Follow this journey with me into the world of 1/12 Pan Car racing in the real world and online. Sponsored by 720Spin set up guages. Build and Paintwork by Drakien Rising.
It has been a while since I had a bash at any onroad racing and I feel I have been left behind as usual with all technology improvements. Upon re-entering this hobby at this level of RC models is only at the Pro level as you need to build and assemble your vehicle from kit with many components from various manufacturers and suppliers. There are a few competitive models on the market including Roche, CRC, Kyosho and Xray. My choice of kit was the New Xray X12 '23 kit set up suited for stock racing at the local club level. The manufacturing quality and build experience is always a luxury if it is Xray.
For this build I am going to focus on the stock class which requires a fixed timed 540 brushless motor and "Blinky" mode on the Electronic Speed Controller running off 1 cell (3.7V) Lipo Battery. The motor is a 13.5 turn 3600kv justock motor from Hobbywing with a matching heavy duty 1s ESC. I also sourced a Power HD M8 micro servo, Spektrum radio receiver with a Mylaps transponder for lap tracking. Will be looking to upgrade the receiver with the Antenna-less designs like the SR2100 from Spektrum.
There is not a lot of room under the polycarbonate Montech Body Shell and the cooling fan will need to be mounted in a central spot to fit. As I said this is the pro version and yes you need to be a pro at a lot of things to build one of these high speed weapons. Even laying the wiring as low as I could still may cause some contact between the rear pod and the body shell which could effect the suspension travel range. Only time will tell.
Regarding the tyre selection, information on our local indoor asphalt track and other racers there ran a soft on the rear and medium to hard on the front but found the medium hardness tyre ran better on this high grip surface. I'll be running the Ulti Medium rear and Hard front with a mild flex chassis arrangement.
In less than one year Geelong Rc Racers built up this indoor facility and recently held the State titles for Victoria, Australia. This three day event was broadcast over you tube and was a spectacular event by all accounts. The local long-time drivers like Andy Cooke and Carter Sims battled it out in the 1/12 Open class while Tony Pierrero laid down some nice lines but only managed a 6th placing due to stock motor failures. There were lots of great drivers on this day but the Geelong Rc Racers club stood out as a great host and showed us all how to run a race event on a great indoor track.
The concourse prize is awarded to the best paint work on the race entries at either before or after racing. Due to the high volume of classes the racing was prioritised, and the aesthetic judging came later. The club support members got a great chance to see the effort drivers put into their paint work and choose the standout models. A raffle was also undertaken by the club with some great sponsor prizes and car kits like the TT-02 and mini stadium trucks from Hobbies Direct, Speedy RC, Team Powers, KWR Engineering, SimsSpec engineering and some people would say Xray but that is just the huge group of Team Drivers Xray sponsor in Victoria and dominated the podiums across most classes.
As for the Virtual world of RC Racing, VRC Pro has been the best racing simulator in aiding my training and improving performance in this online RC world as well as on track racing. This proving ground is great for testing car set up changes and test the effects on handling and performance to best suit your driving style.
There are daily race events you can enter when you download the free version, there is also a game package available on Steam. there are loads of tracks packs and membership options if you choose to play against some of the best in the online world of RC racing.
Well I hope you have enjoyed this flyby introduction into the world of 1/12th Pan car racing and hope to see you back soon to track my progress for this coming season of racing these high-performance machines at my local club in Geelong.
