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: 

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

 

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..

Narrow carbon chassis

After a good year with the aluminum chassis I decided to try a variation of the design in carbon fiber. 

The chassis is made by Bezerk RC in Australia. (https://www.facebook.com/BezerkRc)

The quality is excellent. The fit of the parts is perfect and the dampers slide in the 'channels' smoothly and without much play.

Finally the finish is 3K gloss which makes it considerably more shiny than the standard carbon chassis we are used to.

Post race maintenance

After each race I waste no time to sit down and disassemble the car in order to make a thorough investigation on each part to check for any wear, breakage or any other reason that replacement is required.

Here are some random photos of my car after the parts have been cleaned and I start to re-assemble.

I really do not like the scratches and signs of usage shown on the aluminum chassis. This was a prototype batch an the anodizing was quite shallow, only a few microns.
In any case the important thing is that the car works great with it and after a decent amount of running it still sits flat on a glass surface.

Front spool and rear gear diff. This is the latest edition of the gear diff and it works perfectly smooth (Xray internal gears), perfectly sealed and zero reliability issues.

Front double joint axle. Absolutely bullet proof, perfectly smooth, ultra precise and very well engineered.

Floating servo mount with Ko Propo servo and Ko Propo carbon servo horn.

Something a little different..

New PF Mazda body leaked!

That looks awesome!

Source: 
1) RC50.com
2) Rctech

Video time

Got some video footage from my last test. Nothing exciting, track hadn't been run for days so it was quite 'green' and the very strong wind didn't help much. I was very inconsistent so I just edited the few good laps I managed.

AWESOMATIX A700EXL & ORION R10 PRO SETUPS

Awesomatix A700EXL set up from Race 3

http://data8.blog.de/media/966/7125966_b80d0cabe4_d.pdf



Team ORION R10 Pro set up from Race 3

http://data8.blog.de/media/967/7125967_7946e6b23d_d.pdf

Race Nr.3 Nationals 2013

Amid an economic crisis which has left many racers skeptical about even attending a raceday our National championship continuous to run strongly, in relative terms that is to the drop we’ve seen in most other categories and club races.
Coming into this race we had two different winners in the first two races, each excelling in his home track, Nick(T4/Orca) at Athens’ ‘FRT’ and Michalis(BD7/Orion) at Patras’ ‘Modelodromio’.

The car of current double National champion, Nick:

This 3^rd round of the championship was a return at the home track of Nick, FRT, although with a different layout to the first race, having added the full length of the long front straight and the fast left turn sweeper.

The large super high speed track:

Saturday’s practice was business as usual, trying some fine tuning on the car and testing a few tyre and insert combinations to finalize my choice.For Sunday I chose to run my trusted SWEEP 36EVO with EXP Aqua medium inserts.
Most of the racers chose softer tyres apart from local favorite Nick who also took the gamble and run with 36R Sorex.

My car before qualifying:

Sunday finally arrived and the wind was very strong which made for a slippery track and impossible to make consistent runs as the car would be hit by wind gusts at different points each lap. 
My first qualifying run did not go as planned as for one more time my car came to a stop while being on course for a TQ run. The reason was a loose diff. More specifically, the out-drives in the diff are secured by strong hard O-rings but due to the high heat it seems that the diff got too hot and the warm fluid displaced the out-drives loosing drive inside the diff.

Kyosho/Orion powered car of John K:

I missed my second qualifying run as I still rebuilding my diff making sure that the same problem would not occur. I entered the track half way through the run and managed to complete a few laps just to make sure the diff was rebuilt correctly. I realized I was lapping on average 0.3 sec faster than anyone else so that gave me confidence for my 3rd and last run.

My car after the diff repairs:

So once more all was left to play for on the 3^rd and last Qualifying run. Starting dead last at the start having failed to complete my previous two runs I knew that I had to be very cautious to avoid any tangle with slower cars, stay away from the edge of the track and the curbs as there was the risk of the wind throwing my car off the line but also to keep my focus on making quick laptimes as I knew that taking pole would be important. Thankfully all went well and by the end of the run I had achieved, to my great relief, TQ by 5 seconds from second place, Fillip(T3/AE) who was a complete outsider racing only for his 3^rd time at Nationals race and surprised many with his great performance.

Xray T3/Advanced Electronics powered of Fillip starting 2nd on the grid in the main finals:

My TQ run on the 3rd and final attempt!


Qualifying was done and I had TQed the race. On to the Main finals.

A main Nr. 1 was making me a bit nervous as I knew that my first laps are not my strong point running a harder tyre to the competition and not using tyre warmers as I feel they affect negatively the consistency of the tyre through the entire run.  In addition I had emphasized on setting up my car on used tyres and the side bite of a new tyre was making the car a bit of a handful. Unfortunately that proved to be the case and after a few laps I was literally swamped by the pack behind me. Midway through the run I went a bit too wide on the fast back straight and the car caught air and flew off the track. I was marshaled pretty quickly but had lost touch of the leading pack and could only recover up to 5^th place. My friend Dimitris (T4/Orion) got the win of this exciting final from 4th on the grid.

Xray T4/Orion powered of Dimitris (IronMan) winner of Amain Nr. 1

Amain Nr. 1


A main Nr. 2 was a much better run. The wind speed had dropped and the track was a little warmer and cleaner. I led from pole to the flag, losing the lead only for a couple of corners to Fillip whose car spun and I regained the lead. Knowing that the tie-braker was the qualifying position I just wanted to secure the win and eased off the moment I knew that I was leading by more than 5 seconds and then crossed the line for one more lap to second place driver Dimitris(TOP/MM).

Amain Nr2


A main Nr. 3 was the decider. I was very confident that I could hold my lead from pole as I knew well that I had the best car on used tyres. Unfortunately my usual bad luck appeared again and a radio glitch would give instant full throttle for a millisecond killing my spur gear. I asked from the referee and the fellow racers 5 minutes to change spur and they kindly allowed me to do so.
The problem now was that I would start dead last from the back of the grid. At the sound of the tone I moved very carefully and tried to wait and not rush my way through traffic. By the end of the run I had progressed to 2^nd position. This would bring me on a tie with Nick but the TQ in qualifying would ultimately give me the overall win of the race.

Amain Nr.3


A very satisfying result considering all the misfortunes I’ve gone through the last few races and it marks the 3^rd different race winner in equal number of races in the Championship making the 4^th and final race at a beautiful track in the island of Crete late September the championship decider between 3 different racers.

The superb track of the 4th and final round in the island of Crete!

Enjoy some great photos from news site 'rcdevil.gr'

Some final thoughts on this race:
* No matter how much bad luck you experience, keep trying
* Team work is vital. I 'm hugely impressed by the guys who run TOP cars. They work together and practice a lot and I had underestimated them and now they are performing on the same level and at some points better than the usual leading contenders.They just need some more power :-)
* Open tyres rule = complete disaster. The amount of money spent in a period of economic crisis is ridiculous  It was my decision (to satisfy the request of the local importers) and I take full responsibility and for next year if I retain my position as chairman I will amend the rules to control tyres again.
* Level of performance from the field. Huge plus here. So many racers have upped their game and to get a win you really have to fight for it.

Special thanks to all the racers who sacrifice their time and valuable earnings to compete in our National championship and the volunteers who organize the races and provide coverage with photos and videos. Their support is priceless.
Also big thanks to Oleg from Awesomatix, Oscar and Jilles from Team Orion for their support and advice.