ASK Cubby – Reasonable Questions, Ridiculous Responses

“Fast LiPo

Hi Cubby. I am in the process of building a speed run car, what are the best Lipo batteries I can buy? Please answer.

Darrell K.”

Cubby- Yoooo Darrell, what’s up? Thanks for the email and be sure to shoot me your snail mail for a sticker pack.

What are the best LiPo batteries on the market for a speed run car? I haven’t bench tested any packs in quite some time, therefore I can’t give you a current recommendation.

However… what I will say to you is this. A lot of manufacturers now have LiHV packs in stock. These instantly give you significantly more voltage right out of the box. Assuming they are able to hold that voltage increase while under the insane load of a speed run car, that is what I would go with if I was building a high speed car. Higher voltage is a good thing in extreme applications, or really, pretty much any application. Getting to “X” amount of wattage with higher voltage and less amp draw is more efficient, this helps to keep the power system alive, something that is of vital importance when trying to break speed records.

I will get with some people and see if I can get in some packs to test. Battery testing takes forever, with each cycle taking at least an hour, but is something that we need to get back to doing more of.

Which scale?

Cubby,

I am just starting out, can you give a recommendation on which scale I should buy? Most 1/18 are super cheap but are they big enough to have fun?

Larry E.”

Cubby- Well thanks Larry. Instead of asking “Is this car better than that car”, you asked a more general question that I don’t get nearly as often.

Are 1/18th scalers big enough to have fun? Absolutely. However, because they are smaller they need to run on a smoother surface. The giant dirt clods and rain ruts that we drive on for testing bigger trucks can stop a 1/18th scaler dead in its tracks. However, we’ve had hundreds of hours of fun driving various 1/18th scalers on smoother surfaces. 18th scalers are also some of the most affordable vehicles that you can buy and can be run in much smaller areas than larger scales.

Larger scales, like lets say 1/8th, can handle much rougher terrain. They are also easier to drive. But… they have the downsides of higher costs and needing more space to drive around on.

At the end of the day, and I’ve said this many times before, scale (and PRICE!!!) have nothing to do with the amount of fun you can have. Some of the most pure fun we’ve ever had has come from some of the cheapest and smallest cars we’ve tested. Still, where you intend to drive has a lot to do with which scale you should buy. If you can only drive in the grass at a local park, you will definitely want a larger scaled 4wd. If you can only drive inside your man-cave, you will need to go with a smaller scale. Shoot me another email with where you plan on actually driving at and I will give ya the hook-up on which style of car, and which scale, that will most likely work best for you.

Yup, that’s a wrap folks, thanks for reading. My email box is open 24/7/365, don’t be shy, hit me up. thecubreportrc at gmail dot com is my addy. Letters that hit the big time get one of our uber sticker packs, while our “Letter of the Month” winner can strut around in one of our t-shirts.

YOUR Cub Reporter