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 Here
in the Midwest, one of the few types of RC car racing that takes place
during the winter months is indoor carpet racing. From October through
March, indoor racing on carpet is very popular in this region. And next
to my obsession for 1/8-scale gas cars, carpet on-road racing is my favorite
class. Indoor on-road carpet racing is precise, fast, clean, competitive
and fun. At Horizon we have a group of about a dozen staff members that
include some of the top aerobatic and jet aircraft pilots in the country
and, when the weather turns cold, we all break out our cars and head to
the local carpet track.
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| Horizon Engineering Manager, John Adams' indoor carpet XXX-S with Alpha body. |
At aerobatics contests, I don't have a prayer of beating the likes of
Mike McConville, Peter Goldberg, or John Glezellis. However, it's a different
story at the carpet track! Never mind that I've been carpet racing seriously
since 1979, while these guys just dabble from time-to-time. Truth be told,
I have more fun watching them do battle with each other for Monday's bragging
rights at the office than racing myself. Throughout the following week;
it's comical to have each of these guys individually sneak into my office
asking about tips on how they can go faster to beat their work buddies
the following weekend.
 Each
season I hold a seminar at the local indoor track that covers driving
techniques, setup information, and motor and battery tips. Our web team
got wind of this and asked if I'd write some of this information down
so that they could put it on the site, so here goes.
Driving Techniques
Most beginners and even some experienced racers aren't totally sure what
they are supposed to be thinking about and concentrating on while practicing and racing or even the purpose of practice. The following tips should help.
Practice
• The primary purpose of practice is to learn the track
and to evaluate how your car is performing. During those first practice
laps, I think of my car as a tool that allows me to learn the exact
location of what I call "goal points". I call them goal points
because it's my goal to place the inside front tire directly on that
point every lap. Many racers call these apexes, but I think of
them as an exact point on the track. For me, these exact points are
normally about 3 inches from the edge of the board at each corner. The
distance out from the board where you envision your goal points is dependent
on your skill level. Again, the goal is to drive such that your inside
tire passes directly over all of these points every lap. The more accurately
that you're able to judge these points and the more confident you are
of their exact location, the better/faster you'll be able to drive.
• The key to effectively learning the track layout is to
learn the exact location of these goal points. During those first practice
laps, don't even try to go fast but simply concentrate on accurately
placing the car conservatively outside these goal points. With each
lap you will develop a greater sense of the exact location of these
goal points and as your confidence grows, you can begin to drive a tighter
line with the eventual goal of consistently hitting every point on every
lap. Remember your primary goal at this early stage of practice is to
engrain the exact location of these goal points in your mind. (Not to
beat your buddies and win practice!)
• Once you're fairly confident of the goal points' locations,
it's time to start evaluating your driving. As you drive through each
corner, think about how successfully it was negotiated. Did you hit
your goal point? Did you maintain a high corner speed? Obviously, you
don't have much time to contemplate
these issues as your car races around the track, but start to develop
a sense of how each corner goes. Then, on following laps, work on improving
the corners that you don't feel as good about and continue evaluating
yourself on each corner. In summary, evaluate your performance in each
corner while you're racing, and with each lap try to get closer to your
goal point and to improve corner speed.
• Because practice is so important, on the day of the race
you need to arrive at the track early to allow plenty of track time
for practice. It's a good idea to pre-charge 2 practice battery packs.
Your car should be totally ready to run when you arrive at the track.
Normally the track has the least traffic early and that's the best time
to learn the track.
• So what should you focus on when you're qualifying? The
same thing! Focus on your goal points and evaluate your performance
in every corner. Tighten up your line until you can consistently hit
every goal point with your inside tire. Also focus on maintaining a
high corner speed. Oh yeah, watch out for traffic! 
• So what should you think about during the main? Again the
same thing! Hit your goal points in every corner and evaluate your performance
in every turn. Focus on tightening up any corner that you're not satisfied
with and be sure to maintain a high corner speed.
• By the way- DON'T UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE DRIVE INSIDE YOUR
GOAL POINTS. This is called a crash! The goal is to drive up to and
eventually directly over (with the inside tire) the goal point, but
never, even if you've established the goal point well outside the edge
of the corner, drive inside the goal point. This sounds obvious but
you must engrain this in your head and when you do, you will greatly
reduce the number of crashes. Think of it like this, "If I never
get inside my goal point, I can't crash on the inside of a turn."
I know this sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised how many racers miss
their goal point on the inside as often as out!
Next, I'll continue this discussion on driving and start to focus
on chassis set-up. In the meantime, check out my setup I've been successfully
using on my Losi XXX-S. Give it a try and let us know how it works
for you. See ya at the track! |
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