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

Team Orion R10.1 Pro

After 2 years of running my trusted R10 Pro, time to upgrade to the latest version available from Team Orion.

New Team Orion VST2 installed

Car is now ready to hit the track. Hopefully will do so soon and may even manage some video from the runs and few pictures.

 

 

TEAM ORION VST2 PRO MOTOR

TEAM ORION recently introduced their new motor, the 2nd edition of the VST Pro line.
Although it retains the name, in principal it is a completely new motor. Entering a new racing season and with so many new motors in the market the VST Pro had to be replaced with something substantially better in order to keep the brand on top and from the first impression it looks like TEAM ORION have delivered a great new design.
The aesthetics are much improved dropping the dull looking mat look to a new nice shiny finish. A new aluminum endbell with double sensor plugs, clear timing markings and sensor plug covers are some of the new features but the most eye catching are the new solder tabs. The new design provides sufficient area to solder the motor wires and be able to apply some pressure thus achieving perfect contact between wire and tab.

The packaging is also very nice, using nice robust and soft materials, as if opening a box of expensive perfume. Very nice touch.

Once retrieved from the package its nice design and great finish is immediately observed. Through the motors I've used I always liked the design of the LRP X20 and lately the built quality of the ADVANCED ELECTRONICS motor I've been using with much success, but this seems to bring a new level in design and quality.

The package I received is final pre-production version and it included a magnet (armature) remover, solder tab cover and sensor plug covers.

 

 

Finally the inside detail of the endbell. Everything very neatly made.  I expect to test the motor in a few weeks if weather and time allow me to do so.