Moving on Up,,,
After my first race win I waited around for the awards to be given out. Much to my surprise that award amounted to a picture! But, a wins a win. I was also told that the next time I raced it would be in the modified class. Those new parts I had installed were not OEM stock replacement parts so I would have to complete against other cars that had upgrades also. I had watched the modified races and those cars were beasts! They had replaced the stock electric motor with a hi-performance motor. They used special Ni-Cad racing battery packs. New tires were used along with a host of other parts to improve handling. To be competitive I was going to have to do the same. So back to The Ranch Pit Stop in Pomona as they had all the top performance parts in stock.
Since my first trip to Pomona I had taken notice ofwhat other racers were using for motors. I told the counter guy what I wanted and he asked what car I would be putting it into. When I told him a Hot Shot he said the motor I wanted was a very good motor for a 2WD car but the Hot Shot needed something different as it was a 4WD car. It had to do with the gearing in those two differentials. I also needed a new pinon gear to get the most out of the new motor. OK sounds good, what else would I need? Once again that counter filled up. He added more aluminum and steel suspension parts. There was a steering upgrade kit plus tires and wheels. Better ball links and and a stronger servo. He kept adding stuff until he said "That's it, that's all there is". It was a big pile of stuff and the price tag was pretty big too! On the drive home I added up how much I had spent so far. There was the car, radio, battery and charger from the initial purchase (+$450). There were the the parts needed from my crash (+$125). The new charger and batteries (+$100). Now with these new parts I was in over $1100.00. I could have bought a nice used full size car for that! I figured I had spent over a third of the profits from building all those planes and the P-51. "Quality Costs" was true! Upon my arrival at home I went to work on the car.
With all those new suspension parts, motor, steering servo and everything else, I needed to completely disassemble the car. I was getting good at this so it went fast and I soon had the car in pieces. This time I took great care when removing the screws from the radio tub and replaced the old servo with the new one. I took even greater care when screwing it back together. I had bought some blue stuff you put on the screw and it would harden after the screw was in place. So even if you stripped out the hole it would still hold. That tub was also what most of the suspension parts attached to. I had bought hardened steel parts for the suspension pivot points and anywhere else that needed to be beefed up. When I was done I had a pile of original parts that I could use as spares. Suspension arms, suspension pins and screw pins, ball connectors, a motor, drive shafts, etc. If I got another radio tub I had enough parts for almost a second Hot Shot! I had even replaced the stock plastic roll cage with an aluminum one. The only original parts left were the differentials, speed controller, the wing and 1/2 of the radio tub! I hoped all these upgrades would be worth it.
With the car completely rebuilt and all that aluminum sparkling it was again time to hit the track!
New Lessons Learned,,,
After my first race win I waited around for the awards to be given out. Much to my surprise that award amounted to a picture! But, a wins a win. I was also told that the next time I raced it would be in the modified class. Those new parts I had installed were not OEM stock replacement parts so I would have to complete against other cars that had upgrades also. I had watched the modified races and those cars were beasts! They had replaced the stock electric motor with a hi-performance motor. They used special Ni-Cad racing battery packs. New tires were used along with a host of other parts to improve handling. To be competitive I was going to have to do the same. So back to The Ranch Pit Stop in Pomona as they had all the top performance parts in stock.
Since my first trip to Pomona I had taken notice ofwhat other racers were using for motors. I told the counter guy what I wanted and he asked what car I would be putting it into. When I told him a Hot Shot he said the motor I wanted was a very good motor for a 2WD car but the Hot Shot needed something different as it was a 4WD car. It had to do with the gearing in those two differentials. I also needed a new pinon gear to get the most out of the new motor. OK sounds good, what else would I need? Once again that counter filled up. He added more aluminum and steel suspension parts. There was a steering upgrade kit plus tires and wheels. Better ball links and and a stronger servo. He kept adding stuff until he said "That's it, that's all there is". It was a big pile of stuff and the price tag was pretty big too! On the drive home I added up how much I had spent so far. There was the car, radio, battery and charger from the initial purchase (+$450). There were the the parts needed from my crash (+$125). The new charger and batteries (+$100). Now with these new parts I was in over $1100.00. I could have bought a nice used full size car for that! I figured I had spent over a third of the profits from building all those planes and the P-51. "Quality Costs" was true! Upon my arrival at home I went to work on the car.
With all those new suspension parts, motor, steering servo and everything else, I needed to completely disassemble the car. I was getting good at this so it went fast and I soon had the car in pieces. This time I took great care when removing the screws from the radio tub and replaced the old servo with the new one. I took even greater care when screwing it back together. I had bought some blue stuff you put on the screw and it would harden after the screw was in place. So even if you stripped out the hole it would still hold. That tub was also what most of the suspension parts attached to. I had bought hardened steel parts for the suspension pivot points and anywhere else that needed to be beefed up. When I was done I had a pile of original parts that I could use as spares. Suspension arms, suspension pins and screw pins, ball connectors, a motor, drive shafts, etc. If I got another radio tub I had enough parts for almost a second Hot Shot! I had even replaced the stock plastic roll cage with an aluminum one. The only original parts left were the differentials, speed controller, the wing and 1/2 of the radio tub! I hoped all these upgrades would be worth it.
With the car completely rebuilt and all that aluminum sparkling it was again time to hit the track!
New Lessons Learned,,,
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