What's the fastest around an off-road track?

[scoob]

2wd buggies, stadium trucks or 4wd buggies. This is something I've always wondered. I know it will depend a little on track layout and of course driver but, as a general rule, which is it? Rate them 1,2, and 3. Also rate them 1,2, and 3 in drivablity or difficulty negotiating the track. :)

What about jumping? Is one style inherently easier to jump?

[highroller]

4wd would be the one where you could drive it more aggressively thereby the lap times and speeds probably would be the best. Buggy probably second and stadium trucks last or close to a buggy.

When I first started in RC there were mostly 2wd buggies, then 4wd which were heavier and couldn't be driven easily off table tops or big jumps. Early staduim trucks were made from converted buggies and 4wd vehicles the high center made them ill handling prone to tipping over. With the changes made in the different types of offroad vehicles it really doesn't matter how the track is layed out each has some benefit on certain parts of the track. Bumps may hinder a 4wd vehicle, but excel on turns while the 2wd vehicle may suffer on the turns (taken slower) but may handle jumps a little better.

[Combatcm]

I've actually seen that 2wd trucks are faster than any other electric car, by a large margin. The biggest thing is suspension. 4wd buggies have the edge over 2wd buggies though, but not as large as trucks compared to all buggies.

[Cain]

4wd buggies get my vote. Trucks usually are the slowest.

[racer234]

My track is pretty tight and doesn't have much of a straight, so the 4wd Buggies own up on the rest of us :p Then the 2wd buggies, and then the slowest; 2wd stadium trucks (thats what I drive!). That being said, my brother has a XXX-4, and I honestly enjoy driving my T4 more; maybe it's cause I'm used to my truck.

[soreloser]

on any track 4wd buggies will be the fastest, the depending on the track itself whether the 2wd or truck is faster. If it is a small high bite track 2wd will beat the truck, but if it is medium to bigger very slippery the truck will have an advantage cause of the wider tires. But all in all 4wd is the fastest and is a virtual tie between 2wd and truck.

[scoob]

This is kinda what I expected. Buggies should have a power/weight advantage on trucks and 4wd has the traction advantage on both. I have a T3 truck and like it alot. I think I'd like 2wd buggies best if there was somewhere to race them around here. Why aren't 4wd more popular? Sounds like they have awesome performance.

[Combatcm]

I contest. It would seem obvious that 4wd buggies are faster, but I don't think they are more dominant. Most buggies suspension has small travel and you can't take turns as aggresive as trucks. I still think it's truck/4wd/buggy.

http://www.lincolnrcracing.com/html/offroad/Results/Final%20Results%2004-19-2005%20OffRoad.htm

http://www.dirtrunners.com/documents/Mains%2004-24-2005.htm

These are two I found that 4wd are slower. I couldn't find any other ones that have mod truck and 4wd buggy in them. The first one was even a stock truck.

Any more opinions?

[gizmoguy303]

It depends on the track. On, smooth, low/medium bite tracks the 4WD buggy would dominate. On smooth, high-bite tracks, it would probably be either the 4WD buggy or the 2WD buggy. On rough tracks, or tracks with rough jumps, trucks would be faster.

I have found than 4WD buggies steer very well and are definitely faster in that respect, but they can be very unstable compared to a 2WD truck. When our track was just built for this off-road season, the jumps were rough and very unpredictable. Driving my XXX-4 was a lot of fun, but it was challenging to drive consistently through rough sections and the rough jumps of the track. When I went out to race my MF2, it was as smooth as butter. I didn't have to cringe everytime I flew off the big triple or went through the bumpy sections. :p

[pedeman]

at my local track, the 4WD nitro buggys def. dominate, by far, but SOME of the electric trucks come close... I prefer my Mini-t at the track because of the extra space for passing/racing, but the 1/10 scales' are fun, also.

The local track:
www.bumpsandjumpsrc.com

[JMan8108]

combatcm,
the lincoln track is the one i race at, it is a more casual type track so sometimes the mod truck and stock truck run together, so chances are that was a mod truck. also some results that werent posted were where one guy was getting in the 28 range with his 4wd, so those results are somewhat misleading.

[highroller]

In some areas tracks may only run stadium trucks, others may have buggy and stadium trucks while the variety of 4wd vehicles may be somewhat limited. But going back to the late 80's to mid 90's where stadium trucks went from conversions to purpose built kits then there were changes that made them handle better - in the beginning most had high center of gravity and suspension didn't have much tuning. 4wd had roughly 4-5 different types of vehicles that were very race worthy Yokomo Dogfighter - then the C4 and YZ10 (imported by Losi and later Associated), Koyosho Optima - Optima Mid (SE), Race Prep Radiant, Schmacher, MRP Shotgun, Tamiya and MRP had a 4wd RC conversion. 2wd vehicles RC10, Losi JR (x, xx etc), Kyosho Utima, Schumacher Cat, Traxxas TCB and Tamiya. The only place 4wd had a disadvantage was on tabletops (2ft high) and on woop te dos you have to try to clear the middle and land on top of third or sometimes the front nosed into the jump. Turns could be taken with more speed than buggies or stadium trucks so you had an advantage of carring more speed on the straight sections. Buggies had the advantage on jumps (most depends on driver ability and how well the chassis was setup) had to slow considerably to make the turns and since it was only 2wd on loose or rutted tracks you couldn't use full throttle. Stadium trucks had one big disadvantage, high center of gravity (newer versions would be close to a buggy lower center and more tuning) while they had better clearance for jumps they were prone to flipping even when taking turns too hard they tended to flip.
When looking at lap times or speeds consider the track conditions and level of drivers' ability. But normally 4wd would have 2-4 laps (stock) over the buggy and truck classes while the buggy and stadium truck may have close to the same or the buggy a 1-2 lap advantage.
When you get into driving two vehicles buggy and 4wd or stadium truck/buggy on the same day you kinda have to remember to change your driving style or how you approach the turns and jumps.

[InspGadgt]

In all the years I've raced and been a race director no matter what the track conditions 4wd modified buggy has always been the fastest electric vehicle on the track by a large margin. Even when the track is very bumpy and has large jumps they have been faster. Yes buggies have less suspension travel and ground clearance then trucks but they still have more then enough to soak up the bumps. A little bottoming out sometimes occurs off the larger jumps but even that does not slow up the 4wd enough for the other classes to catch it. Back when our off-road races were having a low turn out they used to run buggies and trucks all in 1 class. 2wd vehicles could run mod motors but 4wd's had to run a stock...even with a stock motor the 4wd buggies won most of the races.

[scoob]

Great disscusion guys. This is interesting. I am planning on racing my T3 in the future, but I'd much rather be racing a buggy, I have no choice. The only electic class left around here are trucks. I wish there was a track around here ( NC ) that focussed on ELECTRIC racing. Its all gotta be about stupid nitro :rolleyes: