Review of Caster.... 70mph B.S.?

[glassdoctor]

Well... just wanted to post a note about my quick stab at a speed run this afternoon. We had weather just warm enough to melt the snow and dry out the streets a bit... and I had some time while waiting for the Superbowl to get going, so I grabbed my car and went to my speed run spot. It's been a long time since I did that.

I ran the Fusion, with the same Castle MMM/2650 combo that they used in the magazine article... and a set of Maxamps 6000mah packs. My packs are not the new ones.... it's the old ones they were clearing out to make space. RC Driver had the new stuff. Two 2s packs in series, just to be clear.

Largest pinion gear I had on me was a 18t so I ran that... 18/44

First pass, the car hit 65.1mph... not bad. I went farther away on the second pass, to make sure the car topped out 100%... and had some radio issues. I did mess around for a couple more passes... 64.4 and then 65.0 etc... pretty consistent.

I figure another tooth or two taller would get 70. I used to have a 20t gear... so hopefully I can find it and give it a shot.

[brushlessboy16]

Original thread

Here is my email that I sent them regarding this car and the response i received

Originally Posted by brushlessboy16

Not exactly mean but it gets the point across
Hello RC-driver.

I just read up your January 09' mag and your review on the Caster racing ex-1 is not accurate...
I run only brushless conversions- currently run a Cen matrix truggy with a Mamba Monster 5s and am beta testing for the new 1/8th scale 2200kv motor..

According to the review you used a 12 tooth. It is physically impossible for the Ex-1 to do 70.8mph according to your review.
Using this speed Calculator-R/C Calculations I have found that the buggy is geared for about 40mph on 4s lipos. Please change your ratings or post and addendum to correct this. It may have been a typo, but it will throw all the noobs off about how fast there Ex-1's can go.. Then they will complain to Castle creations, Caster, and maxamps.. I dont think you want them to do that.

Regards,
Ben White AKA Brushlessboy16

Originally Posted by brushlessboy16

Got a response guys-
Hi Ben, thanks for the email. Although I’ll need to double-check, I virtually certain that the boys used a larger pinion for the speed testing than the 12-tooth mentioned in the test (and used for track-testing).





Best wishes,
Frank Masi

[glassdoctor]

The other thread is the reason I went to see how fast my car would clock with a similar setup.

I was curious myself... just what would it take to do 60? 70? Could it do more?

I would like run the eagle tree on the car and see what the amps hit on a speed run pass. I have a 5s and 6s pack that I might try... wondering how fast they could push it.

I've done over 70 with an old 1/10 2wd buggy... that was a lot scarier and more fun than doing 65 in a 1/8 buggy.

[Takedown]

I wouldnt doubt that it could do 70 on 4s but the fact that 1/8 buggys arent intended for these kind of speeds in my opinion is kind of pointless makes it useless in alot of others viewpoints aswell.

[BL_RV0]

Agreed.

[glassdoctor]

Of course it's not practical to have a buggy setup for 70mph, other than for kicks and giggles or to find out how fast you can go with one.

But you could say the same thing about all speed run cars... kinda pointless, other than seeing how fast it can go in a straight line.

Would it be more acceptable if I put a road car body and foam tires on it? It would be much the same as another member's speed run project. ;) Nobody is hating on that one. lol

Actually, I was a bit shocked how well the buggy handled the speed and how easy it was to drive. It didn't "feel" that fast to me.

For bashing... the 65mph setup wasn't that bad. It would be fun to mess around with. But of course, you would expect temps to be an issue. All I did was take a few passes....

[jhautz]

Originally Posted by glassdoctor

Of course it's not practical to have a buggy setup for 70mph, other than for kicks and giggles or to find out how fast you can go with one.

But you could say the same thing about all speed run cars... kinda pointless, other than seeing how fast it can go in a straight line.

Would it be more acceptable if I put a road car body and foam tires on it? It would be much the same as another member's speed run project. ;) Nobody is hating on that one. lol

Actually, I was a bit shocked how well the buggy handled the speed and how easy it was to drive. It didn't "feel" that fast to me.

For bashing... the 65mph setup wasn't that bad. It would be fun to mess around with. But of course, you would expect temps to be an issue. All I did was take a few passes....

The last time I saw someone trying speed runs with a buggy the tires became the limitation. Edumakated hit 68 acording to GPS when he blew a tire off the rim. Replaced the tires and then blew another one at arround the same speeds. If you want to go 70 pluss it will take some attention in the tire department. He was just running old dirt tires so a good belted tire might have been better.

It is fun to see how fast you can get them to go, but scarry when you see something go wrong at those speeds.

Next time you run, bring your video camera with and let us all have a little fun too.

[glassdoctor]

hey man, what's going on... you ever get up to Joliet to race? I talked to cheesecake about going there in a few weeks. He said he's been talking to you ;)

Here's my sad little bit of video... it was cold out and was trying to get it done quick

[jhautz]

Yea. I have been going out there alot lately. Most sundays to race. Let me know if you are going to make the trip some weekend and I'll try and make a point to go.

[glassdoctor]

Will do... I hope I can make it sometime soon. I think badassrevo wanted to meet up there too.