Red RC » Accessories

November 27, 2006

DIY front brakes for MZ1 Rally Game chassis

MZ1 Rally Game

Some enterprising Italian has decided that his MZ1 Rally Game chassis needed front brakes so he set about making it and then telling us how he did it. What he has essentially done is add a brake disk to the middle lay shaft and then mounted a braking system to the lower side of the radio plate which is activated by the throttle servo through a lever. The article does points out what i believe to be the big problem with this, stripping the front belt and pulley, but they say that this isnt a problem because of the way they have done it, also the Rally Game rubber tyres probably dont bite as much under braking as foam so the pressure will be less. They also state that it will require a very heavy duty front steering servo to handle the extra strain caused by the front wheel brakes.

Check out the article (in Italian) with lots of pictures here.

Source: RC Bazar [rcbazar.net]

November 16, 2006

RB Products Fuel Consumption quiz

RB Products Quiz

RB Products have a Fuel Consumption flash based quiz on their site in order to promote their cool orange fuel gun. Putting product promotion aside, the quiz is made up of 6 questions that try to teach you about fuel consumption in your engine and corrects a few misconceptions about how to get the most out of your engine. Go take the quiz and see how you do.

You can take the quiz from RB Products home page here.

Source: RB Products [rbproducts.com]

November 9, 2006

Serpent release drive calculator

Serpent drive calculator

Belgian racer Christophe De Vocht has developed a Drive Calculator program to work out drive ratios for all of Serpents current, and some older, models. The user can input all the pulley sizes as well as the tyre diameters for it to work out the ratio, it will also suggest a tyre size to get a user determined front to rear drive ratio too. As far as we are aware Christophe has also made versions for other manufacturers too.

You can download the drive calculator here or from the 960, 835 and 720 download pages on Serpent’s site.

Source: Serpent [mytsn.com]

November 9, 2006

Orcan Extreme motor cooler

New from Orcan is this ‘extreme motor cooler’. Now anything with ‘extreme’ in the name, no matter how uninteresting the actual product is, is bound to draw ones attention and this one did just that (plus it looks cool in the picture). Apparently once fitted into your electric car, in little or no time it manages to not just cool your motor, but bring it down to ‘Winter in Finland’ levels of coolness and keep it there. I dont need to explain why thats a good thing. Available now for EUR 89.

Source: SMI [smi-motorsport.de]

November 4, 2006

HPI Battery Level Indicator

HPI Battery level indicator

Now this is a cool little gizmo, simple and easy to use and essential for all those non racers out there who just want to drive their car, in this case a HPI, and have fun. Its a battery meter that gives you an indication of the power left in the receiver battery when you turn your car on. Your transmitter has a meter to tell you when it needs charging so it seems pretty natural that your car should have one too and if it prevents a Savage tearing off into a crowd of girl guides, or other random targets, then that can only be a good thing. Good thinking from the guys at HPI.

Source: HPI [hpi-europe.com]

November 3, 2006

3 Racing release Carrying Bag

3 Racing carry bag

Very similar to the bag of Team Magic, this new black and blue bag from optional parts makers 3 Racing seems to be a very nice product. Transporting your stuff to the track is made easy with the supplied wheels and a pull handle and all your racing parts will be safely contained within the 2 large and 2 small inner carrying boxes.

You can see more images and features here.

November 1, 2006

Blue Groove Pro Grips

Blue Groove Pro Grip

We feel we must give these ‘Pro Grips’ a special mention for being one of the uglier accessories to pimp your transmitter with this season. Made by Blue Groove RC Concepts out of North Carolina they are available in 4 colours and turn your normally slick, in this case M11, steering wheel into something more resembling Bob the Builders tractor wheel. Regardless of how they look i’m sure they work, and will allow even the sweatiest of racer the control they need to move over and go another lap down.

BGC have also released 5 rather nice solid billet steering wheels for your transmitter, perfect for those racers who feel the need to customize everything they bring to the track.

Source: Blue Groove RC Concepts [bluegrooveconcepts.com] via RCCA [radiocontrolzone.com]Â