Brushless Radio Controlled Cars
News, reviews, tuning and hop-ups
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Underbody -- On a real car, a smooth underbody makes the drag of the car much lower
at high speeds. In Rc racing you don't need to worry about this, because a totally
smooth underbody means that no cooling air gets to the electronics or engine.
Understeer
-- (also called push) When your car just doesn't seem to be turning as sharp as it
should, or it can't stay in the low groove and keeps drifting to the outside of sweeper
turns, your car is experiencing push, or understeer. The front wheels of a car that
is understeering don't have enough grip, so when you try to steer, the car may continue
to go straight ahead, or just seem to not turn as much as it should. Easy solutions
include slowing down or adding downforce, but more severe problems may need tire,
shock or weight adjustments.
Universal Dogbone -- A driveshaft that combines the conventional
dogbone and axle into one unit, providing more efficiency and power transfer.
Unloading
-- At some points on a race track, the inside wheels can lift up because of high
cornering forces. This causes a normal ball diff or gear diff to transfer all the
available power to the wheel that is in the air. (For an example of this, pull the
throttle gently on your car while holding one tire - all the power at that end of
the car will go to the opposite, free, wheel.) This is because the differential will
put any power at the wheel that is the easiest to turn. This is called diff unloading.
To counter this, racers sometimes use one-way diffs, which allow the tires connected
to the one-way diff to continue providing power the wheel on the ground, even if
a wheel on the same axle is in the air.
Upper Arm -- Similar to a camber link, except
that instead of a turnbuckle with ball ends at each end, the upper arm features a
wider hinge area on the inner link, using a hinge pin to pivot on. The outer link
usually uses a single attachment point, normally a rod end or pivot ball.
Upright
-- Another term for hub carriers.
