FTX Vantage/Carnage owners Thread

[GJH]

Job done, both runners now

 

[Lilredmachine]

So, I was just wondering if anyone has ever considered trying to squeeze some better diffs in the Vantage? Just picked up a fairly nice roller and I'm going to go 10.5 blinky astro racing with it after some choice (not just bolting parts on) mods. It's just going to be a fun little project to see how fast one can go on a track, I usually run an Sworkz S14-3 chassis so it's going to be a bit of an exploratory foray. 😂 The diffs not holding oil is a no go though, so I either need to try and seal them as best I can or get some in there that will hold oil, preferably with 4 bevel gears. 

[S Chang]

Hello folks, this is a great post. I've got my own FTX vantage yesterday. Could you pls recommend some *spare parts*? I'm planning to order a few just in case.

 

My driving style is pretty gentle - 2S brushless 3400kv.

[SXFoxstar]

I would recommend the metal chassis. Don’t go carbon they are expensive and break easily. You’ll find the motor will go after a few months but these are pretty cheap so I found it ended up being cheaper to replace the stock every so often instead of upgrading and dealing with fitting it in (personal opinion).

[Sir Liam]

Hi Everyone!,

 

I just bought a fresh Vantage brushless model,

 

I am new to this community and RC cars, I have a little budget left over.. what would be the first thing that you would change/modify on it?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Liam

[Stormbringer]

Hi and welcome to the forum 

[Redback]

24 minutes ago, Sir Liam said:

Hi Everyone!,

 

I just bought a fresh Vantage brushless model,

 

I am new to this community and RC cars, I have a little budget left over.. what would be the first thing that you would change/modify on it?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Liam

Welcome. Thread lock then tighten all grub screws, eg the center cups on the drive line.
Use the money for spares now as you will need them later.
Upgrade spur gear to metal or acetel, upgrade brass pinion to steel.
Upgrade servo to steel geared one.

Spare front hinge pin holders, front lower arms, front steering hubs, spare bearings for front and rear wheel hubs.
Spare grub screws as these will come loose and will be lost, spare body clips and a couple of C clips as the one on the steering servo saver will pop off and be lost fairly early on.

[Redback]

On 06/09/2024 at 09:23, S Chang said:

Hello folks, this is a great post. I've got my own FTX vantage yesterday. Could you pls recommend some *spare parts*? I'm planning to order a few just in case.

 

My driving style is pretty gentle - 2S brushless 3400kv.

 

See my post above for spares that you may need sooner than later.

 

On 06/09/2024 at 10:16, SXFoxstar said:

I would recommend the metal chassis. Don’t go carbon they are expensive and break easily. You’ll find the motor will go after a few months but these are pretty cheap so I found it ended up being cheaper to replace the stock every so often instead of upgrading and dealing with fitting it in (personal opinion).

Brushless motor shouldnt go after a few months, they dont wear out like brushed motors, ive had motors still going after 5 years thus i dont understand that advice personally.
I also feel the metal chassis from ftx are made of cheese, eg the outlaw one bent pretty easily, yet my custom carbon underpan for the ftx banzai takes hit after hit after hit at 60mph +
Maybe the ftx carbon is crap, i know they dont drill the right sized holes in the shock towers, so would avoid those, tho they are still strong and havent ever broken, tho the body protects them quite a bit when they are exposed on the vantage.
 

[Stadium Racer]

A heads up for anyone that's interested in giving off-road RC racing a try. Swindon RC Off-Road Club has just launched a race class specifically for FTX Vantage owners, the first of which will be run on Sunday 6th October which I'm going to do. Transponders (for lap counting) can be hired from the club if you haven't got one. For more details see below and head over to their Facebook group. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1821197038048277

 

[300bhp/ton]

2 hours ago, Stadium Racer said:

A heads up for anyone that's interested in giving off-road RC racing a try. Swindon RC Off-Road Club has just launched a race class specifically for FTX Vantage owners, the first of which will be run on Sunday 6th October which I'm going to do. Transponders (for lap counting) can be hired from the club if you haven't got one. For more details see below and head over to their Facebook group. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1821197038048277

 

Another one of "we want to make racing cheaper"... BUT you must BUY this car and if you have one you MUST run this spec nonsense...  such a shame. do these people not realise that this isn't Formula 1 and that there isn't big prize money or million pound contracts at stake. Every "budget" race series is plagued by being way to strict on what you are or aren't allowed. Thus, if anyone takes this up it'll usually be people with plenty of money who go out and buy an entire rig & setup just to compete. Which is not really a cheap or a budget way into racing.

Edited September 30 by 300bhp/ton

[Stadium Racer]

4 hours ago, 300bhp/ton said:

Another one of "we want to make racing cheaper"... BUT you must BUY this car and if you have one you MUST run this spec nonsense...  such a shame. do these people not realise that this isn't Formula 1 and that there isn't big prize money or million pound contracts at stake. Every "budget" race series is plagued by being way to strict on what you are or aren't allowed. Thus, if anyone takes this up it'll usually be people with plenty of money who go out and buy an entire rig & setup just to compete. Which is not really a cheap or a budget way into racing.

 

Either you didn't read the details or don't understand them. The only things you MUST have are a stock motor and tyres. Other than that you can do what you want with a car that's one of the cheapest 1/10 models in the country that also has the cheapest spare parts. As the only parts you MUST have actually come with the RTR kit there is no extra cost to race in the class so your argument here is totally nonsensical. On the contrary, those requirements reduce the cost of the race class, otherwise people would end buying more expensive motors and race tyres in order to be competitive. The other class rules are totally flexible as it's believed that, other than fitting sway bars (a £6 part), there's not much that can be done to a particular Vantage that would give it a significant performance advantage over another one. And the things that can be done aren't very expensive in the scheme of things, I know this because I've raced one for the past 2 years.

 

As regards racing classes having too many rules, the club already has open classes for 2WD/4WD buggies and trucks so drivers can always "race what they bring" already. The problem with such race classes is if someone shows up with something like an FTX Vantage or Maverick XB, even a fully hopped up one, they'll be taking a knife to a gunfight and get totally rinsed by factory team spec 4WD buggies that cost >£1k. The result of such open classes is that, unless you've spent up, you're not racing at all and just driving around a track. In order to contain cost and create a level(ish) playing field, all forms of competitive motorsport have to have some specification rules. It's just common sense.

 

Frankly, what's being offered here is very similar to spec Slash 2WD racing that most off-road clubs in the U.S. have been running for the past 15 years, that's proved to be hugely successful at getting people into the racing hobby. The idea of this class is to provide a relatively cheap and less technical entry point into the hobby. Based on my 42 years racing, personally I think such a race class will prove to be very popular.

[300bhp/ton]

19 hours ago, Stadium Racer said:

 

Either you didn't read the details or don't understand them. The only things you MUST have are a stock motor and tyres. Other than that you can do what you want with a car that's one of the cheapest 1/10 models in the country that also has the cheapest spare parts. As the only parts you MUST have actually come with the RTR kit there is no extra cost to race in the class so your argument here is totally nonsensical. On the contrary, those requirements reduce the cost of the race class, otherwise people would end buying more expensive motors and race tyres in order to be competitive. The other class rules are totally flexible as it's believed that, other than fitting sway bars (a £6 part), there's not much that can be done to a particular Vantage that would give it a significant performance advantage over another one. And the things that can be done aren't very expensive in the scheme of things, I know this because I've raced one for the past 2 years.

 

As regards racing classes having too many rules, the club already has open classes for 2WD/4WD buggies and trucks so drivers can always "race what they bring" already. The problem with such race classes is if someone shows up with something like an FTX Vantage or Maverick XB, even a fully hopped up one, they'll be taking a knife to a gunfight and get totally rinsed by factory team spec 4WD buggies that cost >£1k. The result of such open classes is that, unless you've spent up, you're not racing at all and just driving around a track. In order to contain cost and create a level(ish) playing field, all forms of competitive motorsport have to have some specification rules. It's just common sense.

 

Frankly, what's being offered here is very similar to spec Slash 2WD racing that most off-road clubs in the U.S. have been running for the past 15 years, that's proved to be hugely successful at getting people into the racing hobby. The idea of this class is to provide a relatively cheap and less technical entry point into the hobby. Based on my 42 years racing, personally I think such a race class will prove to be very popular.

I note that your advertising of the race series is your 1st post on this forum. However, if you'd actually cared to read through the thread you posted in, you'd probably note, that many/most people owning these particular vehicles, don't keep them stock. They tend to modify them. Which these regs would then exclude. You even said yourself that a fully hopped up Vantage would not be even be racing just driving round a circuit in your open class. Yet you also exclude those people from this series as well.

 

As said, if the series is successful, it will only be people with money to burn on buying this car just to compete. It will not be attractive to anyone entering the hobby as you then bar any progression with the vehicle. You also say you are grouping brushed and brushless together. So give no hope of a brushed one improving or even fitting a better motor to be a little more competitive. I can understand a one make series to allow less competitive buggies to race on a more level playing field. But realistically anyone working on a "budget' as you describe, may well have only this vehicle for all RC activities, such as bashing and general use. Being limited to the stock motor and electronics to compete is incredibly short sighted.

[Stadium Racer]

1 hour ago, 300bhp/ton said:

I note that your advertising of the race series is your 1st post on this forum.

Well done, good spot.

 

1 hour ago, 300bhp/ton said:

However, if you'd actually cared to read through the thread you posted in, you'd probably note, that many/most people owning these particular vehicles, don't keep them stock. They tend to modify them. Which these regs would then exclude.

The regs allow any modification except for the requirement to use one of the stock motors and stock tyres and as these come with the cars no extra expense required. This keeps the series both competitive and within a budget, otherwise some well heeled enthusiasts would no doubt end up dropping in £300 sensored racing systems to gain an advantage. I spelled that out as clearly as I could in my previous post. These two constraints are the basis of many other budget RC race series simply because it works and frankly it's blatantly obvious why. I'm very surprised you can't see that.

 

1 hour ago, 300bhp/ton said:

As said, if the series is successful, it will only be people with money to burn on buying this car just to compete.

Maybe not you but, trust me, most people racing off-road RC cars don't consider a stock FTX Vantage to be an expensive model and won't be needing "money to burn" to participate AND compete. Many racers spend more on an ESC than a whole Vantage RTR kit costs, this series won't be attractive to them. Naturally, existing Vantage owners won't need to "burn" anything to try their hand at racing.

 

1 hour ago, 300bhp/ton said:

It will not be attractive to anyone entering the hobby as you then bar any progression with the vehicle.

Incorrect. They can modify the vehicle in any way they like except for the motor/tyres for reasons already explained twice now.

 

1 hour ago, 300bhp/ton said:

You also say you are grouping brushed and brushless together. So give no hope of a brushed one improving or even fitting a better motor to be a little more competitive.

Oh, but there is soooo much hope for them. All a brushed owner has to do is fit the stock £37 brushless motor if they want to be more competitive and they can even use it with any ESC they like. A great many Vantage owners already do exactly that anyway.

 

This exchange is getting a bit weird as all logical reasoning seems to be falling on deaf ears so I'm going to leave it there.

 

If anybody else has any thoughts or questions about this race series (which I've just found out today another established RC club, Mendip RC Raceway in Somerset, thinks is so good that they're going to do exactly the same thing) please post them up here or message me directly.