Hopefully the E4 developement people are watching this thead for ideas on the new car.

Just saw detailed pics of the Top Photon car and I think the new E4 should have bulkheads similar to the Photon. Take a look.







As I have said before, the upper bulkheads of the current E4 are weak and that the aluminum ones necessary for strength are quite expensive. Not only that performance wise the aluminum bulkheads adds weight up top raising the car's CG.

By going with the bulkheads like on the Top Photon, the shock tower is mounted to the lower bulkhead therefore eliminating the need for the upper bulkhead. The Top Photon uses carbon wings attached to the bulkheads for attachment points for the camber links which further adds to its weight savings. Note that with the rear shock tower mounted to the lower bulkhead, you achieve the same shock mounting orientation that you would get like on the current E4 with the Yodog spacer which has been proven to help gain more rear traction.

Actually if I had the skills and resources, I would "Frankenstein" the E4 and the Photon together. There are many other parts of the Photon I like as well and I would like to see a car with the Photon's features running the three belt layout like the E4. Hopefully the folks at Team Magic are listening.

@ YR4DUDE...
Amen to that
The Sakura Zero has the same feature about mounting the rear shock tower but has then alloy camber link plates.
Also they need to give the car a color(hopefully red ) and not that boring black or alloy color.
About the Photon....Only the stock car has the CF camber plates.
There are alloy camber plates in different thickness to raise and lower the link pick up to eleminate the use of spacer rings.
This i know as i use to own a Photon.
Very easy car to drive but a bit fragile.

regards Roy

Quick question guys did the E4 RS come out after the standard E4?

Yes, there's the original E4 then the RS/FS models which were refinements of the E4 while optimizing each for either foam or rubber tires. The RS 2009 saw further refinements for the rubber spec chassis.

Thanks just the answer I was looking for.

It looks like Team Magic may be giving up on the E4 design, according to their Facebook page:

Looks a lot like a Tamiya/TOP/Sakura mix design.

regards Roy

or xray?

but I think itīs better than a 3 belt system.

i agree , seems like they are going in the right direction, cant wait to see the production version

Still no gear diff tho.
But seen the room you have on the rear it would be possible to mount one.
It all depends on how many teeth the diff pulleys have
Shame it is black tho.
If it stays black they should call it the predetor or something.
It need a color,one that isn't been used before
Blue=Tamiya/Associated,Red=Kyosho and now Corally also, Gold/orangish=Xray,Purple=Hotbodies/HPI,Yellow=Awesomatrix,Pink=Sakura
So what color should they make the alloy?
Suggestions??

regards Roy

green or orange like the TM label

How sad is that. They've effectively killed any chance of a truly unique position in the market. Another humdrum 2 belt, looks like everything else design. Just WHO would buy this car vs. a Xray, Top, Tamiya, Sakura or Schumacher ? The 3 belt may have had some problems but that layout surely had potential. With TM's limited marketing effort here in the U.S. it's likely this car will have few buyers.

Hello to all

No I can talk about the new car... it wasn't possible until the TM approbation.

The prototype on Facebook is only an intermediary prototype. Some parts on this prototype aren't from TM, as all the new parts aren't definitive and ready to produce.

So, on this prototype, you can see CVDs, rear differential, steering block and rear hubs from an other company than TM.

Definitive car is planed with a rear diff gear, not ball, and with more original parts.

-------------
Why 2 belts + standard layout and no more 3 + original layout ?

Since September 2010, we tested a lot of solutions. I worked hard to find solutions for the E4RS 09... resulting on a completely new prototype for Nuremberg 2011. I ran 6 months with this prototype, and my feeling was very good. The car was more stable and more efficient... but the problem was to choose if we continue with a very original design, very similar as the E4RS09, but with my specs revision and new parts, or if we have to listen the racers and distributors around the world who are asking us for a more conventional car.

In terms of performance, I'm 99.9% sure there is no problem to obtain a very performing car on both configuration. At many races, I noticed very similar performance between my 3 belts / central layout TM car and all the others. I can't tell I was advantaged or disadvantaged by my layout. So, the problem really wasn't on the performance side.

We also studied the "user-friendly" side of the car... and off course it's very more easy and comfortable to work on a 2 belts car than on a 3 belts... which needs for sure more parts and more maintenance.

So, stay tuned... more information and pictures will come soon.

Other than the chassis and the TM stickers that car is all XRay. Literally! Not similar, they are XRay parts.

Also why the motor cut out on both sides of the chassis? Are they trying to decide which side to put the motor on? Maybe, with brushless you can program for reverse rotation like on a Tekin RS through the Hotwire but I don't see the advantage in that other than to be different.

I don't understand how two belts is any easier than working on three. I run nitro and other than the extra shaft and pulley on the front, its not that difficult.

For me the only attraction to the TM car was its balanced centralized battery layout and simplicity of design as compared to the now TA-06. If the TM car is no different than another XRay / Serpent / AE / Tamiya / 3Racing / etc....
I would move on and away to one of those above that already has better parts support.

Looks nice but ill still go to a tc6. I was attracted to the e4 because it was different.
Ill still get one to play with =) for the slower racing im involved in i doubt the 3rd belt will hurt it a lot.