Guys, thought I would make a little noise about this past weekend and the results of the MS3. We had our first NWIC Series Race in Salem, OR at RC Plus & Hobbies. This was the first carpet race of the year for me and the first with 13.5. Mod has fallen off the map in the NW for 12th scale at least, so virtually no development time has taken place. Just getting a lot of track time on Friday's practice was going to be pretty critical tuning in the drag brake profile on the speedo, take into account the reactive castor block and just generally find where the r/o needed to be for 13.5.
I arrived with two cars to test, one with the CRC front end and the other with as Asc/IRS front end. Unfortunately the CRC equipped car had an older Speedo without all the drag brake options. There just was not enough mechanical steering available to make the car correct so it was set aside. The Asc/IRS car was very good in practice laying down the fastest times of the field. There were four other MS3's in the field and I kept an eye on them to make sure they were getting all the info needed. Steve Rubart had the CRC front end that got up to speed quickly showing that both front ends are viable. The set up I choose back at the shop turned out to be perfect, it only required two changes through out the weekend!
I used my LRCS (low roll center socket) on the Jack the Gripper track with a CEFX .062" t-bar for practice up to the 4th round. After the 3rd round, the car started feeling a little too planted in the rear requiring just a little too much tx wheel. I went to a standard socket for round 4 and the steering returned plus I pushed the tq time by two seconds. I also added a 1mm under the nose of the shock which increased on throttle steering a little so that I could come out of the corners stronger. I was very pleased by the end of the day as we put 3 cars on the top 3 spots on the grid.... not too shabby.
The triple mains started off with A1 being a little messy. I didn't use enough caution approaching cars and it cost me some time. Steve and I swapped leads about 3 times and he tripped the wire first. A2 I screwed my head on straight and used a lot more caution which paid off in a one lap victory. I repeated the same concept in A3 and got the same result taking the win overall. In the end, MS3's took TQ, Win, 2nd & 4th at our first 13.5 race of the year. The new Asc 12R5 also showed well taking 3rd & 5th.
This past August, I took a short team to the Summer Sizzler in Tacoma, Wa for this annual favorite. I have little experience on outdoor asphalt but the car proved easy to drive. We took TQ, 1st & 3rd with a 12R5 sandwiched in the middle.
I really messed up and didn't attend the IIC. I will try not to make that mistake again.
Right now the MS3 is a basic chassis conversion kit. I am looking at a deluxe conversion kit with a purpose brushless rear pod that you would add your front end and then slide in your axle. The instructions call out for a variety of parts from my favorite manufacturers. There is some fantastic equipment out there and I have chosen the parts that everyone should be pleased with.
More info can be found at
www.slapmastertools.com
Brian