AWESOMATIX A800 VTD complete

AWESOMATIX A800 VTD (Vertical Top Deck Set)

AWESOMATIX introduced a few weeks ago the new Vertical Top Deck (VTD) for their A800 belt car. Similar to what we've seen in the WRC STX and Schumacher Mi5&6 cars it provides a different approach to how the top of the chassis is assembled.
Testing has shown that it helps on low to medium conditions.
What I like is that it is perfectly symmetrical compared to the standard horizontal top deck although even the asymmetrical top deck works perfectly well and has now been used by the newly crowned world championship winning Yokomo BD8 (which looks very nice by the way).

So here are some photos of the parts used and the top deck installed

the 'HARA' effect

It is old news by now that Atsushi Hara chose to run the Awesomatix A800 at the recent TITC.

For a small company like Awesomatix it was a great honor the A800 to be the car of his choice.
He received the car 2 weeks prior to the event and immediately he appreciated the high quality and design features of this unique model car.

Pace was decent during the first few runs but after a few days of running he seemed to hit a limit of performance although he could see the potential in the design. His main complaint was not good balance between front and rear axle.


During the final days of the first week he tried a few other kits, with conventional design.

In this year’s TITC there was a particular difficulty for Atsushi. Although this is his home track and has great knowledge of, he is also sponsored by RIDE which comes in conflict with the use of the event’s control tyre, the VOLANTE. This meant that he had to pay for all his tires. In contrary the usual high profiled drivers who already have a chassis sponsor could have a new set every time they hit the track. This was a major limiting factor and most of his practice before the event was run on RIDE tires so the set up for the VOLANTE tires would require a different approach.

On Monday of the week of the race, owner and designer of Awesomatix, Oleg, arrived at the track and with his help Atsushi resumed practicing with the A800. Immediately they found a lot more pace and they had managed to be in the top 5 of free practice times in fastest laps.

They concluded that the unique aluminum chassis with its 3D design performed better than the carbon one and sticked with it for the rest of the event.

The problem was now to find consistency, both during the 5 minute run but also during the changing track conditions.

Qualifying started a bit messy with Hara not registering any clean runs in the first two runs. He came back strong in round 3 with a 4^th overall and then dropped a few positions to a final 9^th qualifying position. 

Again single lap times were just as fast as the fastest runners, but consistency was a little off.
The finals are usually tough in this track and he came out in the end 8^th overall.
By comparison, last year when he run for Yokomo on RIDE tires, he had placed 10^th so although not the desirable result, it was an improvement.

If time and budget allowed he is sure he could have performed much better after fine tuning the car more to his liking. He is now considering his options for the upcoming Word Championships in China in August.

My personal feeling is that if Awesomatix can put together a decent budget to support him, he might choose to run the A800.
We will see.

The outcome of the race was  positive. Considering the limited time Atsushi had the car and the very difficult conditions on the extremely bumpy track, the car proved it can be competitive at the highest level and at any track following great performances on carpet with Viljamin in mod and Tony Streit getting the overall victory at ETS round 2 in stock.

a bit bumpy is an understatement:

A800-A / ASPHALT SET UP - LOW GRIP

Link:
A800 A - ASPHALT SETUP LOW GRIP
** correction **
Anti-roll bar is 1.2 front, 1.1 rear. It is marked the opposite on the set up sheet.


I had a great first National race with my A800. The car was very fast, both on new and worn tires and I may have been able to fight for the win if I was more concentrated during qualifying and did not start 3rd.

My set up is in the above link. I think it is quite good to start with on asphalt.

Aluminum chassis installed

Following a certain Hara's advice I finally installed the aluminum chassis.
The chassis is a real piece of art, with its detailed milling and cut outs. It also provides more flex over the standard carbon chassis, hence the preference from Atsushi.

I tested it and in combination with Hara's set up tips, it worked very well. Pretty much the best car I've driven so far so I am looking forward to our first National race the upcoming weekend.

Latest test

Had a nice test day trying several different types of tires. 

A small tip regarding the battery. Depending on whether or not the middle brace is used the LiPo pack may move a bit towards the pinion and spur gear. To avoid this I installed a small spacer on the motor mount with a reverse nut, keeping the LiPo away from the gears.

https://www.facebook.com/rcworldgr/videos/10153479197222709/

Protoform LTC 2.0

In 1/10 EP Touring two bodies have set the benchmark over the past decade.
The Protoform Mazda Speed 6 and the Protoform LTC R.
Especially for the LTC R such is the success it has enjoyed that Protoform itself is struggling to produce an improvement. Both the Mazda GS and the Dodge Dart failed. They might satisfy different characteristics but bottom line is that if you want to be competitive you either use the Mazda Speed 6 on carpet or the LTC R on asphalt and carpet.

So Protoform is making a bold move by introducing an all new version of the LTC, the 2.0.
Below are photos from Alex Hagberg's car running this body at the recent DHI cup.
One may notice that basic lines are similar to the first edition and it has minor tweaks and details changed.
Whether these are an actual improvement or not, remains to be seen in future events when more drivers will have the chance to test it, but the first feedback is positive..