Advanced Electronics Black Diamond & motor

Thought I 'd try something different for a change.
On paper this is the highest spec speed control in the market. It is designed, developed and assembled in Sweden and it was one of the first speed controls, if not the first, to provide the now commonly used turbo boost and turbo timing functions which pretty much transform any motor into a very powerful item.
It is compact in size, with a nicely machined case made from aluminum, no plastic bottom here, and it has very easily accessible soldering tabs, making wire re-soldering very quick, precise and clean.
The software is developed by AE themselves and it does not require a program box, you simply connect it via the sensor plug to a USB link on your laptop; you open the program and can make any change you can think of.
Overall it gives the same unique feeling and exlusiveness of the A700 and if it performs just as good it will be a great match for it.

The motor is also quite different from most motors widely available in the market. It has a nice finish and inspires quality, looks robust and has very strong magnetic field requiring a lot more effort to spin the rotor than in any other motor I've tried. I don't know whether this means anything but in any case I will test soon and find out.

AWESOMATIX A700 New parts

Some more new parts announced by AWESOMATIX for the latest editions of the A700 car.

 

 New plastic lightweight diff holders

 

New two piece outdrives for easier removal and maintenance

 

 

 

New steering plate for easier adjustments

 

 New two piece motor mount 

 

 

New gear diff set with metal internal parts

 

 

 New short steering block

 

Finally a modification I did on my car in order to improve the consistency of the rear toe-in settings. I managed to hold the toe-in link on the main bulkhead thus making it considerably longer than standard and in theory this minimizes the change in teo-in angle during suspension movement. Additionally the turnbucle is fastened further in into the ball cup and provides a stronger setup.
This same setup of the toe-in link is standard on the newest editions that use the updated AM01-1 Gear Box.

 

America's Cup 2013

The America's Cup is the oldest trophy in international sport. It is about sailing and involves the fastest most technologically advanced sailboats with the best sailors and the biggest budgets ofcourse.

 

Teams are now testing and practicing with their new boats for the actual America's Cup race that will take place in July 2013.

 

These boats are twin hull catamarans with massive fixed wing mainsails 40 meters high (approximately 12 story building height).

 

For the first time in its history the boats involved are designed with hydrofoils in order to lift off the sufrace of the water and achieve incredible speeds.
This new approach comes with many challenges and as you will see below the risk and danger involved is very high.

The boat from Team New Zealand:

Team Emirates New Zealand AC72 foiling

The boat from Team USA:

Team Oracle USA 17, AC72 foiling: (skip to 3:11 for the actual action)




Disaster strikes for Team Oracle USA 17:

2012 National title. Final race & Championship

So the final race of the year for the National Federation's 2012 Championship is now over. The result is that I lost for the 2nd consecutive time the title. The bad thing is that I tried quite a lot but it just wasn't my day, or better yet, my season. The good thing is that the winner is super cool guy and a very desrved Champion. Throughout the season my driving has been off, never as focused as I've been in the past, with many errors and inconsistent driving. Nick Geo (the 'Kid') on the other hand avoided any big mistakes all season and in the last race where everything was at stake he performed flawlessly, with a superb TQ run and 2 clean wins in the first two Amains.
I made a mess on my qualifying run and ruined a new set of tyres and then, starting 2nd on the grid, I simply did not have the pace to chase Nick in the Amain finals.
I take some comfort in the fact that I achieved a new lap record but on the other hand that confirms that the car had the potential but the driver simply failed. Anyway that's racing.
The car was running quite well and I am very pleased with the way it behaves. The deciding factor was my bad driving and then the lack of power as I had set up the speedo with wrong settings giving me too much power at the start and then big drop off after the 2nd minute.

Here are some videos that Nick F. recorded, for which I thank him very much!

My 3rd and final qualifying attempt in which I finally managed to complete a run without mistakes. Unfortunatelly my tyres had already run 4 minutes in the previous attempt and were simply to old to give any chance in getting pole.


Amain Nr.1


Amain Nr.2


Amain Nr.3 pretty much sums up my season with a spectacular full speed exit. (note the carbon "THiNK" wing did not brake!)


Some pictures thanks to rcdevil.gr

 

 

Champion's car!

 

A few more painted bodies

Season finale is coming up with the last race of the 2012 National Championship and an extra pair of bodies is fresh out of the oven.
Design and execution by good friend Nick Floudas.

A700 'L' Narrow chassis & 'floating' servo holder

AWESOMATIX recently introduced two new upgraded kits, the A700EX and A700L. The EX edition allows for both longitudinal and trasverse motor position whereas the L allows only longitudinal motor position and has the narrowest chassis of the two. The new chassis in both editions have cutouts which increase flex. There is also the option to limi this flex by hoding together the edges of these cutouts with a special fastener. Pretty trick!

In addition to the new chassis there are a number of new parts all of which are designed to increase performance, durability and make adjustments and maintenance easier and faster.

Below is one of these new parts, the AM24 Central Servo Holder, or otherwise known as 'floating' servo mount. This type of servo mount I first saw on the new Yokomo BD7 and it has since been introduced by a number of companies. AWESOMATIX's edition works in the same way, where the servo is mounted onto the chassis by two centrally positioned screws and the remaining is not in contact with the chassis. The aim is not to affect the flex behavior of the car.
Needless to say the design, quality and finish of this part is excellent.

 

Notice the bottom of the servo which is floating, away from the chassis plate.

Since I changed chassis I decided to go with a different configuration in my electronics. I turned the speed control around so that the motor wires may align with the motor tabs. Only problem is that the switch on the speed control is hard to access but that's something I can live with.

A better view of the ultra-narrow 'L' edition new chassis

THiNK carbon fibre 190 mm Touring rear wing

I just received a few carbon fibre rear wings for 1/10 190mm Electric Touring cars. These are not lexan made, carbon look wings. They are actually made from carbon fibre and are Kevlar re-enforced. The result is a super light, thin and strong wing.
The quality is excellent, completely straight and true and very nicely cut on the edges. Dimensions are IFMAR/ROAR/EFRA/JMRCA etc approved so they should be acceptable by most federations.
When installed and secured on the body, the body itself becomes much more rigid and the wing sits perfectly straight.
I received prototype versions so the holes were aligned for Protoform bodies. I guess there will be more options available for other bodies.
I will most likely test them in a couple of weeks and will then revert with my feedback on how they perform on the track.
The wings came under the code name "CW1" and should be available shortly by a new company in the making called THiNK.
More info soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

HPI Flux Pro & Equipment

In the end  I won't make it to the World Champs in a week's time due to obligations so I thought to buy myself a new toy for comfort.

It's a nice little speedo based on the HW V3. Well, 'based' is an understatement. I think it is exactly the same.
For the time being I'm having a hard time finding the best orientation on the A700 chassis since the wires are on the side and not at the back as they were on the beloved ORION R10 Pro. This is an issue only for this type of car with the motor positioned along the chassis' center line.

 

New bodies

Inspired, designed and executed by my buddy Nick Floudas.