Something of a return...

[ReggieC]

Interesting day at the track today.

 

Lots of completely new racers turned up today, with all of them going in 1/8th. So we had 2 heats of 8. I went in the B heat with the Slash. Practice before hand it felt really good, the softer oil seemed to help loads. 

 

First heat started and I was running around in P2/P3 before the car started behaving a bit strangely. Would go well for a few corners and have spin on others. If you've seen my status update, you can probably guess what this was caused by.

 

 

The very same driveshaft that got replaced last time out. This sidelined the slash for another day as I didn't have another replacement rear driveshaft. I'm gonna get some Fastrax shafts for it as I know this is always going to be a problem, but I wasn't expecting a new shaft to last such a short amount of time.

 

At least this let me concentrate on the XB2 more, which is the main reason I'm there. Made a few set up changes through the day, a little bit of toe out and a little more camber which made the front end a bit more responsive. First heat was still a bit damp so I ran some Ballistic Greens on the rear which were pretty dialed, but I wanted to save them for a proper wet day, so back to the Mini-darts for the rest of the day.

 

P3, P3, P3 and P4 in the heats saw me qualify in P4 for the final. Got caught up in the first lap chaos pretty bad which put me down to last. The top guy had a mechanical failure about 2 laps in which meant there was a good result on the cards for me and the 2 other lads who kick around behind the faster guy. I managed to pull back the bad start to come home to this!

 

I had a lap missed at one point so there was a little bit of confusion with the original finishing order but all the racers were agreed on what it should have been so it was corrected to put me in P2!

 

I think the car would benefit from some softer shock oil, I'm going to set up the current shocks and spare shocks with the 2 oils I've got currently as I'm not sure what's in there now. The front tyres (cut staggers) are definitely past their best too, but we've got our end of summer event in a couple of weeks, so think I'll treat it to new rubber all round, maybe a new shell too.

 

[Stormbringer]

Well done mate 

[ReggieC]

New shell time for the XB2.

 

First shell I've painted in about 10 years so really should have gone for a more simple paint scheme. The old Top Gear motto of "Ambitious, but Rubbish" springs to mind. Too little time between changing colours, the pink acted completely differently to what I was expecting (should have gone 1-2 coats and then on to white) and lots of bleeding/overspray/missed masking. I'll chalk it all up as a learning experience. Luckily it's such a small shell, so I've still got a fair amount of each colour for the next attempt.

 

 

 

Done my best to hide the worst of it with stickers! It'll look great on track. I've also got brand new tyres all round for the next meeting, which should be fun as I've always ran it on worn tyres so far.

[ReggieC]

The prep for the weekend continues.

 

Fitted fastrax drivers and a full bearing kit on the Slash. Wow, I didn't realise how bad the bearings were before! The car freewheels so much better!

 

Some of you may have seen my somewhat desperate plea on status updates to find some new 17mm hex adaptors as it turns out the driveshafts I've bought run their own style of hex without drive pins so my current adaptors don't fit. I've bought some cheap 12-17mm converters to get me through from Amazon and fitted them tonight.

 

I'm not too keen on the Nut being the most exterior part of the whole deal. Even with the wheels on, they're the widest part of the car so really at risk. I've loctited them on so fingers crossed they'll be okay. I'm also not a fan of how much wider it's now made the car.

 

 

It just about fits on the rear but the front is poking out the shell by a fair amount. I'm not sure if there are other adaptors that'll be better than this, but it'll get me through the weekend at least.

 

XB2 had  but of a gritty ball diff so I've rebuilt that and feels a lot better. I also read a bit of a trick about using the little foam ear plugs to seal the diff from the elements a bit better when running in wetter conditions so I've done that.

Chopped the tips off and pushed them in the outdrives.

 

The driveshafts just start to hit the foam at full compression so no problems there. 

 

Got a few little bits to do before the weekend. A few guys were up the track doing some maintenance at the weekend and apparently filled in a lot of the bumps, so will be interesting to see if all my set up changes hold up still. Have some worries that the Slash may be too soft now.

 

[ReggieC]

Batteries charged, bolts checked, pit box packed.

 

We've got 2 race cars ready to go!

 

Gonna be a busy day tomorrow. 30 people there in total, 15 in 2wd and they're even running a separate Truck/truggy class with 6 in.

 

I'm guessing we'll run 2 finals in 2wd and with a lot of racers I've not seen race there before, I'm hoping to be at the sharp end of the B final. Unless there's any other Short Course trucks about for the truck/truggy class I think I'll end up getting bullied again by the much bigger and heavier 1/8 truggies, so if I can avoid that and run with a few people, that'll be fun!

 

It's been very wet this week and raining again today so track could still be wet, will be interesting to see how it goes.

[Stormbringer]

GL mate 

[ReggieC]

So today was eventful.

 

Slash decided again that it didn't want to be 4wd again, this time on my second practice lap!

 

Annoyingly it was going really well for that 1.5 laps before this happened. I was going to just call it a day on it there but then someone suggested just running it as 2wd. So I pulled out the centre driveshaft and ran it as rear wheel drive for the rest of the day. First few heats didn't go too badly, was inevitably last in all of them though, but the car was driveable and not too far off. As track dried out and got a bit looser though I really struggled keeping it in a straight line and keeping any speed up in the corners. Managed to somehow do this to the balance plug on one of my lipos. 

 

XB2 was where the real fun was though. Grass was wet when we started so I put some Ballistc Greens on the rear and stuck with them all day. I got put in the B heat, and it was immediately clear that this was going to be the crash and bash class. It was a struggle getting through traffic/slower cars without getting punted off. I was also dealing with what I think was an interference issue, causing the steering to be delayed occasionally which was throwing me off. I swapped receivers between the XB2 and the Slash between the 2nd and 3rd heats which seemed to fix it with no detriment to the Slash which is a bit odd.

 

Car felt the fastest it has done the whole time I've been racing. New and more suitable tyres front and rear really transformed it. To the point where I qualified P4 in the A final!

 

 

Final was a mixed bag, I was running in P2 for about 2 laps before some contact with P3 put me to the back. Fair play to that guy for letting me back through, but everyone else got a good gap on me and a podium spot was out of touch from there. I worked my way back up to finish P4. Lap times really weren't far off at all so I think I could have had the podium with some better luck.

 

I've got a bit of a break from racing now, will be away in the Van in the Isle of Wight for the next meeting, so hopefully plenty of time to find out any more issues on the Slash!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Shergar]

You seem to be having  a good crack, I’d be chuffed with those results 👍

[ReggieC]

14 hours ago, Shergar said:

You seem to be having  a good crack, I’d be chuffed with those results 👍

 

Yeah I'm a bit surprised by how well it's been going. I wasn't that great when I raced a while back so to be up there after 3-4 meetings is a bit of a shock.

 

Hoping for a few action shots to turn up over the next couple of days as there were a few people taking photos 

[ReggieC]

Currently away for a week in my van in the Isle of Wight with the girlfriend. Thought I'd bring the Slash along with me, so the og wheels and tyres went back on.

 

Camping right on the edge of a cliff and as I type this there's 40mph winds so it's quite interesting!

 

2 batteries through it before breaking one of the "heavy duty" wishbones. Wouldn't say It was particularly that hard of a bash so not sure if they're up to much cop for bashing. I think I'll get another set of RPM arms and hope they don't bend like the last ones.

 

Blurry screenshot of the makeshift dirt mound/jump being used!

 

 

My girlfriend has been saying for a while that she wanted to have a go with one of the cars but didn't want to go racing with me and the garden is a bit small. So she had her first go and has now asked if I could get another controller so we can play with them together!

 

 

[Stormbringer]

Result mate and have a good holliday

[ReggieC]

Had a bit of a delivery to repair damages sustained when on holiday, also got a center diff to try out and a rebuild kit for the rear diff as the out drives seemed a bit wobbly.

 

 

Can't see amazingly but centre diff went in really easily. One of the O-rings in the rear diff had fallen apart so rebuilt that and all is good now. RPM arms required a little fettling with the Dremel to get them to drop under their own weight.

 

 

Went to put the batteries into storage charge whilst I was at it and kept getting a voltage/disconnect error on one. Strange that when it's plugged back in to the car, it all seems okay. The other battery charged up okay so wasn't sure what was going on initially. A bit of investigation showed this though.

 

The connectors were starting to melt. A bit odd as they're seemingly genuine Dean's that came already on the battery and I've never encountered this before and I've always ran Dean's. I've had a pack of XT60s in the tool box though that I've been thinking of changing to so this seemed like a good opportunity to do that.

 

 

Gonna head up the track one evening this week to hopefully test out the centre diff as I didn't manage to make it there today. I've got a few options on oil to try out so want to see what works

[ReggieC]

On 09/10/2022 at 19:12, ReggieC said:

Gonna head up the track one evening this week to hopefully test out the centre diff as I didn't manage to make it there today.

Well that didn't happen for 2 reasons. First reason was my second go of Covid which has hit a bit harder than the first time. The second being me having a bit of an idiot moment on Monday night.

 

I said before how I didn't like the 17mm adaptors I'd mainly because of the barrel nuts not really tightening properly and always felt like it was loose. I tried using an impact to do them up a bit and managed to snap a nut about halfway down. Absolutely no clearance to get it out, so it was dremel time.

 

 

Annoyingly, I managed to royally mess up the stub axle in the process. Typical case of rushing in and not really thinking through as I definitely could have done it without with a bit more time. Fastrax don't advertise as selling spares for their driveshafts so I thought I'd ping them a message to see if they'd sell me one. A bit of backwards and forwards with their sales team and they sent me this, free of charge! Really impressed by the service!

 

I also needed a new set of 12-17mm adaptors, so went on eBay and found some 3D Printed ones that looked interesting so got them ordered too. They mean I can go back to using M4 wheel nuts which I'm much happier with as it's one less nut per corner to worry about. I'm not sure on the plastic washers, I'll see what they look like when they're fitted.

 

I'll get them all on tomorrow and show what they're like!

 

I've also had a new toy turn up that I'll stick in here tomorrow too, that might end up with it's own thread as well.

[Stormbringer]

good on Fastrax sending you the part foc 

[ReggieC]

2 hours ago, Stormbringer said:

good on Fastrax sending you the part foc 

Yeah, great service. They said it was from a broken shaft so I assumed it would be used somewhat, but it appears to be brand new!

[ReggieC]

New Toy!!!

 

Another one I really wanted back in the day but could never afford. Been trying to avoid buying any more but when I saw this pop up for a good price I couldn't not pick it up.

 

 

A Gmade R1 courtesy of @turok007. Turned up the other day and is in super condition for a secondhand crawler. It came with a Gmade branded servo and 35t motor to get me started, so I picked up a Hobbywing 1080 and borrowed a receiver put of one of the other cars to get it rolling.

 

 

Sat in there nicely and is the right colour to sort of blend in too! Running a little 1300mAh 2s lipo I had kicking around for now but think I'll get a slightly larger capacity for 3s for a bit more wheel speed.

 

Not got a lot of plans for mods or upgrades. I've got parts coming to do an under-drive mod on the rear axle. It would benefit from a stronger servo, so I might pick up a banggood special for it, as well as a few mods to get some more steering angle but I think this will require some aluminium upgrades so I can hold off on that. I'll probably pick up a few brass bits just to help too.

 

Still waiting to get out with it properly but have had some fun today going over a pile of wood off-cuts from my decking.

 

 

 

[ReggieC]

Got the hexes fitted along with the new driveshaft. A little tight going over the 12mm hexes but I'd rather that than the alternative.

 

 

Went out for a trip down the track today with the XB2, Slash and took the R1 with me hoping to find some stuff to crawl.

 

XB2 was flawless, as always. Although I think one of my shortie lipos may be a bit dodgy, it's been taking a bit longer than the other to balance but today it got about half the run time compared to the other before hitting the low voltage cut off. Still got about 12-15 minutes of run time so it's fine for the 5 minute races.

 

Slash ran really well, the centre diff has helped loads. Luckily I ran out of battery when I did because I spotted 2 hinge pins backing out and a upper shock bolt. No harm done though.

 

Unfortunately there wasn't as much stuff there as I hoped to crawl over so the R1 didn't get much running.

 

[Stormbringer]

the lipo thats on way out i wouldnt race with it as it may not supply the punch of a good battery

[ReggieC]

50 minutes ago, Stormbringer said:

the lipo thats on way out i wouldnt race with it as it may not supply the punch of a good battery

 

I need to have a look at it's internal resistances to see if something has gone really wrong. 

 

I'm tempted to do a couple of regionals next year so I might pick up a lipo off the BRCA approved list to replace it.

 

 

[ReggieC]

Not much of an update from todays racing.

 

We started late because of the rain, managed one heat before the rain came back and everyone decided to call it a day. Unfortunately, I missed both of my heats because the return spring on the wheel on my transmitter snapped! So not much fun for me. 

 

Luckily, I've been working on fixing up a Schumacher SST99 Pro that I've had in a box since trying to make a working car out of that and an SST Axis and failing. I've had a few parts turn up yesterday so should be able to do some work on it tonight. I'll add photos when it's sorted.

[ReggieC]

So the SST.

 

This is where I was after a bit of time undoing the combination work I mentioned last time.

 

19t brushed motor found in the box as well, won't be running it, but looks right doesn't it?!

 

After a few parts deliveries I'm here.

 

Annoyingly I ordered heavy duty body posts that'll work on the rear, but not on the front without modifications. I like the extra thickness though so think I'll do it. I've chucked on some SST mini pins that I had kicking about. Best part of this little project though is the shell.

 

 

Not in the best condition and has paint peeling/cracking so perfect to be used. The 850R definitely came a bit before my time of BTCC watching, but as someone who drives round in a V60 and my favourite car that my dad had was a V70 T5, it's definitely my favourite!

 

With winter coming and the likelihood of more outdoor meets being rained off, I'm thinking about getting this in a state that I can run it at a touring car club up the road. They run 17.5t blinky by the looks of it, so it should hold up fine.

[Stormbringer]

very nice mate 

[ReggieC]

Racing again tomorrow. Looking like it'll be another wash out, but fingers crossed!

[ReggieC]

Meeting called off first thing, absolutely miserable day. Really thinking having the SST for racing indoors is a good idea

[ReggieC]

On 06/11/2022 at 21:48, ReggieC said:

Meeting called off first thing, absolutely miserable day. Really thinking having the SST for racing indoors is a good idea

 

Bit of a change of plan on this!

 

Joined a Retro TC car group on Facebook and found a bloke who was after a swap for an SST99. He had an Xray T1 to offer. Not quite the same as the T1FK05 I used to race back in the day but something I'm a bit more familiar with.

 

Turned up today with pretty much a whole spare chassis too. Got to do a bit of a rebuild on it but I think it'll be a bit better than the SST for what I want. Just need to work out how I'm going to mount a shorty lipo in it, get a shell and either use my backup esc for the XB2 or pick up a 10bl120 and we should be good to go!