BANDIT PRO STOCK CAR

SET UP & TIPS SHEET

PREPARATION

To get a car to finish first, first you have to finish. Car preparation is the most important key to winning races. Always check over your car before a race meeting. Don't leave it until you're there, or expect someone else to sort it out for you. The following checks should be carried out before every race meeting.

1) Check all wires for damage or breakages and if in doubt replace or resolder the connection if necessary. Pay special attention to the speed controller, battery and motor wires.

2) Check all chassis nuts, bolts and screws to make sure they're tight. The one, which are most likely to come undone, are the rear pod/plate screws and front axle bolts.

3) Check that the motor is tight on the motor plate and also check that the pinion is tight. Failure to check this regularly will result in stripped gears! Also check that the wheels are tight and use the correct washers on the back wheels when fitted.

4) Visibly check speed controller for burn marks or bad connections between the board and wiper arm. If there is damage then clean the board with brasso or fine sand paper, then lightly bend down the wiper arms. To improve electricity contact, re-assemble and use a bit of grease/oil on the board. Check suspension parts, shocker for wear and tear, check that the shocker is not leaking and shock piston is not bent.

5) Check that the track rods or steering arm are not bent or broken.

6) Always check that your radio gear works properly and that the servo's are trimmed up. When the sticks are at neutral e.g. the speed controller is at neutral and the front wheels are straight/parallel to the back. This is very important as if the steering isn't trimmed up the car will not run in a straight line.

Following these steps shouldn't take long. They will save you time at the race meeting and should make the car easier to work on and above all make the car more reliable. Which will give you more enjoyment out of the racing and more time to chat to fellow racers.

SET UP & ADJUSTMENTS

A badly set up car is the hardest thing to drive well. A well-set up/prepared car is easier to drive and quicker.

The following hints will help you set up the car for your own style of driving.

1) TOE IN & OUT

Toe in and toe out of the front wheels. Toe in is where the front wheels turn inwards to each other. Putting a slight bit of toe in will make the car run better in a straight line and makes it more stable, but beware too much toe in will effect the cornering ability.

2) FRONT SUSPENSION

The latest pro car is fitted with 3 degree negative front axle, which has spring post type front inside suspension, the reason it is fitted to the inside only is because suspension on the outside makes the car very twitchy, so you end up locking it up. So why have it? But suspension on the inside has a big effect on the cars performance. What you are trying to do is keep the inside wheel on the floor. Keeping an even weight on it at all times, this along with the tweek spring on the back puts more weight on the inside of the car, making it turn better, less under steer and helps prevent grip roll. To adjust it simply remove the inside wheel and on the steering block there’s a grub screw, undo it and move the king pin, up stiffens the spring/suspension and lowering it softens the spring/suspension. A good setting is when the car is in race trim, the gaps between the steering block and front axle beam should be equal both top and bottom.

3) CHASSIS TWEEK ROD & SPRING

The tweek rod and spring sits across the car between the motor and shock mount. What the tweek spring does is it purely puts pressure (grip) onto the inside wheel of the car. To set first undo the grub screwed collar that holds the spring, have the car on a flat surface, then move the collar so it tightens up the spring. To test how much tweek you have on the car, using your fingers pick up off the surface first the inside wheel, feel how heavy the weight on that side feels. Put it down and try the same on the outside wheel, it should feel a lot lighter, then give the car a run and if the car turns in sharp but has a hint of under steer then the car needs more tweek, so tighten the spring up a bit more. On the other hand if the car wants to spin out coming out of the bend then there is too much tweek so undo the collar and move it so there’s less pressure on the spring. With a bit of practice you’ll be able to set the tweek so the car stays planted in the bends e.g. no under or over steer, making a very quick cornering car and one that will not grip roll.

4) OFFSET ADJUSTMENT

Moving the rear pod piviot moves the centerline of the car, putting more weight on one side of the car. For racing anti-clockwise moving the piviot to the right puts more weight on the left (inside of the car) but remember to move the shock absorber mounts the same amount otherwise you will fowl up the rear suspension. The car is built using the 1^st offset position, but beware that on some surfaces/tracks to much offset can cause the car to be nervous in a straight line.

5) REAR POD PIVIOT & OFFSET ADJUSTMENT

The center ‘0’ ringed pivot controls/changes the cars response tightening the ‘0’ ringed pivot makes the car less responsive and undoing it makes the car more responsive e.g. sharper steering, so for larger tracks normally the ‘0’ ring is tightened up to make the car more stable on the large turns, where as on small tracks the ‘0’ring is undone to improve/quicken the steering for tighter turning tracks. In some cases placing a second ‘0’ring in will make the cars super responsive but this is only recommended for the expert driver.

6) SHOCK ABSORBER

The car is fitted with a soft helper spring, which can be adjusted by using the threaded shock collar, this adjustment has a dramatic affect on the cars handling.

1) Undoing the shocker collar softens the suspension and lowers the rear of the car; this increases the rear end grip and makes the car more stable. The car will feel like it’s under steering. Again this can help when grip is low or the track is large. But be aware of ground clearance e.g. the car doesn’t bottom out.

2) Tightening the shock collar has the opposite effect, it increases front end grip making the car turn quicker without having to change tyres, this is very useful as it can be adjusted very quickly and only small movements of the collar can be felt in the handling when the car is run.

7) SHOCKER SPRING

The car comes with soft and hard springs. Soft is fitted to the car as it gives the best performance. The only time that you’re likely to need the hard spring is if the car is run outdoors.

8) SHOCK PISTON

The car shocker is fitted with 20w oil for the best rear suspension performance, but as with the oil the pistons can be changed to alter the response of the shocker, the more holes in the piston the less the shocker damps e.g. more springy and the opposite if the piston only has one hole. The shocker dampens better (less springy). It is very rare to alter shocker oil or pistons as other adjustments on the car have the same effect and are easier to do on the car quickly.

9) SHOCK TOWER

The shock absorber mounts on the shock tower and there are two positions for it to be bolted, moving the shockers position upper or lower hole has the same effect of altering shocker oil/piston holes e.g. using the top mounting hole makes the shocker more springy, use this for bumpy tracks and mounting the shocker on the lower hole makes the shocker damp better (less springy) use the lower hole on smoother tracks. Also the shock tower can be moved from left to right this is moved when the offset piviot is moved. Always move it the same direction and the same amount as the bottom piviot e.g. the offset piviot/shock tower and motor brace shock mount should all be inline with each other.

10) MOTOR BRACE SHOCK MOUNT

There are three mounting holes in this and the center hole is where the shocker bolts to. But you can if you wish move this to either left or right positions putting the shocker on the right will make the shocker more responsive on the right side of the car e.g. outside rear wheel, and moving it to the left will improve the inside rear wheel. 90% of the time the shocker should be in the middle or inline with the offset piviot and shock tower position (see 3,7,8) but if you race on a very small oval or the racing line around the track is almost a circle then try moving the shocker to the right hand position.

11) GEARING

The gearing supplied with the car is the most suitable for most tracks. If you race on a long oval then try a 12 or 13 tooth pinion. This will improve the top speed of the car but will load the motor more, shortening the motors life. I recommend a gear of 12 tooth for small to medium size tracks and 13 for large tracks.

12) BRAKE RESITOR

A brake resistor is fitted to give a motor resistance brake when the speed controller is at neutral, depending on your driving style, is whether you need one, but you almost always need one on small tracks. The pro car does tend to run better when the brake is removed but your driving style depends on whether you can run without it.

13) TYRES

Depending on the surface always try and race with the hardest tyres without compromising rear end grip as wear rate of the tyres will be low and there is less chance tyres ripping/chunking. Note after gluing tyres to wheels if possible true the tyre with sand paper and round the edges off. As this will stop tyre ripping/chunking and improve stability.

The following information on tyres should be used as a guideline. I will try to explain what the car will handle like if the following are fitted.

a) 2 hard tyres on the front and soft tyres on the back. This set up makes the car easy to drive as normally this set up makes the car under steer.

b) Soft tyre on the front inside and hard tyre on the outside and soft tyres on the rear. This is the best all-round set up, as the soft inside front tyre improves turn in whilst still maintaining a stable car in the bends.

c) Soft tyres on the front and rear. This set up gives good grip on the front and rear, but at the cost of tyre wear on the front, maybe a good set up for beginners.

d) Hard tyre on inside front, soft tyre on outside front and rear. Not recommended as it causes a lot of turn in grip but makes the car very unstable causing spinouts. Alarming tyre wear on front outside.

e) Soft tyres on both front and hard tyres on both rears. Not recommended as normally this causes spinouts and a very unstable car to drive.

f) Soft tyres on the inside front and hard on the outside front and the same on the rear. This set up makes the car turn fast and sharp but the downside is the car wants to run to the inside of the track down the straights. If you're an experienced driver try this. This set up depends on the surface raced on.

g) Hard tyre on the inside front and soft tyre on the outside front and the same on the rear. If you try this the car normally ends up on its roof, as the car is very unstable when you turn in.

STAGGER

Once you have a bit of experience in driving you could try staggering tyre diameter. The following are some guidelines.

a) Small inside tyre, larger outside, same size rears. This set up improves cornering, speed and sharpness of the car, but without any loss of stability. It’s used more on medium sized tracks where you need to have a good cornering speed and a stable car set up.

b) Small inside front, large outside front, and the same on the rear. This set up mirrors what happens when you put soft tyres on the inside of the car and harder tyres on outside, it makes the car handle well in the bends, but the car will not run very well in a straight line. This set up is normally used on small ovals where sharp quick cornering is needed. Without using softer tyres, experienced drivers will use this set up.

c) Large inside tyre, small outside tyre, and same on rear. Not very often used as it causes the car to roll in most cases in the bends, but it can improve turn in on a large track, using two hard compound tyres on the front.

d) Both front tyres same size, rear small tyre on inside and large on outside. This is not ideally used as it makes the car unstable on the straights, when you accelerate the car tries to spin to the middle of the track. It will however make the car turn quickly. If used it would have to be a small track.

e) Same size front tyres, larger on inside rear, small tyre on outside rear. Again you should never use this because you will find that the car wants to turn over every time you come to a bend. It also makes the car very unstable on the straights as well.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Only start using staggering tyre diameter when you have got used to racing and just try one thing at a time. This way you will know if the change you made is working or not. In time you will start using a combination of tyre compounds together with tyre staggering.

But remember only change one thing at a time so you know if the changes have made your car better. If you change too many things at once you won't know what’s making the car better/worse. Try and practice as much as possible and with some preparation it won't be long before you are enjoying yourself and getting better at model stock car racing. And remember the most important part of your car YOUR BUMPER.