i’ve always considered myself a dnano ‘purist’ because i championed the aspect of ‘realism’ because each car is designed to be a replica of its full size counterpart. unfortunately, racing had slightly altered my view of things since many of the available choices just aren’t race cars. their stock setup would get you killed in a race with guys who ‘know what they’re doing’ so don’t be afraid to ‘play’ with things a bit. the first photo in my gallery is of the underside of my Lamborghini Gallardo. it has some serious battle scars since this chassis started as a Porsche 911 GT3. after finally realizing that car is just too narrow to be competitive with the GT type dnano, it’s been a Lamborghini Countache LP500S and a Ferrari F40 in its’ previous ‘lives’. the custom body we made proudly wears more scars, none of my four (4) dnano are shelf queens so they all have felt the pain of bumps and crashes in the heat of a final. i’ll be tossing the Gallardo into the fires of F1R on Sunday for the next club race but i couldn’t do it without a few small changes, here’s what i did to make it perform just as well as my Mazda 787b (which is no small feat for those who know about the Mazda):
the stock setup for the Gallardo is extremely narrow but there’s room underneath the shell to modify a few things but first, you’ll need a Kyosho Friction Shock as the other damper kits can’t fit under the body without cutting a hole (the mount comes into contact with the shell eliminating suspension – not gonna work!). now that your Gallardo still looks great, lets move on to tech specs. i’ve added some small box cutter blades for additional weight at the bottom/center of the chassis which helps hold the car down during high speed cornering. 2nd, i’ve created negative camber by switching out the (4) lower front suspension plate to a (5). this increases stability in cornering with a wider track width and reduces roll by changing the angle of the front wheels. fast cornering speeds are critical to fast lap times which -of course- are critical for the win. if you do this, its best to use the stock plastic upper plate and ‘dremel’ the kingpin holes to allow for an angle, preventing excessive rubbing or binding. 3rd, the rear of the car is just too narrow and instead of the standard (3) aluminum rear wheel hub, i’ve added a (4) which add even more corning stability. your suspension plates and front shock springs will depend on the surface you’re racing on, i use PN Racing soft on both F1R and F2L. i use 25° front tires and 10° rear tires + 18-size racing wheels all around (X-Power). the tires will break-in after a few laps and give excellent overall grip for the long, 30-minute final. my power plant? the X-Power ‘HOT’ for F1R and Kyosho X-Speed or stock on F2L with 32T/7T – spur/pinion gearing. the idea isn’t to have the fastest car, but a fast car that gives you the easiest, most reliable handling for a consistent performance that will take you from start to the checkered flag in first place. do you have a special setup for your dnano? post a comment here on the blog and share your experiences!
while we’re dicussing customs, i decided to go with an LP640 Auto Scale body for future races because the Reventon Type Shell is a bit top heavy and though it looks good, lacks the racing attributes that i need on Sundays. Joom and i added a Spoiler Kit + X-Power Stickers which give it that GT feel. we now have both of these items in stock at our online shop so if you’re looking that racing feel to your murcielago, get them both while supplies last.
sorry i’ve been ‘missing in action’ for over a week but i have good reason(s) and i’ll enhance your life by listing them here: 1) my laptop blanked out on me. most of my blog posts and general day to day ‘stuff’ is done from my portable and everything that normally happens during the day on a computer pretty much ran into a brick wall at that moment. 2) Songkran. if you’re not familiar with Thai holidays, this is one of the biggest and longest with celebrations and vacations lasting nearly 9 days. many local ‘farang’ (foreigners living in Thailand) find a way to get away from Pattaya as it turns into a virtual mine field of places to get soaked from giddy revelers who stand streetside waiting to drench any oncoming vehicle including unwary motorcyclists (which most of us are). so, its been pretty quiet in the shop with little ‘new’ traffic and only a few regulars stopping in to chat.
there is good news though: we got our first Thai adult member! his name is Tic and he’s from Bangkok. granted, he grew up in the USA and spent a few years working in Singapore before re-settling in Thailand but… hey, its a start! we’ve heard NanoTrax is considered ‘high-so’ (aka high society, upper-class, expensive, etc) so the average Thai doesn’t feel comfortable even walking into the shop let alone joining as a member. i’m not sure why though. i do speak Thai, Joom is Thai and we welcome everyone equally, but we just haven’t figured out how to get more Thais to come in, participate, join and support the shop. anyhoo… Rome wasn’t built in a day. we also had a visitor from Germany who races Mini Z at home. his name is Willy and he brought several of his cars but was disappointed because our layout this season is a bit too small. he seems to think dNano are a bit small for him but perhaps we can convince him to get a rental and join us for a club race when everyone gets back in town?
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speaking of club races… this week’s F1 Sunday was quiet and, as i’ve said, all our members have either fled Pattaya, are stuck in Europe due to the volcano eruption or just went home for a few months to work and save some money to come back. no race report, no pretty girls, just me and my new red Ferrari F40. i’ve been running with the yellow body but figured a Ferrari isn’t a Ferrari unless it wears red (sometimes). i’m considering replacing my aluminum with the new X-Power Racing Wheels for the next race – lighter is faster, faster is better! as usual, if you need to contact me just drop an e-mail to qon@nanotrax.net, its always great to know you’re reading – l8r!
Introducing NanoBoards…
i ordered a Robitronic Lap Counter with an additional 6 Transponders from XHobby but 10 days & several unanswered contact emails later, i have yet to receive it. we’ll also have a separate lap counter for dNano but this one is necessary for Mini-Z. it would be great to be able to use one for both but, Mini-Z doesn’t come with a built-in transponder. i’ll let you guys know once it’s here. we should be moving track material over to the shop here shortly. i’m anxious to get into dressing it up & making the landscape for the outside areas of the track. i guess that’s my artistic side while on the competitive side, i want to get back into actually practicing & racing. for those “farang” in Thailand who are looking for a place to share ideas, make requests, find other R/C fans, we’ve created the NanoBoards Forum. everyone is welcome of course, but i haven’t found an english forum for Thai R/C yet so, i decided to provide one. you’ll need to register here and your account will be activated on the forum within 24 hours. i hope to build a large community where we can all enjoy one another’s company… see ya on the boards!
Puzzle Elements Extended…
in extension to my last post, i left a few pieces of the puzzle out so i’ll continue here: 10) inventory & member tracking systems – its best to implement a system that allows us to track our inventory, sales & correlate that with member data. we may have to get custom software for this as i have yet to find a “suite” thats an all-in-one solution; 11) stationery & promo materials – brochures, posters, business cards and other printed material are important for providing information to new customers and communicating business presence; 12) signs – the shop needs to have signage to designate various areas as well as “top lists” for our on-going race competions… points ranking, lap-time ranking & more, 13) staff uniforms – clothing including promo tees, polo shirts & staff outfitting are another necessary expense; 14) advertising – how are people going to know about us without advertising? from billboards, television & print ads, this is very time sensitive as well so planning it ahead of time is crucial; 15) security system – we’ve already had issues with theft before the shop opens so imagine what can occur when it finally does? shrinkage & break-in prevention is facilitated by installing an effective monitoring system with cameras & possibility closing time alarms. have i left anything out? it would be GREAT to have you post your feedback here in the comment section!
no one knew what the vision was when Ray Kroc established the first McDonald’s; no one had any idea of the future that Bill Gates envisioned when he developed Windows, and no one knew the impact Tim Berners-Lee‘s creation of the internet would have on the entire world. yet, i’m willing to bet those people knew exactly what they were doing and never failed in their belief that they could make their vision a reality. there are numerous people in the world for which this can be applied. i’m not saying i’m anywhere near the ballpark of any of those pioneers but one must start from somewhere and all great creations start with a vision. my vision isn’t a unique concept but its one that has yet to be attempted outside of Japan (as far as i know… please correct me if i’m wrong). it’s an R/C lounge and its definitely not a place for kids. while because its in a major tourist city, it may become a tourist attraction, i don’t see it from that perspective. i expect NanoTrax to be a relaxed, comfortable location where adults young & old can come to enjoy friendly, competitive racing in a comfortable, relaxed environment. i expect many customers will just enjoy the “NanoMech” stations on the balcony where they can comfortably work on their favorite miniature r/c model or maybe they’ll just enjoy a cold beer while viewing some sattelite TV on our 2nd floor Racing Lounge. it takes time, a well thought out plan and a rather hefty investment to make this a reality, but for me, i’m doing it because i LOVE r/c. i just told my wife today, “You know… i’m not anxious to open because i want to make money, i’m anxious because i can’t wait to play with my cars on our [indoor] tracks!” she laughed at me of course. i hope that there will be loads of people who appreciate what we’ve done and enjoy their experience when they finally get to visit us.
now the bad news: i spoke with Charlie today and he’s informed me that prices on dNano have gone up 30% due to the strength of the japanese yen and other market forces. in addition, no parts or new models have come in and there’s no word on when they will come in. i know there are many of you watching and waiting so i’m sorry to disappoint, but that’s the deal at this point. with this in mind, i’m preparing for opening with only the stock i have on hand and plan to sell Mini-Z alongside our limited dNano selection and hope the future brings more positive news. i’m not sure what Kyosho has in mind for dNano but i hope they’ll give us the opportunity to enjoy this new creation soon and at decent prices. i’ve updated the shop progress gallery with a few more pics and included a pic that’s totally off subject but indicative of what Pattaya really means to many tourists. on the way to Nalani’s school, there is a small hotel that has a restaurant on the first floor. who exactly thought of this name? what’s the main menu item… hot dogs & kielbasa? a little comic relief is always good after a stress-filled day – wow.
from day to day, our primary activities include taking care of Nalani & following up on tasks associated with the shop. as promised, i’m taking pics on every visit to the shop so that we can observe changes as they progress towards completion of the showroom. you can check this post/gallery every few days if you’re interested in seeing the progress. i’ll continue to update it until the showroom is complete. estimated completion is about 3 weeks from now. as usual, any questions or comments, please just add them to the related post & we’ll answer as soon as possible (english or thai).
