Originally posted by lawndoggie
hmmm
Julius, You mentioned on your article that 705 felt like a piece of shit when it wasn't set correctly, and that the sweetspot was small.... so why did serpent release the car?
You mentioned that the 710 was tested by many people of different driving level. Well, did 705 go through the same kind of testing? If so, did those less experienced drivers complain about how difficult to get a good set up? If so, what did serpent do to fix the problem? And was the problem fixed before the 705 was released?
My article seems not to be as clear as I hoped. To put it simple, the 705 was a logical evolution of the Impulse. It was NOT a new car. We were faced with a big race (the world cup) and tried to get the maximum out of the Impulse platform (as a new car was still a thing of the future). Put against the competition we needed to stretch the cars performance to the limit. And on the limit the 705 (as the impulse) is a difficult car to setup correctly. The Impulse was driven by many people of different skill level and the 705 was a different car in details. We made the cg lower and the chassis stiffer which made the car better. But far from what we have achieved with the 710
I understand that the low inertia new centax III was designed before the release of 705, so why wasn't it included in the 705?
The concept of low inertia drivetrain was designed (ie the new internal ratio). The centax III and the new pitch gears came later. To change the internal ratio of the 705 would have needed changes to so many things you'd almost be building a new car.
On your article, you also mentioned that the improvement over the impluse on the 705 was the FC and new tank design. Well I can see the tank as standard.. but why is the FC NOT standard?
The FC was a prototype part when the 705 was released. In the beginning we never intended to use it on the 705. During Cincinatti we found them to work better (although they can increase the risk of traction roll on the 705). Like the prototype rear suspension Ralph Burch used at the Nats and the changed front geometry we used at the Euro's it was a half cure to keep the 705 sort of competative against the newer cars of the competition. We would have very much liked to have the new car at those races I can tell you!
The bottom line is, WHY releasing the 705 when serpent could simply release conversion/hop up parts? Also when a new/better design was clearly on its way!?
In a way the 705 is nothing but an Impulse with a conversion/ hop up kit. The 705 is a step up from the impulse. Unfortunately it was all we could do at the time.
Would serpent release a car with mediocre parts/design when they knew they clearly had something better in the bag?
I suggest you re read my article about us scrapping the first prototype because we were not entirely satisfied...