abe-racing

Hi All, I had my first run with the A700 on saturday and was very very happy with the car. I race in the UK and run 10.5 boosted and felt the car had very good accelaration and very good corner speed. One corner on the track was fast sweeping on to the straight which i could take flatout and i found i was alot quicker then anyone else on this part. I did 5 runs at 25laps each with no damage or problems.
As a first test i was very please and looking forward to next weekend.
I started off with Ivans prostock Ets setup which was very easy to drive, i then changed to Ivans winning Ats which i found still was very good but the track layout was quite flowing and this setup was more aggressive. Would be good to have the track to myself tho for testing the car, as i struggled to get a clean lap in to see how fast the car can really go!

Mb3195

Sounds promising mate, where do you race? How did the car compare to your previous cars?

Did you have to pay import tax when the car arrived?

Mb3195

I hear what you're saying, tbh, I am after that 0.1 -0.2 secs per lap, if the car gives me this I'll be happy.

steveonamission

Well, if there is someone at your track with an XRAY putting down quicker laps, your wasting your money on this

Mb3195

There's not

abe-racing

I race at Ardent raceway, and in the summer i do btcc and all BRCA nationals. the car only took about 4days but then got stuck in customs for 4days. Had to pay £20 so not to bad considering the valve, £13 was to parcel force!
I raced for xray and hot bodies, N Xray will take some beating indoor but after first run its better than my TCX. I will keep you posted how i get on next weekend for its first race.

Magnet Top

iTrader: (4)

This weekend there was a regional "X-ray Challenge" race I didn't think I could attend but I made it in time for "last chance qualifier". In an effort to merely make the A main I drove conservatively and put it 3rd on the grid. Big props to the Awesomatix A700 for making that possible. This is just my third race with the car. I didn't have much time ( 3 packs in practice ) to "dial it in" but honestly it didn't need much adjustment to be competitive on a track it had never seen. In the triple mains I finished 2-1-2 against a 1-3-1 so I ended up second overall. Considering I was driving amongst some of the best stock drivers in the region I am very pleased with the result. The beauty of this car is that it is very consistent run to run and doesn't do anything odd through the run. VERY precise, predictable, stable and has great corner speed on throttle. I need to try the optional ackermann or possibly just adjust the standard ackermann because my only complaint with my current setup is slow speed tight corners I wasn't getting enough rotation. That being said, I haven't had much practice time to experiment with other setups so I can't really conclude that ackermann is the overall change required.

But more importantly I do want to share a "failure" but it was fixable and preventable ( so long as the parts were found on the track ). I was preparing a new set of tires just before A3 by driving for a few minutes. I didn't remember hitting anything during this bit of open track but noticed the car was suddenly not quite right, yet oddly not too bad to drive considering what I'd find was wrong. I figured it was the set of tires being too new so I pulled the car off to get ready for A3 which was about 15 minutes away from starting. Luckily someone looking at my car noticed that the bone ( ST13 + ST16 ) was missing on the front right. ( I must have handed the car to a couple dozen people to view it , so glad I did because I may have overlooked the missing bone and raced it that way in A3 !!! So a bunch of fellow racers quickly searched the track and the bone was found intact. I was very lucky since I didn't have a spare bone. All went back together and I was set for finale.

So," long story short ", I highly agree, as previously suggested, that people use Heat Shrink on the front ( and maybe also the rear ? ) universal joints to hold ST17 from popping open. ST17 was stuck popped open when we found it. I'll probably use two layers of heat shrink or a vinyl wrap of some sort.

AND I walked away with one of the coolest trophies I've ever seen. RC America ~ Xray awards the podium finishers this thick clear pit/setup board. Awesome

Cheers,

Jake

JayBee

iTrader: (31)

That's awesome Jake!!! Congrats!!!!

John Doucakis

iTrader: (1)

Hi Jake,
Thanks for sharing this with us.
A quick question. The upper camber links (front arms) on your car, are they cross placed?
I see the front/front right being on top at the C-hub (on top of the front/rear right link) where as the front/front left is under..

bucketboy

Nicely done fella but your "failure" does concern me, I know it could be argued that all cars break down now and again but there have been a few posts about how to keep the CVJ's together and another about how not to loose your bones. The thing is, at the moment there are not hundreds of these cars being run, only a handful and the fragility of certain parts of the car is already becoming apparent. If CVJ's are popping open in stock when you don't remember hitting anything what the chances of them staying together in mod/boosted when you do?

There is a list of recommended spares but it is quite a long list and that is lot of money sitting in the pit box on the off chance you are going to need it. With so few people running them the lack of trackside support is another concern of mine.

Don't get me wrong, I love the look of the car, I would love to have one but for me my reservations exceed the cars potential. My brain is saying keep my money, my heart is saying go for it.

Well done again

Bb

Velocitygt

iTrader: (4)

Well done Jake!

As Oleg has previously stated on here, you need to be careful when first building the universal bones not to open the cage any more than with a 2mm flat blade. If this is done then you will not have a problem with it popping open.

I have had over 50 runs with this car already without any problems, even in crashes.

Magnet Top

iTrader: (4)

Hey Velocitygt,

I used a 2.5mm flat blade because that is what the manual suggests. I guess I missed Oleg's post suggesting a 2mm ? . If so, I am sure he will alter the manual so others may not make the same choice.

Hey Bb,
Sorry, this requires clarification on my part. I had taken some hits for sure but apparently the wheel universal ( CV , bone ) stayed together such that it still allowed me to keep running with it partially disengaged. I may have tapped a board lightly which made the Universal completely disengage during this practice run. IMHO I'm sure that a previous hard hit was the cause not a slight tap.
I've mostly owned X-rays ( which is a great car IMHO ). In my experience The X-ray ECS "universals" have always required heat shrink to somewhat reliably stay together, even in stock. ( finding solid pins without a flat spot also works but then "requires" heat shrink.) I'm assuming the same heat shrink trick solution will work with the A700's. Anyway, I purposefully didn't heat shrink them from the start to see if I would experience any problems. Basically, I see this as a very small fixable issue by a user or by a future change in design by Oleg, or just possibly including some heat shrink in with the kit.

I have no problem being critical of this car since it incorporates so many great design ideas into one car that it outweighs any of its small faults. The sooner these things are addressed the better for Oleg and us. Of course, the car hasn't been out long enough with the masses for other things to pop up. For me, after building it and hitting many boards, IMHO it has taken some punishment that many other cars wouldn't have taken without multiple suspension part failure. SO FAR, as far as RC crashes, this car has handled crashes and bumps very well for the time I've owned it.

Hi John Doucakis,

Yeah, I guess I should change those upper camber links around . You are the second person to notice. I bought some of the Kyosho harder ball cups that Mark D suggested and haven't had a chance to change them out. I am of the opinion it doesn't matter since the geometry is symmetrical either way. Anyway I'm hopeful of finding a reverse thread 3mm Tap before I do this. The self tapping threads are a bit tight when adjusting the turnbuckles so the cup sometimes pops off the balls ( during adjustment ! ). By pre tapping it they should turn more easily.

JB, thanks man. I'm sure glad I hopped in the car and drove 3 hours. I almost didn't.

Cheers,
Jake

ShrewdRacer

i'm really close into buying the A700. the more I read on here, the more anxious i get. maybe it's time to call in santa...

erchn

iTrader: (7)

Use wax, this is what Lunsford used to supply, and maybe still does. Black grease works well also, but the wax stands up a bit better over time, IMO.

I don't like tapping because tapped threads are usually deeper than tie rods, so it ends up being loose, and turning too easily.

Magnet Top

iTrader: (4)

Thank you !!