RC Car - Am I Fast Enough To Race?

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Am I Fast Enough To Race?

This guy sent me an e-mail asking if I thought his car would be fast enough to race. I replied saying that speed did not matter and he should definitely race as driving is what matters. He sent me this e-mail later as he thought that I was not offering a serious response to his first message.

Comments: I have a Radio Shack brand RC car and I was wondering if the engine could be upgraded to a stock engine because it has the same components as the "big brand" cars such as a 1700mah battery. And a Mabuchi brand engine. So it's basically the same as normal RC buggies and with the engine that I have now it is still what I consider pretty fast but is 1400 feet per minute fast enough to race on the track.

(please take my letter seriously)

Response: I took your first E-mail seriously. As I mentioned, speed does not matter. You may not understand because you have never seen an RC car race but let me give you an idea. An RC car race lasts 4 minutes in length. Let's play with some numbers. Say on an average track, you can finish 15 laps in one race (4 minutes). Now let's say that you install a very fast motor that will allow you to save 1/4 of a second per lap (most modifications will not make this much of a difference). Over 15 laps, you will save almost 4 seconds. An average crash takes between 3 and 6 seconds to recover from. Most people crash more often if their car is going very fast (fast enough to save 1/4 second per lap). Let's say that a person can do 5 laps before they crash (most drivers can't even do that). That means that the driver will crash about 3 times during the race. 3 crashed equals a loss of between 9 and 18 seconds. WOW, the extra crashes made the driver loose 18 seconds and the fast motor didn't even save 4 seconds.

My Point??? Some of the fastest drivers at the track have the slowest motors but they know how to drive their cars very, very well. I have seen many good drivers drive an entire 4 minute race with their cars inches from the corners and did not crash once. They smoked the people with motors that went lightning fast and crashed their cars every 3rd turn on the track (believe me, there are many people like this). That is why I recommended that you go to the track and practice. Forget about speed or 1400 gamma rays per second on intake pressure blah blah blah blah blah. It doesn't mean anything!

As I said, GO TO THE TRACK, RACE, HAVE FUN, LEARN HOW TO DRIVE, LEARN HOW TO TUNE YOUR SUSPENSION, ETC. ETC. This is going to sound repetitive but listen, I would love to see some one like yourself go to the race track and smoke all of the so called "Fast Guys" with their $2000 cars and accessories.

No, don't change your motor. Your circuit board was not designed to pass the higher currents that today's motors will draw and there is a good chance that you will damage the electronic components.

I don't want you to get me wrong. I have nothing against all of the drivers that spend a lot of money and have fancy equipment (I am one of those guys myself) I just think that it should be done in a timely manner. I've been racing at a competitive level for over 10 years now and I can actually appreciate some good equipment, most people only buy it for a status symbol or because they think they need it to win. This just isn't the case.

I'm glad you E-mailed my back as I want to make it very clear. I take every message I get very seriously and I was giving you sincere advice regarding your future racing career.

I hope this will all help you. I plan to post your message on the web because I think it will help others that may be intimidated about going to the race track because they don't have the computer radio and solar powered, matched, epoxy balanced, ceramic, carbon fiber tire warmers!!!

Let's take off a few tenths per lap,

"PRO"
Pro Racer Secrets