The Community of Remote Controlled Cars - Revisited
From Mod Mania
The community of remote controlled cars - Revisited
Task One MOD MANIA ESSAY The toy Industry has been around for centuries, and has had a big influx in terms of innovation and technology that have been used to develop toys to perform more tasks for the user both complex and simple especially in the 21st century. Toys and technology have combined together to produce endless possibilities of toys that entertain both children and adults of all ages for hours on end. The subject that I have chosen to perform my research on, are Radio Controlled Cars. The first Remote Controlled Car Club I began my research on was, the Boronia Radio Controlled Car Club, which is located in Victoria, This club to my surprise prohibits Nitro powered cars, which are the dominant type of car in the market followed by electric powered cars. The reason this was in place was because of the noise the Nitro cars caused, which was not taken kindly by the surrounding neighbors. The club only runs electric powered cars which produce almost no sound whatsoever. The club contains a committee, which has 5 main positions within it which include the president, vice president, secretary. treasurer and the editor. The club also had a list of sponsor which helps its funding, perhaps the biggest one was “TAMIYA” the leading Remote Controlled Car producer from Japan, and I know this also because I used to buy my R/C cars from this maker as an adolescent. Further in depth browsing thru the website, I was able to gather the events that are run by the R/C club which are help every Wednesday of the month, and a committee meeting which is held on the first Tuesday of the month. The clubs racing works by a point system, there was unfortunately no Information of the current standings of any of the members. The website of the R/C club also included a Forum for the members to discuss various topics within the topic of this hobby. The first point of interest that came to my attention was the page for rules, classes and code of conduct which highlights all the expectations the club had for its members, the classes which were interesting was the F1 classes, which are 1; 12 scale electric F1 R/C cars. The next Forum that visited was the ‘General Chat ‘page where member’s discuss topics like the weather on the race day, misplaced parts at the venue and etc. I noticed a MOD which was performed onto the R/C cars were the installation of on board cameras, so the members could race from the comfort of a seat and in front of a screen, and have a better judgment of when to take over other racers during a race. This however came as a surprise to me, as I believed the enjoyment of the hobby came when the user raced their R/C car from a podium where you could experience the race more than sitting, but the disadvantage of that was the bad judgment of timing of when the user needed to take over another car during the race. I also continued my research onto other R/C clubs and one in particular was a Nitro powered off road car club located in Castlemaine, which is approximately a 1 hour drive North of Melbourne. The main cars that are raced here are 1/8 scale Nitro buggies, 1/10th scale 2WD and 4WD electric buggies. The club holds it’s off road event on the first Sunday of every month. Some of the problems that came to my attention on the forum of this community, that were discussed on the topic of off- road racing was the fact that the cars would tend to collect a lot of dirt during racing which prohibited a lot of them from finishing races, another was the problem of the cars over heating due to the strain the engines face for going up hills and extra friction of dirt ground. The community did discuss ways to overcome this problem and so they included ideas for MOD’s to be added to the R/C cars. The overheating problem was easily overcome with the installation of a small fan that operated independently from the power supply of a rechargeable battery. The second issue was the buildup of dust and dirt within the engine bay which could often stall the cars and required them to be dusted out, and the solution for this was to take plastic strips and tape them to any gaps within the body of the off road vehicle therefore minimizing the issue of dust and dirt building up within the engine bay.
One thing that I noticed that was absent from both these clubs was the fact that there was no evidence of the clubs providing information of any new comer information, of what a new member might want to purchase as a starting point, which could be helpful within the community to help promote the hobby to a broader audience. The reason I think this is evident is because the club wants to remain exclusive to people who are truly interested and passionate about the hobby.
Further things that R/C car racers would do to cure the overheating problem are within the core engine operations as discussed over international R/C forum site. One of these methods is through the fuel that is used, certain mixes are better for certain conditions and types of engines, also depending on budget as to what fuels it is possible to run with some fuels exceeding $20 per Liter. Due to this many of the more experienced racers opt to mix their own fuels due not only the price but to get the preferred mix ratio that they find works best with their equipment. There are many factors that contribute the what mix ratios people run, some being their engine running too hot, blowing glow plug, engine not running smooth, or purely cost. A standard mix of nitro R/C fuel generally contains methanol/caster oil/nitro with 20% caster oil and 20% nitro. The main variance between fuel mixes is the percentage of nitro used as it by far the most expensive part at $15 plus per Liter. As a 10% nitro mix can cost as little as $4.30 per Liter and a 50% mix costing $10 per Liter when the fuel is home mixed. Due to these cost it scares many of the users away from using a higher nitro mix, the other reason being that it wears out the motor much quicker due to greater heat and possibly higher RPM (Revelations Per Minute), and with nitro have a lesser affect when percentages are higher users’ generally don’t find too much of a gain from it. However the positive to running a higher nitro percentage is that purely the power of the car is increased, which instantly can give you a head start on your competition. Other subjects that were highly discussed via this forum site was the selection of glow plugs and carburetor fuel richness settings. It is mainly new beginning racers that post entries about these topics where more experienced racers then post their knowledge and experiences about things to do with these issues in order to help out the newcomers. The forum site seemed to be great when it came to asking questions that you were unsure of and there was always someone there to guide the person on the basics of glow plugs to the ins and out of the effects of fuel mix ratios.
Another great online location for beginning racers is via rccartips.com where they cover everything a beginner needs to know when it comes to both Electric and Nitro powered R/C cars. Everything from prices to make sure you are getting a good deal on what you buy, tools you will need to maintain your equipment and even basic DIY jobs. Although because this site is purely internet based it doesn’t have any direct connections to R/C clubs that you can find in your area. The only real way to find out about local clubs is to go to your local hobby shop and hope that they can point you in the right direction.
Also as most forms of sports there is a general magazine that most from this collective purchase, in this case for dirt racing R/C car drivers “Radio Controlled Car Action” and from the tarmac circuit racing side “Racing Lines”. Each of these magazines are released monthly and contain all the national and cover some of the major international news, they also have articles reviewing new products that have been released onto the market, but after reading what people who purchase these magazines said about the articles they seem more like a advertisement for the product, not criticizing or highlighting the negatives of the product. These magazines also contain one or two step by step guide to a DIY Job, whether it may be a simple task of cleaning the fuel line, or a far advanced task of changing a piston head. These magazines can be found at most newsagents for just under $8, other than the Advertisement like reviews that some people don’t like in them is the amount of ads that are found though it.
The remote control car community is one that has many different outlets within the community, whether is being involved only in a club and race days, or to the serious enthusiasts that help others out via the many online forms. Through the many methods such as magazines, internet forums or just personal opinions it is easy to find the information you seek in such a friendly and open community.
References http://www.brccc.org http://rccars.castlemaine.net/ http://www.sercc.com.au/ Adam Reza S3236102
References http://rcgroups.com , http://www.rc-truckncar-tuning.com , http://www.rccartips.com , http://rccaraction.com Steven Mackenzie S3330689
