All you need to know about RC Drifting.

What is RC?

RC stands for Radio Control. Commonly known as Remote Control and is a growing hobby. Don't be fooled by toy grade stuff(E.G. QD car). Hobby grade RC requires much more settings, tunings to the car itself just like a real car. Here you'll find information on how to get started, what u need and what u need to do. Most information available are for beginners to this sport. If you feel that I've missed out any important details or wish to know more or add more to this note, feel free to send me a PM.


What is RC DRIFTING?

RC Drifting originated from 1:1 Scale Drifting Scene from Japan which involves the car to go sideways when entering a turn, it's not the fastest way around a track but it sure is the most stylish way to do it. Due to the unavailability of a track and legal issue in Singapore, we drifters turn to a more scaled down, cheaper and safer means to drift. That is how RC Drifting in Sunny Singapore started.
In the world of Real Racing you need the skills, the car and the looks plus lots of money to be comparative. Same goes for RC Drifting, skills come with practice and patience. That's something others can't help you out pretty much. RC Drifting certainly does brings you as much fun as what real cars can give, only at a lower cost.


What Kinds of RC Cars can DRIFT ?

All RC cars are drift-able as long as it is a 4WD car.


What is a Radio Controller (TX) ?

A Controller is a hand held device that lets you control your car using radio waves. There are of 2-9 channels(Like in a TV Channel) of Radio Controller available, for RC Cars 2 channel would be enough. 1 for throttle control and 1 for the steering(Servo).

There are two different types of Radio Controller available, Stick Controllers and the Wheel/Gun Controllers, which the later one being more popular in Singapore due to the ease of use and also getting the hang of it.

Most Entry-level Radio Controller are in AM (Amplitude Modulation) frequencies, where as intermediate and much more expensive Radio Controller are in FM (Frequency Modulation), PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) and the latest DSM Radios (Digital Spectrum Modulation). The later produced controllers provides a stronger and clearer signal to the Receiver. It does not matter if your Radio Controller is in what kind of Frequency/Modulation as most drift track in Singapore are reasonably small. Your controller's signal strength will have more than enough power to transmit signals to your receiver on the car.

Most Radio Controllers requires eight 1.2 volts AA Batteries or 11.1 volt Li-Po Battery. Getting eight rechargeable batteries will be better in the long run. There are also different brands and models of Radio Controllers to choose from.
E.G. Sanwa (Airtronics), Futaba, KO Propo and Spektrum.


What is a Receiver (RX) ?

A Receiver is a device that is fixed onto your car which receives signals from the transmitter and processes the information then sends it to the Servo and Electronic Speed Controller. The Receiver itself can be powered by separated batteries or the built in Battery Eliminator Circuit (BEC) in the ESC. It allows the standard 7.2 volts used to power the car to also power up the Receiver and servo which uses 6 volts without using separated batteries packs.


What is a Frequency Crystal?

A Frequency Crystal is small interchangeable "Chip" in a radio system that determines frequency that the radio will operate on. You will find one crystal in the Radio Controller and another in the Receiver with the same frequency. E.G. Radio Controller (TX 27.045 AM), Receiver (RX 27.045 AM). The labels TX means Transmission Crystal and RX Means Receiver Crystal.


What is a Motor ?

As the title suggests, a Motor is a device that drives the car forward and reverse. There are different sizes of Motor than can be used for 1:10 RC Cars. The most commonly used motors are the 540 size motors. In general, the three types or Motor that can be used are the Stock Motors, Modified Motors and Brushless Motors.

Stock Motors normally have up to 27 or 23 turns with a fixed timing of 24 degree which produce a good balance between performance and costs.

A Modified motor normally have around 20 turns or less with an adjustable timing. Modified motors are usually used for performances only and is not recommended for drifting due to the higher cost and a higher maintenance level.

A Brushless Motor looks a lot like a brushed motor that has been turned inside out with its magnets attached to the armature instead of the motor's casing. A Brushless Motor provides lots of torque and speed and is almost maintenance free. Brushless Motors requires an ESC that supports Brushless systems. However, due to the high pricing, it is seldom used for drifting.

More FAQ on Stock and Modified motor
Coming Soon


What is a Servo ?

A servo is a device used to operate the steering of the RC car like the steering wheel of a real car. A typical Servo comes in a shape of a rectangular box with one motor shaft coming out of one end and three wires out of the other end. These three wires consists of; Power, Ground, and Signal. Servos works with voltages between 4 and 6 volts. There are 2 different kinds of servo; Digital Servo and Analog Servo.

Digital Servo being a better servo due to the higher speed and torque. Due to the cost, it is not recommended. A Standard Servo would be good enough in handling a drift car.


What is a Battery Pack ?

A Battery Pack consists of 6 individual, 1.2 volts battery to form a pack of 7.2 volts battery that is used as a main power source to power the car. There are several types of Batteries; Ni-Cd (Nickel Cadmium), Ni-Mh (Nickel Metal Hydride), Li-Po Battery (Lithium Polymer) and Li-Ion Battery (Lithium Ion a.k.a A123)
(Li-Po and Li-Ion batteries are widely used in mobile phones, palm tops, laptops etc.)

Ni-Cd is one the most commonly used batteries for electric RC Cars due amount of power they provide. Ni-Cd batteries have a limited lifetime due to the low capacity, heavy and very prone to what some might call, "memory effect" which refers to recharging a Ni-Cd battery that has not been fully discharged and it "remembers" the old charge amount and continues from there till next time you use it. The memory effect is caused by crystallization of the battery's substances and can permanently reduce your battery's lifetime, even making it useless. You should completely discharge the battery and fully recharge it again at least once every few weeks.

Ni-Mh batteries are the later introduced batteries to replace Ni-Cd batteries. Ni-Mh batteries is less affected by "memory effects" than Ni-Cd and thus require less maintenance and conditioning. The capacity of a Ni-Mh is approximately twice the capacity of Ni-Cd. On the other hand, Ni-Mh do cause problems at very high or low temperatures. Nevertheless, they can still be used for RC drifting.

Li-Po batteries have a lower weight due to the lightweight material used in construction which in turn increased in play time. Some Speed Controllers can be calibrated to prevent excessive discharge during use. Excessive discharge can damage the battery. Li-Po chargers are also required to be used and that may bring up the cost of using Li-Po batteries.

Li-Ion batteries have generally lower punch/power due to its norminal voltage around 6.6v. However, the battery is robust and rarely needs to be balanced. It can be used without worrying about over-discharging. Therefore, its means that you can fully discharge it on your car. In fact, Li-Ion batteries will power down immediately if it ran out of power. Li-Ion chargers are also required to be used and that may bring up the cost of using Li-Ion batteries.


What is a Speed Controller ?

A Speed controller is a device that controls the amount of power that goes to the motor. There are two types of Speed Controller available; Mechanical Speed Control (MSC) and the Electronic Speed Controller (ESC). We will not go into details on MSCs as it is rarely used.

ESC stands for Electronic Speed Controller. It is an electronic component that controls throttle input by regulating the current being sent to the motor. ESCs regulates the on/off timing in milliseconds, of the output to vary the speed. Hence saves power compared to MSCs which use resistors to bleed off excess current. ESC's also save space and weight and most importantly there is zero moving parts as compared to a MSC.


What kind of Motor is suitable for DRIFTING ?

Most motors can be used for drifting. To keep the cost low, use a Tuned Silver Can Motor or a Tamiya Sport-Tuned motor.


What kind of Servo can be used for DRIFTING ?

Any standard size servo can be used: E.G. Futaba 3003, Tamiya TSU-01, Sanwa 102,103,112 etc.


What kind of tires can be used for DRIFTING ?

There are several types of drift tires in the market today: E.G. Yokomo Drift Tires, Tamiya Drift Tires, HPI Stage D T-Tires, Kawada Drift Tires and last but not least, PVC Drift Tires.
We prefer to use the PVC Drift Tires due to the low cost, better control over the car and lower wear rate compared to other tires.


What is Pinion and Spur ?

The Pinion gear is the smaller metal gear attached directly to your motor shaft and the Spur gear is the larger gear which the pinion meshes with. There are 2 types of pitch for the gears; 48 Pitch or 64 Pitch. The number defines how many teeth there are on the gears for a fixed circumference. 48 Pitch has fewer teeth per centimeter and is stronger as a result.


What it means by Gear Ratio ?

The Gear Ratio tells you how many times your motor is going to have to turn in order to make the wheels turn by one complete round/revolution. In other words, if the gear ratio is 1.0 then for every round/rotation of the motor, the wheels would go one complete round/revolution. Getting the correct gear ratio for the motor is probably 1 of the most important aspect of your car's set-up and it will also affect your car's run time.

If you get the gear ratio wrong, it will not just make your car slower but also damage the motor by causing it to overheat. Most damage to the motor and brushes are caused by "over gearing", in other words, setting the overall gear ratio to too small a number. This is because at lower ratios the motor is trying to get the wheels moving to a high speed as soon as you push it to full throttle. This puts a lot of resistance on the motor and it heats up very quickly. - It has been known for motors to get so hot that it causes internal parts to melt causing serious damage or even fire.

It is a huge challenge to find the exact Gear Ratio for each motor. One may ask around how others geared their cars and see what ratios they are using and then choose the correct gear ratios for your own car.


How do I calculate my Final Drive Ratio ?

First and foremost, you must know what is your car's Internal Gear Ratio varies from car to car. E.G. Yokomo CM, CGM, SSG, Black Special and RaySpeed is 2.35.

So now lets calculate the Final Drive Ratio by taking the Spur Divided by the Pinion and Multiply the Internal Ratio.

Example:
Spur: 70 teeth
Pinion: 30 teeth
Internal Ratio: 2.35

70 Divided by 30 = 2.33
2.33 Multiply by 2.35 = 5.48

Final Drive Ratio = 5.48


What Gear Ratio should i use for a Silver Can motor?

It is advised to get a Final Drive Ratio of 5.00 to 5.50.
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Credits:
Written by www.SGDrifters.com (Singapore's First RC Drifting Community)
Summarized By kelvintwt