Got my kit yesterday, built it last night, and had it out for practice at CRCRC in Columbus, Ohio tonight.
Ran the truck with 10K front and 5K rear, full time 4wd, kit shock build (did not have time to rebuild them), Proline Suburb 2.0 MC tires. Setup was similar but not identical to the Jason R setup on AE site. I have a Novak GTB2 with a LRP 5.5 550. Started with the 13t pinion.
I've really only run Kyosho stuff the last many years, so I'm definately not an AE "fanboy". I run 2wd SCT in addition to the traditional classes and was not going to try the 4x4 class until this truck came out. I've done the Ebuggy thing so the 4x4's built off those platforms did not draw me in like the AE design.
Right off the bat I thought the truck was overall good, but only good. Maybe a B- on turning, probably a C on punch and speed, jumped great. I spent most of the practice session messing with the slipper and changing gearing trying to figure out why I had no punch. It helped a little to tighten the slipper a bit. I added the outer high torque slipper. I went up to a 14t, then to a 15t. Each helped only a little. Incidentally, after a fair number of laps with each I was a 120F with the 13t, 140F with the 14t, and 160F with the 15t on the motor. The speedo never went above 100F. This was with about 80F air temperature on a medium sized indoor track. Long story short on the punch, right before I left I tried recalibrating the speedo using 120% throttle EPA instead of the 100% the GTB2 manual says (I remembered the old GTB used to tell you to put it at max). Punch and speed instantly came back (changed to a A grade for me), more than I'd ever need for this track. With the 15t and the proper settings I was at 165F.
Anyway, most of my testing was before I adjusted the speedo. Though the truck was turning consistent laps that are quite fast for SCT with this layout. I thought with full time 4wd, it pushed a little for me. I had only a little trouble with traction rolling when I was not used to how the car handled, and it did seem that when I brushed the pipe on a corner that it rolled a littler easier than my 2wd. I turned on the clicker just for fun by backing it off about 1 mm or so (measured 1.9mm thread showing). WOW. I was loving this. The truck instantly felt like my Kyosho SC-R only better out of the corners. The turning was quicker, it felt more agile, and I thought the rear end slid around with a lot of control. On the full time 4wd I thought it was difficult to slide the rear end around and when it did, it sometimes overrotated, with the clicker it was perfectly controlled and fast. I would recommend giving this a try for anyone that is acustom to 2wd SCT or will be driving them back to back on the same day. After making this change, I would rate the turning an A, at least for my driving style. Average lap time was about 0.3 to 0.4 seconds faster for me with the clicker than without. What a great feature. Plus, the clicker noise just makes me smile...sounds like the drag on a fishing reel.
I didn't have time to try much else, but I left the track feeling reeaaaalllly happy about this truck. I think it is going to do very well for an above average club guy like myself. No mechanical issues on the truck. Everything functioned just as I had hoped. Sounds great on the track too.
Here's a pic of my setup after returning from the track, and here's a vid of a few laps...not my cleanest of the night, I think I knew the camera was on.
This was taken before I adjusted my speed control.
