Time to rethink the set-up.

This weekend I went to the 1st Zero1 RC drift session of the year. It was fun. Katsumi came up with another great track. I started off with my Driftmaster to learn the track, but quick changed over the my CS Cyclone to check out my set-up.
It was still kind of the same, pretty unstable off throttle and wants to straighten out on throttle. Still very difficult to keep the rear end out.

One good suggestion came from my friend Jhon from DS. By using 2.5mm rear toe block on the front-front hinge pin, it sweeps the front arms back and give even more steering. Also he suggested 4mm front kick up to increase caster in the front. Both of these seemed to give good steering feel, but still my two symtoms for off throttle and on throttle still presist.










I think it's time to start over on the shock, spring and arm positions. I'll have to let you know how that goes....

Maximum Front Grip?

Okay, I have pretty much tried as many things as I could think of for keeping the rear end out, and it is getting close, but just not quite there. So I decided to go back to the front end and see what I can play around with there. So far, I have angled the front shocks back down and add even more front kick up to hopefully add more Caster. Haven't tried it yet, but I think I have a few more ideas for the front end now....

Minimum Rear Grip?

Funny, in my main Yokomo Driftmaster, I have it set up for the pretty much as much traction as I can get in the rear. And for precision driving and speed that is definitely a great set-up.
But now that I am trying tune my CS Cyclone for a Counter Steer style, I am trying everything I can to reduce rear grip. Looking at my two cars, the rear suspension set-ups are complete opposites. It's pretty interesting when I think about it...

My latest change has been to put even a stiffer rear spring. Now I have a Yokomo Ti -Hard in the rear and the Soft in the front.

The tuning continues...

Like I mentioned earlier, it was suggested to me to try a smaller pinion. But I wasn't sure how small I could go. But now I know a 108/25 fits on the Cyclone S. So now my gearing is FR: 11.232 and R:6.912. This seems pretty good. Now I can control the throttle better on my transmitter. (This seems to be pretty much the largest Spur and smallest Pinion combo that would fit without modifying.)

Another thing that is new to me is using "Droop" I haven't done too much with this before, but seem kind of promising. by adding a little droop to the rear susp, it seemed to limit the weight transfer and helped keep the rear end out a little better. But, I am still working on how much to use right now...



Hopefully I can get it dialed in for this weekend's Zero 1 session this Saturday.

Zero1Motors & Drift Speed RC Drift Session
March 28th 09' 3-7pm

Zero1Motors
5300 Katrlla Ave
Los Aramitos, CA 90720

You must sing up at Zero1Motors

Found at Driftspeed

Happened to stop by Driftspeed today and they had the new LA Auto Guide. This issue had Gil's RC Otaku article on RC drift comps. Check it out...

He not only anouces at them, he writes about them too...LOL!

Let's Go !!!

I just heard about this place. The have drift tires for Karts. I really want to go here. It looks so fun...

http://www.fastlaplv.com/

scroll down to the March 9th post (with the video)



Fast Lap Indoor Kart Racing Drift Promo from Joshua Herron on Vimeo.

Two key points for Counter-Steer.

Two important areas for Counter-Steer tuning seem to be Final Gearing and Caster. After driving another well tuned C/S car, I noticed you really need to gear your car for good balance between the grip of the front wheels and the slip of the rear wheels. Seems like my pinion was way too big so I could only use a little throttle before the rear would catch grip and I would have to straighten the wheels to keep it drifting. After asking a few experts, I think I know what gearing I need, the only problem now is, I don't have that small of a pinion and I am really not sure if that size will fit. I also looked into putting a larger Spur, but I am pretty sure the 108T, I have (maybe 110) is as big as you can go, (safely on a Cyclone S.) I think I will have to get a smaller pinion and modify the motor mounting (and maybe the chassis) to get it to fit.

Here's my 108 Spur with a 30 pinion, I think need to go smaller!

The other thing I noticed is how much adding Caster helped. I guess since you are trying to keep it counter-steered, it is important to have the right tire patch on the ground. (Especially the outside tire) For now I have these cool Kawada tires so I don't have to worry too much about the camber setting for now. (But I think to really know if it is tuned right, it should work well on Yokomo Zero One tires. That will be the true test... but I'm not there yet!)

Full night of Tuning @ Arai...

This past Sat, I finally got a chance to test out the countersteer Cyclone on an Arai track. Boy was this fun! With the help of the rest of the guys, I was able to get a better idea of what I need to do with the set-up. The only problem was I was so excited about tuning and driving, I totally forgot to take any pictures or video. Luckly for me, Katsumi's Blog (http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/corollacupe) has some great pictures.

For tuning purposes, I borrowed some new Kawada Med Drift Tires from Katsumi, to take Yok Tire Camber setting out of the equation for now. Once I get it sorted out better, I plan to put the Yoks back on.

One important key, I learned, was the importance of final gearing. Seems like my pinion was and still is, a little to big. The larger pinion makes it easier to drive (stability) but doesn't allow you to use an idea powerband for keeping the rear out and keeping countersteer. I was surprised to learn how much difference the smaller pinion makes. I am still playing around with the ideal gearing now, but will let you all know later what I discover on that.

Another thing I tried that seemed to help was putting a slightly stiffer spring in the rear. But I guess that would be kind of obvious. One not so obvious is the importance of equal steering. It is important to not to have toe out in the front, cause the outside wheel steering decreases. This seems to be very important!

In two weeks, the Arai guys will be helping out Driftspeed with a outdoor session at Zero One motors, hopefully I can get the CS car out there for some outdoor CS Dori action too...

I couldn't get full counter steer on the straight, but there definately was some...

Project Counter Steer Cyclone Drifter delay

Things have been going well on the tuning. Steering is good now. But haven't really gotten a chance to work on the set-up. I was able to get some smaller rear toe hing pins, but unfortunately I just noticed, I am missing the small pivot balls required to use these billet pieces. My orginal 3.0deg. piece was just a one piece graphite part. I stopped by two local hobby shops yesterday and checked the HB online store, but so far haven't been able to find HB part#75121 Pivot Ball 3x5mm.

Hopefully I can source some soon...

DrifterCentral Master's Pick Awards - Febuary

Whoo Hoo!

I just noticed last night, that my Smoke Chaser got noticed on DriftCentral. I am stoked. I really admire "mikevillena" 's work and I am honored he like my LED hood.

Click here to see the original DrifterCentral post...

C-S Cyclone, more revisions, more steering

After the HPI/Dynamic comp I got pumped on getting my counter-steer car better. One thing I notice once I got my car home, is the tooth-side rear tensioner I originally made, was a really bad idea. It totally shredded the belt. Luckily I just got a new optional longer belt for the cyclone. This extra length allowed me to make up a new tensioner. This time I drilled a hole at the bottom of the tub chassis to mount a billet stervo holder. There I used the old bearings through a king pin trick.

This is what it ended up looking like. Seems like there is a little more overall friction, but should be less wear and tear for the belt.






My next area of attention was the steering, cause if you want to build a counter steer car you need to be able to counter steer.
I basically just attacked the chassis, front/rear hinge-block, bulk-head and steering arms with my trusty Dremel. After a lot of grinding, this is what I got....

I think I should be able to get more angle now!

I also decided to put on some Type T, to see if that makes it easier to tune.

HPI Drift @ Dynamic Autosports #1

Well the 1st big session of 2009, now complete and I have to say it was alot of fun. It was very laid back, and really fun. The mini comp went really quick, with nice and quick 1 lap qualifying. Luckily I could still mange to qualify 12 out of like 30, I think. Most of the Arai guys ended up going up against each other, so. that kind of sucked, but not really that usual for us. Good thing is Gil and Jon did well like normal, with Jon continuing the Arai wins from '08.











After the mini comp was over is when I really had some fun. I especially enjoyed chasing Masa and Aki from HPI around the track in the reverse direction. I also enjoyed driving and having my friends drive my Counter-Steer Cyclone around the track. After a little practice, it seemed like my set-up was getting pretty close. Not a lot of angle, but decent countersteer on the straight and sweeper. I am now even more pumped to do a few more changes.