Canadian Combined R/C Championships July 23-25, 2010. Time for a road trip.

COMPETITION BUILD-UP by : Tom Wright

When choosing a buggy, I first went to the grab a 501X. This is an amazingly strong, highly adjustable race platform. Tamiya’s first TRF buggy since the early 90’s.Thinking this was the way to go, I then saw the Durga (What a name). The Durga or Baldre (even better name) are like the TAO5 of the buggy line-up. These Mid-level competition cars have all the suspension bits from the TRF higher price kits. I remembered seeing these buggies in action at the Tamiya World Championships and was amazing how well they took the jumps! That was it; I put the 501X back and grabbed the DBO1 (Durga/Baldre)! Along with the kit, I grabbed all the Hop-up’s to turn this mid range buggy, into an all out racer!

Chassis

This was the 1^st hop-up of many. I am starting my build with the Carbon reinforced tub chassis. This chassis is lighter and has less flex due to the material. As with any car, it’s always good to have a strong/stiff platform. A few tips with Carbon reinforced plastic type tubs are:

• When screwing into the chassis it is a good idea to use machine thread screws instead of the tapping type.
• Pre-tap the holes you are going to screw into.
• To reduce damage to the chassis, I put a bit of grease on the screws. This makes the build process much easier as well.

Along with the chassis, I replaced the stock motor mount with the optional one, which does offer extra cooling capacity (you can see the mount in the pic showing the slipper clutch).

Front End

Keeping with the carbon reinforced chassis theme, I continued with the optional carbon reinforced shock towers and gear case cover. Tamiya also has an aluminum front and rear suspension arm mount in the hop-up catalogue. I included theses as well. These blue parts don’t just look cool. They strengthen and give some tuning options. The mounts can be spaced so the “kick-up” can be adjusted.

 Upfront I decided to use the Front One-way option. The One-way will give you more pull/acceleration out of the corners and increase steering when you release the throttle on corner entry. When using a front one-way you only have rear wheel drive when you are off throttle or braking. Some drivers do not like the feeling and running a one-way without a well-balanced chassis can make it a handle full! Another way to get the additional off power steering is by running the ball diff and a centre one-way. Very stable and a good middle when in search of more steering. I have chosen the new WO (wide Opening) steering knuckles and Universal shafts. This option with give you a greater range of motion and keep everything smooth.

Rear End

As the rest of the car, the rear shock tower and diff case cover is the optional carbon reinforced material. I also used the Hop-Up aluminium suspension mounts. Underneath the diff cover is the standard Ball diff. I did use the 501X diff out drives, which are a one piece steel instead of the two-piece ones that come with the DBO1’s. Although the Standard DBO1 diff out drives is lighter and just as strong as the 501 out drives, I like super smooth diff’s and a one piece out drive is always smoother! Another option I used was the diff covers. These keep the dirt out and make the diff last longer.

The other things that I changed on the car were the rear uprights. I like the standard kit supplied rear uprights, cause they are light and durable. But the alumium rear uprights feature more positions. After testing, I may switch back.

Shocks

As in any car, On or Off road shocks can make or break your cars handling performance. Tamiya is known for that TRF Alumium Dampers in on road and there latest Buggy Damper set is impressive to say the least!

Front

50w oil 3 - O-rings as internal spacers - #3 Piston - Tamiya Blue Spring

Rear

50w oil 4 - O-rings as internal spacers -#5 Piston - Tamiya Blue Spring

Slipper Clutch

When choosing which Hop-ups to buy for your Buggy, A slipper Clutch has to be high on the list.

 A Slipper clutch protects the drive train from the hard forces when the car is landing off jumps etc. It can also help in with different levels of traction. Tamiya makes two different types for the DBO1, a regular slipper and a double slipper clutch. I choose the double slipper clutch allowed the front and rear diffs to slip independently.

Electronics

When it comes to placing your electronics in the chassis its important to be smart in your layout. Here’s a couple of things to do which will make a big different in how your car drives. The designer of the DB01 had their thinking caps on when designing the chassis, cause your electronics have lots of space to be placed!

Steering

The steering servo placement is fixed, but make sure you centre your servo before placing the servo saver on it. Make sure the link from the servo saver to the steering bell cranks is adjusted so the bell cranks are straight.

ESC

No matter what car you are building, try to keep the wires running from the esc (electronic Speed control) as short as you can. If possible keep the wires away from other components like the receiver and Steering servo. I have chosen the LRP Sphere Competition for my buggy and placed it so the wires are facing forward. Making the shortest route as possible to the motor. I also placed the ESC closer to the centre of the chassis making room for the capacitor to slide in beside it. Battery wires are run under the belt cover, which keeps them short and out of the way.

Receiver

When finding a place to put your receiver, try to keep it away from the motor and ESC. I also like to put it as close to the antenna mount and out of harms way. In this DB01 I put it directly behind the steering servo, which is a straight run to the antenna mount. It also gave me lots of space to put my personal lap counting transponder. You will also notice the on/off switch & a couple 7gm weights tucked in as well!

Motor

The DB01 can handle any motor you decide to mount from mild-to-wild. For now I have dropped in a 9.5 spec X-11 LRP brush-less motor. I have also used a 100mm sensor wire instead of the 200mm wire that came with the speed control. This just makes for a neat/direct fit. I also have a 13.5 Spec X-11 LRP motor for the new Tarmac Buggy class announced in the TCS!

DB01 is ready to accept pretty much any battery available on the market today. I have decided to use a new Reedy 5000 35C Lipo pack. Running a Lipo in this car takes a little bit of time to fit and balance the chassis. Lipos a lighter than their Nicd and NiMh counter parts, so adding weight to the battery side of the car is a must. Also there is a point when the car becomes to light. The great thing about adding weight is that you can put it were you want! I have placed weight to the outside of the battery, which allows me to add less weight and helps the left-to-right weight balance. I had to add 8 pieces of 7gm weights to the battery.  I also added them to the back of the battery to help keep the nose of the buggy up when jumping. The DB01 comes with high dense foam sticky tape. This is to keep the battery from moving around in the car and pads it from impact. Lastly I wanted to use the kit supplied battery holder mounts and hold down bar. The Lipo battery is taller than a standard stick or side-by-side 6-cell pack, so I used some extra plastic spacers I found in the kit to raise the battery hold down posts and works great!

Hope to see you out at the local off-road track or the next TCS race! Tom Wright.