Readers write

Radio Control Car Action, Sep 2002

TIFOSI TALK

I loved the F201 review in your July 2002 issue! Ever since I first saw pictures of it, I've known that it would have to be one of my next RC cars, and after reading Steve's great review, I realized I must get one. I am 15 years old and a diehard Tifosi. I attended the Canadian GP last year and got to see the actual F2001 up close; Tamiya's F201 is as close as you can get to driving the actual car. By the way, there was once a 4WD F1 car. In 1969, the Cosworth 4WD did some testing and raced in one GP, but it was soon axed because it had many problems. That same season, Lotus, Matra and McLaren also tried a 4WD layout but decided to let the rally guys have the 4WD.

Mike Lanorini

I had no idea 4WD was ever tried in F1; that's really interesting! Your letter prompted a little Internet digging (very little; all I did was go to Google), which netted (no pun intended) this fine web page:

http://8w.forix.com/4wd69.html. Check it out, 4WD fans!

-Pete

CERAMICS CLASS

In the July 2002 issue of RC Car Action, the "Power Up!" article mentioned that ceramic bearings contain balls with a ceramic-nitride coating over a steel ball. This is incorrect-at least, as far as Acer Racing's ceramics are concerned. Ours are made entirely of silicon nitride; they are not simply coated steel balls. If they were, their density would be similar to that of steel balls. In fact, the ceramic balls are extremely lightweight yet even harder than tungsten carbide. So ceramic balls are quite different from, for example, nitride-coated shock shafts, which are steel with a special coating.

We just thought we'd take this opportunity to let you know what the new ceramics are all about. And they are very different from the ceramics of the 1980s, which were good at the time, but they had a brittleness factor that has been completely eliminated by the new siliconnitride balls. Please pass the word. Thanks!

Eric Williams

Acer Racing

Thanks for the great insights, Eric-and nice ob working the Acer Racing plug in there, too! s Kyle Broflovski would say, "Ne learned something today." Dude, sweet!

-Pete

YOU LIKE ME ... YOU REALLY LIKE ME!

I don't know how many people have said anything about this yet, but I have to compliment you on the July 2002 version of "Backlot." It's ... original. Let's start with the "Connect the Dots"! To draw an awesome RC car whoa, that was a doozie. Next, let's talk about the "A-Maze-Ing Race!" I thought it was odd that I kept ending up in the same spot, no matter which direction I went ... unless I went around the outside. As for "The Disappearing Pylon," it didn't disappear when l followed the directions. "The Name Game!" was pretty cool. I didn't know that "Kyosho" was pronounced Kyo-show; I've always pronounced it Kie-oh-show. And how about that "RC WORD FIND." All I can say is, it's rather ironic that the first four lines contain the words "DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME." Anyway, I have to say that I got a real kick out of it. You should put more stuff like that in RC Car Action; it gives us RC'ers a good laugh. Pete, you are the man. Keep up the good work!

Tony F.

Aw, shucks; 'tweren't nuthin'. I only printed this letter because Nathaniel Dragon hurt my widdle feelings in the August issue's "Backlot."

-Pete

GET THE DRIFT

I'm not sure whether you guys have hears or "drifting," but it's a huge thing in Japan. Drifting only recently became popular in the States; why are we always last to get the fun stuff? The drifting scene in Japan and the U.S. is completely dominated by FWD, RWD and AWD imports; I have yet to see a domestic try it.

Drifting is basically getting your car sideways down a road, but it's nothing like power sliding. A drifter tunes his car so the rear wheels can easily break traction and go into a controlled slide through turns. Each drift through a turn is controlled by precise throttle, brake, clutch, hand-brake and steering inputs so the car maintains its drifting line and doesn't spin out; you can't do that with Detroit muscle.

Well, this thing known as drifting has caught on with RC cars. I've been around a few RC web boards, and there are at least three threads on drifting. The one I visit most often is on HPI's board. The current thread is in its fourth version and still growing. It would be nice if you dropped by the HPI board and recognized shockwave, robstoys racing and spoolin for their efforts to promote this new way of driving RC cars. They have also turned their TL015 and HPI RS4s into drift machines, and there is even a drifting thread for the Micro RS4. Drifting is definitely gaining popularity in the USA!

Harry Chen

We drift! Ever since the touring-car scene started with the Tamiya TA01, we've always dug 4WD sedans that could be pitched sideways in a controlled slide just about forever. We'll keep an eye on the RC drifting scene, and sure; I'll hit the HPI bulletin board and recognize. Maybe shockwave, robstoys and spoolin can drop some science on the rccaraction.com BB. (Do people still say "dropping science?" I'm 34, I have no idea.)