Long time and no posts?!

Not posted in here for while so decided to give it a go again. Expect some exciting stuff soon! 

Xray T3'12 Returns To Action

Well I have made the desion to start using the Xray T3'12 again as I am trying to save my dry car (MI4CXL) for the National series. I am going to be honest as admit I have never really enjoyed driving the T3 as I could never be consistent or on the same pace my fellow T3 users at BRCCC.

This aside I told myself I will make this car work for me even if I am sill slower as long as I enjoy driving it changes can always be made from there to gain vital 10th's to get on the pace.

 

Niall Marshall

Xray T3'12

(GREEN BOARD)

 

So getting back to my problems with my T3, and one of them being the lack of rear end grip I always seem to experience. So to combat this I decided to put a small washer in the back of the car to add a little more toe in on the car.

 

 



 

 

Xray T3'12

Extra Washers

 

So with these washers added I instantly achieved my much wanted rear end grip. But at a massive cost of massively increased tyre wear, and less initial steering.

 

A few more changes to the camber, roll centres and rear shock positions. The tyre wear still progressed until I eventually removed the washers at the rear. Danny Holmes also kindly lent me some ECS drivshafts and with all this and some slightly better tyres my times began to progress to become more competitive.

 

Tyre Wear

(With Washers)

 

 

Times Improving

(Sorry About The Blur)

 

10th Quicker Best Lap

 

Qualify 3rd

Finished 1st

 

Still the slowest best lap ?  

12.99 ??

Well this evening started off with some rather weird antics. Andy Murray had seemed to be hanging his car from what only could be described as a washing line. Honestly see for yourself,

 

Andy Murray

(Aka Magic Murray)

 

Else where my Schumacher was amazing to drive as usual but I was a little confused to my times after each qualifying heat as the only fastest lap I could produce was a 12.99 which was weird as there was either a glitch with the timing system or I was just driving super consistent. Here are the times and have a look for yourself,

 

 

 

 

Niall Marshall

Qualifying Times

 

The car I have came to the conclusion need more initial turn in to be able to achieve the faster qualifying time like the xray can at my track. Over the next few weeks I will try and achieve this very goal.

 

Else where in the pit area the ever more popular mardave/super stox class saw some close action with John's super stox looking very neat both on the circuit and also in his wiring and general car prep.

 

 

 

John

Schumacher Super Stox

 

The promise for this class and the affordability makes for a exciting future for both the drivers and the spectators as there is guaranteed close racing at a low cost.

A Few New Cars At The Club

There are a few new cars at the club the other night besides my MI4CXL. Arran Turner and Andy Murray were both happy recipients of new cars. Here firstly is Andy's HotBodies TCX which he is testing with before his new TCXX's come out of pre build mode into race ready.

Anyway here is his new TCX looking rather nice in race trim.

 

 

 

 

Andy Murray

HotBodies TCX

 

Though out the evening Andy's TCX looked really quick and consistent. The other new car would also be a TCX but this time Arran turner swapping his Xray T3 for what seems to be a more popular car. Here are a few shots of his car in a (very rare) clean pit area. Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arran Turner

TCX

 

Both cars were electronically wired nicely and looked new and ready to perform at the highest level. I believe Andy's TCX made 2nd in he A final with a very quick time, where as Arrans TCX never saw the start of the final due to a non charged lipo. Two very different results for very similar cars both still look very promising and looking forward to see how both car progress in different hands.

 

 

 

Andy Murray

TCX

New Tyer's At BRCCC

There were some new tyres at Blackpool RC Club this week in both the Schumacher Super Stox class and also 12th scale class.

The ever so popular Super Stox class offers drivers the super close racing at a fraction of the cost of other class's such as 12th or 10th scale. But don't have this class underestimated as the competitiveness of the racing and tuning in the pits is ever more apparent, especially with Contact's new release of dual compound tyres. Peter Ashurst was test these very tyres at the meeting the other night.

 

Contact

Dual Compound Tyres

 

As you can see the clear darker thinner edge to the tyre which is the different compound to the larger lighter side of the tyre. With this new tyre from Contact drivers will be able to fine tune there set up further more to have a dialled car to any track they race at.

 

Here are a few images of the tyres and the groovy colours they come in.

 

 

 

 

I think these tyres will be a big hit with the drivers for two reasons, tune ability and appearance.

The other tyre that was being tested was the new Mobgums for 12th scale racing. Danny Holmes (V-Design Team Driver) was testing them on his V-Design chassis for the evening. He thougth's were that not only can you see the tyre with them being a day glow yellow colour but also they felt rather nice and competitive. His car though out the evening looked dialled as usual and consistently leading the way with Andy Murray.

  

 

Here are a couple of images of the new Mobgums mounted onto Danny's V-Design.

 

 

 

So the tyre round up of the week. I will be blogging about these tyres at a later date with more opinions from the selected drivers about what they think to the tyres.

Schumacher MI4CXL

Well the other night started off with a shock rebuild on my MI4CXL after I noticed that one of the rear shocks had about 90% air and 10% shock oil left in it. So I took the opportunity to rebuild all four shocks which I may add is not one of my favourite jobs.

 

MI4CXL

Shock Re-Build Process

 

As you can see from the image above I always like a clean and clear work station so that nothing gets lost but more importantly everything end's up nice and clean. The build took a couple of minutes and with a slight problem with a O ring fixed during the build the shocks were successfully complete and feeling super nice and air free.

 

 

MI4CXL

Back On Charge Race Ready

(Arran wishing he had a MI4CXL)

 

So shocks completed it was now ready for the qualification rounds and my car was feeling very quick. As always a joy to drive and after the second round of qualifying my times were looking respectable considering I had only had the car for little over a week now.

 

 

Times After Round 2 Of Qualifying

 

The night progressed and I managed to qualify 4th on he grid which was a true reflection of my pace this particular night. I was rather surprised at the start of the final that I was able to keep on terms with the other drivers (Andy Murray, Aiden Ripley) but after a few laps of following a early turn in and bot dot would see me drop back a few car lenghts and for the rest of the final trail the other drivers.

 

Aiden retired out of the final gifting me 3rd which I was happy with as the car felt amazing as usual.

 

 

 

MI4CXL

Viper RC Solution's

 

Looking forward to driving this car more and more as its a true pleasure to own.

Schumacher MI4CXL

My new dry car this year will be the Schumacher MI4CXL. My Xray T3 will be my mainly indoor and wet car so it has at the moment taken a back seat.

My MI4CXL has been expertly assembled mainly by Andy Murray (as well as my T3 I may add) and on my first few runs with the MI4CXL indoors at BRCCC (Blackpool Radio Controlled Car Club) I was blown away! The stability and ease of which the car corners and generally grips is just mind blowing.

Schumacher MI4CXL

Protoform LTC-R

 

Its always nice to have a new shell and this gift of my brother arrived a couple of days after receiving my MI4CXL so I had a new shell for the new car. The LTC-R provided the essential steering needed of any TC on a tight indoor carpet track. All cut out to BRCA regulations. As well as a LTC-R I also had a Mazda Speed 6 Protoform lightweight shell to test. I instantly noticed the reduced levels or steering but the more consistent lap times with a more stable feeling car.

 

 

 

The car went on though the day to produce some very consistent lap times with regardless of shell. On the new layout at the BRCCC I know a quick time in a Xray T3 is a 12.70ish if i recall correctly, so I had my work cut out trying to chase that rather quick time on my first day with the car. I did manage though with the LTC-R shell to put in a 13.14 which I was happy with considering I know the T3 suits tighter carpet tracks more than my MI4CXL.

 

Here are some images of my new MI4CXL, enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 Tight Fit with all the electronics in but all nice and snug when finished.