Tommy R's VTA Racer

[Tommy R]

Hey y'all,

Well, I'm in the process of building another racer. This one has me more excited than any other racer I've had yet! I'm building a car to race in the US Vintage Trans Am series.

Basically, the class is comprised of all wheel drive touring cars, 2s LiPo, 25.5T motors, HPI vintage tires, and best of all....they must run a vintage Trans Am style body. Mustangs, Cudas, Camaros, etc... This is my favorite 1:1 racing so it's natural that I'm enticed by this class! Realistic paint schemes are encouraged and driver figures are mandatory. So they take the appearance of the class pretty seriously. Great for us scalers! In fact, one of the reasons the motors are so slow is to keep the appearance more realistic as they go around the track. A bonus is that it really promotes close, tight racing. Sweet!

I just made a deal on my second Team Associated TC6 touring car. This one will be powered by a 25.5 Novak Ballistic, but I haven't decided what ESC I want to run yet. There's a limited number of approved ESCs, namely Novak, LRP, Speed Passion, and HobbyWing. I'm actually leaning toward a HobbyWing model (Justock).

So a couple pic of the chassis that I received from the seller:


But I've already got a body painted up and ready to go already! Anyone who knows me knows I love vintage cars of all types. So it should come as no surprise that I went realistic with the body. Behold the Penske/Donahue Sunoco '69 Camaro. Sorry for the cruddy cell phone pics.






And in case anyone is curious, the wheels were white, but I dyed them yellow.

[STANG KILLA SS]

got a sneak peak at this. so cool tommy!
very cool to hear about the maditory driver figure in a racing class! pics of him? (or her)
only thing that could make that class cooler is RWD
love the dark blue ano.
where did ya get the goodyear tire decals?

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by STANG KILLA SS

got a sneak peak at this. so cool tommy!
very cool to hear about the maditory driver figure in a racing class! pics of him? (or her)
only thing that could make that class cooler is RWD
love the dark blue ano.
where did ya get the goodyear tire decals?

The figures are really just lexan inserts....like the kind HPI sells. Although some people actually put action figures in there. I think per the rules only a driver's head is required, but I'm not positive. I'm going to get the HPI driver set.

RWD would be cool, but with these tires they'd be sliding all over the place. Surprisingly, with AWD, they actually handle pretty realistically! Or so I'm told. I haven't run mine yet.

There's a guy on RC Tech who makes custom stickers. He supplied me the Sunoco stickers, as well as the Goodyears.

[Tommy R]

Well, yesterday a bunch of goodies arrived! I received a used TC6 in very good condition, along with some spares, servo, and a brand new in package Exotek chassis conversion. Not sure I'll use the Exotek or just sell it, though. I'll probably sell it. It came with a pretty decent AMC Javelin body, but if anything that'll just be for practice. I also received my new ESC. Since the options for USVTA are very limited, I decided to try out a Hobbywing Justock ESC. I feel like I'm buying cheap, overseas, "knock off" stuff here (something I don't do), but like I said, VTA doesn't have many options....especially if you want an ESC with a small footprint. Here's a pic of what arrived yesterday:


And as is typical for me, I immediately got to work. :lol2: In a relatively short period of time I had everything wired up. The ESC programmed easily on the first try. During bench testing, it seemed quite smooth. The servo (Spektrum S6010) seemed very stiff when powered down, but appears to work just fine. I suspect it'll be one of the first things I'll end up upgrading at some point. I'd received a brand new Novak 25.5 in the mail the week before so I got it installed, too.




I already posted pics of the body, but I should have some nicer outside pics later today.

The suspension seems to have a few issues so I'll go through it next (hopefully tonight) to get it sorted before trying to race it this Sunday.

[R2j]

Very cool Tommy! I'm in the process of converting my TC4 that I used for Rally racing to VTA. I'll be watching what your impressions are on the the Hobbywing ESC, I never used one before. But would be interested in how they do. Right now I have the TC tore down for a thorough cleaning, rally racing gets a bit too messy for my liking.

[Tommy R]

No worries, Shon, I'll definitely report back on its performance. My biggest concern is if it can provide enough drag brake and overall sufficient braking power. Some say it's marginal, but I'll know soon enough.

I gotta tell ya... I'm *really* excited about racing in this class. It seems to be the equivalent of racing scalers!

[R2j]

Sounds good! I may just go ahead and get a Novak set up, I have a SV2 4600kv combo in it now for rally use. I can always use the SV2 in a scaler and sell the 4600.

I have a track close to me that has a VTA class. So I may try and hit a few of those race nights. I do miss the touring car racing from time to time, so this might just cure that urge.

I was looking on ebay for newer belt driven set up and ran across this......

New RJ Speed 1 10 Interior for Stock Cars Trucks VTA Cars 1531 | eBay

looks pretty cool. I've also seen that a few guys run the HPI MTDT interior too.

[Tommy R]

I would've run a Novak Edge if I didn't try out the HW ESC. I've heard good things about it and it's got a small footprint, too. That interior looks pretty cool! I may look into picking one up. In the meantime I have a Losi SCB driver that I'm going to try. It's marginally heavier than the common HPI driver, but it looks like it'll be super easy to mount to the body.

So minimum weight of these cars is a portly 1550g. I believe it's set pretty high to help older chassis remain competitive. Well, I may be a bit underweight. I think the technical term for the amount of weight I have to add is a "crap load". You know, technically speaking.



That's race ready, too: Battery, transponder, heavily Shoe Goo'd body, and driver. And no, the driver won't remain on the roof. That'd be silly. How would he steer?

[Tommy R]

Driver is installed. Mr. Donahue is now ready to roll!

[R2j]

Nice!

I'm looking at a couple of belt driven cars right now. I know the TC4 would work fine, but I like the belts, much smoother on power than a shafty. I got my eye on a TC6, 6.1 and Xray T2 07. The Xray comes with an extra parts chassis and some VTA tires and wheels.

[KBrog]

Very cool VTA.

We were running relaxed rules VTA here in VA. Had a lot of fun. Went through a set of tires every weekend.

[Tommy R]

Thanks, y'all... I finally got to race this thing this weekend and what a blast! I was surprised how well they handle considering the tires and the weight. Several people even commented about how much faster they were than they anticipated. I'll tell you this, though. I had to add a TON of weight to this car! Even after the heavily Shoe Goo'd body and driver I had to add an additional 110g of weight. It was getting challenging just to find good places to put it all! LOL! I can now see why some people prefer a TC3 or TC4 'cause it wouldn't need additional weight. Might be something to consider, Shon! Maybe just try your current car first and see how it does before biting the bullet on a newer belt car? Either way, I think you'll be fine. I loved the way my TC6 handled yesterday!

KBrog, how'd you manage to go through a set of tires in a weekend?? I ran a BUNCH of laps yesterday (low/med grip asphalt) the tires barely look like they were used!

I don't have much, but here's a couple pics from the race....

[R2j]

Thanks for your input Tommy! I think that I will stick with the TC4 for now. After considering a newer car, I thought to myself, why bother? I already have a decent base, so why spend more money on something else. Plus the fact, it is "vintage" racing and then the weight issue you have had. I'm sure I'll have to add some, but not as much as you. I'll have to start a thread when I get all my parts gathered up, plus I need to completely disassemble the car for cleaning. Even with only a few rally races on it, it's still a mess. Well dirtier than I like.

[KBrog]

8 minute races outside on the asphalt = gone tires.

Why so much weight? What was the reason?

[R2j]

Originally Posted by KBrog

8 minute races outside on the asphalt = gone tires.

Why so much weight? What was the reason?

VTA rules so to keep the older chassis like the TC4 I'm building competitive with the newer light weight chassis like Tommy's TC6.

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by KBrog

8 minute races outside on the asphalt = gone tires.

Why so much weight? What was the reason?

Really? We did 3x 6 minute heats on asphalt with no noticeable wear at all. That's crazy you wore out a set so quickly. That would get pricey!

And yeah, as Shon pointed out, USVTA rules mandate a 1550g minimum weight to help the older, heavier chassis remain competitive.

[STANG KILLA SS]

that looks awesome Tommy! wow really really good.
needs a couple of scale screws in that wing though

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by STANG KILLA SS

that looks awesome Tommy! wow really really good.
needs a couple of scale screws in that wing though

Thanks, dude! Yeah, definitely needs some scale screws! LOL!

[ROWDY RACING]

Originally Posted by KBrog

8 minute races outside on the asphalt = gone tires.

Why so much weight? What was the reason?

Originally Posted by Tommy R

Really? We did 3x 6 minute heats on asphalt with no noticeable wear at all. That's crazy you wore out a set so quickly. That would get pricey!

And yeah, as Shon pointed out, USVTA rules mandate a 1550g minimum weight to help the older, heavier chassis remain competitive.

I raced with Kbrog, he is correct, it was in the summer at 90 degree temps not sure if that matters. Lots of sharp turns in the track seemed to scrub the rubber right off the tires. We would have rubber all over everything under the bodies. It was a good time, and your car looks great, have fun with it.

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by ROWDY RACING

I raced with Kbrog, he is correct, it was in the summer at 90 degree temps not sure if that matters. Lots of sharp turns in the track seemed to scrub the rubber right off the tires. We would have rubber all over everything under the bodies. It was a good time, and your car looks great, have fun with it.

That's pretty amazing! It was near 80F on our race day so it was far from chilly. I wonder if the texture of the lot is just that different. Regardless, I'm just glad we're not getting tire wear like y'all are!

Rowdy, I need to send you a PM about your Wraith link mounts.