XRAY - Model racing cars

I'm trying to develop a general overhaul / maintenance process for checking my car between heats and following races. From past experiences I have encountered handling Issue with my car which had taken time resolve or which I had not been able to resolve / identify during a race meet.

Recently I have came up with an process loosely based on the details within the "Quick Reference Table" for prioritising areas of the car that I would check. Firstly as encountered on a few occasions I would generally check the car for any loose or missing screws, starting with the chassis then the transmission parts.

Then I set about checking each component based on the "Order of importance" as identified on within the reference table e.g. Starting with the 1's; condition of the tyres, ride height and the balance of the roll bars. Based on the table these item would seem to have the biggest affect on the cars handling characteristics. then I continue with the 2's 3's and so on.

Since recently using this process I have found that I now have a car that consistently performs which has allow me to have productive runs during meetings, not sure if by luck or judgement.

It would be interesting to find out if others employ similar routines or have any other ideas that they could share.

I would welcome your views and feedback.

Michael

Hi Michael,

Well for me it depends on whether you have had a crash or not. For me also it depends on whether it is a championship race or a simple club meet – I find you get a lot more pit time between races if it is a championship meeting.

You are right in wanting to develop a process for yourself, it then becomes 2nd nature.

Whilst I can see what you are trying to do and I think your approach, from a logical perspective, makes a lot of sense, I would do it differently and focus on what, in your experience, tends to go wrong.
I have never lost a screw so I don’t check them during the race meeting. But I find that camber often wavers. Just a bump can put your camber out, which is why that is the first thing I check in a club meeting, using a simple plastic gauge rather than the Hudy setup station.

For any meeting, on the day before I will set the car up from scratch – droop, ride height, shocks etc etc.

For a simple club meet without a crash after each race I will then always check
• Front and rear camber
• Tyres
• Visual check of the drive shaft pins
• Between qualies and finals
o Ride height and tweak
o rear shock rebound and if there is time front shocks also – I find the alu shocks loose oil at rear more quickly that the fronts

With a crash
• As above
• Close look everywhere for any damage
• Then onto the setup board to check tweak and as many settings as I have time to check


For a championship meeting after each race
• onto the setup board and all settings are checked.
• Shock rebound checked all corners
• Tyres checked more closely
• Electrical connections
• Transmitter voltage reading
• Next battery voltage
rear ball diff stifness
visual check of drive shaft pins and maybe spray some grease in there

And yes if I am sitting there ready with 10 mins to go, I probably will pick up the driver and casually check a few screws – or alternatively walk away and get a bacon sandwich

... oh and for you Aldershot guys, If I am racing there you guys have a nice long gap between races so as long as I can keep away from the bacon sarnie shop I may well do a full race checkup

Yellowshark- Are you using setup wheels when you check your camber?

When I am just doing a quick check at a club meet I may leave the wheels on and check with them on, but I do normally rotate the tyres in which case I will use the setup wheels. After a crash or for big meeting, when I am using the setup board I will always use the Hudy setup camber guages rather than the setup wheels.