Control is key.

[AoD]

Alright, control 101 is this post's filling of necessity. Learning to control your RC can be difficult. There will be times where you find it, very hard. There's help here though. Specially with RC's like the Savage X 4.6. In this guide we'll go through some easy steps in learning how to control that monster you have.

Now, here's a couple guides that can really help you control your RC. I suggest checking them out and using what you learn from them, then continue reading this guide.

A guide to adjusting your steering - AoD
https://www.hpisavageforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5565

A good way to get a tighter turning radius - larsenracing
https://www.hpisavageforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4022

These two posts are good to help with steering issues.

Now, the main part about learning to get that precise control that you want isn't mostly in the steering. It's in how you run that throttle or brake.

Learning to turn, and accelerate correctly is hard, specially with RC cars and trucks. The main reason is the lack of risk. In a real vehicle, you'd brake more efficiently, accelerate better, and take turns well. You're risking personal injury in a real vehicle, not with your RC. So, we have to learn control. To be a race winning driver, or a perfect aiming basher who doesn't miss the jump, you need discipline.

The best way to learn this is by setting up a pair of cones or other objects in your yard about 40 feet apart. First, start about 100 feet away, accelerate to max speed, and then try to make a 180 turn around the farthest cone. 90% of people will fail this test, because they didn't hit the brakes right, and probably ended up either flipping or veering off course wildly. This is where speed is a factor.

Let's take a quick delve into the realm of traction. A tire can only produce 100% traction. This means, the tire has a certain amount of stress it can go through, and every variable effects it. For an example, look at the following.

Speed = How fast the truck is moving
Turning = How hard you're turning the wheels into the corner
Braking = How hard you are on the brakes in the turn

*************************************

Speed = 40%
Turning = 40%
Braking = 20%

That's a 100% ratio, where the tire is working at it's max ability. Now, that would produce a good turn.

Speed = 40%
Turning = 40%
Braking = 30%

That's a 110% ratio, the tires will fail to hold traction, and usually end up pushing the vehicle to the outside of the turn, or worse, into a wild spin/crash scenario.

The basic thought here, remember that your tires can only hold so much, and when you exceed their limits, they won't hold traction.

So, to find this, we'll use our cone setup. To get a good feel for your RC, take it around the cones. Learn to brake before the corner, and learn when to lay the throttle down out of it. Make an oval track out of it, and learn where the limits are. Once you get this method down, and you start really ripping around this oval you've made and you feel confident that you're running it perfect. SWITCH DIRECTIONS! That'll change your opinion. The idea is, that once you learn one direction, you'll feel confident. Then, once you switch, the physics are the same, but in an opposite direction. Unless you're really good at handling your RC, you'll probably end up losing a lot of time. Once you master this direction, try making a figure eight out of the cones. This practice will help you in both directions. Learning the turning abilities of your vehicle is a must for a racer, and is good practice for a basher as well.

Now, physics change as environments change. Add some obstacles to your new course. Maybe add some more cones, and make it more of a racing track. You'll benefit greatly from doing this. Maybe switch locations of your track to somewhere really rough. Remember, control is related to the surfaces you're running on. So, learning to control your RC on a number of different environments is a key factor into mastering control.

Continued on next post:

 

[AoD]

Jumping is all about control as well. Control is KEY to learning to jump successfully. I'll be honest, I'm not a pro when it comes to jumping a four wheel drive RC, but I could jump like a pro with my two wheel drive RC10gt.

Now, when jumping your RC, there's two key factors. The launch, and the airtime. If you master these, landings will become second nature.

Let's look at the launch. Each jump is different, and require a different launch. Some require a full throttle take off, and some actually require brakes on takeoff (ignorantly steep jumps do). So, learning that right throttle position takes trial and error. Start small, learn the jump, and work to get better at it. Take your time, and learn, that's the best method in handling jumps. The key is to learn a close spot just by looking at a jump. Once you learn to launch pretty good, practice will make you be able to give any jump a "good idea" of how to launch.

Now, for the fun part. This takes a ton of practice, and I'm still learning with my Savage X 4.6 as well. When you're in the air, you might think there is no controlling how you're gonna land, and if you're gonna break that new set of A-Arms or not. Well, truth be told, you do have some point of control, even when the RC is barreling to it's certain doom.

Now to learn to master this airborne control, takes a bit of practice. Here's the gist of it though.

While Airborne :

Throttling up, making the tires spin gives the truck front end lift. It'll actually pull the front end up, and if done correctly (with a four wheel drive like I have recently learned) can actually be used to do a back flip off of a jump. As the tires rotate, the force is like a gyro on the truck, causing the truck to rotate the opposite way.

Braking actually can have the opposite effect, if the launch is made and the wheels are spinning. The gyro effect is actually reversed, and the front of the truck will actually come down. Now, the force of the braking gyro effect is about 75% less than the force of using the throttle to lift the front end. So remember, it takes more brakes (and is limited to a complete stop of the brakes) to pull the nose down.

Practice makes perfect. Remember this is saying, because it's 100% true.

Also, just to make sure you know, changing a part on the vehicle can change the physics in turns, jumps, and handling in many ways. So, when you change something, say shocks, make sure you test it out before hoping into that race, or try bashing it in the woods. Not being able to control your RC can end up in a crash, or much worse, broken parts and a trip to the local hobby shop for replacements. And we all know going to the hobby shop usually ends up in us buying that cool pipe, or new servo that we've been wanting. Even though that's not why we went in the first place.

I hope this guide helps you learn more about controlling your RC. It's intention is for you to practice, and learn the true physics of your RC. Once you truly learn to handle the RC, you'll be driving a lot better than you have before. So, take the time to practice these tips, and it will lead you to those better lap times, and bigger jumps then before.

 

[BIGDAN89]

thanks I'm still trying to master the contol in the air thing lol i like to use trottle instead of brake ops

 

[AoD]

It's all discipline. I'm getting better with the Savage, I had the RC10 mastered.