SANWA & MKS

With a transmitter since 2007 (KO Propo Esprit III), and a servo since 2012 (KO Propo RSX One) I thought a change was well overdue.
My choice of new equipment are the following two products:

1. Sanwa M12s-RS + RX 482 (antenna-less) receiver. 

Nice combo of top of the line transmiter in a more attractive price than the standard radio. I was lucky enough to get a great deal from EURORC.COM and received it within a few days. Feel is very nice and considering this is my first pistol radio after switching from a stick radio, I trust it is the best choice considering it is a well proven product all around the world for this application.

2. MKS X6 HBL 575 SL

This I was quite reluctant to get. Being a bit old school I was more keen to go for the more tranditional makers such as KO Propo, Futaba or at least same make as the new radio, SANWA.
In the end I was open to listen to the comments of a few friends and went for it. 
Once I got it in my hands I was impressed by the quality, the finish of the case and the smooth operation. Speed is great as expected so only track time is pending to make final conclusions

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Here is my car with all the new equipment installed. It looks nice and fresh compared to what it looked like before.

and as usual full gallery here:
A800X MMCX gallery

AWESOMATIX A800x MMCX - Rear speedo configuration

After running the car with the speedo installed in front of the motor I decided to re-wire the electronics with the speedo installed behind the motor this time.
This is also the actual designated location of the speedo from the designer of the car. Following his advice the battery connectors are now switched to the back to maintain the shortest possible lenth on the wires.

HD GALLERY

Awesomatix MMCX - Mid Motor Conversion

Actually it is not mid motor. The motor is moved forward by some margin but still is located rearward. The point of interest here is the mid-spur location and the equal length belts front / rear. In theory this layout should provide a better and smoother power delivery than the unequal length belts of the current traditional layout.

FULL HD GALLERY

In practice, it seems to deliver as it showed great pace in the hands of Freddy Sudhoff at the recent IFMAR World Championships in South Africa.
AWESOMATIX was the highest placed team without a professional driver and the margin of speed from the top performing cars was very small, if any.
In fact on his Q2 run Freddy was on course for top qualifying until he had contact with a board on the very last lap.

I have not tried it yet but I cannot doubt much the designer's Oleg Babich ideas as so far most of the upgrades he introduces seem to produce better pace.

This new design calls for a re-arrangement of the electronics layout. So far the most common and the proposed installation is to place the speedo behind the motor, and keep the receiver and cooling fan in front of the motor. This keeps the balance of the chassis at the desired point and also cooling of the motor is aided since the airflow of the fan follows the airflow of the car running.

Here is the suggested motor / speedo installation:

Me being me.. I tried the other way around. Why? well I did not enjoy seeing the speedo so far back.
Since I had long leads from the servo and speedo I could place the receiver way back and with some carbon spare pieces I made a fixing point for the antenna.
I did not place any weights up front and added 20gr of weight at the back which seems to have worked in achieving the desired center of gravity being a few mm behind the spur. I cannot say how much mm as this is top secret info and if I tell you I will then have to make you disappear!

Long story short.. here is my car: 

Team Orion equiped

About a month ago I had the urge to upgrade my equipment so I chose to try one of my favorite brands, TEAM ORION.
They have come out with a few new goodies lately so I was eager to have them installed on my car.

The items I installed are:

Team Orion HMX 10 Modified speed control
Vortex Ultimate Modified 4.5T motor
Ultimate Graphene HV 7.6v 7.000 mAh LiPo battery
Vortex VDS2-HV XS servo 

More HD photos here:
FLICKR PHOTO ALBUM

Montech Racer body

Few months ago had the chance to try a RACER body from MONTECH. Much was said about this body and the test proved that it is an excellent product. Rigid, lightweight, aggressive design, and on average 0.150-0.300 faster than a PF LTCR on a very large asphalt outdoor track in cool-ish conditions for Greek standards and medium traction.

The track & the body.

Click on here for HD photos: Full Gallery