Speed and Handling

[Steve & Ryan Lehnert]

Okay everyone I'm going to put this out there and see what everyone thinks about this. If you're an RC enthusiast whether it be boats, airplanes or cars you always want to see if you can make them faster. Well with me it's boats! I own a Team Pro it's the one with the Spiderman paint shop. This boat has a MOD5 engine in it with a little extra work done by Tony. He inscribed on it MOD5+. My goal is to break 50 mph but do it when you're running an oval course. Yes I could set the boat up really loose and run it straight and it would definitely bust 50 mph with no problem. But to me that's not really a challenge. So this is when it gets interesting. The problem I was having was when the boat went into a turn the backend wanted to break loose an the boat would spin out. This is because the boat is leaning to the right and the left rudder comes up out of the water allowing the prop to lose grip with the water then of course the boat will spin. I'm sure some of you have experienced this problem. I tried all kinds of things to resolve the problem, I adjusted the SPD and the dual rudders. I also worked with several different props. Nothing seemed to work, needless to say I was getting very frustrated. I also own a Silex that my son races. This boat will turn like it's on a rail and it's going close to 60 mph or better! I got looking at the Silex one day and noticed how its turn fin is set up. It's a rather unique setup for a turn fin on a racing mono it is mounted directly on the SPD. Most all other racing mono's have a turn fin mounted on the far right-hand side of the transom. This keeps the boat under control while turning right. In case some of you aren't boat racers all racecourses are set up for right-hand turns. So I got thinking what if I mount a turn fin on the SPD of my Team Pro. But the problem was how without doing a bunch of machine work. So I kept looking at the back of my Team Pro and it finally donned on me. Use the screw that holds the barrel or the prop shaft in the SPD. So I took it out and got a longer screw that would stick out on the other side. Then I placed a thin plastic washer against the SPD and put a small turn fin on the screw and held it in place with a lock nut. By the way I got the turn fin from Tony. When my son and I took the boat to the pond to try it out I was blown away. I was able to come down the straightaway at full speed not letting off the throttle into the turn and the boat went around the turn like it was on a rail. All my friends at the boat club that I belong to were simply amazed that a boat that big could handle like that. I've still have a little fine tuning to do. The boat now is running right at 50 mph. I'm going to be working with some props to see if I can get a little bit more out of it. I'll let you know how it goes. Try this on your boats that have the SPD drives I'm sure you will notice the handling improvement that this little addition makes

[Tony Castronovo]

Steve all I can say is......Your hired!

Send me a couple pictures and let me see if I can find a better way to mount it more permenent, something that can be done while we are making the drive bodies, like the RD-1 on the SILEX. There may be enough meat to where I can use small screws so as to not interfere with the cartridge or ferrule.

50 MPH on a closed course with a 25 year old design is pretty respectable in my book.

[Tom DeBiase]

Thats great testing Steve. Now I will have to put the fin on my Mag 57 & SS.

 

Tom

[Tom Maguire]

Tony,

 

When will you have this add on available for the Magnum 57?

 

Tom M