The "Hot Setup" - Pondering Pods

[HomeRacingWorld]

So I was wondering if all of you racing could share YOUR thoughts and how you tune your pods.

Knowledge Base:

1. Do you always tape them?
2. Do you almost always change to a different hardness if available?
3. Suspension? Yay or Nay?
4. Do you still maintain body float?
5. Inline, SW, or AW. Do you approach each the same?

The goal is for you to SHOW your "hot setup". The standard things you do to start with and perhaps ended with to make your car competitive.

This could really assist those in clubs and for proxies. The thread could be featured and pinned with an easy link for sharing elsewhere

Thoughts?

[War Eagle River]

All personal choices. You should set/tune the car up for the track you are racing on and your driving style. As far as Proxy racing, that is a crap shoot. Different tracks, different drivers. Trying to find an in between for the car to perform to it’s potential can be mind numbing and frustrating. Practice, practice, practice…and maybe a little more practice. Then and only then will you be able to snatch pebble from hand.
1. Do you always tape them? No, every car reacts differently to dampening
2. Do you almost always change to a different hardness if available? Wood tracks like a stiffer chassis, plastic softer
3. Suspension? Yay or Nay? Sometimes, depends on what the car asks for
4. Do you still maintain body float? Yes
5. Inline, SW, or AW. Do you approach each the same? Depends on what the car performs best with. Weight, gearing, etc change with each configuration

[Area 51 Raceway NC]

1. Do you always tape them?

No

2. Do you almost always change to a different hardness if available?

Not Really with the plastic track I have

3. Suspension? Yay or Nay?

Depends on the track again and style of Racing what feels and works for you.

4. Do you still maintain body float?

Yes ABSOLUTELY!

5. Inline, SW, or AW. Do you approach each the same?

I like inline, But will do other configurations

I am no expert but I learn from others advice and experimentation and I do what ever Floats MY Bat Boat!

[gsnopoint]

Really like this question, always wondered what others did.
Caveat, just built a wood track and still playing with different setups, was on plastic.

1. Do you always tape them?
always found this interesting. It depends on the car, majority of my cars do not have tape. I loosen the pod from the chassis until it just slides in place. wondered if tape would negate the pod movement and just make it stiffer?

2. Do you almost always change to a different hardness if available?
not always, on plastic the standard (medium) chassis worked fine. Now that I am on wood, a stiffer chassis and pod seems better. Look forward to more testing on this.

3. Suspension? Yay or Nay?
Use to run my sideways group 5 with a slot.it magnetic suspension. Car ran smooth. Haven't used it on anything else.

4. Do you still maintain body float?
yes, always.

5. Inline, SW, or AW. Do you approach each the same?
approach them the same. will screw the motors in the pod when I can or add shoe glue to decrease the motor moving in the pod. Was interesting to see that in the GT3 proxy that many of the entries were SW. Would have thought that an AW would be preferred. Still learning.

Since we are pondering pods, be interested in knowing also if one adds weight to the pod or prefers to add just to the chassis?
Seen some builds here on HRW where one stiffens the pod near the back axles.

Thanks for starting this Harry.

Glen

[Brumos RSR]

So I was wondering if all of you racing could share YOUR thoughts and how you tune your pods.

Knowledge Base:

1. Do you always tape them?

It depends, Thunderslots I like better with no tape. NSR classics, tape

2. Do you almost always change to a different hardness if available?

I’ve built contenders on wood with both medium chassis and two with hard chassis. All are cars raced on routed tracks.

3. Suspension? Yay or Nay?

Yes, I use them on the majority of my builds except my Championship winning Can Am Mclaren which was on on screws and three wheeled it’s way to 4 wins. 😀

4. Do you still maintain body float?

Just a little as, I’ve found too much can actually upset a car in a turn

5. Inline, SW, or AW. Do you approach each the same?

Sidewinder is the hot set up for proxies.



Thoughts?

[Kevan]

Knowledge Base:

1. Do you always tape them? Always. Tune with varying amounts and position. Also, soft silicone washers help here.

2. Do you almost always change to a different hardness if avavailable? I don't like floppy pods, reinforcing where possible.

3. Suspension? Yay or Nay? Only on Slot Rally stages.

4. Do you still maintain body float? Yes but only a little, just enough to let the chassis and pod work independently.

5. Inline, SW, or AW. Do you approach each the same? SW all day long unless inline is specified for the class (GP / F1).