Originally Posted by
Dino_D
I hear you on the MM3 vs MM4. There is less weight shift on acceleration. But that really depends on the level of grip at your track. We hardly have enough grip at our local clay or dirt tracks to even consider mid motor. Let alone trying to run MM3. They don't sugar or put stuff in the tracks here. Everyone who tries MM here (locally) is too busy trying to keep the back from spinning out so they all revert back to RM. And the times I have ran on carpet using MM is limited, so I am sure Fred is far more knowledge on MM setups.
mid motor can and does work on surfaces other than sugared dirt and carpet. in fact, it's just as good, if not better, than rm on most surfaces. the problem is there is only one car on the market that builds mm cars that work well on dirt and they never have any kits in stock (x factory).
weight distribution is key, and nobody on the market, in my opinion, has it right yet (xf is pretty darn close).
If I put a black garbage bag around my car and asked you to determine if it was mm or rm based on its weight distribution, you would tell me it's rm. In truth, it is mm. That is the key to grip, static weight distribution. Doesn't matter if it's rear or mid motor. If it has the weight in the right place, it will grip. Doesn't matter if it's high bite clay or loosey goosey dirt. Doesn't matter if it's mid motor or rear motor. With the weight in the right place, it will grip. Period. End of Discussion.
Remember, the goal of mid motor isn't to put more weight on the front wheels. It's simply to put all the weight within the wheelbase. You can still load the crap out of the rear wheels and you still get the awesome handling characteristics of mid motor. You just don't have to worry about the back end snapping out.
With that said, I race my custom dex210 mm3 chassis on a med bite clay track and have no problems putting down power. None. I can even lift the front wheels. It drives beautifully.
Not a good example of my driving, but a good example of my car's grip. I'm the only one, mid motor or rear motor, that was clearing the entire table top in the middle of the track. Everyone else was jumping to the top and driving off it. If you look close enough on the first lap, you can even see me lift my front on the approach to the jump from putting down so much power. Again, it was in mm3.