Driving question...

I think everyone here has done this a time or two, and was pondering the reason why.....I know I have..

When coming out of turn 3, why is there the tendency to oversteer the course, and have to make left rudder corrections in the back chute...
But coming out of turn 6, the tendency is not as pronounced?

Is it depth perception? The boat going away from your view point ? Prop rotation ?
Riggers and mono's all seem to do it from time to time..

Discuss.....

My driving is terrible in the back straight! im either a mile too wide or in too tight! I wish i could be more consistent! Im blaming my issue with old age and bad eyes!

I’ve noticed this phenomenon in the UK too, it does lead to some interesting passes on the back straight when you’ve gone in a straight line and the boat next to yours is turning in to you…

The boat always is further away from you off 3 than it is off 6. Entry to 1 is going to be easier because the boat is closer to you and you should be able to see the line easier since it's in front of the buoys versus behind it. When I overthink things is when my performance drops, and I oversteer. Trust your memory and try to be as smooth with your inputs as you can. Shouldn't matter what you drive. Just my thoughts.

All my boats are trimmed to drift left when not steering for this reason , been doing it for many years.

I would have to agree with TJ on this. I have a much harder time keeping close to the buoys in the right hand turn than I do on the left. I think distance and depth perception has something to do with this but, also, I think it's a parallax issue as well. I know I tend to run in lanes 3 and further out just due to this alone

Entering the back shoot where you want certainly is a challenge, how I have always sorted it out is to trim my radio such that I can enter turn 1 wide open and I have my rudder stick set such that I go full right and my boat will turn a perfect arc around the turn. I think people get themselves in trouble when they have too much throw in their set up, thus over turning the boat is more pronounced. When I’m lucky enough to have lane 1 I want my boat to rail the buoys, even when I’m wider than lane 1 it works well for me.

All that said I do not like the back straight when it gets crowded with other racers or dead boats, this is when your pit man is your best friend, the guys I run with the most are experts in lining me up and keeping me out of trouble.

This is what has worked for me.

Punch it chewy, full throttle when you leave the beach and only throttle back when you’re bringing it in, everything in the middle is racing.

Have fun everyone!

My thought is that the issue is not releasing the rudder soon enough. If you release too soon, the boat is going left, too late going right. I try finding a visual point where I release (straighten up) for the back chute. Theoretically this is the point where the boat intersects an imaginary line drawn from buoy 1 and 3. Coming off buoy 6 you can see exactly which way your boat is pointed. I agree with Greg's statement regarding maintaining a perfect arc through the turn. Especially at the start, boats are making 'esses' with multiple boats at the same point. Recipe for crashes. We have met the enemy and he is us!

Practice, practice & more practice & you'll get there. The straighter lines are best for close racing. There are more answers based to the scenario at hand.

At the start, I try to finish my turns when driving lane 1 or actually any other lane, for I do not want to foul any racer around me. This also keeps other racers from attempting to dive in there.

Now, when leading another racer by a 1/2 of a straight or more I will run more of an egg shape line. If I'm chasing I'm going to finish my turns to either take advantage when the lead boat makes a error, or to make sure to pin them in lane 1. It is easy to drive lane one by yourself. It is much more difficult driving lane 1 when a highly skilled driver is on your hip in lane 2. There are very few skilled chasers out there. David Preusse, Doug Twaits, Sam Bowden & Stan III are a few not related to me.

MG

Sometimes taking out some more epa or slowing the steering speed some more helps with the over driving around the corners. It gives you more resolution when you have to steer more of the wheel on transmitter to get around the corners.
Sometimes it can be you have steering speed turned down too much already as too slow can cause it to. Everybody needs a setup that is right for their driving style for sure. Transmitter settings when it comes to epa and speeds one size does not fit all.

If you tune your transmitter to make the boat react the way you want can greatly improve your ability to drive the course well. Takes practice to make a clean arc and pull away nice and straight down the back stretch especially on lap one when things are congested and everyone a little nervous.

Also if you mainly turn down the turn speed and leave the return speed at close to 100% at least if you see yourself over steering you can react and get back straight much quicker than just turning both ways down the same amount.

It is a good idea to set a up/down button or a knob to control your steering speed and then you can play with it while under way and when you get it how you really like it set then just turn that switch back off. Properly tuning the radios today is as important as the boats tune. It is going to change a bit from boat to boat of course so you have to tune those settings to be optimum for each one.
Even throttle speed can help on high powered model that needs a easier application of throttle to help go/stay straight.

As Mr. Grannis said. Nothing will help more than practice on a race course.

Frank,

For me, with no depth perception, it has always been the fact that coming off turn six I can see the direction of the boat, being that it's coming right at me, and it is running perpendicular to my line of sight coming off turn three, where it's a timing thing, almost a guess, as to when to let off the wheel. I always do better entering turn one than I do turn four, for the same reason.

Thanks. Brad.
Titan Racing Components
BlackJack Hydros
Model Machine and Precision LLC

When we went to VooDoo we were camped out literally as far as possible, perks of getting there late. Lol

I think it would do everyone some good to be stuck out there though. I think many of you would be surprised at how far out from buoy 2 people get before they turn for buoy 3, think that’ll explain this phenomenon…

I wonder how much " elevation" adds to the phenomenon... higher driver stands seem to be a bonus at some race site... driving from the bank, I tend to really overdrive turn 3...
In Houston, our driver stand was nice and high, and I could scrape the paint off the bouys with my mono's...

Which brings up a question.... are there any rules or restrictions on driver stand heights ?
Minimum or maximum from the lake surface ?
Was thinking about this for sites that sanction record trials.. some sites might have an advantage
especially for oval record runs...

Ron Walker of our Detroit club back in the early seventies was the first I remember driving from an elevated location, he brought his own step ladder to our Belle Isle pond, it made a big difference. My favorite now is the Brandon FL club driving stand. We could be 12 feet above the water. Now if they would put a curtain up on the back shoot to block the morning sun it would be perfect!!

Wasted wages said:

I wonder how much " elevation" adds to the phenomenon... higher driver stands seem to be a bonus at some race site... driving from the bank, I tend to really overdrive turn 3...
In Houston, our driver stand was nice and high, and I could scrape the paint off the bouys with my mono's...

Which brings up a question.... are there any rules or restrictions on driver stand heights ?
Minimum or maximum from the lake surface ?
Was thinking about this for sites that sanction record trials.. some sites might have an advantage
especially for oval record runs...

Click to expand...

Elevation definitely helps in the right hand corner. Since you're looking at it from above, for me anyway, you get a better feel for where the boat is in relation to the buoys. With that said, I don't get enough practice time so I still tend to apply rudder a bit late, hence running in lane 3 or wider
As far as I know, there isn't any requirements or limits on drivers stand heights. One thing that can make a difference is how many steps you would have to climb as well as the time needed to reach the driving platform. I know, at R/C Unlimiteds races, we use a four foot tall scaffolding as a drivers stand since we don't have a specific lake or pond that we race at. The height above the water is whatever the elevation of the ground is PLUS the four foot scaffolding height.

Wasted wages said:

I think everyone here has done this a time or two, and was pondering the reason why.....I know I have..

When coming out of turn 3, why is there the tendency to oversteer the course, and have to make left rudder corrections in the back chute...
But coming out of turn 6, the tendency is not as pronounced?

Is it depth perception? The boat going away from your view point ? Prop rotation ?
Riggers and mono's all seem to do it from time to time..

Discuss.....

Click to expand...

For me, it’s depth perception and fear of hitting a buoy. If I hit a buoy with the Backlash it’s over. 3 flips in the air, broken cowl, etc… Because of this I tend to UNDERSTEER and go too wide. Setup, practice, and breaking bad habits are the cures but can be easier said than done.

Mark Grannis said:

Now, when leading another racer by a 1/2 of a straight or more I will run more of an egg shape line

Click to expand...

I watched Andy Brown run a "tri oval" line in the back chute,,, carried a lot of speed out of 2-3,
then behind the clock turn, and dive into turn 4-5-6

He may have just been avoiding chopped up water, but it was working good !!

.. I've noticed the turn/bouy-3 oversteer also. It happens to me when I'm watching my boat as it passes buoy-3 then I straighten up. Then servo delay gets me most times, depending on the boat. On 6, I straighten up sooner due to the visual angle. Therefore, I have learned to start coming out of 3 before the Buoy. I run up to nine boats and each steers a little different and the speed varies too. The mill laps help me adjust for 3 before it matters. "Practice makes perfect"

Wasted wages said:

I watched Andy Brown run a "tri oval" line in the back chute,,, carried a lot of speed out of 2-3,
then behind the clock turn, and dive into turn 4-5-6

He may have just been avoiding chopped up water, but it was working good !!

Click to expand...

Also helps keep the boat planted and less likely to blow off in my experience…