The future of RC- H power

This isnt high speed related yet, but I wanted to post on this new upcoming technology for use in RC cars. Hydrogen power. Keith43221 built and tested a H-cell TT-01 and did a write up on his blog. This is what he has to say:

Got the car working this week after a long process getting everything needed for the car together. The car runs great, and I have been having a blast. The fuel cell bogs down if I gun the throttle, but other than it, its awesome! Slow accelerations and throttle management are key. After hard turns, the fuel cell will bog down, and I'll back off to give the cell a few second to get back up to speed, then I'm right back on the throttle. After coming in from my last run, which lasted 75 minutes, I decided to add 3 degrees of camber and some toe-out. Tomorrow I plan to test that out, and get some good video. Also tomorrow a bunch of Ferrari's are getting together across the street (awesome neighbors, lol) so I'm going throw the F450 body on it and see if I can fit in. Size doesn't matter right? And one more thing I plan on doing tomorrow is having my friend with a newly bought radar gun to come down and get some speeds off the car.
Feel free to ask questions, I'll write more as I think of it.

Nic Case's Test cars and Contest cars

Pic of Nic's cars with bodies for testing:

bodies for WFRCCC 2007:

Crazylarry2's TwinForce

These were done with two polyquest twenty 20c 3700 3s packs in series

Nic Case - first in the 1.3 second range @96.99mph

It happened Saturday August 18th, at the MHRA's points race in San Bernadino Ca. Nic is the first RC drag racer in the 1.3 second range. He has this to say:

Thank You

Sometimes, being lucky pays-off ! LOL

Thanks for all the gracious help from the Jim Schauer ---(RAINMAN-YOU-DA-MAN).

Mark Rollings was in the other lane. And I have to say---- I don't thing I would have squeezed the trigger like that if I wasn't racing against Mark. He had the jump on me, and it felt like I was playing catch-up. When I went though the lights first---I was happy, just to WIN. But the record ET, was a real surprise! Thank You Mark , for making this old guy focus! LOL

The names are obviously wrong on the slip, but ,what the heck,------- it was a rush!
Brushless power & Lipoy's are KING. I'm very happy with my Grand Motor Sports dragster.

A Big Thanks to all the Good People with the MHRA. You guy's made it a --- fun, smooth program ,with a friendly atmosphere.smile

Records are made to Broken--------Who’s Next?
Nic Case

Nic's set-up:

I ran a
GMS Dragster
Castle Creations Mamba Max 7700
On 4s Kokam 2400's
TM 2.95" Dia-- 1.95" wide tires
66 tooth spur
11 tooth pinion (32 pitch)

Video: tcolesen's HV Electric Savage Speed Run

Tcolesen posted some pics of his crazy fast electric Savage:

I attended the WFRCCC (I was the guy with the rock crawler, for those who saw it ), but I didn't bring anything. Now, I wish I had started on this project sooner so I could have challenged the guys in the MT class.

I had a Savage laying around for a good 8-10 months, collecting dust. The idea was that I would convert it to electric when I got the chance, so I did. Except this is a high-power electric! Here's what I did to the Savage:

-worked on the diffs, filled them with oil and set the mesh just about perfectly (very smooth, yet very strong), and installed the 4-spider gear setup with the HPI aluminum diff cups
-bought a Castle Creations HV-110 brushless airplane ESC (using a PiStix adapter for car use)
-bought a Feigao 540 12XL, and installed two Boca 5x11x5mm ceramic bearings
-hooked up and mounted 10s2p A123 (33v 4600mah, capable of 5HP peaks)
-made a completely custom center diff and motor mount
-rigged up a custom mechanical brake setup (Hyper 8 dual disks with HPI pads, custom linkages)
-custom mounted the steering and brake servos
-bought HPI Phaltline tires on wheels, belted the front tires with strapping tape, and reglued all of the tires (HPI can't glue worth a ****)
-installed HPI CVDs in the front

And here are the results:

Video: Nic Case's 116 mph 1/12 scale "streamliner"

Nic Case running a 1/12 "streamliner" at the WFRCCC at California speedway on July 28th 2007.

Coolest transmitter mod you will ever see:

Matt Shumaker made these awesome mods for his transmitter. He modified his transmitter to accept a 9db antenna to improve range. He also modded the steering wheel to increase the travel of the steering wheel without minimizing the steering endpoints on the car. This significantly reduces how twitchy an rc car can get at high speeds:

Here are pics of my modified DX3. It is running a 9DB gain antenna and (obviously) a new steering assembly. The reason for the antenna is range. I get 1500 feet uninterupted with the antenna. The big mod, though is the steering assembly. The story behind the assembly is an interesting one. Basically, I have my top speed car setup for normal daily driving, I.E. good handling and neutral steering. However, when setup that way, over 100 mph the steering is far too touchy. I have tried expo and I do not like dual rates. What I really wanted is farther steering wheel throw to give me finer control at speed, but still have full steering lock. This steering assembly a 3 to 1 reduction ratio. That gives me 3 times farther steering wheel travel, though still fully controllable. I love it! Oh, another reason I made the steering wheel assembly is simply because I can. It is nice to have my own CNC machine shop.

The assembly is comprised of carbon fiber, machined aluminum and a ball bearing supported titanium shaft. The steering wheel is a pink compound Jaco L4 rear wheel that is narrowed and trued down.

Anyway, I know this is not exactly a mod that everyone will want. But, I made it from scratch with materials I have on hand from my heli business. So, it cost me nothing and solves an odd top speed issue in an interesting way.

At this point, this transmitter is perfect for my particular needs.

Oh, it is more comfortable with the wheel in its current location. I love it!

Matt