With the creation of the new SPEC class forming around the driving-a-slow-car-fast mindset I knew I wanted to jump into it. I’ve owned a Miata, same concept.
My only hesitation is the thanes, something I don’t normally enjoy riding but figure it might be better in track environments. Time will tell for me, spinal issues make thanes difficult for me to ride with.
Since SPEC isn’t a massive financial investment I figure why not try it out. Hopefully we also see spec grow to the point of a possible SPEC-PNEUMATIC class or something in the future.
Components
SRB V5 Deck and trucks
125mm mad wheels
Meepo GO donor board for ESC/Battery/Motor/Remote/Charger
What a glorious board it has been but after a completely random ESC fire at esk8con she has seen better days.
ESC fire cause I believe was either damage or a loose connection possibly during transit. Hadn’t ridden it in months either. I connected lipos as normal, powered on fine, gave throttle a blip to do the is-it-ready-to-ride check and poof the magic dragon the ESC went up in flames. Thankfully I pulled the lipos and the small fire was easily snuffed out.
So the chassis needs to be cleaned up next but the barebones are there.
Stripping the Meepo
Easy enough process, no surprises here except for how tiny these motors are.
So…. 9MM of clearance between frame and ground. This is a track princess so I’m fine with ultra low clearance but it’s not like we all ride perfectly smooth lots. I may consider using one of those drop angle heims to give me a little lift if needed. Just going to be ultra aware of this and ride no binding for a while.
The top mount of the battery will be no issue as the V5 has ample deck space. Here it is just resting on top. Wires will be run under deck along spine.
The ESC box proved to be a little more difficult. The ESC is almost like a enclosure within a enclosure, I was able to remove the internal housing you can see in highlighted here.
So I designed a kind of cap/mount/standoff for it to both enclose the ESC and provide a way to mount it under the tail of the board. I made sure to account for the frame structure as well. Printed in ASA, came out decently clean, good enough for under a race board. Drilled four holes in the tail and ran M4 bolts through. Test fit here is a success.
Some brake cleaner, a wire brush and a pile of paper towels later and all the burnt electronic soot is gone. It smelled terrible, was nice to get that all cleaned up finally.
I lined up the battery enclosure gasket to where I wanted it, drilled through for the six mounting bolts and then drilled a bunch of holes to start the opening for the battery cable. Then I filed it cleaner and used tape to create a basic gasket.
@MoeStooge made this slick little adapters that slip into the meepo go motor mounts while threading onto the 3link axle. They fit perfect and worked great.
The board rides really fun, it’s wildly low and in a carve you can drag toes or heels off the deck.
28mph feels pretty quick when you’re deck height is 3 1/4” off the ground and you’re on thanes.
But…. grip, where is the grip? I know MAD are one of the best on urethane grip but it doesn’t take much to overpower them to break traction still. Grip is always one of the biggest limiters in racing though, dancing on that edge.
SPEC class on urethane though is still iffy to me if the goal is to get more beginners involved. If everything else was kept identical but a higher grip wheel was used I think it would feel that much safer to a beginner. SPEC urethane almost feels like an advanced class. Im still very excited for the class to emerge and can’t wait to host a race here in AZ.
Would love to see it. I haven’t tried the SR125 but I hear they are really grippy! Would be awesome. These MAD are alright, especially if the point is low ish grip.
Lower grip should make people focus on better lines, carrying more momentum etc. , which is all perfect for beginners or advanced riders to focus on. I just wish the reason you had to focus on those elements of racing was due to low and equal-to-others power as opposed to lowering the grip level.
Both approaches make you a better rider though, just one costs ya more when you make a mistake.
BRPs really arent the answer in this class though even if they were cheap.
MAD are affordable over time since you’re hoping to not have to replace them much but 220 for a set with pulleys isn’t crazy cheap. And man do I wish they took 28mm bearings, back to 22mm /10mm axle life
Also I don’t think MAD are bad wheels at all, they grip reasonably well for urethane that isn’t crazy soft and will chunk out. Just an odd choice to me in an otherwise great formula to get more people racing with less risk. I guess low grip can also force people to slow down for safety and thus makes it less risky to the beginner but Id still take some more grip
I’d actually prefer low grip rubbers over PU for spec race. Low grip rubber makes sliding more forgiving and approachable, also it catches me off guard much less when they do slide. I’d say something that feels like onsra 115 would be great, those wheels are great fun to slide around, quite forgiving, and not particularly grippy for rubber.
Yeah totally what I was thinking too. They’re not like amazing grip but they feel like a lot more grip than urethane that’s for sure.
I get the goal of not using pneumatics for cost and ease in this class. Just so much simpler for someone just getting into it but think there are better options than urethane.
SR125
Rubber 110s
Even those airless honeycomb wheels I think might be better than urethane.
So hopefully we see a SPEC season on the current setup and then there is a dialog between racers and organizers of what both would like to see.
SR125s are one of the grippiest wheels and I get that one of the points is that there shouldn’t be too much grip. Maybe if there would be multiple spec classes that could be a higher end spec class. For the current class one of the lowest grip rubber wheels should be selected in my opinion.
I’m actually still torn if I like spec racing or not. On one hand it’s another board that I need to have for just one race series, and the low power really makes rider weight a huge factor. I do like that now there’s some sort of more approachable entry to the sport. On the other hand if you want to get rid of rider weight being a factor one stock electronics you need so much power that spec just becomes too expensive and at that point why not just have open anyways.
My opinion of an esk8 spec class should be configurable ESCs, you, your gear, and your board are weighted before the race, the motor and battery amps are configured such that everyone gets the same acceleration, lets say 0.2G or something low like that. The wheels are the same for everyone, the rest of the mechanics you can use whatever you want. To prevent cheating maybe it should be some “spec” esc that only the race organizer has the configuration tool for
Remember shes a track princess. Ill take a look once in a while but its only holding a two battery set of 12g extension wires.
But yeah a good safety measure to have in place!