Seems that most guys used to run s grips on grey carpet, but with more and more tracks using ft2 black carpet, the s grips are too grippy so most guys are moving to m's to lessen traction rolling. This brings me to this; are the tamiya slicks possibly a viable option on black carpet since they seemed to be less grippy than s grips?

That is a well handling 04!!

Thanks for the information guys!

My GF came out to watch a bit of a WCICS race last weekend and expressed interest in the mini and usgt classes, so i dug out my m05v2 and started putting it back together and wired in some electronics. I was quickly reminded of an issue i had with the Yeah Racing long arm kit. The resulting track width is uneven. The rear is very wide compared to the front. Even with the offset Ride wheels up front and 0 offset tamiya swift rear wheels, the rear is still wider than the front. I cannot fit my 160mm HPI AE86 body on the car without the rear wheels sticking out. Anyone else encounter this issue?

Also, i bought a Turnigy super shorty lipo for it. It is so short that you can hardly see it in the car.

edit: to get around the track width issue, I'll run 7mm hexes up front with a 1mm spacer, and 5mm hexes in the rear. That way i won't have to use mismatched offset wheels. I'll keep the offset wheels for races on black carpet to widen the track width, and can use 0 offset wheels for grey carpet races.

Wow. That battery is small. How do you keep it attached to the car? There doesn't seem to be room for tape. The bodies from HPI seem to be the narrowest ones on the market, with the possible exception of the Civic. They can present a real challenge for wheel fitment.

When we got the new black carpet at Carcar, my mini turned into a bit of a pig. After much tweaking, tuning and advice from others, I found a fairly good set up that's got the car tame and controllable again. I've gone from the traditional soft springs on the front/hard springs on the rear with rear right height a little higher, to yellow springs all around and the car as low as it can safely go. I'm running M-Grip tires on the front with lots of glue on the first tread block and side wall. The car has better turn in and is more controllable down the straight. I also took out a few degrees of camber on the front. I had been using Tamiya's shorter top links and the bottom mounting hole on the chassis for more camber gain on the gray carpet.

I'll have to ask Saaannn Antonioooooo about how he managed to fit his AE86 body on his mini. I think Chuck might have run an AE86 body a couple of years ago, too?
Thanks for the setup info. I'll have to keep that in mind if my mini ever finds itself on black carpet (I'm not sure if my gf will be coming to the Calgary WCICS race or not).

I have a small piece of carbon fiber screwed over the battery hole right behind the motor wire connectors. It is hard to see it in the photo. On the other side, i have a spec-r rear body support screwed to a short standoff that swivels out of the way to allow removal of the battery. I'll try to come up with something a bit better looking in the future.

Super shorty lipos are the best for mini and F1 cars.... Only 66mm long and 139grams.....

That's some genius level car-fu there. Nicely done.

Motor at the back, just as St. Ferdinand intended.

M05v2 gets to see the track tomorrow so ill report back when the night is over with how well the car did and how bad my trail truck driving skills did lol its still gonna be a blast

I'm selling my M05R version if anyone's is interested. Ad is at the for sale section

I'm trying to figure out a weird problem. I know we've had this discussion before, but can't find the answer. My M05 is pulling hard to the left on acceleration. This has happened with both my old chassis and new one. I've replaced the servo saver, as well. I've got my steering subtrim set to the right to compensate, but it still hauls left.

I vaguely recall something about the oil filled gear diff possibly being at fault. I've got mine filled with 1M weight fluid. And ideas?

How's the corner weight distribution? If you've got unequal balance, a spool or spool-like diff will cause one of the wheels to apply more torque. Loose diffs by definition apply equal torque.

If the diff leaks, it is likely that one of it's support bearings will get more diff oil inside than the other bearing-- instant pull to one side. In this case, it will pull the same direction under acceleration and braking. If it pulls in different directions under acceleration and braking, then check the corner weights, as Gigaplex suggested.

Pulling hard left after exiting a left hand turn, or hard left at all times?

If the direction of the pull depends on the corner you just exited, I would say it is the diff. I dislike the extremely heavy diff oils personally.

If it is universal, it is probably a setup/component issue.