Our drivers participated in 8 of the 10 races available for scoring. We missed one month so the normal drop benefit we could have received was not available.

Out of a total of 84 racers from around the world here is how our club faired:

30th – schmenzer
42nd – DaveK (Tied)
42nd – MichaelD(Tied)
55th – slick (only 6 out of 10 races. Coming on strong!)
73rd – oicu812 (only 2 out of 10 races!)

The new 70-turn spec motor proved to be fast and had great drivability. Greg, Derrick and Michael ran the new 2.4Ghz MR-02LM chassis and bodies. These cars seem to be great and with very little modification out of the box are fast and competitive. In fact, my nearly stock LM is as fast as last season’s MR-02 that has a lot of goodies on it! For under $200 you can be in the thick of the action!

Season 7 for the HFAY OLPS series begins in January, 2009. We are looking for a couple more guys to add to the mix so if you are a driver and want to participate in a world-wide race series, let me know.

The rules for the new season are very similar to the Season 6 rules so if you had a legal car for Season 6 you should be cool for Season 7. Basically, you can run any RF board including the 2.4Ghz version and can run any FETs. The Spec motor is a 70-turn PN Racing motor that is a really good match for the courses we run in the HFAY Series. Should be interesting. Note that you can use either the official HFAY Spec motor (not the standard PN Motor) or a Kyosho stock motor. I ordered 5 of the HFAY Spec motors which will cost $10. I’ll have them soon if you want to get in some practice before the races start.

Note also that this series is not just for Kyosho Mini-Z rc cars. iWaver, Firelap and xMods are also welcome. Check the rules to determine what you will need to compete.

Here is how the day shook out:

1. Greg running an MR-02LM with an HFAY Season 6 Spec Motor
2. Derrick running an MR-02LM with an HFAY Season 6 Spec Motor
3. Michael running an MR-02LM with a Kyosho Stock Motor
4. Dave running an MR-02 with a Kyosho Stock Motor

Don’t rest too much! Season 7 of the HFAY Series begins in a couple of weeks about mid-January here at Mini Speedway. If you are looking forward to a long track event the next HFAY event is in July 2009 but we will likely run some club events before then so keep your eyes peeled for more info on this site.

7 or 8 tooth pinion with the new 70-turn motor? That is the question.

I haven’t made the switch to 64 pitch gears yet so this info is about stock Mini-Z gear pitches and ratios. I use the Kyosho Ball Diff in all my race cars with the stock white gear on it.

I am using either PN Racing Pro-Match Delrin pinions or PN’s Machine Cut Delrin Pro Pinion. I narrowed it down to 7 or 8 tooth and did extensive laps with two different cars. For me, the result was the same on either car. 7T is faster over all. Much more consistent and fastest laps were about .05 slower than the very fastest 8T laps.

If you want to mess around with different pinions the set of PN Racing Pro Match pinions come with 7,8,9 and 10 tooth pinions. On the 2 Wide L layout of the HFAY series it is a choice between the 7 or 8 tooth but if your Mini-Z club runs longer tracks it is a blast to get the longer gears on and let the cars run!

Check them out at:

http://stores.ebay.com/mini-speedway

For Season 5 I used a Mini-Z MR-02 with a Ford GT body and felt pretty comfortable with the car. I ran the Stock Kyosho Motor and finished 30th out of the 76 drivers. The HFAY Spec motor was definitely faster in the right hands. All but a couple of drivers finishing better than me used the Spec Motor but I opted for consistency in my first HFAY and was among the top lap scorers using the Stock motor.

For Season 6 I expect the Lap scores to be tighter as the difference between the new Season 6 Spec Motor and the Stock Motor are less than the difference between the Season 5 Spec Motor and the Stock Motor.

So, now on to the choice of chassis. Basically, I’ve narrowed it down to an MR-02 with either 94mm or 98mm wheelbase.

I am setting the cars up very similarly:

98mm Ford GT

• PN Motor Mount MR2088O
• PN Damper
• PN Bearings (Soaked and cleaned in motor cleaner)
• Kyosho Ball Diff
• PN HFAY 70-turn Motor
• Green Atomic RCP Springs
• .5 Camber
• PN Racing Front Tower Bar Set (Crash replacement!)
• PN 06RR Rear tires
• Kyosho Semi-Wide Radial 30g Front tires

94mm Lexus SC430

• PN Motor Mount MR9498O ML Mount
• PN Damper
• PN Bearings (Soaked and cleaned in motor cleaner)
• Kyosho Ball Diff
• Kyosho Ti Diff Shaft
• PN HFAY 70-turn Motor
• Yellow Atomic RCP Springs
• 1.0 Camber
• .5 Toe-in
• PN 06RR Rear tires
• Kyosho Semi-Wide Radial 30g Front tires

The slight differences in the front set up is my attempt to get both cars feeling similar while still playing to the wheelbase characteristics.

So far, with 800 or so laps on each setup I am still a bit faster with the 98mm Ford GT as well as more consistent but that is mostly just me learning how to drive the slightly quicker handling 94mm car. I will keep you posted!

I also messed around with a 7 or 8 tooth pinion on both cars but I’ll save that info for another post!

So, the static tests were interesting but it is on the track where differences matter. If you want to cut to the chase…I love these new motors. They are smooth, responsive and deliver power better than the stock motors. I get more punch out of the corners and am consistently 7-8 seconds faster than with the stock motor on a 20-lap Time Trial around a track that is slightly bigger than an HFAY 2-L track.

What about that static test data? The Stock Motors get 33,000 plus and the HFAY 70-turn about 24,000. I thought faster was always better. Not so! Under load and in race conditions the HFAY motor accelerates harder and is more tractable. I’m no motor genius but I can tell you the HFAY motor feels a lot better.

How about that Amp draw? After over 1,000 laps over 3 different cars equipped with the new Season 6 motor no problems with the stock 3010 FETs.

So far I’ve run about fifty 20-lap time trials with the new motor and about a twenty 20-lap sessions with my Season 5 car with the stock Kyosho Motor. I learned all I need to know there, the new motor is faster.

Next, I swapped the stock motor out for a Season 6 Motor in the old Season 5 Stock car to see how it goes. The chassis are set up slightly differently.

The main differences between the Season 5 car and the new Season 6 Car are:

Motor Mount

• The Season 5 Car has the 3Racing mount so I could use the stock motor.
• The New Car has a PN Racing mount necessitating a drilled motor can which the HFAY Spec motor is.

Rear Damper

• The Season 5 Car has the 3Racing damper.
• The New Car has a PN Racing damper.

Front Steering Knuckles

• Season 5 Car -.5D PN Front Steering Knuckles and PN Stainless King Pins
• New Car -1.0D PN Front Steering Knuckles and PN Stainless King Pins

Front Springs

• Season 5 Car – Green Atomic RCP Springs
• Season 6 Car – Yellow Atomic RCP Springs

After the swap lap times were about 5 seconds faster over 20 laps in the exact same car. So, the new chassis is set up slightly better for me but the two cars are very close.

For what is is worth, before the tests began, I was able to run faster and more consistent laps with my Season 5 Stock Motor car than with my Season 5 HFAY Spec car. The new Season 6 Car is faster for me than either Season 5 Car. The Spec motor was certainly faster but the consistency of the Stock Motor was better for me in Season 5. I’d put the new Season 6 Motor somewhere in between the 2 options from last year. It is faster than the stock motor and easier for me to drive than the Season 5 Motor. 7-8 seconds in 2 minutes = 28-32 seconds over an 8-minute OLPS race! That is sweet and should mean I can run 6 more laps that with the stock motor I ran last year during an HFAY race. I’m looking forward to being more competitive!

So now that I have 2 98mm Ford GTs running very similar lap times I am going to try a 94mm chassis with one of them to see if I can run it faster. I will be converting one of the Ford GTs to a Lexus SC430. I can also test the 350Z body and the Audi A4 but will start with the SC430. More on this in another post!

Greg

Installation was very straight forward and took about 15 minutes. Dremel off the remaining stock front suspension mounts and screw in the PN replacement. Simple.

In addition to the needed repair and extra chi-chi now on my car, I get to play with caster settings to try to improve my car’s handing. Those tests coming as soon as I get the needed tower bar replacement parts.

You can normally get this part from my eBay store at http://stores.ebay.com/mini-speedway

PN Racing Mini-Z MR-02 Aluminum Front Tower Bar Set
PN Racing Part # MR2002

The broken left kingpin mount.

Another view of the damage.

The stock plastic mounts have been Dremeled off.

The new PN Racing Aluminum Tower Bar installed.

The front end reassembled. Form plus function. Sweet.

All motors were broken in on a Much More Platinum Motor Master in Break-in mode.

EDIT… – GUYS, MY MOTOR MASTER MAY NOT BE WORKING PROPERLY SO THE AMP DRAW READINGS I GOT BELOW ARE PROBABLY NOT ACCURATE SO I REMOVED THEM. THIS IS BASED ON A COUPLE OF OTHERS TESTING THE MOTORS WITH DIFFERENT EQUIPMENT. READ ON FOR OTHER TESTS.

I HAVE A NEW MOTOR MASTER COMING AND WILL RETEST WHEN I GET IT.

THANKS,

GREG

Step one was done with the HFAY motor on slave mode driven by the master motor on the PN Racing Motor Test Stand.

Low Voltage 1.2
High Voltage 3.5
Profile 1
Duration 8 minutes
Cooling period 2 minutes
2 cycles

Step two was an 8 minute Break-in powering the HFAY motor directly from the Motor Master using the following settings

Low Voltage 1.2
High Voltage 3.5
Profile 2
Duration 8 minutes
1 cycle

The bushings were oiled at the beginning and end of the break-in runs. Additionally a drop of VooDoo fluid was used before the powered break-in.

#1 HFAY 70-turn Spec Motor
4.8v RPM 23,730

#2 HFAY 70-turn Spec Motor
4.8v RPM 24,300

#3 HFAY 70-turn Spec Motor
4.8v RPM 24,180

#4 HFAY 70-turn Spec Motor
4.8v RPM 23,730

#5 HFAY 70-turn Spec Motor
4.8v RPM 24,750

For Comparison my Season 5 Spec motor delivered the following after I removed it from my back up car. For what it is worth I never used this motor in actual HFAY races. It was certainly faster than the stock motor I ran but I was not as consistent and ran a lap or two less over 8-minute tests.

Season 5 HFAY Spec Motor
4.8v RPM 36,960
.95 Peak Amp draw
.92 Average 4 step (1.2v, 2.4v, 3.6v, 4.8v) Amps

And a couple of Kyosho Stock motors I used over Season 5.

4.8v RPM 33,800
2.55 Peak Amp draw
.85 Average 4 step (1.2v, 2.4v, 3.6v, 4.8v) Amps

4.8v RPM 32,350
2.93 Peak Amp draw
1.17 Average 4 step (1.2v, 2.4v, 3.6v, 4.8v) Amps

Now, on to the track tests!

We also have the opportunity to run the May event on the same day. It will require changing the layout which takes about 30 minutes and, of course two more races but then we’d be done for the season. Otherwise, we will need to run an event in May sometimes. As a heads up, I will be out of town from May 10th through the 23rd on a trip.

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Motor 1

This is a stock Kyosho motor that came with my Ford GT Ready set. This was the first Mini-Z I got last year and I ran the heck out of it. I don’t know how much time but I am guessing 100-plus 5 minute Time Trials maybe more and possibly a lot more.

In the beginning I broke the motor in by running it on a single AA cell for about 30 minutes. After that, besides oiling the bushings every few runs and an occasional drop of comm fluid, I didn’t do anything to it.

When I took it out of the car it was running 29,500 at 4.8V on the Much More Motor Master.

I cleaned it with Dynamite Magnum Force 2 Electric Motor Cleaner by first spraying it and then swishing it around in a baby food jar with Motor Cleaner in it. Then I blew it out with canned air and let it dry. I then relubed the bushings and broke it in again in CTX mode on the Motor Master for 3 x 10 minute cycles with the voltage varying between 1.5 and 3v with a rest of 5 minutes in between break in runs.

I tested the motor immediately after the break in and got 31,450 RPM at 4.8V out of it.

I then relubed the bushings and added a drop of comm fluid ran it again and found 33,650 at 4.8V pulling about 1.6 amps!

Not bad overall. I got 4,150 more RPM for cleaning and relubing this bad boy.

Motor 2

This is another stock Kyosho MR-02 Readyset motor

I already had the Much More Motor Master when I started using this motor and ran a CTX break-in procedure. I forget the exact voltage settings but I think it was 1v to 2v varying about every 2 seconds. I know it ran 3 x 10 minute cycles with 5 minutes in between each set. I don’t remember the exact steps but in the end it was a freshly lubed and comm dropped final run that saw 34,500 RPM from the new motor.

This one I only ran about 20 x 5-minute Time Trails and right out of the car it ran 33,480 at 4.8V.

After cleaning, relubing and hitting it with comm drops and running the 3 x 10 1.5V to 3V break in it ran exactly 1,000 rpm more, 34,480 at 4.8V. Close enough to when it was new that the variation can be tossed.

So, this one after pretty much the same cleaning procedure as #1 saw 830 more RPM. How long each will maintain its performance is another question since Motor #1 has so much more time on it.

Not Very Scientific Conclusion

This is obviously not a very scientific test but I’d suspect that Motor #1 was about as bad as a stock motor gets since it was my first one and I had not really done any maintenance except to lube it occasionally. Motor #2 was better prepared and cared for as I used it and it had not run anywhere as much so the performance degradation had not really set in.

Here is what I know so far:

It is obvious that cleaning helps. I am trying to determine how often to do it. I am thinking every 2 hours of run time.

Lubing the bushing is very important. Every other run. Maybe every third. For me a run is usually 5 minutes.

Comm Drops do make a difference although I am not sure for how long. Seems like about 2 or 3 minutes but there may be some longer term benefits like better bushing seating or wear.

More to come as I learn.

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