Durango DETC410
First off, the Serpent gears will fit with no modifications needed. You may choose to run them without using the supplied shim but, if used, the c-clip is very tight. Whatever spur you chose to run, make sure you check for clearance on either side of the top deck as its very close.
This isn't my first kick at the can, so I'm going to be brutally honest in this report on my build and on track performance.
I think the simplest way to describe this car, is you get what you pay for. For the price point that this car comes in at, you can see where items are of "lesser" materials over kits that cost more. Now when I say this I mean, items such as spacers, servo mounts, and lower shock caps, made of plastic, where a more expensive car would have alloy parts. Not to be taken wrong, as these things have little if anything to do with the on track capability of the car.
That said, the actual build of the car went without any issues. The inserts are something new to me, but after having played with these a bit, they seem to work quite well, and the type of material that they are made out of makes them realatively pliable, yet strong enough to give good wear without a lot of slop. The extra material around where these inserts goes makes for a good strong platform. I used no glue on any of the inserts, and built the car as noted in the assembly manual. I do have to add that the car assembly did take a little longer than others that I have built, mostly because of the plastic parts, I found I did a lot of extra trimming to get rid of flashing material, more anal on my part than anything. Some of the parts felt like a cheaper plastic, but again has no bearing on the performance of the car.
A few items to watch for when building the car. Make sure the arms and hubs articulate without any binding, this may require some playing around with the suspension mounts, just loosening and tightening the screws, but worth the effort.
On track, from what I've seen and experienced, the car carries good corner speed. All the testing has been done on carpet, and as such, either of the included setups seem to work pretty good, although I built the car as close to the setup that used the most out of the box items as I had no option parts to play with. The car is a nice surprise on the track and has good agility and carries speed quite well. I did end up changing the included shock springs and removed some of the rear toe-in, running 2k rear diff oil, which made the car very nice to drive. It has a feel like it can be pushed hard but doesn't feel like its being overdriven which is a nice thing. My other cars always feel like they are on the edge to get the fast laps out of them, where this car never really had that feel, and still able to produce similar lap times and fast laps.
All in all a surprisingly pleasant car to drive. Don't get hung up on the "cheapness" of some of the materials and you'll really enjoy this car.