I have just had a revelation in my RC racing career. I think I finally understand roll centers a little. I must admit, I’m not an engineer, and I really don’t understand all engineering aspects of the cars. I’m a driver, and I go all by feel. It’s worked well, and I can normally get my cars pretty good for me, but there are disadvantages as well.

Roll center adjustments I have always struggled with, mostly in 1/10, as it’s a very easy adjustment. I never really know what I’m doing in this area. I try asking other engineers what does what, but I normally get a novel answer that left me more confused than before. All I want to know is what makes it roll more, or less. Somehow I got it painted in my brain that if you raise the inner link, that makes it roll less. I would always have that in my head, and my feeling on the track would be confused.

Present Day
In the winter, I spend much more time at my local track, Fastlane Raceway, than the rest of the year. We have a pretty good group of racers and some pretty fast guys running Mod. There is one guy there that is just all into setup. For years, he has driven me nuts, he’s always talking all sorts of setup ideas and telling me what I should try. Haha. Now he is running all Kyosho, I thought this was going to be a total disaster with him just talking my ear off. It was actually quite the opposite. I took the “annoying” label off him, and actually listened to what he had to say. We were both up there testing 4wd. I am always all over the place with my 4wd setups. I’m really hit and miss, and just not as consistent as I should be. He started to tell me that I’m going the wrong way with my roll centers. He then proceeded to get all engineer on me, but I was trying to really pay attention.

After that, I just went for it, I went drastically the other direction. WOW, he was correct!

Here is the none engineering guide to roll center adjustments.

Lowering the inner link = less roll
Raising the inner link = more roll
Lowering the outer link = more roll
Raising the outer link = less roll
A lower “roll center” roll less
A higher “roll center” rolls more

I know a lot of people are confused about this. Hey, after 13 years of racing as a professional, 15 national championships, 2 world championships, I was still confused about it. Haha

Thanks Wayne for the help!! Sometimes those crazy hardcore club racers might actually know what they are talking about. Not always, but hey, even the squirreliest squirrel gets a nut :) Anyways, hope this might help guide you guys a little bit and help you get all dialed into the track. Thanks for reading and God Bless.