Cost of starting up?

[ballsie]

Hi Guys,

Assuming you have no R/C equipment at all; how much would it cost to get all the equipment you need to start racing mardaves?

I'm sure this is one of the big questions should we decide to start racing mardaves at frcc.

Cheers.

[mr yellow]

I have a mardave,willing to make up the numbers if we choose to run them.

[ballsie]

Thanks for your post Les.

Do you have an idea of the start up costs? Is it significantly less than for touring cars or 1/10th buggies?

[Malcolm Williams]

On todays prices it would be circa £150 - £170 for all new gear depending on the transmitter type/model excluding 2.4ghz versions, if you add another £100 for them making £250ish.
I would recommend buying off the web second hand to keep the costs down though hope this is what you were looking for,have seen them for £30 with some spares and hand controllers for about the same on the web so could be down to £60 - £80 secondhand if you search for them

[ballsie]

It's not for me Malky - just wanted to make sure we give folk all the facts. :)

Thanks for your input.

[mr yellow]

I bought my secondhand,I have a cheap £8.00 hi-tec servo and m-tronicks £17.00 speed controller and tamiya silver can motor and have used a acoms handset.My children have used it a lot on holiday running at caravan parks,car parks etc.nothing has ever broken.I dont dont if you saw my 1/16 buggy on friday night(MAVERICK ATOM)see Tay Racers website.We are talking £64.00 all in including battery charger radio 27 meg steering wheel.Theese are the same buggies they run at East Kilbride,maybe we could introduce them.John Linsay had a go with mine and it looked far more impressive when he drove it.

[Kevin Falconer]

all depends if folk want to buy all new stuff or second hand.

a new mardave kit (vrx) is £89.99
electronic speedo (recomend novak xrs) £35-£40
standard 2 channel radio gear around £50
cells, probably need minimum of 3 for a nights racing, probably about £15/20 a pack
Charger, id say about £40/50
plus some spare wheels/tyres, few basic spare parts, pinions about another £25/30

for a complete new start with nothing to buy everything new would be about £300

2nd hand car, can be had from that well known auction site for anything around £50, sometimes with a servo and speedo for about £20 more
2nd hand novak speedo can be had for £15/20
2nd hand radio gear (i would highly recomend any new start buys new stuff for peace of mind) but £30/40 should pick up some suitable kit
2nd hand cells, anything from a fiver upwards.
charger again about £20/30 ish
spares as per above about £25/30 ish

so 2nd hand start up about £150/£180 ish

Hope this gives some idea of whats involved in getting started, as folk who have been racing a while will know the initial start up can seem expensive to start but once the initial purchase is made (especialy with a mardave) the cost to keep it going in spares is very cheap

[ballsie]

Thanks Kev - very thorough post.

[rolymo]

on a slightly different note. mr yellow mentioned the 1/16th maverick attom. ok ive never owned one but csor ran a championship with them n well...........they are great! 80 quid should get you the car plus a spare battery. for racing get a set of the 3 racing shocks as the stock ones arent that great and if you really want then get a set of hex adapters (abour a tenner) and you can use touring wheels:smile: also did i mention they hardly ever break and them csor guys put them through the worst of it. and considering they ran completely stock the lap times were scarily close to the lrp sharks:-)
so to sum up about 120/150 n youll be racing for a season n if you really want they do handle brushless!

[ClydeBuilt]

Having only been a spectator so far and I liked what I saw from the Mardaves at Dunfermline the other week, are the rules super strict on Mardave V12? I only have a Mardave Ministock till I can get a V12, but would that be allowed on an unofficial race night?

Its much lower spec than the V12 with a straight front axle as other V12 drivers will know, no 'fancy' wishbones here I can tell you, but hey...its all I have for now!

I've advertised on Oople for a swap for my Kyosho pureten, but no luck so far, but I live in hope.

[orinoco]

Hello Clydebuilt,
Falkirk RCC races only 10th scale touring cars on a friday night and buggys on a sunday. This may explain the lack of a reply regarding mardaves. Why dont you swap your stuff or sell it and get yourself a touring car. Im sure that there will be someone on here with a setup to sell cheaply to get you started.

[mark79]

+1 on that :-D

The Falkirk buggy club on sunday is a regular thing for us East Kilbride club guys as i'm sure you know.

If you get a tourer you won't be disappointed and there's 2 clubs within reasonable driving from you : Ayr (monday night) and of course Falkirk (friday night).

If you get a tourer be wary of being able to use your saddle LiPos from your D4 in it. Depending on the car they may not fit in a row or be tricky because of the saddle bridge wire being on the opposite side. You would only need 2 stick LiPo's to race anyway as its 13.5 or 10.5 depending where you race.

[ClydeBuilt]

Erh!.....Naw!
I didnt know you had a regular visit there, I saw it mentioned you were there on the day of the indoor comp, but thats all buddy?

So Im looking at a touring car now am I ?

So what am I looking for, bearing in mind that it must be super budget, anything else would be wasted on me I think, well for now at any rate.
I wonder if I can convert that Tamiya thing???? :confused:
I know its not the 'real':) thing LOL

That last night at EK was good, apart from my speedo acting up, but the addition of some other new guys, and having some sort of clue whats going on, made for an enjoyable couple of hours.

Im still wating on my new lipos from China, but I have a couple of nicads, have to sort out some sort of wee TC to play with....

NOW do you see what youve started???

[mark79]

Best thing to do is visit the clubs in question and see whats what before spending cash. There is good second hand deals about though :-D

[John Lindsay]

I've still got that Xray T2'008 you were interested in Mark.

It's still up for grabs ClydeBuilt. I'm assuming you have electrics and stuff as you say you've raced before?


John

[ClydeBuilt]

Me ?.....race ? Your having a laugh eh ?:confused:

Just bought a 2nd hand 1:10 buggy for use at EK, was looking to use Mardaves too but thats kinda ground to a halt for now. So a wee TC might be on the cards, but Im clueless to whats good/rubbish and cost is a major consideration for me, I guess Im going to flog some more on Ebay and whatever I get will have to buy, or go towards a tourer.

I have some nicads and the lipos I got with the buggy, but nothing of race quality really, but wound motors and speedo might let me get started, I can always upgrade later.

I would ask how much for the car, but dont want to embarass myself if I found that I couldnt afford it, or mess you about...get what I mean ?

[mark79]

PM John and i'm sure he'll offer you a good deal. Like he says, i was interested in his Xray as its a very good TC.

You'll probably be able to pick up batteries no probs second hand too.