VTA Start Guide
This page is intended to act as a guide for people who have never owned a hobby grade RC car, never built their own car and now you find yourself wanting to get into VTA for racing. I will start with a basic list of the things you will need to get your first car together. Those things are: a chassis, wheels and tires, a body, motor and speed controller, a battery and charger and to drive the whole thing you will need a radio. Or you can just skip down to the paragraph that starts with RTR.
Chassis- The chassis that you will use for VTA will be a 1/10th scale Four Wheel drive touring car. The same kind that you see raced in Touring, RCGT, or USGT. There are many to choose from. Do not be fooled by expensive touring cars here. This class is set at a pace that does not exploit the weaknesses of older or less expensive chassis. So you do have a chance against that $600 kit on the line next to you, but you will have to outdrive him. The chassis you select should be based on parts support and the amount of experience that you can glean from the more experienced racers. So if you have the same chassis as them then they will be able to help you with a set up that handles well. Also if you pick a popular kit then there will be a higher chance that some one will be able to loan you a part if you need one.
With every manufacturer there will be older chassis that will be more affordable to find used, but sometimes are harder to find parts for. New kits are far more expensive, and though they serve well in the VTA racing series, the are not necessary to be competitive.
These are some suggestions for great Touring cars that make good platforms for VTA or USGT cars. The truth is however that any decent car you can get parts for will serve well in VTA. Thats the beauty of this class.
Associated TC3, TC4, TC5, TC6 and TC6.1. As of late 2011 the sweet spot for this line is the TC5. This is my reccomendation because the car is new enough that parts are plentiful and yet old enough that it won't break the bank. There are great deals everywhere on TC5's and its very competitive with lots of set up advice available online and at the local track. The TC3 and TC4 are older, but the drivers that run them tell me that they still have no problems getting parts for them. These cars are much more affordable when you find them used, leaving room in the budget for other things. The TC6 and 6.1 also make great VTA cars offering the latest in performance design. If you are the type that likes to have the newest thing then this is a good choice, however theTC6 and 6.1 will be the most expensive option from Associated and it is not necessary to be competitive in VTA.
X-ray makes awesome touring cars. The latest and greatest would be the T3 2012. But you dont need the latest X-ray to be competitive. Look for a good deal on a used T2 or T3 2011. New T3R's can be had for $275 which is a great deal on a very capable platform.
HPI and/or HB (Hot Bodies) The TCX is the latest premium touring car from this company. For VTA I would reccomend finding a used Cyclone or Cyclone S. The Cyclone S has a price point low enough that it would be a great performer even as a new kit. HPI also makes the closest thing to a ready to run VTA car in the Sprint 2 sport 69 Camaro. Available in any color as long as its Orange.
3 Racing offers the Sakura Zero S and the Sakura Zero. Both are excellent cars. The Zero S is made from cheaper materials and offers a huge price break. This car wins frequently at our local track. Sometimes with a few hop ups and sometimes with none.
There are many other companies that make great touring car platforms for VTA. Including Corally, Serpent, TOP, Tamiya, Yokomo Kyosho, and OFNA.
Wheels - The Rims for VTA are dictated by the rules, but there are several to choose from. Part numbers come from the VTA rules page and may change as new products come along.
Vintage Five Spoke wheel Matte Chrome. Front 3815 Back 3820
Vintage Five Spoke wheel Chrome Front 3817 Back 3822
Vintage Five Spoke Black Front 3816 Back 3821
Vintage Eight Spoke Wheel Matte Chrome Front 3808 Back 3813
Vintage Eight Spoke Wheel Chrome Front 3807 Back 3812
Vintage Eight Spoke Wheel Black Front 3806 Back 3811
Vintage Eight Spoke Wheel White Front 3805 Back 3810
Vintage Eight Spoke Wheels Gun Metal Front 3809 Back 3814
Vintage Stock Car Wheel Black Front 3854 Back 3858
Vintage Stock Car Wheel White Front 3855 Back 3859
Vintage Stock Car Wheel Gunmetal Front 3856 Back 3860
Vintage Stock Car Wheel Shiny Chrome Front 3857 Back 3861
Vintage Wheel DTP Chrome Front 33474 Back 33475
Vintage Wheel CC CHROME Front 33472 Back 33473
Tires- Again from USVTA rules. Aside from those that come with the RTR you will have to mount them and glue them yourself. Dont worry. We will help you through it.
Rear VTA tires. HPI #4797
Front VTA tires. HPI #4793
Body- The bodies that do not come with an RTR are clear unless you order them pre painted. Good news is that you can have it pretty much any color you want. Bad news is that you will have to paint it yourself. You will also have to trim it to fit the position of the post on your chassis. Wash the inside of the body and place the window mask on the inside of the windows. Use lexan friendly paint. I suggest Tamiya paints that start with PS in the part number. Pactra works well. Stay away from the spray window tint. It will ruin your whole paint job.
This list is stolen directly from the USVTA website. But here they are linked to the product picture or a place where you can get the shell.
Bolink part numbers:
BL2262 '68 Chevrolet Camaro
BL2263 '65 Ford Mustang
HPI part numbers:
17510 - 1970 Plymouth AAR 'Cuda
7494 - 1968 Chevrolet Camaro
17531 - 1969 CHEVROLET CAMARO Z28
17508 - 1965 Ford Shelby GT-350
17519 - 1966 Ford Mustang GT
104926 - 1966 FORD MUSTANG GT COUPE BODY
17546 - 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302
105106 - 1970 DODGE CHALLENGER BODY
Parma part numbers:
10143 - 1969 Z28 Camaro
10141 - 1970 Boss Mustang
10113 - 1970 'Cuda
Pegasus Hobbies part numbers: Can not yet find links.
PGH4001 - 1970 Camaro SS
PGH4002 - 1970 'Cuda
PGH4003 - 1970 Mustang
Protoform part numbers:
#1526 - J71
Motor
Novak only! 25.5 only! SS or Ballistic are fine. All others need not apply.
Speed Controller
This is the little box that feeds the power to the motor and controls its characteristics, braking and drag, punch etc. They vary in size and price, but stick to the part numbers on the legal list so you can run your car at any track that participates in Official Vintage Trans Am.
List stolen from USVTA
Approved ESCs: (Speed Controllers)
Novak-
EDGE 2S Brushless ESC (#1850, 1851)
Mongoose Micro Brushless/Brush ESC (#1718)
GTB 2 Sportsman Racing Brushless ESC (#1708, 1709)
GTB series part numbers:1710, 1711
Havoc series part numbers:1732, 1733, 1735
XBR 1720 (DISCONTINUED)
LRP
A.i. Brushless Reverse part numbers: LRP80100, LRP80150
SPEED PASSION
Cirtix Stock Club Race ESC part number: 12280
Battery - Lithium Polymer, The rules are totally backwards from any other batteries you have ever used before. One you can't run it down below a certain votage. Two you can't over charge it past a certain voltage. Three if you do either one of those it will "Puff". You can tell when it puffs because it looks uhhhh puffy. It will only puff so many times before it ruptures and if it does that it will burst into flames. Taking your car and possibly the house with it. Good news is that it has loads of usable power between those two points. You also never have to worry about battery memory. Lipo batteries run from $35 to over $100 based on the C rating and capacity. A higher C rated battery will appear to show more power when used with a modified motor, but with VTA or USGT it is unlikely that you will notice a difference other than that there is more money missing from your bank account. Batteries with more than a 5000mah capacity are not allowed in VTA.
Here are some links to great deals on packs that are all VTA legal.
http://www.speedpowerrc.com/v2/us/catagory.asp?c=LIPO
http://www.teamorion.com/batteries-en/lipo-car-packs/2s-7.4-volts-en.html
http://thunderpowerrc.com/html/products.html
http://www.trinityrc.net/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=71_77
http://www.trinityrc.net/shop/index.php?route=product/category&path=89
http://www.powerpushbatteries.com/#!page-8
http://www.hobbypartz.com/5000mah.html
Charger- They run from $35 to over $300. Usually you can find something in the $50 range that will charge and balance one battery and for $175 or less you can find one that will charge and balance two or more batteries at a time. Just make sure you have something that will charge and balance your racing battery.
Radio- This is what you use to drive your model. Radios are available from $35 all the way up to $600 or more. It all depends on what features you want. I will say that in most cases a $100 radio will do fine for racing.
RTR- Means ready to run. There is no such thing as a ready to run VTA car, but the closest thing to it is the Sprint 2 Sport from HPI Racing. Keep in mind that I am only referring to the Camaro Bodied Sprint 2 Sport HPI part # 106133. This item from HPI comes with a decent performer that has good parts support. It comes from HPI with a VTA legal Camaro Body, and VTA legal wheels and tires. Those three items put you almost $80. toward your legal VTA car. The RTR also comes with a good starter radio, a steering servo and an illegal motor and speed control. Dont worry though about the illegal parts just yet. Battlefield Road Course recognizes a grace period of three races until you have to have your car fully legal according to the official USVTA rules. Any further grace period would be subject to protest by the legal field of racers.
There are other ready to run 1/10th scale touring cars that can be converted to a VTA car but none are so close to being complete as the Camaro version of the Sprint 2 Sport. If you choose to build your own car from the ground up, then the best touring chassis for converting to VTA will always be the ones that were the most popular in your area in the most recent years. In North Georgia VTA racers frequently use Associated touring cars. The TC3 was very popular for many years but now parts are becoming hard to find. As this is being written the TC6 is a fairly new release and the TC5 is becoming popular for VTA. Touring racers buy TC6 chassis for racing and VTA guys eagerly await for them to trade or sell their TC5 platform. Other popular touring cars also make great VTA cars. Just make sure that you can get parts for it and that you can gear it in the ratio that works best for VTA. Two cars that are not good because of gearing are the E10 and the Tamiya TT-01. These cars do not use industry standard spur gears and currently I do not see an available conversion or adapter.
