito]

There needs to be RTR cars, designed and built to be equally competitive. If they are powered by brushless motors, so be it. As it is, most of our cars are built from parts. It's what we are used to. Us old codgers are going to be a hard sell to  completely change to a new power system. We'll all be gone eventually. Young racers are the future market.  

evolve or die.

[Mark Onofri]

But you know now days
It's the old man
Who's got all the money
And a young man
Ain't got nothing in the world these days.
I couldn't resist the drift.
In all honesty, I was against the playfit/falcon motors at first. Unfortunately, when it comes down to
"what are we racing this year"
The mob rules,be part of the"in crowd" ,race what ever is "NOW" or marshal. Look at how far those little disposable motors have come. Compare a falcon 1 to a CR102,no
comparison. But, don't forget,it took 15-20 years. Not sure if I'll know what a slot car is by then.