Saturday 21 April 2012

Car Prep

Seen as I am not racing for a few weeks and the weather was horrible today I thought I would get the car prepped for the national. I took the car as it came off the track from the last race.
Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App
Removed the tires as put them away for club nights, only going to use CRC Spec tires at big events now.
Uploaded from the Photobucket Android AppI always start with a diff rebuild. I get it stripped down and put the balls in a pot ready for cleaning. Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

I always give the spur gear a good clean with a cotton bud.
Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App
I try and reuse the steel balls a couple of times so I give them a good clean with brake cleaner.
Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

I also give the diff ring a sand to get the groove out. One on the left is before sanding, one on the right is after sanding.
Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

I also give the bearings a good blast. It is always key to check the outer bearing. I learnt when I was doing 1/12th that you can build the most perfect diff and if there was a small problem with that outer bearing it can make the diff feel horrible and notchy. I start with the axle and the first diff ring. I put a small amount of grease on that plate.
Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

Then I put on the spur with balls in and the bearing. I then put a small dab of grease on each of the balls.  Then I assemble the rest of the diff as usual.
Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

Seen as it is the start of the new national season I got a new Trinity D3. Got that soldered in ready.
Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

Whilst the rear end was apart I checked the rear pivot. I took the rear bodymounts off including side springs and dampers. I put the car flat on a setup board then undid the pivot mounts. I then realigned the chassis and links then tightened up the nuts on the pivot mount. It is important to check that once you have done everything up tight that the rear pod moves freely with no resistance. This can only be done with the springs and dampers off the car.
Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

Next was to clean out and refill the side dampers. One thing I notice people doing at races when refilling the dampers is they don't check for air bubbles in the grooves. I am using 12500wt diff oil in the dampers at the minute. Once I apply it I let it rest for a while to let the air bubbles come out.
Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

Once both are done I reassemble to rear completely. Now its time to concentrate on the front end.
I love the new cross brace and plate. It allows the front to be completely seperated from the car to be worked on.
Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App
When I took off the front suspension from the plate I sat it on the setup board and happen to notice it was every so slightly tweaked. This is something I didn't notice when I built it but the servo being attached flat against the carbon plate was causing the tweak. To get round this I tried to leave a small gap between the servo and the plate when screwing it to the mounts. Hard to get a pic of but you can see a small amount of the setup board through the gap to the right of the servo.

Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

Next I started striping, cleaning and rebuilding the front suspension. This is the perfect time to check for weak/broken parts. When stripping down the front left I noticed a crack in the pivot ball housing. This obviously happened in the last final at ardent. Swapped this out for a new part.
Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

After that I rebuilt everything up and checked camber. A set of used but retrued CRC Spec tires on and we are all set to go!
Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

So now I have just got to wait two weeks to use it!! Can't wait for the nationals this year, hopefully the numbers will be good. I have a feeling there is going to a fair amount of competition. Hopefully the 2s vs 1s debate won't put people off as the last Ardent A final was a 50/50 split of 1s and 2s cars.

Make sure you check out http://www.rc-pancar.co.uk a great resource for all stuff pan car related, F1 GT and mardave included.

Monday 16 April 2012

Ardent Winter Series Round 7

Well the final round of the Ardent Winter series happened yesterday. The track had changed to a much tighter layout. It was a very challenging layout.
Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

I decided to change the layout of my car to see how it affected it and if any benefits were to be gained. The cell is still inline but as far back as it will go. This made the car a bit more aggressive to drive but made me go quicker in the process!

Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

This was my second round qualifying time which I was very happy with!

Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

3rd on the grid in the A Final is the highest I have ever qualified at ardent. Unfortunately it all went to waste in the finals, a couple of small mistakes from myself cost me big and being taken out by a back marker who I was lapping added up to a poor end to the day. Finished 7th or 8th overall after two finals.

Big thanks to John Dawson and team for putting on the series. I finished 5th overall in the series so I am very happy with that. Congrats to Jason Butterfield who won the series.

Really pleased with how the car is going now though. Looking forward to the national season, picked a up fresh Trinity D3 10.5 for the new season from DMS models. Here are a couple of other random pics that I took. Also some videos courtesy of Stewart Craig.

I am also very interested in these new Viper speedos. Has anyone had any experience with the VTX-1 with a 10.5 in a boosted pan car it would be great to hear from you. I currently run a tekin so I want to know how it compares. My email is chris dot blakey at gmail dot com.

Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

Uploaded from the Photobucket Android App

Wednesday 11 April 2012

BRCA Nationals Entry Now Open

In case you missed it, you can now book in for the BRCA National series on the brca website

www.brca.org


Originally Posted by gbevens View Post
The entry system is open, it's via the BRCA website and requires PayPal at the time of entry.

To get to the entry screen you need to Log In, click on the race entry link (on the banner underneath the BRCA logo), Pick the F1 & GT10 Series and then select the meetings and classes you want to enter. I would post a link, but once you've logged in you'll need to be able to navigate there!


Hope for a good turn out, I have a feeling its going to be very close and competitive this year.
See you there.

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