Looking back

By Michi Günther

My years with RC cars

It seemed that the memory of my active participation in motor racing (most recently Formula V in the 70s) was slowly fading, when in 1995 an event came into my life that still occupies me to this day.

One day, a colleague at the company where I worked as a mechanical engineer dragged me to the MC Munster hooligan track in Munster. They were holding a 1:5 scale race based on the Gröschl Cup series. The way these cars handled fascinated me, and the idea grew to do something similar myself, with the slight difference that I wanted to build such a car myself. Since I've always been a Formula 1 fan, my first car was going to be a Formula 1 car.

Since I didn't have a 3D system at home back then, the good old drawing board in the attic had to be dusted off. And so I began designing a Formula car. The first problem was determining the correct wheelbase. The overall width across the wheels wasn't an issue; the Formula cars of that era were 2 meters wide. Through several image analyses, I determined the wheelbase to be 3100mm, meaning my Formula car should have a wheelbase of 620mm. This immediately led to the next question: what kind of wheels/tires would work? The widest tires available at the time were the S1 tires, designed for the sports cars of the day. So these S or S1 tires were the only ones that were reasonably scale-appropriate. The rims of the time didn't look right on the Formula car, and besides, I didn't like all the gluing involved, so I designed a three-piece aluminum rim. The insert was slid over a thin ring, and then the tire was fitted over that. The whole thing was then screwed together with an inner and outer horn, so that a clamping action took place which prevented the tire from being pulled out of the rim.

Since I had my own ideas for all the relevant components, I used things like a rack and pinion steering system and a double floor plate made of two stacked 3mm aluminum plates. (What a lot of work!) For the engine, I used a converted 30cc hedge trimmer motor, which couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding. After boring out the carburetor, the thing actually ran as fast as a Gröschl truck that was available to buy at the time. I chose an 8mm chain as the primary drive ratio. Then I designed the differential and the shock absorbers in all sorts of variations, sometimes with a compensating chamber, sometimes with a continuous piston rod. For the rear-wheel drive, I used the dogbones that were common at the time, although the cross pin would occasionally loosen and fly off. A protective cap over it prevented this. Later, I modified the drive so that I could install the ball-joint drive shafts from Gröschl, which were available by then. These proved to be fully functional even back then and are still in use today. The next construction project involved the brakes and wheel carriers. From the outset, I designed hydraulic brakes, in the same style as on regular cars, using floating calipers. These still work today in my self-built Formula car and my self-built 510 car. Smaller features were added over time, such as the mounting of the upper front wishbones, which I detached from their supports and mounted in sliding longitudinal rails, allowing me to adjust the caster angle continuously. I devised some rather adventurous designs for the anti-roll bars, but these proved too complex. So, I actually copied the ball-type anti-roll bars from 1:8 scale cars. When the chassis was finally finished, the big moment arrived: getting the completed chassis running.

Next came the Formula car body. Gröschl didn't release his Formula car until 2000. Then, the Formula car bodies, which I still like best, became available for purchase, along with the matching wheels. But in 1995/96, none of that existed. Making the body myself was the only option. I shaped it from 0.5 mm aluminum sheet, always keeping the Ferrari in mind. The sheet was bent and folded as much as possible. Then a thin layer of filler was applied, which then had to be sanded. Painting it was a breeze after that.

Since I had never driven a remote-controlled model car before, I, at almost 50 years old, made my first practice runs in a large parking lot, which was somehow too small, resulting in my first crashes with sheared-off front wheels. But my enthusiasm didn't wane, and so I continued my practice runs at the Hoolmorring in Munster. However, I came to the realization that driving a model car and driving a real race car are two very different things. You simply lack the "seat-of-the-pants" feel. Sure, you know there's an ideal racing line, but the feel for cornering speed comes from a lot of driving, optimal setup, and experience – something I'm about 20-30 years short of.

In 1999, I built the second Formula car, incorporating insights gained from the test drives of the first. I then installed the 23cc racing engines in both cars: a Solo engine and a Tech engine. Who remembers those today? I designed the corresponding components for them.

Transmission.

In 2000 I bought my first Formula car body made of Makrolon, as well as my first Formula wheels. Equipped like this, I sporadically participated in races until 2004.

In 2001, I built a touring car chassis using relevant parts from the first Formula car, which was subsequently discontinued. I occasionally participated in races with it, which was great fun. The disadvantage of participating in races with my own creations was the procurement of spare parts, which I constantly had to manufacture myself. I simply didn't have the time for that.

In 2011, I stopped racing my own homemade cars. I then bought a used Lauterbacher, whose chassis I shortened to 510mm to fit a Porsche body. From 2012 onwards, I participated in the Porsche Cup series, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

After that, I got a Harm chassis. In 2017, I added a Mecatech chassis with the 510mm width for the Porsche body. I modified this chassis in 2019 with a longer base plate so I could participate in the new GT series with the corresponding bodies. Now, during the Corona pandemic, we're all stuck at home, hoping we can race again in 2021.

MG