Mustang Sally

[maddmaxx ★]

I know you've seen this sort of stuff from me before but here is the completed version of one of my 2020 race cars.  This one is a completely legal TCS (Tamiya Championship Series) GT2 car which will also double as my regular Touring Car stock class racers.  It's a bit harder to see some of the mechanical details because all the equipment and wiring gets in the way.  Hopefully this car will weigh in at about 1370 gr (3.02 lbs) on a minimum weight of 3.0 lbs

The paint is maddmaxx ice cool blue   The body is 2017 Ford Mustang GT4 factory race car

The equipment from top to bottom left to right.  Steering servo with radio receiver on top of it.  Electronic throttle with cooling fan.  21.5 turn brushless motor.  And below there is a 4.2 amp hour 2 cell LIPO battery.  The class is spec stock so the motor and tires are controlled to a specific brand and model number.  The throttle control must be locked into non engine time mode (blinky).  This throttle unit is common because it's delivered from the factory with only blinky mode built in.

If there is any other prep work to do it will be cutting and shortening all the control wiring stuffed in along side of the motor.  IMO that's some ugly right there.

[KrAzY]

Has to be a Ford.. you already are tinkering with it to make it run... 

[maddmaxx ★]

1 hour ago, KrAzY said:

Has to be a Ford.. you already are tinkering with it to make it run... 

Very limited tinkering by the TCS rules.  For example, all the screws were tossed out and replaced by titanium screws.  Total weight savings about 1/2 oz.  But at the same time I cannot put spacers under the ti-rod ball joints to alter the bump steer of the basic chassis.

You are correct though as this is a whole lot of "tinkering" done to the basic kit.  Many of the parts had to be purchased in Japan where Tamiya is as they are not generally available here in the US.  Very few folks race this kit here as it is considered to be a poor race car in it's stock kit form.  Hehehe.  He said stock kit form. Note:  the kit is very popular in limited spec stock classes in some places just because it's not an$800 race car.

[groupw]

My first RC car was a Tamiya 1/12th scale. It had a gear instead of ball diff and a dual plane chassis. It was a pretty rough and tumble racing group back then. I built my next car from scratch. Old Parma motor/axle box connected to CF chassis using fuel tubing for suspension damping and Associated front axle blocks. It was very competitive. When the chassis wore out, I just didn’t have the free time to fabricate a new chassis and I bought an Associated chassis. It was good, but I never felt as in control even though it was technically superior to my design. It has been over 15 years since I raced an RC car. I had to get out due to a job change. It was just before brushless and new battery tech came in. Once I had time, I couldn’t afford to start over. Kind of miss it on winter weekends, but not enough to start over. 

[maddmaxx ★]

1 hour ago, groupw said:

My first RC car was a Tamiya 1/12th scale. It had a gear instead of ball diff and a dual plane chassis. It was a pretty rough and tumble racing group back then. I built my next car from scratch. Old Parma motor/axle box connected to CF chassis using fuel tubing for suspension damping and Associated front axle blocks. It was very competitive. When the chassis wore out, I just didn’t have the free time to fabricate a new chassis and I bought an Associated chassis. It was good, but I never felt as in control even though it was technically superior to my design. It has been over 15 years since I raced an RC car. I had to get out due to a job change. It was just before brushless and new battery tech came in. Once I had time, I couldn’t afford to start over. Kind of miss it on winter weekends, but not enough to start over. 

That's exactly what I raced for years in the 70's/80's.  There was a club in Glastonbury CT with over 100 members and we raced every week in a parking lot with a hobby shop attached.  In winter we raced on carpet rolled out in a grammar school gym.  We were a large enough club to also do some big shows such as Racearama in Springfield Ma where they set up bleachers around our carpet oval and we raced for some respectable crowds.  My favorite however was the Frank Marata Auto Show in Hartford in the Arena.  We would race 12 hours a day for 3 days and there would also be celebrity races for the attractions stars.  I've raced with Playmates, pro wrestlers, Hartford Whalers hockey players and of course our own members.  Sometimes I raced the Tamiya 1/12 chassis and at others, the Associated 12i.

Things were very different back then.  The cars were more primitive, no brushless motors, no 4 wheel drive