Car Action has been promoting this event for months, however, an oversight on my behalf, caused us to overlook this date until Friday afternoon just before the event. Turning a negative into a positive, we figured we’d turn this into a fun test day and go run some regular ESCs and motors in an everyday car.

So, I must get asked about 1,000 times a year, “How fast can it go?” We took this opportunity in front of high quality, expensive speed guns to see just how fast our average setups could run. 

With the equipment we had available that afternoon, we used a standard Novak GTB ESC, a Novak Velociti 4.5R and a new Velociti 3.5R motors (both with the new sintered rotors installed). For all the basic runs, we only used a single six cell GP3700 Novak Gold Matched Pack. The car was an XRAY T2 4WD Touring Car, running on regular RP36 tires and using a Protoform “light” Pontiac G6.

Mr. Novak also had a dinosaur of a chassis in his archives. It’s a specially built, Landgraff Custom Works dirt oval setup. Landgraff built the car with Bob a few years back (and by a few years, I mean 15) for Velodrome Speed Runs. The car had already clocked over 90 mph and had been sitting on the shelf ever since, same tires in fact. We equipped the car with an HV High Voltage Brushless ESC and the new HV4.5 Brushless Motor with a sintered rotor. Some basic test runs were done to shake the car down, nothing fast just a few slow passes on Saturday afternoon.

While we were at it and had this chance, we took along our Kyosho 777 1/8-Nitro Buggy that has been converted to fit an HV High Voltage Brushless System and run from dual LiPo packs.

Departure was slated for 8 a.m. We got to the track around 9:30 a.m. just in time for the drivers’ meeting. The skies were dark and cloudy, so our main focus was to get runs in quickly in case it rained. Another drivers’ meeting was held and the Car Action staff was ready for some records.

Our first run was with the TC. By the way, this is no special speed run car. It is literally the same car that I raced at the Reedy Touring Car Race and the ROAR Paved Nationals (same ESC, servo, RX and even the same tires).

In the XRAY T2 sedan, using the standard kit that included an 84-tooth spur gear and a 16-tooth pinion gear, we clocked in at 45 mph. Nothing too impressive but not bad too bad either. This was with a Novak GP3700 Gold Battery Pack. Those are our budget-minded matched six cell packs.

Next up was a hybrid of the XRAY with the same motor and battery, but a new body and bigger pinion. I had taken 10 minutes on Saturday to prepare a “speed run” touring car body. Due to the limited number of available bodies, I went with the Pontiac G6 light-weight body. Saving weight was my main goal for the car, but it being a carpet body, I figured it would be a little light on the down force side as well. The wheel wells were left solid in an attempt to decrease the Aero losses.

The biggest pinion that I could easily squeeze on was a 29 mm. I topped off the pack and away we went. The top speed after a few passes was 72 mph. It was like a little ghost flying by, with just a wisp of air and a slight hummm.

Next up was same car, again. It had the same GTB ESC, race body, race gearing and the Velociti 3.5R. This was with the lowest or mildest gearing that will fit. The top speed was recorded at 52 mph. That’s a solid seven mph gain just by going to a lower turn motor with no other changes. 

Out came the speed run body and the 29-tooth pinion for run number four. This time we clocked over 77 mph. A few passes were made, and I still can’t get over how deadly silent and stable the car raced.

We put the TC away for a few runs and decided to make a few attempts with Bob’s dino-speed-run-mobile. I say “attempts” because we were only able to hit the clocks one time at speed. Mechanical problems with the car put an end to further testing. On the partial power pass we did make, it topped 85 mph. So if we’d have had a little more time, I think this car could have been a lot quicker.

Bob was getting antsy to drive something, so we plopped down the Kyosho Buggy. This is a Kyosho 777 1/8-Nitro Buggy that we made with a custom motor mount and center gear housing to fit a HV High Voltage Brushless ESC, 4.5HV Brushless Motor and two LiPo packs. The big buggy crossed the gun at a very impressive 67 mph. We hope more companies will start offering electric conversion kits for this type of use. These motors really liven up these big heavy buggies. Everyone at the event loved the big electric buggy; its power and speed were very impressive.

It was getting late, and I was already pleased with our passes with the GTB and Velociti motors. After seeing only one competitor put a car into triple digits, we took the time we had left to make an attempt at the 100 mph Club. 

I ran back to the pits and started the wrenches turning. Out came the 3.5R, in went the HV6.5. Out came the GTB, in went the HV High Voltage Brushless ESC. This allowed us to run dual 7.4 volt LiPo packs. I was expecting huge top end numbers, but it actually only clocked in around 72 mph. The ESC was cold; the motor was cold. It was obvious that we’d need to gear up way more for these HV setups. But by our rough estimates, we could not get the car geared high enough for this setup.

Scratching my head, I looked over at Bob and he said, “Just put the 4.5R in, might as well see what’ll happen.”

The theory here was that since we couldn’t gear up, lets RPM up by using a lower turn motor. This was a much lower turn motor than the regular-sized HV 6.5 or HV 4.5. I was pretty excited about this run. I dug through my box of parts and happened across a 75-tooth spur that would fit the car correctly and a fellow competitor loaned us a 35-tooth pinion.

With a gentle push from the start area, we were off on what turned out to be one of the fastest runs of the day. It was so much faster than anything I’d run that it kind of caught me off guard. When they reported 105 mph, I couldn’t believe it. The return run was slightly slower because the packs had dumped in one pass. The ESC was blazing hot as were the packs. This is a very clear sign that the gearing was way off. I think leaving the 84 spur and 29 pinion would have been the better choice. We were likely bogging the setup quite a bit.

With that run, time had pretty much run out on our day. I think if we spent some more time with the HV setup in the car, we would have been able to find the right gearing and maybe gone over 120 mph. Next year I’m going all out with a couple HV rigs setup for this type of running. Maybe I’ll put more than a few hours of preparation time into the cars beforehand, too.

So, what else happened at the event? Surely, we were not the only team there. Well, you’re right. There is a gentleman named Nic Case who was the talk of the event. His first pass down the track was 109 mph, and he only got faster as the day went on. He brought two cars. The first went 135 mph by the end of the day, and the other made a single pass at 160 mph, but a slight crash on the return run left this unconfirmed.

Several custom-engineered vehicles took passes on the track, including a 125CC go-kart engine with wheels and a Flying 18T. There was also a three-wheeled nitro rail creation, a big bad brushless custom E-max, traditional R/C drag rails as well as a handful of regular, old, garden-variety R/C cars just out to see what they could do. Nic’s cars were by far the most consistent and fastest, but Tony Phalen was also able to make several 90 mph plus passes with his electric BL powered TC. Tony was the pilot of the coolest and maybe the fastest 1/18-Scale. His 18T would jump into the air at about 65-75 mph. Tried as they might, the Tony Crew couldn’t keep their silver bullet on the pavement. The gang from the Model Hot Rod Association (M.H.R.A.) also made few a 90 mph plus passes in their traditional-style R/C dragsters. A few of the HPI staff brought out their savages, but the correct tuning seemed to elude them throughout most of the day. Frank Kellum came out with his 1/5-Scale and put it past 85 mph. Seeing a car that big go that fast is almost scary, but it’s a good scary, right?

All in all, it was a very fun day, and we must thank everyone at R/C Car Action for coming up with this event. The next event will be even bigger and better, and have more prizes and divisions. Being its first, this year was kept simple to retain the spirit of driving. Thanks, Car Action, and congratulations to Nic Case for his super-ballistic passes.