Heavy Racers

[SilentGTboy]

Ok, WTF is up with all this alluminum on HPI Micro cars used for racing. Is adding the weight of an alluminum Upper arms, lower arms, rims, bodyposts, alluminum steering slider, front pully really neccesary?? Knuckles are iffy but why a huge ass 1/10 scale touring car shock on the back of micros?? The chassis itself is a spring! Isn't the point of a racer to have a low power to weight ratio? I don't understand this!

[FastEddy]

For the most part you are right, however, Micros are small and most of the metal parts used are so close in weight that it doesn't make much of a difference. The issue becomes strength rather weight. Your choice in servo or RX will make more of a weight factor than having an entire alloy setup.

The single most important issue on a micro is the center of gravity.

[Error401]

Blazer is gonna blow on that comment. Heavy suspension is almost a need-to-have basis if your cramming a 300 or a 540 into the rear of a micro. Also the aluminum front ends make the setup much tighter. I about crapped myself when I upgraded mine. It handled a crapton better than stock.

The stock chassis is really too stiff. Look at some of the Ratzas, exo, and Orion decks. They're designed to twist, but not bend (when you put the top deck on). Some sway is good, but flex sucks. I hope someone in your area has a hopped up micro that they'll let ya drive, you will notice a difference.

[Mondo]

There are some advantages to alloy parts.
For example, the standard front pulley gear is plastic, when a 3rd party alloy front diff is used, the plastic front pulley gear will break.
I use steel dogbones on mine, even alloy front bones are too weak to put up with the strains of a 300 sized motor.

The weight gains are marginal and serious racers usually end up using small lead weights as ballasts to get their Micros perfectly balanced.

The one part that blows my mind is the alloy X-Shock kit, this doesn't work at all unless you are prepared to do some serious re-working on them. Just another typical GPM non functional hop-up. So many people buy this part and end up removing it!

I race my Micros often and I agree the standard chassis is the pits. It's great for driveway use, but any serious Micro racer junks it and uses a decent 3rd party chassis.
On my two race Micros I use Penguin P3500 series chassis, these have an amazing roll-plate based suspension system, with up to 16 settings on the rear end.

Thad Garner, who has won most of the HPI Micro challenges uses a Penguin chassis, he is also a HPI sponsored driver.

My third Micro which will run a Graupner Speed 400 Race motor uses the cheap & cheerful ARM pan chassis, this car will be more orientated for straight line speed and not racing.

Perhaps you guys need to take a look at
YourMicro to see some of the custom chassis Members have made.
Let's not forget "AktionDan" Marx's amazing 540 hybrid Micro.

Bottom line: Out of the box, the Micro is nothing more than another cheaply made entry level RC car.
If you want to make is raceworthy and reliable, be prepared to spend some serious money on it, in the right places of course.

And the only standard parts on my Micro are:

Front suspension assembly and lower bulkhead
Rear bulkhead
Inner wheel hubs and wheels
Belt
Diff shaft
Screws

That reflects just how much room for improvement HPI left on the Micro RS4.

[HumboldtBlazer]

Metal just looks faster than plastic!!!! j/k I noticed like error pointed out that my car with the BB motor was actually able to put more power to the ground with the little added weight. I kwonqueer with Eddy about the fact that the parts are so small the weights to their plastic counter parts are almost identical. Some of the stuff is not a must (for me) but everybodies building there car to be something different. You would be surprised with all the different Micro racing. Theres your normal touring track Micro, Then theres your drifter Micros, the theres your drag micros, and now I have seen oval Micro setups, so its all about what your going for. I would switch your plastic chassis right away to an aftermarket one suited for the way you want to drive. Wanna buy a front one way.............I know it was shameless.

[Error401]

Lol, 1 way aint working out for ya? I had real issues with driving with a 1 way. I run a ball diff now. So I guess that makes 2 1 ways up for sale.

[HumboldtBlazer]

HATE the ONEWAY!

[militarymaxx]

K, here's my 2 cents worth about weight, speed, aluminum and plastic. I had an all aluminum E-Maxx that wouldn't wheelie or go as fast as it did with stock plastic. And the aluminum bent and broke more than the indestructible RPM stuff I have now. So I think I'm going to try replacing all the parts with "NERF". It should be very fast and those nasty concrete curbs won't be a problem anymore.

[Error401]

Originally posted by humboldtblazer
HATE the ONEWAY!

Yeah, thanks Blazer for translateing that into english. I think we are in agreement.

Originally posted by militarymaxx
K, here's my 2 cents worth about weight, speed, aluminum and plastic. I had an all aluminum E-Maxx that wouldn't wheelie or go as fast as it did with stock plastic. And the aluminum bent and broke more than the indestructible RPM stuff I have now. So I think I'm going to try replacing all the parts with "NERF". It should be very fast and those nasty concrete curbs won't be a problem anymore.

My favorite r/c vehicle is the HPI Savage. All of the upgrades I have done to it are for performance and bash survivability. This means HB bones, metal brake disk, better engine, tank guard, and a custom steel rollbar. I will soon be either making or acquiring a metal spur (though so far I have not stipped one). The upper A arms are HPI adjustables and the rims are HB. And that's about it. It looks almost like a stock Savage, but it isn't. The all metal trucks are cool, but I wouldn't want one because I'd end up destroying it.

But as for the metal upgrades for the Micro RS4, that's a completely different story. Metal makes the micro much better, strength wise, as well as handling. The stock plastic parts are OK for putting around the driveway, or racing in the bone stock class, but for real performance you gotta get carbon and aluminum. How long would the plastic front pulley wheel last when you put a 300 class motor in the rear. Answer: maybe 1 pack. And the stock chassis really bites even bone stock but running 6 cells. The belt makes the chassis flex and thus changes the steering trim. Just my 2 cents, but I earned 'em on the micro.

[FastEddy]

With all alloy on the Micro we are only talking a Few Ounces at best, on a Maxx or Savage you are talking several additional pounds.

The difference in using a regular size servo and a micro servo out weighs the difference in alloy by 3-4 times. (This is just a guess I haven't taken it to the scale.)

[Çh®i§tiªñ]

Originally posted by humboldtblazer
I kwonqueer with Eddy about the fact that the parts are so small the weights to their plastic counter parts are almost identical.

Im crying right now!

[HumboldtBlazer]

you like how I just snuck that in under the radar.

[SilentGTboy]

So the alloy is almost identical to the plastic thats it's more up to the drivers skills to win then the differance in the amount of alloy on the car.

[Mondo]

Originally posted by SilentGTboy
thats it's more up to the drivers skills to win then the differance in the amount of alloy on the car.

I've never seen any hop up or weight reduction win a race in all my years of racing.

The best "hop up" is track time.. or experience.. same thing.. know your car and track..