Cyclone S Tips: Stock Racing. The Right Gear ratio for the job.

The point of the stock class is to create a touring car class, with cheap batteries and motors so that newbies can get into the hobby cheaply. It is a class that has grown astronomically and has been the strongest class at the National On-Road Champs for several years now.

The gear ratio is very important. When running in stock, you want a good compromise with speed and battery drain. With out the right ratio, your car may be slow, or you may not be able to finish the race. A good ratio to start at would be 4.5 final drive. This in a Cyclone S would equal a 90 tooth spur and a 49 tooth pinion. If you want to get down to 4.3 which is approximately what is being run at WRCCC you will need a 51 tooth pinion to 90 tooth spur. Of course there are many other ways of getting to this ratio, but this is the most efficient one as it is using the biggest pinion.

A gear ratio can make or break your race, and if you do not have a heatsink or heatsink fan, you may end up with an inefficient motor, drawing more current as it gets hotter and hotter. Another way to get around this is to use a thermal electric motor cooler to cool the motor prior to the race.

Cyclone S Tips: Stock Racing, How to do it Cheaply

To race in the stock class, you are required to have up to 1500mah sub c batteries with a nominal voltage of each cell being no higher than 1.2v. I recommend that you get the side by side 1300 cells from Speedi Models in Auckland, or Frankton Models in Hamilton. These cells mean that you can easily discharge them after each race day, in a discharger which will discharge each individual cell, making them last much longer.

You are also required to have a "stock" motor, which is often called a silver can motor. The part number for this is: #53689 Johnson RS540 motor. This motor is sold under the Tamiya brand name.


This motor will set you back $30 but if it is run in properly and not over geared, it will last several seasons.

Motor Cooling during the race, can be achieved via a heatsink with a fan, or a heatsink without a fan. Otherwise, take a look at my guide on building a thermal electric cooler here.

Cyclone S Tips: Mtroniks Tempo 11 Speed Controller

The Mtroniks Tempo 11 Electronic Speed Controller is the best in it's price range. It is a speed control with down to 11 turn capability and forwards only. It will run successfully in any chassis and with any motor down to 11 turns. The Speed Control is one which is easy to set up and use and has full punch control, which makes it useful when wanting to get a faster start of the grid, or when you want to try to counter wheel spin.

I am currently running one in my Cyclone S and it is running a Reedy Stockstar, which is a 27t 24 degree fixed end bell motor.

Motor Cooling and how it affects your performance.

I personally find, with motor cooling in stock, you will notice a little more "kick' off the starting grid. This is slightly increased in pro-stock, but it also increases your acceleration and how efficient your motor is through the laps that it takes for your motor to warm up to the temperature that it would be usually at the start of the race. I find that while the motor is colder at the start of the race, that it is still the same temperature at the end of the race as it would be if it had not been cooled down. You might wonder why you should bother cooling your motor then, well, whilst motor cooling is Not required to run in stock or pro-stock, it does extend the life of your motor, by keeping the magnets cooler for longer. The heat from the brushes/commutator is slowly heating up the brushes and magnets and this can cause a motor to loose any competitive edge that it originally had, and cause it to lack acceleration.

A commercially available cooling solution is the Much More Thermo-electric Motor Cooler. Now, I am not recommending that you go out and spend $75-$150 dollars on this gadget. I personally have found that a home made alternative made using a 33w Peltier, motor clamp and heatsink to cool the peltier is just as good, if not better.

The only thing that you have to watch out for is that you do not allow ice crystals to form on the motor cooler, as this is to cold, and will actually decrease your performance. Condensation is perfectly alright, but when it begins to freeze the condensation it is to cold. I have found through testing, that a good voltage is 5v for the peltier, which stops it from getting to cold.

Now, you could either attach a voltage regulator to the Pelt, to get the 5v or you could convert a computer power supply to provide you with a dedicated supply for battery chargers and also the Pelt motor cooler.

Just a couple of pictures of my Hot Bodies Cyclone S:

Setting Up A Cyclone S

Throughout this article you will find many Cyclone S tips. They should hopefully help you to setup a Hot Bodies Cyclone S so that you can race it in Pro-Stock. I personally find that a good gear ratio to run for the Cyclone is with a 27 turn 24 degree motor is around 6.5. To achieve this with the stock spur, you will need a 36 tooth pinion. Or if you do what I did, because I only had a 37 tooth pinion, I needed to get a 99 tooth spur to get a ratio of 6.52, and I am currently running a Reedy Stock Star motor. It is running well, although I do not know how many rpm's it is producing. The Shocks are running standard shock oil and the front shocks are in the second hole in on the top and the first hole on the bottom. The Rear shocks are in the second hole in on the top and the second hole on the bottom. I am currently running ATS 33 Shore foams all round with 1 degree negative camber on the front end, as it was getting to much grip and not steering properly. However when I race indoors I will change to Frewer Pink Fronts and Gold Rears or HPI Super Soft Racing Slicks when we race indoors on Astro-Turf and if running Frewer Tyres I will move the back shocks in one hole. Another Cyclone S tip is to make sure that all of your screws are tightened before and after every race. The worst thing that can happen is for you to lose a screw which you need to keep part of the car together.

Another tip is to upgrade the stock differentials to the metal Cyclone ones as they tend to heat up and seize together.

I am currently running a Mtroniks Viper Tempo11 Speed Controller which can handle motors down to 11 turns and will allow room to move up to a class which is higher up using a faster motor. Another Cyclone S tip is to run a motor heatsink, for example, there is a 3 racing motor fan on the motor and a cooler master computer cpu fan to help suck air in to cool the heat sink. This will help to keep your motor cooler, and will lengthen it's life span.

Come back soon for More Cyclone S Tips.

Cyclone S Tips

This Blog is dedicated to bringing new r/c racers tips on setting up a Cyclone S chassis to run in Pro-Stock. It is intended to help people get their Cyclone S's running well.