Borked

Final race of the season is done and I had a great time in the XB4. Three heats and a two leg final. I was leading heat one for 7 laps until I a wheelnut loosened off and I lost rear drive 🙄 They were brand new wheelnuts before the heat and I'd tightened them, so I'm not sure what happened. I ended up dropping 2 laps as a result and came 5th/5. Second and third heat went better, placing 3rd and 2nd. The final is a combination of the two 4WD classes. I'm in the novice class (obviously), so we get chucked in with the experienced drivers. Finals went pretty well. I started 7th/8 cars in the first leg, finishing 5th (top of the novice class) Second leg was a reverse grid of the first leg, so I started 2nd. That was pretty crazy. I overtook 1st in the first bend and held the lead for and entire lap (which I was pretty happy with, considering the pace of the other drivers), but made a mistake and traction rolled and because it was near the start of the race the whole field passed me before the marshall could put me back upright. From there I was playing catch up and made another few mistakes, finishing 7th. Ended up with an overall result of 6th/8, which isn't too bad for my third race. Then I had a little raz around before we packed up the track... and snapped a front arm! Whoops! That's the end of outdoors for this year. We move indoors in 2 weeks, and I'll be switching to RWD class, running my B6.1... apparently it's the polar opposite of racing of dirt/very-short-grass. Loads of grip instead of none. Really looking forward to it. 😁

Switched out the ****y banggood ESC with a Hobbywing thing. Sooooo much better. Way more responsive. Can pitch the car up and down in the air far more easily now. The banggood ESC got me out of a hole, but the Hobbywing is so much better. I run the 10BL120 sensored in both race cars, so I knew the 10BL60WP would be tip-top. Didn't disappoint. Finished rebuilding the B6.1 to team kit stock setup. Glad I did because it was not built properly! Only thing left now is to get the recommended pinion for the 8.5 motor. Also did a little servo/ESC wiring tidy. Can't wait to get the chance to drive this... not long now until indoor season at my club.

Mate, I love it. Even if I didn’t break them with every outing I’d find another reason to take them apart 🤣

ESC for the carnage. I’ve got 10BL120 sensored jobbies in the race cars, and they’re excellent, so I thought I’d get a waterproof younger brother for the carnage. Being 60A it’s probably not a good idea to run 3s on it, but 3s in the carnage breaks other stuff anyway so I'm happy running this on 2s for now. Other than the ESC, just bits to repair the carnage and last week’s visit to the pump track and a diff casing for the XB4 to replace the rear which got knackered from a seized bearing. Oh and some stiff diff oil for the B6.1

When we stop racing outside I’ll have to do the same to the XB4

Yeah I’m wondering the same thing!

Just finished a little wiring tidy on the XB4. Lost about a car length of servo cable, a little bit of ESC cable, moved the on/off switch as I couldn’t shorten that cable, moved the cap-pack and shortened the wires so they’re less likely to end up in the prop shaft. I’d like to shorten the motor wires a little, but that’s a game for another day.

At last Sunday’s race meet there were some comments from other racers about the “technical competence” of the previous owner of my cars. The XB4 I got from him seems ok, but I haven’t driven the 6.1 yet - carpet season starts next month and it’s an indoor car. I thought I’d dig into the B6.1 to check it was put together properly. Very glad I did because it’s not! Parts fitted backwards, upside down, on the wrong side! I pulled apart the shocks and he’s got rear pistons on the left and front pistons on the right! It’s like he built it with his eyes closed and just guessed what parts went where. Some of the steering and suspension parts were fitted incorrectly too. Another thing that was strange was that there didn’t seem to be any attempt to build to the manual or setup guide. It was just all over the place! Some of the parts for the recommended settings were completely untouched and brand new… never been fitted. I get that people like to adjust settings, but most people would start from a reasonable setup. Bonkers. No wonder he had trouble with driving! So today I pulled apart and rebuild the entire front end to the team setup sheet specs. I’ve had to order a few parts that were manhandled by the previous owner. Nothing big, just bits of plastic that had been fitted wrong and are now the wrong shape and some shock pliers so I can take off the rear eyelets that have been fitted to the front shocks 🙄 I’m going to have to do the same to the rear end soon… fingers crossed he had his glasses on when he put that section together… I’m not holding out hope though 😄 On the plus side, I’m now getting the “kit experience” even though I bought an assembled car 😂

Chassis swapped and rebuilt the Carnage after destroying it last week. Shiny new ally front hinge pin mounts are a nice upgrade. My mate gave me an old bumper from a Senton (maybe) and I modified it to fit the Carnage. Looks absolutely ridiculous but should offer some decent bashing protection. Cut up an old Carnage bumper to act as a bracket for mount the new one, and turned down a bit of delrin rod as a brace against the shock tower. Should provide a lot more front impact protection, which should help at the pump track… nothing like pile driving into the back of a double. Although the bumper is now solidly mounted to the shock tower, I don’t think it’ll stress it too much. There’s a lot of flexibility in the front of the bumper, so hopefully that’ll take up the majority of the impacts without stressing the shock tower too much. If it starts breaking things up there I’ll revisit it and come up with a flexible mount.

Stuff to fix the Carnage after last week's fun at the BMX track

We race on a cricket field, so it’s very smooth flat grass which slowly gets worn away throughout the morning. The grip definitely falls away throughout the heats. I’ve only got one more race on grass before the summer season is over and we move inside and race RWD on carpet instead, so I’m not going to have much opportunity to compare the mezzos to the mini spikes, but since all the quick guys were on those tyres it makes sense to follow them. Always interesting to hear other peoples tyre choices. If the mini spikes don’t work out it’ll be a while before I can test out different tyre choices for grass!

Second race day down. 3 heats and 2 finals. Heats had 5 cars and I came 4th, 4th, 2nd. Finals had 10 cars and I came 9th then 6th giving me a final result of 7th /10 Pretty happy with that for my second ever race day. The XB4 started making a not-nice-noise in the second heat. Turns out one of the bearings in the rear diff had seized and was wearing the diff casing and the diff was flopping around. I changed the bearing but didn’t have a spare diff casing. The change was huge (hence 2nd in the final heat). There must’ve been some serious drag from the rear before. I’ve got another diff casing on order now, along with a new full bearing set. I was also running the wrong tyres. I was on mezzo’s which are apparently better for Astro. I’ve got some mini spikes now (which is what the fast guys were running) so hopefully that’ll help for next time. 🤞🏻

Car stand (mainly for rebuilding shocks), some front arms for the B6.1, some front tyre foams, some black grease for CVDs and finally the CORRECT drive shaft for the XB4. I’m very glad the drive shaft has arrived as I’ve got a race on Sunday and didn’t really want to run the car with the bent one.

Did this at the tarmac BMX pump track and had a fantastic time doing it! Hahah. I love this hobby. I think I’ll upgrade the hinge pin brackets to aluminium as I’ve had to replace the plastic ones a couple of times. My aluminium bumper holder lasted for a couple of years, so not too surprised it eventually gave way. I might have to make something more substantial this time around. Titanium would be nice for some sparks, but would end up costing more than the car’s worth 😂

@ReggieC So I've finally figured out what that gear cover's for. On the B6.1 you can have a lay down, lay back and stand up gear box layout. If you use the stand up gear layout that the body won't cover the spur so they provide a cover for it.