The first HFAY Large Track Race at Mini Speedway happened on December 20th, 2008. The track layout was really a good one and the extra length added close to 3 seconds a lap over a typical HFAY Series course. I believe Derrick had FTD but Greg ran more consistently and so took the day.

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.

We had 4 guys this time, missed you Justin, and the action, while still fast and furious, was a bit cleaner. Race 9 was especially clean for our crew. Good driving guys! There were 3 new MR-02LM cars out there and they are working well!  With the stickier rubber these machines perform.

I used an LM car this time around as pre-race testing proved it to be my fastest current car.

Race #9 looked like this

1. Schmenzer
2. Slick
3. MichaelD
4. DaveK

Race #10 ended up a bit different

1. Schmenzer
2. Slick
3. DaveK
4. MichaelD

Coming up, during the month of December, we will be running a BIG track event!

Season 7 starts in January so it is not too early to start planning! With one more regular driver we can start running 2 mains to free up the track a bit.

December is an off month for the OLPS and we have decided to participate in the Large Track event. For those of you not familiar with the standard OPLS track layout specs all the track need to be made from 2 wide-L RCP kits so the maximum track length is what is included in those kits. For this event we will be using more track for even more fun!

The proposed track looks like this:

Click picture for a big 'un!

It was a full day of RC action for the Mini Speedway crew with an RC Rock Crawling comp in the early afternoon followed by races 7 and 8 of the Season 6 OLPS.

We had 5 guys this time around and the action was fast and furious. There were 2 new MR-02LM cars out there and they looked really good not withstanding the stock tires!  We have some stickier rubber on the way for these machines and then watch out. I am impressed with the performance of these rigs right out of the box.

I converted my HFAy car over to 2,4 this time and feel that the response is smoother and, while I did change bodies as well, faster as well. I am liking the McLaren body.

Race #7 looked like this

1. Schmenzer
2. Slick
3. OICU812
4. DaveK
5. MichaelD

Race 8 ended up a bit different

1. Schmenzer
2. OICU812
3. Slick
4. DaveK
5. MichaelD

We have another one coming up in November then, during the month off, we will be running a BIG track event!

Season 7 starts in January so it is not too early to start planning! With one more regular driver we can start running 2 mains to free up the track a bit.

Indoor Crawling Comps at Mini Speedway

• 6PM Wednesday, October 8
• 6PM Wednesday, October 22
• 6PM Wednesday, November 5
• 6PM Wednesday, November 19
• 6PM Wednesday, December 3
• 6PM Wednesday, December 17 – First season finale

Season 2 will begin in January

We will be running 2 courses per evening and using these rules.

The shop is at 3720 N. Fratney Unit 2B. That is just outside Shorewood and a couple of blocks south of Capitol.

The rules for indoor rock crawling for the Mini Speedway league are posted.

After a bunch of talking about possible Box Stock type rules the bottom line is that most of us really want some leniency to do our own thing and it is hard to please all with “you can do this but not that” type rules. So, here are the rules we will use.

You must start with a Losi MRC!

• 9″ Max Wheelbase
• 8″ Max Width
• 1.9″ Wheels
• NO Digs
• 2 Wheel Steer only

We will use 12-inch minimum gate spacing on the course. I am evaluating different gates to use with the MRC. Seems like they should be smaller than the traditional tennis ball for 2.2 rigs. Racquet balls look good and are on the way!

I think out of the box this rig is very capable and a well driven stock Losi Mini Rock Crawler can be competitive. Modding can be a double edge sword. Gain in one area and lose in another. Part of the fun of crawling is trying new ideas so I can’t see how a Box Stock class will really work in practice even though it seems like a good idea at first.

That said, I am not planning major mods to my MRC and I think the only additional costs I am considering over and above the stock truck are a 2S LiPo and Blue tires when they come out. Everything else will be relocating stock parts. Probably! Maybe…

If we have enough participation I will consider scoring Box Stock rigs in their own class as well as in the overall scheme of things. You would not run separately simply scored as a subset of the overall.

HFAY Season 6 Mini-Z Pinion Testing

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

HFAY Season 6 Car Chassis Testing

Now that I know the HFAY 70-turn Spec Motor will power my Season 6 Mini-Zs I need to find out which chassis to use.

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!

PN Racing HFAY 70-turn Motor – On Track Tests

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

Well, after many thousands of laps on my trusty Mini-Z MR-02 I finally broke the chassis. One of the upper king pin mounts broke. How did I know? I was running some test laps with the new HFAY Season 6 70-turn motor and had been pretty consistent on lap times when I inexplicably slowed 10 seconds a session. A session is 20 laps of my track which is a bit longer and has more turns than the #7 HFAY track. So, I check out the car and lo and behold, a broken king pin mount. Nice. Looks like it is time for the PN Racing Front Tower Bar set to come to the rescue.

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.