Newbie drifter

Good day gentlemen.

I'm Theo, from South Africa. I've had a little drift car for well over a year, but only started using it yesterday.

I love DIY stuff, so I bought an HPI Cup Racer kit. Problem is, when I start building something like this, I don't stop until its finished. In this case it meant almost 2 days of constant building. Once I finished, it just wasn't running right. And, somehow, I just never got around to pulling it apart to see whats wrong.

Last week a friend of mine bought a petrol dune buggy and we decided to make a weekend of stripping and cleaning the cars. That's when I discovered why mine didn't work right. Perhaps due to the lack of sleep during the build, I somehow swapped the rear ball bearing diff and the front gear diff

Once I figured that out I put it all together again and got the battery charged. Unfortunately the battery still isn't 100%. It's suppose to have up to 5000mAh (it's a DTX 5000), but sometimes it charges up to just under 4000, and other times only to around 350 (any tips to save the battery? it's been on about 4 discharge-charge cycles).

But for the hour or so time that I have been able to play, I absolutely love drifting. I must say, it's not quite as difficult as I thought it would be (although I know I would need tons more practice to become really good at it), perhaps the countless hours of NFS Shift drifting has helped

I was big into tuning my proper car, but have stopped that now, so RC drifting is the new hobby. I've already made a list of all the upgraded parts I want to get.

Current setup:
HPI Cup Racer - Drift
Toyota Levin body
LRP Eraser 13.5T motor
LRP ESC
DTX 5000 battery
Futaba S3305 servo
Futaba Magnum T3PM radio (75 MHz)

I think the first new bits I'll get will be another Levin body (to be painted black) and some nice new white wheels.

I've got an HPI Super Light System which will go into the new body too.

Happy drifting!

welcome to the forums Theo. . . . . . feel free to post questions and i'm sure a lot of guys will answer it. . . .

Welcome to the forums man.. your running on 1:12 shaft kit.. interesting! Use to run on shafts here but got tired of all the DIY mods for counter steering and switched to belts. Would love to go back to shaft soon when RWD kit kicks in.

Join us on our session this friday.. click on the announcement below the site banner for details.

Jay wrote:

Welcome to the forums man.. your running on 1:12 shaft kit.. interesting! Use to run on shafts here but got tired of all the DIY mods for counter steering and switched to belts. Would love to go back to shaft soon when RWD kit kicks in.

Join us on our session this friday.. click on the announcement below the site banner for details.

By 1:12 I'm guessing you're talking about the final drive ratio. Haven't got a clue what to do with those figures lol (yes yes, i know, I've got a ton more reading to do). is 1:12 good?

Thanks for the invite for friday, I might join you guys actually. Until what time do you guys usually go? As Im in Al Ain, it's not idea to drive through for something that only lasts an hour or 2. I see you guys are having a bit of trouble getting a place to meet up and have fun; in Al Ain there is quite a big hobby park, with dedicated RC track(s). I haven't been there in ages though, but perhaps you guys could use it

thanks for the welcome guys

theo.5388 wrote:

Jay wrote:

Welcome to the forums man.. your running on 1:12 shaft kit.. interesting! Use to run on shafts here but got tired of all the DIY mods for counter steering and switched to belts. Would love to go back to shaft soon when RWD kit kicks in.

Join us on our session this friday.. click on the announcement below the site banner for details.

By 1:12 I'm guessing you're talking about the final drive ratio. Haven't got a clue what to do with those figures lol (yes yes, i know, I've got a ton more reading to do). is 1:12 good?

Thanks for the invite for friday, I might join you guys actually. Until what time do you guys usually go? As Im in Al Ain, it's not idea to drive through for something that only lasts an hour or 2. I see you guys are having a bit of trouble getting a place to meet up and have fun; in Al Ain there is quite a big hobby park, with dedicated RC track(s). I haven't been there in ages though, but perhaps you guys could use it

thanks for the welcome guys

Hey Theo.. Welcome to the forum... hope to see you slide with us soon, we have a member from Al Ain too but at the moment his in the Philippines...

The 1:12 is the scale/size of your kit, we use 1:10 scale rc Drift kit as this is more tweekable ( dont know if this word exist Lol ) anyway you can run any size though but just a suggestion...

Drive ratio comes from your gearing setup (pulleys, pinions, spur).....

i've learned this things from the Pro's here in the forum so stay in touch and more question you post more knowledge about the hobby you will learn...

See U Sliding...

Noscire4 wrote:

theo.5388 wrote:

Jay wrote:

Welcome to the forums man.. your running on 1:12 shaft kit.. interesting! Use to run on shafts here but got tired of all the DIY mods for counter steering and switched to belts. Would love to go back to shaft soon when RWD kit kicks in.

Join us on our session this friday.. click on the announcement below the site banner for details.

By 1:12 I'm guessing you're talking about the final drive ratio. Haven't got a clue what to do with those figures lol (yes yes, i know, I've got a ton more reading to do). is 1:12 good?

Thanks for the invite for friday, I might join you guys actually. Until what time do you guys usually go? As Im in Al Ain, it's not idea to drive through for something that only lasts an hour or 2. I see you guys are having a bit of trouble getting a place to meet up and have fun; in Al Ain there is quite a big hobby park, with dedicated RC track(s). I haven't been there in ages though, but perhaps you guys could use it

thanks for the welcome guys

Hey Theo.. Welcome to the forum... hope to see you slide with us soon, we have a member from Al Ain too but at the moment his in the Philippines...

The 1:12 is the scale/size of your kit, we use 1:10 scale rc Drift kit as this is more tweekable ( dont know if this word exist Lol ) anyway you can run any size though but just a suggestion...

Drive ratio comes from your gearing setup (pulleys, pinions, spur).....

i've learned this things from the Pro's here in the forum so stay in touch and more question you post more knowledge about the hobby you will learn...

See U Sliding...

ah right. DUH! FDR would be the other way round 12:1 lol. anyways, is it a 1:12? I'm not too sure, as they describe it as a "True Ten" model

Quote :

The Cup Racer is 1/10 mini (some may classified it as a 1/12 scale) that have a short wheelbase than a regular 1/10 touring car. It also used slightly smaller wheel. Would be perfect to race against other mini class chassis such as Tamiya MO3.

Here's a size comparison between a TA04 and a cup racer.



Size doesnt matter though as long as were having fun! Hope to see you this friday man!