John Stranahan

iTrader: (27)

I got to run the TC3 today at Reflex RC in Houston which has a high grip indoor asphalt track with a fresh new layout today. All I can say is the car is wickedly fast out of the corners. I started with the setup right off the Losi XXXS which I have been racing at the same track. The only change is I ran the TC3 .5 mm higher because the bottom of the chassis is more flat than the Losi. Here is the result of my tuning session.

Current Setup as of 4/05/03 I update this setup periodically.

Front- Blue Spring middle hole on stock shock tower and outer hole on bottom. #2 shock piston, 30 weight oil, with .010 inch bevel cut on top of each piston hole by hand with a drill bit to ease bump travel of the shock. Camber link long and in the upper position on the shock tower, Camber -.5 deg. Ride height 5 mm, battery forward, Chamaeleon II geared 7.20. Warlock Red Springs (medium) Trinity 4499 or 4505 brushes, 4 degree caster, No Kickup. Front One-way. Droop 3 measured to bottom of screw boss on caster block with the supplied gauge.

Rear-Blue Spring all the way out out on top and out on the bottom. #2 shock piston, 30 weight oil, with .010 inch bevel cut on top by hand with a drill bit to ease bump travel of the shock. Camber link long, outer hub position, inner lower position on shock tower. Camber -.5 degree. 2 degrees of toe per side, No antisquat. Plastic Rear dogbones and diff. Droop 6 on supplied gauge.

I increased rear toe to 3 per side for open mod all else the same.


I was very pleased with the setup and plan to race it tomorrow. Here are a couple of experiments I did. When I started the rear was just a little loose but drivable. I moved the rear upper shock mount to the inner position, this tightened the rear just enough. On the first pack the car was a little slow and slid a bit too much. After the gears seated after 6-7 laps it was very fast. I moved the inner camber links to the upper position after the first pack. This lowered the roll center a bit and gave me the extra grip that I needed. The car was dialed.

Roll stiffness

We have a high speed turn off a long straight right into a hairpin. This is a good test to see if you have enough roll stiffness in the car. If the car is to lightly sprung or the roll centers are too low you will lack steering precision on this kind of turn and hit the corner marker on occasion. The TC3 seemed to be fine with the blue springs and the camber links in the upper position.

Camber
The TC3 also seems to work fine with a lot less than 2 degrees of camber on our asphalt track. The higher negative camber setting will cause a lot of wear on the inner edges of the tires.

Front to back balance.
The rear is 2.5 ounces heavier than the front. Worked great like this. Battery is forward. I moved the rear blue weight a little forward.

Torque Steer
No torque steer is apparent. I wonder if this is from the good left to right balance. I had to make no major driving style adjustments to change from the XXXS to the TC3.