Electric Driving 101

[brushlessboy16]

This is a public thread where you can add your own input, tips, tricks, style's and hints to help any aspiring brushless driver do that much better. Or make us old hacks a little quicker at the track



Things to remember
- you have the acceleration advantage- Compared to a nitro 8ight Who has to go relatively wide to keep speed and RPM- we (I) can come into the corner and follow the pipe precisely and effectively apply power and still beat the nitro guy ( who is sawing away at the trigger) to the next obstacle.


-Use the whole track when you are trying to conserve- initiate your turns from the outside pipe- cut close to the inside turn marker and accelerate around the corner towards the outside pipe... Keep as much speed as you can without needing throttle input- saves battery and keeps things cooler..


-Tone it down- just because your car has enough power to wheelie on the dirt does not mean you need to have it all wasted through tire spin. When I first built my car I had the base settings 10 timing, 0 punch etc. Could make it about 15:30 at my track on a 5000mah pack... Turned the timing down to 0 and put punch control at 60%- What a difference. Ran 17 minutes and my lap times were more consistent.

Lack Of tire spin made my cornering a whole lot better too as (with my driving style) the punch control limited my rear wheel spin and diminished the chance of the rear end kicking out. The downside to this is that your ability to control the car in the air is partially lost. But (as in my case) when you have a car that flies relatively level- if not nose high you do not need much throttle input.. brake only.

-Braking... Braking causes a bit more heat to build in the esc and motor than acceleration- have your brakes set to keep traction- you cannot turn if your wheels and tires are not spinning. this also makes flight corrections a bit more troublesom as high amounts of brake will cause the car to pitch down much faster, this means you have to get back on the throttle to bring the nose up (fat chance with punch control.)

Brake and throttle curves are a wonderful tuning tool if your on a high traction surface where grip is plentiful. IN the rare case that you have near perfect traction-forget what has been mentioned about brake strength and wheel spin.. set your maximum brake and punch control to get as much power to the ground as you can. But in the even that your car is putting too much power or braking down in a certain Rev range or throttle position range- you can use your curves to mellow out that one portion without effecting your overall power output.

[rootar]

Don't wreck youll always have a faster qualifier if you dont wreck, just be smooth and take the smoothest route around the track...

[brushlessboy16]

Another nice thing

If your close to the front of the starting grid against nitros... Put the trigger to the grip and try and make it to the first turn first.


If your in the back have your pit man angle your car to the outside of the strait so you can get around the bogging and flamed out nitros... I have pushed a flamed out nitro through the first corner at my track- couldnt get out to the way.

Try and not get caught in the giant cluster of cars in the first two turns...

[magman]

Turning fast laps means running smooth and consistent laps. Sometimes the fastest guy on the track is not the fastest around it. Also, be patient...especially in a a- main if you get caught up in a wreck at the beginning. The BL trucks/buggies we run have what is necessary to may up ground.

[SpEEdyBL]

1. Don't try to pass two people at once. Often in the first lap there will be many cars next to each other. Instead of being part of the wreck, wait for it and whiz right by the flipped cars.

2. Wait for the person in front of you to make a mistake, don't try to pass them as soon as you are on their tail. Realize that there is way more pressure on them than on you. The abrubptness of your presence and trying to make an immediate pass will almost always end up in a wreck.

3. Try to keep the number of throttle/brake movements no greater than the number of turns and jumps there are each lap. In other words, use the brakes only ONCE per turn, and only hit the throttle only ONCE per exit. Smoothness of doing so is the key.

4. Always shoot for the innermost line in the corner, even if it means you have to go rediculously slow. The truth is, the time it takes to complete the track will be much faster, and nobody will be able to pass you there.

[emaxxnitro]

adding

1. they have an advantage unless your pit guy can change packs fast lay off the reserve power, its not needed dont use it. now if its the last lap use it. a good pit man can refill a nitro in 5 seconds. a good electric pit man can change packs in 15 to 20 secs.

2. nitros have spool up to deal with you have wheel spin. really its a advantage to you. but if you break traction you can get on a power slide and roll it over.

3. the doubles, a good nitro driver can do the double-doubles consistently, a good brushless driver should do the same. dont go for the triple! sure its a show stopping move but its not consistent even though you can do a quad with bl its not practical and the speed you have to do a triple can hurt you on the landing.