The first Indoor Shakedown with my Tamiya TT-02 S
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| Ready for some fast laps: my TT-02 S with the BittyDesign Venom |
Introduction
During the weekend of the 12th and 13th of October the MCC Crailsheim e.V. opened its gates for a race of the RCK KleinKram Series. The event attracted 46 drivers, spread over 4 different classes. That’s a remarkable increase over the 30 entries of the last RCK KleinKram Race in Crailsheim in March. It appears that the RCK race series is building up a strong fan base here in Southern Germany.
The good location of Crailsheim, or more precisely Schnelldorf, might have been another advantage. Easy to access via a junction on the A6 for Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg as well as central Germany down the A7.
Rules, Results and Race Reports of the RCK KleinKram Series can be found here:
Reports from two previous RCK KleinKram Series Events in Crailsheim can be found @ Mikanews:
The MCC Crailsheim owns a medium size, permanent indoor track with a challenging, technical layout. Although it is not too far away from where I live, I haven’t been to this track before. Therefore, I was excited to race in a club that I could possibly visit more often during the winter months.
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| Indoor Track @ MCC Crailsheim e.V. |
Besides its wonderful indoor carpet track the club also owns a superb outdoor offroad track. The 150m long AstroTurf covered facility provides excellent conditions for 1/10th scale electric buggies, which was shown during the German Final of the LRP-Offraod-Challenge 2019.
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| Outdoor Track @ MCC Crailsheim e.V. |
A race report of the LRP-Offraod-Challenge German Final 2019 can also be found @ Mikanews:
Training on Saturday
For me it was the first Indoor Race of the 2019/20th Winter Season and the first occasion to drive my TT-02 S on carpet. Training started on Saturday at half past nine am. Plenty of time to practice, sharpen the cars setup, chat with the other guys and enjoy some coffee and cake. The car had received a complete overhaul. No big changes to the outdoor setup were made, apart from HPI 28C indoor tires and softer 400cst Hudy shock oil.
Right from the beginning Chris was literally flying around the circuit. With lap times constantly below 9sec and fastest lap of 8,6sec there was no doubt he could easily dominate GT-Sport class on Sunday. I was playing around with different damper positions, oils, droop and chamber to adjust to the high grip conditions. At some point my lap times settled at about 9,6sec, but it was obvious constant times around 9,0sec were required if you were aiming for a podium spot.
Xray’s softest spring in the front (2.3-2.6 progressive) mounted in the flattest position took the aggressiveness out of the turn-in and prevent grip-roll. The center hole in the rear damper stay, with firmer 2.7 linear springs, proved to be a good match to stabilize the rear-end to push hard at corner exits.
I started with the BittyDesign Venom Bodyshell as it is always easy to drive, with a mild tendency to understeer. When I was confident with the setup, I switched to the ZooRacing Zoodiac which was another improvement in these conditions. The body offers a far more aggressive steering and carries more speed into and through the tight corners. Most of all it gives the car a more precise feeling around the technical track in Crailsheim.
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| Working on the Setup |
The Race on Sunday
First Qualifier
For the first qualifier on Sunday Morning I decided to soften the front dampening from 500cst to 400cst. That should remove some aggressiveness from the steering. From my experience those permanent indoor tracks tend to generate the highest grip levels in the morning hours. If the hall cools down over night the goo on the carped becomes stickier.
Apart from one crash that involved me and Eric the first heat went pretty well. I focused on a clean driving stile, going a bit slower and not risking anything. In the end I managed 30 laps which means a medium lap time of 10sec. Although it was what I had expected I was keen to drop times constantly in the 9,6sec region to manage 31 laps in the second qualifier.
Comparing the run from Chris, who was racing in his own league, it was obvious that the track was not as fast as yesterday. He managed 33 laps with times varying between 8,9 to 9,3 seconds. Assuming that everyone was about five tens of a second slower this morning I wasn’t too worried about my current pace and the car felt great.
Second Qualifier
For the second Qualifier I went up to 450cst in the front dampers to gain slightly more steering. It was only 30 Laps again, but with 5:00:859 I only missed Lap 31 by a blink of an eye. The bulleting revealed that it was going to be a close battle between Eric, Sascha, Manfred and me, as all four of us where driving nearly identical lap times. Apart from Chris who was one second faster each lap and running circles around us.
Third Qualifier
For the third and last Qualifier I sticked with the setup. Suspecting that the traction would rise I only reduced the application time of the tire additive and didn’t apply it all the way to the outer edge of the tires.
And indeed, rising grip became an issue. With some smooth steering and harder breaking on the corner entries I could manage a clean run but hat to be constantly on the guard. In the end it boiled down to another 30 laps in 5:04, while Sascha and Eric both reached lap 31.
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| Aggressive Steering Response: the ZooRacing Zoodiac |
First Final
For the first final I widened the car, using 6mm hexes and 1mm washer all around. Furthermore 2mm washers under inner mountings of the front upper arms to reduce the camber gain in mid corner and less toe-in on the front wheels for a smoother turn in. Additionally I reduced the soaking time of the tire additive again and increased the steering progression on my radio.
The start went well without any crashed. I was in fourth position and chasing Eric as he flipped his car and I could pass him. A few laps later we ran up Manny to lap him. A hesitant overtaking maneuver allowed Eric to pass me and take back the third place, only to roll over his car shorty after and restore the old order. Awkwardly enough I did the same mistake, by taking a corner to tight hitting a dot and rolling my car over. Now it was Eric back in third place who must have found his rhythm. He was extending the gap while I had the feeling that my pace was slowing down.
At some point he managed to catch Sascha and snatch the second spot from him. With about 30 seconds and three laps to go I was able to apply pressure on Sascha, eager to secure a podium spot. Time was ticking down and with two laps left Chris was lapping us. The intermezzo left Sascha air to breathe enabling him to secure his third place across the finish line.
Second Final
Even if I couldn’t use the first final to my advantage it showed how close the battle was and that there was enough potential to turn the cards around. I prepared the front wheels with glued sidewalls and decided to risk a switch to my newly build 3 Racing dampers.
The second run went really well as I was relentlessly chasing Sascha. After about 6:30 to 7 minutes I could eventually pass him and drive home the third spot over the eight-minute mark. Eric on the other hand was able constantly expand his gap in second place. He sure enough must have found something in his setup.
The 3 Racing dampers did a great job. The damping felt softer, due to a larger gap between the pistons and the housing, while using the same oils 450cst in the front and 500cst in the rear. Over all the car felt more planted, allowing me to push a bit harder.
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| 3 Racing Short BigBore Dampers |
Third Final
The die was not cast yet and a perfect third final could still lift me on the podium. From the fourth spot I was applying pressure on Eric as he was chasing Sascha. It all got a bit messy when the three of us where approaching Manny to lap him, resulting in a pile of four cars kissing the wall. I didn’t realize exactly how it happened, but assume that Sascha was nose to nose with Manny when Eric tried to invade the same - not existing – gap, all three making contact and I crashed into the back of the bundle.
Luckily enough I came out on second spot, attempting to hammer down some fast laps with an amazing running car, eager to gain some distance. To my surprise Sascha took his car out of the race, after about two minutes. When I asked him afterwards, he told me that he experienced some glitching with his speed controller.
Meanwhile Chris was way faster than any of us, but also struggling with the grippy conditions and rolling his car over every now and then. With Chris flipping over in front of Eric and two more awkward maneuvers while lapping Manny his hands were bound on chasing me. With eight minutes completed I finished second, only two corners away from even lapping Eric. The car felt great with the 3 Racing shocks but I realized afterwards the rear left damper had completely pumped out its contend.
Conclusion
In the end this was enough to sweep me into third place over all, with Eric coming second and Chris in first place. Leaving an unfortunate Sascha in fourth place and Manny in fifth summing up the A-Final in GT-Sport.
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| Third Place and a nice badge |
Highgrip - Always getting high on 𝝁
The complete results can be found on myrcm:
More Photos...
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an interesting chassis: Eric's TT-02 KR, developed by Kevin
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You can read about Kevin's development of the TT-02 KR in his thread on RcTech:
