Issue: My Car "Hops" After Landing a Jump

This is a simple issue, The rebound in your shocks is too fast. There are two simple fixes to this issue:

• Replace the Shock oil with a thicker solution.
• Check your Shocks for too much pack.

Issue: What's the speed secret on black carpet?

The fastest guys on the track are running so many little gadgets, formulas, tuning setups and so much more its kind of confusing. Most of these are Preference Oriented, as I've seen rookie racers with kit setup, dry tires, and heavy cars beating the highly tuned, highly personal professional racers.

The main actual tuning concept I can give you, is to stiffen up your front and rear suspension, thicken the oil, drop the car lower, have a more aggressive driving style, and opt for pin-and-wedge tires. Schumacher is most popular in the carpet tire market, but JConcepts and PRO-LINE make similar competitor tires that can hang if you drive them right. also, Tire Sauce is your best friend. SXT 3.0.

Issue: My car keeps traction rolling on black CRC Carpet.

This is a complex web of Tires, Springs, Shocks, Weight Distribution, Shock and arm position, Tire Sauces, Servo Speed, Brakes and a whole lot more. i'm going to run down a list of possible solutions.

1. Tires

So, most commonly you see a combination of either Wedge/Pin tires, Pin/Pin Tires, or Hybrid/Pin Tires. The most common traction rollovers are created with Pin/Pin tires, as there is no way to shed the excess grip since each pin is at a different angle. Our remedy is to make sure to use CRC-Compatible traction sauces, as this allows the tires to heat up and the pins to flex and shed the excess friction.

Also make sure each of your tires are broken in, tires straight out of the bag will usually "stick" to the track. After a few runs in the order of: (Run, Sauce, Warm up, repeat) your tires should take a slightly harder, less grippier texture, almost like a rubbery foam feeling.

2. Springs/Shocks Alignment

The Key to an easy-to-drive racing vehicle is making small adjustments after each run. The shocks in most vehicles have at least 3 mounting positions, this allows the shocks to be "stood up", or "laid down".

For CRC or Grey Carpet, we want the shocks laid down as far as possible, as to lower the center of gravity to make the car "stick" to the track in the corners. The shocks now focus on stabilizing the car, instead of absorbing bumps. Since most carpeted tracks are smooth, this is a feature that is desired.

So, the oils inside of the shocks are the main controller of rebound. Make sure you run a heavier oil in the front than the rear, and if applicable, run a stiff sway bar in the front of the car. The heavier your vehicle is, the more you should thicken the oils. You may run 40w in the front of your 2WD buggy, but if your transplant the same setup to the front of a Short Course truck, you will find that the truck will roll and dive and be generally harder to drive through corners, and have reduced acceleration as the weight shifts back creating a "squatting" position which also may lift the front wheels off the ground.

3. Weight Distribution

The Goal in carpet racing is to keep corner speed up as well as vehicle stability, and if your car decides to roll or go two wheeling, your car's weight is unevenly distributed, and is causing you to put too much focus in grounding the car instead of cornering the car and blasting out the straightaway.

If your car likes to turn to one side better than the other, check your weight distribution, if the weight is distributed, look for uneven tire wear, that is a common reason for unpredictable cornering.

4. Electronics Settings

Your Servo and ESC are a crucial part of your vehicle, and if they aren't set up right, it can cause your car to corner too fast, start moving too slow, or even perform under manufacturer specifications. If any of the previous tips don't work, then turn down your throttle, and servo exponentials, and gradually increase them until you are on the brim of rolling the car but having all four wheels on the ground. there's the perfect mix of speed, and cornering ability.

If any of these tips don't work, then you have to fiddle with your settings until you get your car the way you like it.