Wanted to share some setup info for the new front-end... For those who purchased one, this should give you a good place to start if you feel like exploring outside the typical caster window that the standard old-skool provides.
This is not the setup I would go into a race like Vegas or Snowbirds with(we already have a great setup for the super-high bite, billiard table smooth stuff)... but since the majority of customers/drivers are going to be racing their cars at their locals tracks in conditions that are similar, it should transfer very well.
The facility that I have been racing/testing @ in Houston has pretty good grip... I would say it is Medium-High for a club track. This is not a subfloor track... so there are a few little bumps, but nothing serious. The layout that we have down now has a couple hairpins/180s, including one at the end of the straight. When I had the standard old-skool front end on my Rev8, the car just didn't carry the speed in these 180s that I thought it should. I had to wait to get on the throttle at corner exit. With the extra caster that you can easily tune in to the New-Skool front end, the car was much better in these areas.
In the past, Ive always tried to measure/compare caster with a standard adjustable camber gauge against the kingpin. This is cumbersome at best... The Slapmaster caster gauge is a god-send for dialing in the New-Skool front end. If you are planning on playing with caster on your new front end (which I strongly encourage, given how easy it is to adjust), get yourself one of these gauges.
Anyhoo... The setup that I ended up on is attached below. Along with a shot of the car.
I do want to note that, since I started driving the Rev8 back in Oct, I have almost always been faster with the transverse setup at my club tracks. Again, Snowbirds/Vegas/Etc is another story... but on lower bite carpet, the transverse has been the ticket for me with the old-skool front end. However, with the new front end and extra caster, I felt that I no longer had to depend on the weight transfer to get the car in and out of the corner quickly. My inline car with the New-Skool was wicked fast. I didn't have a chance to test the battery configs back-to-back... but my inline car did everything that I wanted it to.
