Kyosho dNaNo Porsche 917K

I am a sucker for the Porsche race cars from the early ’70’s and this 917K is a great example of the era. I remember going to races with my dad and watching what little coverage of races like the 24 hours of LeMans that we could get and this car brings back some of those memories.

Even better than the great looks is its performance. I paired the car with the Kyosho KT-18 so I’d have a second car a friend could drive while I drive my Mazda 787 using my EX-1UR.

It handles a bit differently than the Mazda. At present I still have the stock rubber on it and am waiting for the results of track stickiness project to be complete before I decide whether to change the fronts or not. Running the stickiest rears seems to be the way to go regardless and then tune the handling with the fronts.

For use on my stock RealTracks TrackPak 20 I have the KT-18 set to training mode which is still plenty fast on the RealTracks surface to break the ear end loose at will.

More to come as I get to know this new dNaNo.

First of all the results are GREAT! The surface has more traction without being silly sticky.

Test car dNaNo Mazda 787B. This car is set up with my EX-1UR radio and is a bit easier to control than a dNaNo running with the stock KT-18. So, how did the Mazda fair? In the previous test on a stock RealTracks surface the Mazda was touchy even with the stickiest tires I could put on the back. The car, even at 24% on the throttle would easily break loose and swap ends. The best lap I ran was 5.7 seconds and the average lap was about 6.1 seconds. Not bad but I wanted more.

After the track prep as outlined here the lap times were down to an average of about 4.3 seconds with a fast lap of 4.0 seconds. Even the slowest lap with a couple of wall scrapes was 5.1 seconds, over a half second faster that the fastest lap before the track mod. That is super! In addition the car was more predictable and consistent.

I also switched the front tires on the Mazda back from the softer versions I had been running to the stock Mazda front tire which is a #50 and it seems to work well. I think I’ll try a #40 to see if I can balance the car a bit more. There is a little tendency for the back to come out under power still but I have increased the throttle to 38% from 24% so there is quite a bit more power there.

Test car dNaNo Porsche 917K. This car is newer than the Mazda and I am using the stock KT-18 transmitter running in training mode to tame the throttle. I am also running stock tires on this car. On the un-modified track surface event the training mode was more than enough to break the tires loose and do donuts.

The results with the Porsche are even more impressive to me. Maybe because I drove this car second and was learning the new, grippier track more I was able to better the Mazda times by a good margin. Maybe the Porsche is just set up better for this track. Anyway, the average lap time, even with a few more wall biffs than with the Mazda was 4.2 seconds. and there were two laps at 3.8 seconds. Yeah!

So the quest to find more traction out of the RealTracks surface is an unqualified success!

As for durability only time will tell but after running several hundred laps today the surface is perfect. The Goop mixture has amazing grip and, on the test patch on the underside of the track. I could not get it off without using a razor and actually scraping the plastic of the track.

As I mentioned in a previous article I want to improve the traction of my RealTracks race track to better suit the power of my Kyosho dNaNos. I feel the stock surface, while great for low power cars like the Epoch, is too slippery for the dNaNo.

For the new surface I am going to use thinned Household Goop (Plumber’s Goop is the same thing as far as I can tell so get which ever is cheaper). I use Toluene to thin the Goop to about Maple Syrup consistency. It takes a while to mix and I let the mixture sit for a while between mixings so the Goop will dissolve in the Toluene. BTW, this is a thing you want to do either outside or in a place with good ventilation. If you do it at home and are married, prepare for a confrontation! The fumes are not something you want to huff! Probably a good idea to wear gloves too.

Before I applied the Goop mixture I used Alcohol to clean the RealTracks tiles. Toluene is a good solvent but it does affect the RealTracks plastic if it is allowed to pool and rubbed. It does not immediately dissolve the surface but to be safe I am only using it in the final application of the Goop. I suspect that the Toluene would also remove any painted stripes. Even the Alcohol removed a little.

RealTracks section ready to modify

Make sure you tape the tabs!

After the Alcohol dried I used blue painter’s tape to mask off the connecting tabs so assembling the track would still be easy.

Use a small foam roller to apply the Goop mixture.

I used a small foam roller to spread a thin but even coat of mixed material on the top of the RealTracks surface and worked the roller enough to get some small bubbles in the Goop mixture and then set the track piece aside to dry. BTW, I did try applying the mixture on the underside of the track to check compatibility and was pleased with the result so I went ahead and applied it to the actual running surface.

Track on the right is modified. Track on the left is not. The surface ends up a bit more shiny.

One tube of Goop and about 4 or 5 ounces of Toluene did a dozen RealTacks tiles. I ended up using almost two tubes total and about 7 ounces of Toluene for the entire RealTracks TrackPack 20 set.

After I had all the track parts coated I left them in the shop overnight. The Goop mixture actually dries to the touch on about an hour but the solvent takes longer to totally dissolve and the associated odor is persistent as well!

I guess I should add a disclaimer here: This mod is not reversible. From my tests it does not ruin the track but you will not be able to remove theGoop once it is applied.

On with the driving. Check out the next article as I discover if all this rig-a-ma-role was worth it.

I wanted a baseline for times running my Kyosho dNaNos on the stock RealTracks TrackPack 20 setup before I try an idea I have to get more traction on the race surface. I have been trying to figure out what track surface I am going to use at Mini Speedway for the dNaNos and the new FlatTrack version of the RealTracks is in the running especially if my traction increasing idea works.

So, I shot a couple of minutes of video to watch the cars and to time the laps. The video shows just how touchy the cars are when I get on the power a little too much. It is a hair-trigger type thing. I think some folks would like the fairly realistic way the cars lose traction but I really want to explore the speed of the dNaNos a bit more so I will be attempting to increase the traction of the RealTracks surface. My goal is to simulate the feeling I get running my Mini-Zs on the 50cm RCP track.

When I originally got the TrackPack 20 almost a year ago I was running Epoch cars and the traction of the RealTracks surface was decent for the performance offered by my stock Epochs. However, when I got my first dNaNo it was clear that the new Mini Kyosho had a ton more power than could be put down effectively on the RealTracks race surface.

When running my Porsche 917K on stock RealTrack it is hard to put the power down even with the KT-18 transmitter in training mode to tame the power delivery. Average laps were about 6.1 seconds with a couple of 5.7 second laps.

Running my Mazda 787B with the KO Propo EX1-UR turned down to 24% on the throttle I was a bit less consistent for this test but the fastest laps were 5.5 seconds with an average right around 6.1 seconds as well.

Video of the dNaNo Porsche 917K

Video of the dNaNo Mazda 787B

On with the track surface modification in which I apply thinned Household Goop to the track surface! Viva la traction!

I’ve been considering a dNaNo track at the Mini Speedway shop for a while now and got a dNaNo recently to test at home while the Mini-Z track is packed up for the shop move. I am already convinced that we need a track at the shop it is just a matter of what the configuration will be. At this point I plan to build an 8 x 12 foot track that will be covered with carpet and use the RealTracks hard surface for the actual track part of the time and the carpet other times. This will give two very different driving experiences and will help show off the capabilities of the dNaNo as well as the great scale look of the cars.

dNano on the inside and Mini-Z on the outside.

This looks interesting! A way to race when you can’t make it to the shop! In my experience with past Freeverse games I’ve always been impressed and had a lot of fun playing their games. I’ll report on this one when it is available in a few weeks! Press release below.

Freeverse announces SlotZ Racer for the iPhone and iPod touch

Macworld Expo, San Francisco - January 7, 2009 - Freeverse today announced the upcoming release of SlotZ Racer, the ultimate slot car racing game for the iPhone and iPod touch. Developed by Strange Flavour, the creators of Flick Fishing, SlotZ Racer puts the thrill of realistic 3D slot cars in the palm of your hand. Relive those great childhood memories of building tracks, burning rubber, and racing with your friends and family! SlotZ Racer will be released within the next few weeks.

SlotZ Racer lets players race against the computer or friends; a unique control system allows up to 4 people to race on a single iPhone! Compete for laps or against the clock in Time Trials, drive an endurance race, (with simulated days and nights), or play a ‘Quick Race’ to jump straight into the action. SlotZ Racer features an intuitive track editor to give the player the ultimate freedom to design their very own courses, and offers a wide selection of cars to race. The game also includes unlockable new circuits, cars, track locations and championship challenges to keep the action exciting and fresh!

Set up your track to be 2 or 4 lanes, clip together track pieces, or even build a complete club style circuit. Players have the option to play with lane changing, or fixed lanes for the racing purists.

About Strange Flavour
Strange Flavour Ltd. is a small UK based independent games developer run by two brothers, Aaron and Adam Fothergill who have over 30 years of combined experience in the games industry. After taking the Mac world by storm with their award winning games Airburst Extreme and ToySight, Strange Flavour have made inroads into console gaming with innovative Xbox 360 titles and are now adding the iPhone to their repertoire. (www.strangeflavour.com)

About Freeverse
Freeverse strives to develop and publish seamless software, with a particular concentration on the Mac and iPhone platforms. Our developed and published titles have been honored with more Apple Design Awards than any other company. Headquartered in New York City, Freeverse draws upon the talents of artists, programmers and sound designers from around the globe.
(www.freeverse.com)

Here are the tracks selected by vote from about 20 layouts. We will be using the top 5 tracks. remember that each OLPS event is actually two races, one clockwise and one counter clockwise run on the same layout so we will have a total of 10 races over the 5 month season. Here they are in running order.

Hope to see you guys there!

This is how the season finished after 10 races in the HFAY OLPS Series. These are the Club standings with the average points scored .

DC GTG                      186.3256
DOW                           168.5200
SCRC                           163.8333
Flip Side Racing        159.2500
Ann Arbor Club         158.8551
Mini-AZ                      157.6207
Mini Speedway          154.8750
Rising Sun Racing     154.7931
Stafford Racers UK   152.3418
Salt Lake Mini-Z        140.6061

Overall this was a super season. We had more participants than last season and seem to be on a path to getting more drivers interested and ready to participate as well. It would be super if we can get a few more racers who can commit one day a month to one of the best RC racing series there is.

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.

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.