Tommy R's VTA Racer

[ROWDY RACING]

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

It's going to cost you Hammer.

 

[Tommy R]

It's going to cost you Hammer.

LOL! That could be arranged since he no longer has a ride! :mrgreen:

 

[JeremyH]

Oh yeah, good call on those mounts!

 

[ROWDY RACING]

LOL! That could be arranged since he no longer has a ride! :mrgreen:

I guess he lost everything in the scale world too. When I was told by the soon to be new owner of Hammers ride the first question I asked was, does Hammer come with it, and can I have hammer. I was told only if I put him in my comp rig. :ror:

 

[R2j]

How's the VTA Tommy?

I got all my parts in last week, but been to lazy to start a build thread. Picked up the '68 Camaro, wheels and tires and a Novak Edge VTA combo. Tower had the Novak on EZ pay and with club member coupon, I couldn't pass it up."thumbsup"

 

[Tommy R]

Oh man, I'm absolutely LOVING this class! And the best part is, it's growing a LOT locally! I think deep down people love realistic looking racecars and it's even more appealing that they're old T/A cars. Two weeks ago we had just three of us. Looks like that'll double by this weekend and even more people are putting cars together, too. It may be our biggest class soon!

Good call on the Novak Edge combo! I hadn't even considered the deal at Tower, but so far I'm really liking my Hobbywing ESC. It's treated me well so far! BTW, I'm running maxed out timing and have run 3.8 and 3.7 final drive ratios. Trying out 3.6 this weekend, I think.

 

[R2j]

I just happened to look at tower because the HW was sold out when I went to order one, glad I looked. I really like the Novak set up! I need to finish the paint and then get up to the track in the next couple of weeks to do some testing before I hit a race, and see how may are running VTA.

The scale aspect was one of the biggest motivators for me, they just look badarse."thumbsup"


Shooting for the Smokey Yanick paint scheme......:mrgreen:

 

[Tommy R]

I just happened to look at tower because the HW was sold out when I went to order one, glad I looked. I really like the Novak set up! I need to finish the paint and then get up to the track in the next couple of weeks to do some testing before I hit a race, and see how may are running VTA.

The scale aspect was one of the biggest motivators for me, they just look badarse."thumbsup"


Shooting for the Smokey Yanick paint scheme......:mrgreen:
View attachment 229791

Oh man, bad ass! I think if I weren't doing the Donahue/Penske theme, that's what I'd be running. :mrgreen:

 

[R2j]

How's VTA racing going Tommy?

I decided to paint mine yesterday to finish it up. Scraped the Yanick paint for now, I'm going to farm that one out. Here's a link to my build......

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/non-crawler-rcs/441075-r2js-tc4-vta.html

 

[Tommy R]

How's VTA racing going Tommy?

I decided to paint mine yesterday to finish it up. Scraped the Yanick paint for now, I'm going to farm that one out. Here's a link to my build......

http://www.rccrawler.com/forum/non-crawler-rcs/441075-r2js-tc4-vta.html

It's been a blast! The car is exceptionally competitive and was even undefeated 'til just recently. Some folks came down from the Dallas area and we couldn't touch their straightaway speeds for nothin'! In the infield I was doing fine, but some of us were getting pulled 10-15 feet down the straights, including me and I have one of the fastest VTAs locally. I don't know how they did it, but none of us could keep up. It was pretty darn frustrating considering we'll all be running a statewide series together soon and there's no way any of us will have the motor to keep up....in a spec class. :x

Your car looks awesome, Shon! You're going to love racing it. :mrgreen:

 

[R2j]

It's been a blast! The car is exceptionally competitive and was even undefeated 'til just recently. Some folks came down from the Dallas area and we couldn't touch their straightaway speeds for nothin'! In the infield I was doing fine, but some of us were getting pulled 10-15 feet down the straights, including me and I have one of the fastest VTAs locally. I don't know how they did it, but none of us could keep up. It was pretty darn frustrating considering we'll all be running a statewide series together soon and there's no way any of us will have the motor to keep up....in a spec class. :x

Your car looks awesome, Shon! You're going to love racing it. :mrgreen:

Damb! 10-15 feet, that's pretty crazy! Only thing that comes to mind is high burst lipos or timing boost. Your VTA rules pretty stringent there? Ours are a little looser at the indoor track and not sure about the Hobby Town series yet.

Thanks! I'll be hitting some races soon."thumbsup"

 

[Tommy R]

Damb! 10-15 feet, that's pretty crazy! Only thing that comes to mind is high burst lipos or timing boost. Your VTA rules pretty stringent there? Ours are a little looser at the indoor track and not sure about the Hobby Town series yet.

Thanks! I'll be hitting some races soon."thumbsup"

Yeah, even though my VTA has max timing (~45*) and a FDR of 3.3, I was getting motored on down the straight as if we were in different classes. And I have really good batteries, too (65c). Here in Austin, we abide by USVTA rules pretty closely. In Dallas, I think they allow open 25.5T motors, but I'm not sure. I know Novak can build custom 25.5 motors if you pay for it, but they're not USVTA legal. Not saying this is what those guys did, but the disparity in speed was too large to ignore. Everyone locally was wondering about it...

 

[Tommy R]

Well, I guess I've got quite a few updates for this car. A couple weeks ago I went to the Ultimate Trans Am Challenge in Dallas with a friend of mine. It was for VTA cars and F1 cars only. We had a pretty good sized turnout with three full heats of VTA cars. One of these heats was the Pro/Invitational class, but I ran in the regular group.

Well, as it turns out I did pretty well for an asphalt racer on carpet for the first time since '93 or so! I ended up taking the TQ spot and even won all three qualifiers! I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. Then I got yet another nice surprise. I was asked to run the Pro/Invitational final, along with the 2nd place TQ driver. Quite the honor! But to make things even sweeter, all participants in the Pro class receive free Hobbywing Justock ESCs! Kick butt!! :mrgreen:

There were 9 of us in the Main and I qualified 4th overall. At the start of the race I was keeping up with the top 3, who were VERY fast! The TQ driver had an accident and I slipped by and found myself in 3rd. I was driving really well, which was really difficult considering my nerves were going crazy! It's quite possible I could've held him off 'til the end of the race, but then tragedy struck. A lapped driver was getting marshaled in front of me and as soon as he had all four tires back on the ground, he proceeded to plow right into me and put me on my roof. It cost me about 4-5 seconds on that lap and needless to say, I lost the podium spot. I was really upset that someone in the "Pro" class would make such a rookie move, but that's the way things go sometimes.

I was actually reeling in 3rd place ever so slightly, but not quickly enough and I finished in 4th. I was pleased, but disappointed that it could've been a podium spot! Well, as it turns out, the winner of the race didn't make it through tech for some reason and was essentially DQ'd. So that put me on the podium afterall. Maybe not how I hoped to get there, but that's okay. I still had a GREAT time racing at Mike's Hobby Shop in Dallas.

Here's a link to the Main. I'm the blue car. :mrgreen:
1st Annual Ultimate Trans-Am Championship (UTAC) - Pro Invitational VTA A-Main Race. - YouTube

And after last weekend's local club race I decided it's time to retire that worn out Camaro. So I replaced it....with another Camaro! :mrgreen: I love this car/paint scheme so I decided to keep it. Only changes are a "vinyl" roof and a darker shade of blue. We'll see if I like it after tomorrow's race. I'm concerned it may be too dark to see on the asphalt. Anyway, here's a couple pics...

 

[Tommy R]

We had another big race this past weekend again at Mike's Hobby Shop in Dallas. This time it was the Texas-based Electric Onroad Series (EOS). We had about 14 or so VTA cars show up.

The car was working extremely well and was putting down practice laps as fast as anyone. But then there was a problem. There was so much grip on the track that the car started traction rolling! Talk about frustrating! Since I usually race on asphalt I had never dealt with this kind of issue before. So I asked around to the more experienced racers, but they all had conflicting suggestions! :shock:

In the first heat the changes I made didn't help. The car was still quick, but I had to be so delicate with it entering corners! I think I finished 2nd. In the second heat, I made more changes, but no help there, either. I was still flipping over. Finally, an experienced driver really pointed me in the right direction! I made some changes to the car and in the 3rd heat it FINALLY wasn't flipping over and I could drive it as hard as I wanted. It wasn't quite as fast (1-2 tenths slower per lap) because it was now pushing a bit, but that's okay. I managed to take the TQ spot and I was really thrilled!

The Main was crazy! I started on the pole and near the end of the first lap the 2nd place driver accidentally took me out. After I was marshaled and got going again, I got into another wreck in the next corner. I went from 1st to 9th (out of 10 cars!) in the first lap.

It was a 12 minute race so I just tried to focus and run consistent, clean laps. I managed to do just that (despite my nerves going crazy!). Within about 15 laps or so I'd managed to reel in the leader. I followed him around for a bunch of laps before he overshot a corner, tangled with another car, and I got by. From there it was just a matter of not screwing up! I managed to pull off the win after an absolutely GRUELING 50 lap race! What a rush!

And it's all on video! :mrgreen: Feel free to forward past the first minute or so. Mine is the really dark blue car that starts in the lead and ends up in the wall near the camera on the first lap.
Texas EOS Round 2 - Vintage Trans-Am (VTA) A Main Race at Mike's Hobby Shop, Carrollton, TX - YouTube

And here's a compilation video another driver put together. Pretty cool!
2013 Texas EOS Round 2 @ Mike's - YouTube

 

[The Violator]

Yeah, even though my VTA has max timing (~45*) and a FDR of 3.3, I was getting motored on down the straight as if we were in different classes. And I have really good batteries, too (65c). Here in Austin, we abide by USVTA rules pretty closely. In Dallas, I think they allow open 25.5T motors, but I'm not sure. I know Novak can build custom 25.5 motors if you pay for it, but they're not USVTA legal. Not saying this is what those guys did, but the disparity in speed was too large to ignore. Everyone locally was wondering about it...

Our carpet track is small, and in the 50 foot straight the fast guys will get to the end while the rest of the pack is in the middle. When the rest of the pack is turning middle 9 second laps, the fast 3 are all into the 7's. I call bullshit myself. I have found a company that makes a 25.5t motor with either a 18.5 or 21.5 wind. They call it "the cheater" edition. Not exactly a Novak VTA motor, but they are loose with the rules at our track. As a last Hurrah at our track I think i might order one just to mess with them.

 

[Tommy R]

Our carpet track is small, and in the 50 foot straight the fast guys will get to the end while the rest of the pack is in the middle. When the rest of the pack is turning middle 9 second laps, the fast 3 are all into the 7's. I call bullshit myself. I have found a company that makes a 25.5t motor with either a 18.5 or 21.5 wind. They call it "the cheater" edition. Not exactly a Novak VTA motor, but they are loose with the rules at our track. As a last Hurrah at our track I think i might order one just to mess with them.

Well, I found out that the guy at my race with the super fast car has a reputation of "exploiting" the rules. :roll: He no longer races the class so it's been a non-issue ever since. But yes, it's easy to take a stator out of a motor and replace it with something faster. It might be time for your track to start tearing down the top 3 cars from time to time to make sure everyone is legal!

 

[STANG KILLA SS]

i always wondered about that. so easy to do. so hard to check.

 

[Tommy R]

i always wondered about that. so easy to do. so hard to check.

The good thing is that VTAs are relatively slow so if someone is cheating it's usually pretty obvious. Fortunately, there's only been one time where I even suspected anyone was cheating. This same guy doesn't run VTA any longer, but was reportedly running a 13.5 in a 17.5 class last weekend! Glad that's not my class!

 

[R2j]

Congrats Tommy! Nice racing!

I've managed to hit the track a few times, a little rusty but man is it a blast! So much fun I went ahead and picked up a TC6.1 to build a new one for me and pass the 4 down to my son.

Our track is pretty lax, most run a 21.5 but we're a pretty small group and cheaters would be shunned for sure. It's a really cool indoor track with a small fun group.

 

[adamargue]

I just saw this body and made me think of this thread.

Makes me want a on road car now....