return to racing

Hello again,

Welcome back to my blog. I've not made any posts recently due to working away and not racing very much. Whilst away, I did manage to race a few times at a club near to where I was working. There, I was disadvantaged by using a 17.5t motor against the club spec of 13.5t, most running boost, on a track with a longer straight and sweeper than at my usual club, where I can just about get away with the slower motor.

The car coped better on this particular track (above and below) as there wasn't a long straight and sweeper, and the switchbacks  were handled very well.

I have to say, the Spec R car coped admirably, holding its own in the tighter infield sctions, only being out paced on the longer straight. The set up on the car allowed it to be driven quite tight into corners, enabling defensive driving against quicker cars. I find the car to be quite responsive and quick to change direction which was demonstrated in the tighter infield track sections.

On another blog post you will see the new Spec R R2 car which has a number of improvements on the previous car.

New Spec R R2 - new release

Spec R have anounced the release of the long awaited Spec R R2 car. This is the updated version of the R1 and follows the release of the S2 late last year. The main features of the car are as follows:-

- High strength and high precision anodized alloy parts for added durability and style 
- Ultra narrow chassis design with USA high quality Carbon Graphite 2.25mm main chassis 
- 2.0mm USA high quality upper deck and 3.0mm shock towers.
- Slimmer transmission/motor mount components and design for improved handling and smoothness
- Dual bellcrank steering for precise cornering performance
- Front/Rear Suspension Arm mounts are adjustable for a variety of fine tunings for different track conditions
- Lightweight and super smooth rear HD gear differential is included
- Enhanced acceleration from the use of lightest transmission components
- Front/Rear Suspension system with carbon reinforced plastic parts
- Improved material and stronger plastic parts(with carbon)
- Lightweight and anodized alloy turnbuckles and ball studs
- All new big bore oil shocks for best performance
- Balanced chassis design
- Internal gear reatio 1:1.9

Also of note are that the motor mount and bulkheads are no longer red ! 

Car became available on January 2nd 2015. See link below :-

link to Spec R R2

Set up progress

As you have read in previous posts, I've been working on the set up of the upgraded S1 after changing the oils in both diffs. I recently had two really poor outings at my local club and another which we occasionally visit. I found the car was hooking, almost handbrake turning into tight corners which made it difficult to drive.  I decided that the car needed a strip down, clean up and re-build. This was duely done with all suspension parts removed and cleaned, shocks cleaned and oils checked, and a couple of changes made to the car :

• Changed front springs from Xray silver to Xray blue to calm the car down
• Changed rear diff oil back to 5000 thickness
• Front suspension toe blocks changed to 0degrees from the 1degree ones
• Front camber changed from -2degrees to -1

I took the car to the track last Thursday and the change was amazing. I comfortably won my three heats with really quick times, and am confident my times would have challenged the fast lads had I been in a quicker heat and not had to overtake back markers on most laps, including a buggy ( everyone has to race somewhere !!). My fastest lap was 0.2 slower that the fastest drivers, but I could see on the rest of my lap times where I had encountered back markers with up to half a second being added to the lap times.

The car was planted and predictable, and I was able to place the car exactly where I wanted it on the track, and was able to go really close to the corners on the tight track which had a number of 180degree corners. I have added the set up sheet in the set up sheet area of the blog.

I look forward to my next race this week where I hope I can get a bit closer to the faster drivers. I will video the races next time and add some footage to the blog.

Spec R gear diff updates

Following recent issues with the Spec R diffs, a strip down & re-build was in order. I contemplated reverting back to the previous oils, but thought twice about it as I was clear in my mind that the thicker oil up front and thinner in the rear was the way to go. I was still struggling for rear end grip, particularly under braking, so drag brake was taken off the speed controller settings. I also changed the front anti-roll bar from a 1.2 to a 1.4 to stiffen the front up a bit. This improved things slightly, but there was still room for improvement. A second pair of eyes was called for, and a club mate suggested a roll centre change.  I changed the inner rear camber link height to 2mm from 4, and front to 3 from 1.  I also shortened the rear camber links from position 3 to the most inner, position 2. These changes had the desired effect as the excess roll in the front had been making the front of the car dig in, causing an imbalance. The rear now had more of a camber change during cornering which produces more rear end grip.  The car was now much better balanced but unfortunately I only got it sorted in the last heat, when a crash took me out of the race with a stripped ball joint.

The overheating problems I had suffered have now disappeared following the re-build, and I look forward to racing again this week so I can work more on the set up.

I've posted a new set up sheet in the set up sheets section of the blog which show the changes made from the previous set-up.

HD diff and thicker oil !

Having recently upgraded the S1 with the aluminium bulkheads and suspension mounts, I decided to try out thicker oil in the front diff and thinner in the rear one. Upon re-assembling and running the car, I found the gears had worn in the diff. I stripped and re-assembled the diff with an additional shim.  When I ran the car, the front diff was extremely tight. Upon stripping the diff, I found the inner casing to have worn away, jamming the gears.

You can see where the casing has worn which caused the shims to be very tight, preventing the diff from rotating freely.

I ordered the new HD diff and fitted it with 1,000,000 thickness oil to replace the 300,000, adding 2,000 to the rear to replace the 5k.

I ran the car at my regular club and found the handling to be a little loose, although the thicker oil in the front gave the car extra pull out of corners, and handled the sweeper at the end of the straight really well, allowing me to pull off some passes down the inside. I moved the front shocks out one hole to improve rear end handling, and this made a big difference, although I'll make further adjustments to make the car more stable.

I hope this has been informative, and I'll report my further progress in future blogs.

Spec R S1 Upgrade using aluminium parts - part 2

Following on from the review of the alloy upgrades which I added to my Spec R S1 car, I have now run the car a couple of times.

I initially found the car to handle slightly different from the plastic version. I made some changes, including the addition of a front sway bar. I settled on a set up which I have posted in the set up sheets section of the blog.

The changes have made a good car better, giving a more solid feel to it.  One difficulty I had with the plastic car was achieving a balance between turn-in and under steer, and rotation and oversteer. The alloy car has allowed me to achieve a good balance while cornering for both.  The aluminium upgrades will no doubt make the car more reliable as the aluminium will not strip in the way that the plastic parts have.

I am happy with the car, but after reading comments on forums and speaking to fellow racers, I am planning on trying the car with thicker oil in the front diff. I understand that this will provide a performance similar to a spool, with more pull out of corners and quicker cornering speed.  I will provide feedback of the results in another blog.

Great Manchester Cycle 2014

We are the Laws family, Mum Rachel, dad Ian, Michael who is 11, and Amy who is 10.

On Sunday June 29th, we are taking part in the Great Manchester Cycle 2014. This is a charity cycle event around Manchester in the UK, and covers 13 miles.

Most people nowardays have been affected in someway by cancer, and Ian has a colleague at work who was recently diagnosed with throat cancer and is being treated at the Christie Hospital in Manchester.  The Christie is one of the UK's leading cancer research hospitals, and we are doing the cycle ride for this charity. We would really appreciate it if you could sponsor us and contribute to this marvellous charity by clicking on the button below.

Thankyou