Originally Posted by ijdod

I actually ment their solution to the FIA ban on two different liveries: having two different halves on each car, but both cars being identical as per regs.

Originally Posted by wwddww34

You are right. Just like getting that last shot in at a basketball game, the race is all about who crosses the line first. The ROAR RMT did say in our driver's meeting that if you bump somebody else on the track, and get called on it, you will get a "Stop and Go" penalty. They even pointed out the corner of the carpet where you had to stop your car. However in this particular event, the RMT did not call Kody on either one of those bump incidents. The lead RM, Bob, talked to Kody and Tony individually immediately after the race. Then Bob reviewed the video frame-by-frame from the ginormous LiveRC.com camera to see exactly what went down. Afterwards Bob spoke to Tony and Kody together and explained his final decision. I took a pic of the 3 of them together.

Originally Posted by BadSign

I thought they banned the "Split Personality" paint scheme as well. I could be wrong.

Originally Posted by ijdod

Can't find anything about the split livery being banned.

Originally Posted by RedBullFiXX

... What's done is done.

Originally Posted by wwddww34

Originally Posted by liljohn1064

The Pro and X1 will cost more than an FGX and an aftermarket chassis and both Tamiya models are very hard to find at the moment. Tamiya shows both as discontinued and bringing a stock F104 to the level of either the X1 or Pro kit can get expensive. The FGX only needs a couple basic tuning items to keep in mind when building it to be a good performer, which really are about the same for the F104. You need the right tires, springs, sway bars and oils to tune it right for your surface. If you run on an open track without wood barriers to separate the lanes, the FGX will be fine. If you run on a track with hard unforgiving barriers, you may want the Tamiya for front end durability. Both can be made to perform on either hard or carpet surface with out much effort. It all depends on your budget.

Testimonial: I will say that after 125 laps with 3 different drivers, My FGX with a McKune chassis on carpet was still running laps at the same speed with no fall off. Once the tires gained heat/traction, they stayed consistent for over 20 minutes. Some would say that is a fluke, but then we took out its sister car and did the same thing to see if we could beat the previous lap times. Both cars, over 20 minutes, nearly identical lap times. And yes my eyes still hurt.

Originally Posted by BP SHADOW

Not tot bash the FGX, but I think that it is slightly misleading to say the the FGX is the less expensive option. True the purchase price is less, and even with a conversion kit you are around the $200 mark. But from what I have read on here, you need to keep a good stock of spares on hand to race this car. For a driver that is running week in and week out and only brushes the board occaisionally, he or she will probably not need that many spares. For a newbie to come in and run the FGX, IMO they will go thru a lot of parts trying to get in tune with the car. Any of the 104 variants are going to withstand the abuse of someone learning to drive them with minimal parts replacement. I'm not saying they dont break, but to me they are a more robust design, and will be a little more forgiving than the FGX.
Just my $.02

Originally Posted by 6376vette

I can agree. The fgx is fragile out of the box. I can also say that after converting it into a formula rabbit it is now more durable than a f104. The only part I have broken since the conversion is a rear arm and a front arm (after removing the arm I don't know how many times Stupid ball studs.) I have witnessed a f104 break its t bar 3 times and a motor pod twice. I guess it doesn't really matter. They all break eventually.


I also agree that the fgx is not a beginners car. A f104 would be much better. For that matter a f103 would be the best.

Originally Posted by 6376vette

I can agree. The fgx is fragile out of the box. I can also say that after converting it into a formula rabbit it is now more durable than a f104. The only part I have broken since the conversion is a rear arm and a front arm (after removing the arm I don't know how many times Stupid ball studs.) I have witnessed a f104 break its t bar 3 times and a motor pod twice. I guess it doesn't really matter. They all break eventually.


I also agree that the fgx is not a beginners car. A f104 would be much better. For that matter a f103 would be the best.

Originally Posted by BP SHADOW

The pivot balls popping out is an issue, but I think that I actually have an answer as to why they pop out.
In my experience, when you go to the low friction balls, the problem starts. I think that the the flourine coating that they put on these parts makes them more susceptible to this problem. I never had the issue with the regular metal or plastic ones.
The 103 is a great training car, too bad the trend is the 180-190mm cars

Originally Posted by 6376vette

I never had a problem with the pivot balls. I finally broke the arm where it snaps around the inner ball stud on the camber plate. I don't know how many times I took the arm off and pressed it back on. No fault of the arm. I wore it out from tuning the car.

I'm actually keeping eye out for a cheap 103 for a gtp conversion. I think it would be fun to run 17.5 prototypes on the track.