Olly?s 1:12 Blog - Part 5
Part five of Olly Jefferies' exciting blog sees the Team Associated driver meddaling in the dark arts of LiPo powered batteries. Once you have a LiPo pack you never go back.
Over the Christmas holiday I did a little testing at the F1 / GT10 meeting in Tamworth. This proved extremely useful; as the club had laid out the track in the same layout they had for the national a few weeks previously. It was good to see Andy Griffiths had the same idea as me; he was looking for some extra running outside of the national calendar and he would provide stiff opposition and a good benchmark.
Andy and I drove our modified cars in the first two rounds. We then switched back to Pro Stock for the last two rounds of qualifying and the final, our times for rounds one and two not being counted.
I decided to try LiPo with a 10.5 motor; something that everyone, including some of my sponsors, had told me would not work. However, you have to try these things for yourself! I was surprised at the pace and I had to revert back to an old LRP motor, as my new x12 does not seem in the best of health for some unknown reason.
I spoke to a few drivers who have tried 10.5 with Lipo so I had a rough starting point on gearing etc. The car seemed ok, I didn?t need to change the set up as it was my own car and I wanted to focus purely on speed.
The car did feel way different. I think with stock you notice the weight difference much more than with the modified class. Since the last national I have switched to Reedy cells. I still retain my sponsorship with LRP for motors and speed controllers, but the Reedy connection sits better with my American paymasters.
Olly Jefferies and his Associated 12R5.
I got the car to go ok, it was still not perfect but I felt much more confident that this would work. You have to have a different mindset when driving the car as there will always be cars that are quicker on the straight so this makes it easy to then overdrive through the infield. You have to let the car do the work and use the lower weight to maximum effect, if you mess up a corner you don?t have the power to get the car back. It does feel like you have to drive closer to the ?edge? but I think if you can do this there is a chance it might work (watch this space as I intend to give it a go at Plymouth.)
The biggest change I found was in the way I drove the car. You have to drive it harder without being aggressive and scrubbing speed. I discovered once you have found the limit of grip and corner speed you have to then keep the car on that edge. I plan to test again at Newbury before the national to try and find a bit more pace but feel this is still possible. I think there is more to find in regards to tyres as with less weight and power it?s much easier on tyres so it may be possible to find more corner speed with different compounds/size.
Back to the Tamworth meeting and straight away I had the legs on Andy as he took longer to adjust to the feel of Lipo and 10.5. To the untrained eye (namely my dad?s) the car certainly looked quick but I was not that sure it was as quick as everyone was saying it was.
By the final Andy had got it together! I set FTD and from the buzzer Andy pressured me until he got caught out in traffic. From there on it was a stroll to the finish line to take the win. Of course this meeting was not about winning, it was about trying something different, something I could not risk trying at a national with limited runs. Well done to the Tamworth club for a fun meeting that blew the Christmas holiday cobwebs away, great meeting with a good turn out.
Another 1st place for Olly at Tamworth.
I am convinced that with a new LRP X12 10.5 motor and the new LRP stock speedo I will have for Plymouth, my Associated R5 will be even quicker in this specification. Will it be quick enough to be competitive? Well, we will have to wait and see. Having been the first person to win a modified national with a LiPo car it would be great to do the double and score a LiPo win in pro stock. Only time will tell.
It?s the first of the long haul nationals in Plymouth at the end of January. I will have my brother for company and he has got himself a Euros place, which he is very pleased about. Hopefully he can help with trying a few things as we move closer to the Euros in March. Tune in next week for more on the blog after the Plymouth national.
Keep tuned for more development news on the R5.
In my next blog I plan to focus on installing radio gear. This is something that can be a pain in the butt but can certainly make a big difference to the car.
Olly Jefferies and his Associated 12R5.
I got the car to go ok, it was still not perfect but I felt much more confident that this would work. You have to have a different mindset when driving the car as there will always be cars that are quicker on the straight so this makes it easy to then overdrive through the infield. You have to let the car do the work and use the lower weight to maximum effect, if you mess up a corner you don?t have the power to get the car back. It does feel like you have to drive closer to the ?edge? but I think if you can do this there is a chance it might work (watch this space as I intend to give it a go at Plymouth.)
The biggest change I found was in the way I drove the car. You have to drive it harder without being aggressive and scrubbing speed. I discovered once you have found the limit of grip and corner speed you have to then keep the car on that edge. I plan to test again at Newbury before the national to try and find a bit more pace but feel this is still possible. I think there is more to find in regards to tyres as with less weight and power it?s much easier on tyres so it may be possible to find more corner speed with different compounds/size.
Back to the Tamworth meeting and straight away I had the legs on Andy as he took longer to adjust to the feel of Lipo and 10.5. To the untrained eye (namely my dad?s) the car certainly looked quick but I was not that sure it was as quick as everyone was saying it was.
By the final Andy had got it together! I set FTD and from the buzzer Andy pressured me until he got caught out in traffic. From there on it was a stroll to the finish line to take the win. Of course this meeting was not about winning, it was about trying something different, something I could not risk trying at a national with limited runs. Well done to the Tamworth club for a fun meeting that blew the Christmas holiday cobwebs away, great meeting with a good turn out.
Another 1st place for Olly at Tamworth.
I am convinced that with a new LRP X12 10.5 motor and the new LRP stock speedo I will have for Plymouth, my Associated R5 will be even quicker in this specification. Will it be quick enough to be competitive? Well, we will have to wait and see. Having been the first person to win a modified national with a LiPo car it would be great to do the double and score a LiPo win in pro stock. Only time will tell.
It?s the first of the long haul nationals in Plymouth at the end of January. I will have my brother for company and he has got himself a Euros place, which he is very pleased about. Hopefully he can help with trying a few things as we move closer to the Euros in March. Tune in next week for more on the blog after the Plymouth national.
Keep tuned for more development news on the R5.
In my next blog I plan to focus on installing radio gear. This is something that can be a pain in the butt but can certainly make a big difference to the car.
