9LikesT.O.P. Racing "Photon" 1/10 EP Touring Car
08-16-2009, 07:43 PM
#1891
Thank you Q for the support and setup help, I hope to pull more of these wins in the future. I also have to give thanks to Josh for such a trust worthy car.
08-17-2009, 01:10 AM
#1892
Wow it sounds like everyone is doing well with their cars. If you guys have setups that work send them over and I'll put them up on tchub.com for all to use.
A few of the TOP Oz team were running on the rug this weekend and we all had our cars working great although with completely different setups. Personally I struggled for most of the weekend with a host of silly problems including dragging bodies, lost lower suspension mount screws, and stripped spool cups so I didn't get to make use of a fast but loose car. By the last two finals things were starting to come together and I managed a 3rd and a 1st in A2 and A3. A2 was a super close, 0.5s 1st to 2nd and 0.02s back to me - I should have put the transponder in the bumper!
Some things I found that worked... my car was awesome at the apex with no dive on the front and middle-9 ackerman. I changed to anti-dive because my car was really loose under brakes and that took away some of the mid corner steering. I got this back by going to shorter links, and I ended up with short front links and medium rear. Pretty obvious, but I also found that progressive (tamiya) springs worked better than linear (HPI).
Happy racing
A few of the TOP Oz team were running on the rug this weekend and we all had our cars working great although with completely different setups. Personally I struggled for most of the weekend with a host of silly problems including dragging bodies, lost lower suspension mount screws, and stripped spool cups so I didn't get to make use of a fast but loose car. By the last two finals things were starting to come together and I managed a 3rd and a 1st in A2 and A3. A2 was a super close, 0.5s 1st to 2nd and 0.02s back to me - I should have put the transponder in the bumper!
Some things I found that worked... my car was awesome at the apex with no dive on the front and middle-9 ackerman. I changed to anti-dive because my car was really loose under brakes and that took away some of the mid corner steering. I got this back by going to shorter links, and I ended up with short front links and medium rear. Pretty obvious, but I also found that progressive (tamiya) springs worked better than linear (HPI).
Happy racing
08-17-2009, 06:56 AM
#1893
Anybody got the link to the blank Photon set up sheet? ...
08-17-2009, 10:42 AM
#1894
Hi,
Yesterday there where several Top Photons running at our local club championship in the Netherlands. In the stock 5 cell 10,5 BL they took podium 2 & 3.
I had my first race with the Photon in the Lipo 10,5 BL class. I was struggling all day with several kind of problems ( BL 10,5 motor issues , Old version spool snapped) It was not the best race day for me but in one of the qualifications i got the car really dialed in
After struggling for months with my TRF 416 to close the gap with my team mate i finally did it. In that heat the car was really nice and fast to drive 
But due to changing track conditions i also struggled most of the day with a car breakingout in mid corner. I did read the tips from Josh and will try next training session to solve that issue.
The kit is compaired to the first Top Scythe chassis a major step. It really looks professional , the box , a very nice manual , setup sheets etc. It is really nice and easy to work on the car
Top Racing did a hell of a job with this new chassis !
Yesterday there where several Top Photons running at our local club championship in the Netherlands. In the stock 5 cell 10,5 BL they took podium 2 & 3.
I had my first race with the Photon in the Lipo 10,5 BL class. I was struggling all day with several kind of problems ( BL 10,5 motor issues , Old version spool snapped) It was not the best race day for me but in one of the qualifications i got the car really dialed in
After struggling for months with my TRF 416 to close the gap with my team mate i finally did it. In that heat the car was really nice and fast to drive But due to changing track conditions i also struggled most of the day with a car breakingout in mid corner. I did read the tips from Josh and will try next training session to solve that issue.
The kit is compaired to the first Top Scythe chassis a major step. It really looks professional , the box , a very nice manual , setup sheets etc. It is really nice and easy to work on the car
Top Racing did a hell of a job with this new chassis !
08-17-2009, 11:14 AM
#1895
Tech Master
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I'm not sure if any information has been posted on this forum pertaining to a Modifiable PDF of the Photon, although a few friends had asked if I would make them a modifiable setup sheet similar to those that we have for Xray.
So naturally being the friend that I am.......... I made them this copy of the Photon Setup Sheet, if you have any questions or if there is anything you would like to see differently, please feel free to pm me.
Enjoy ............Alex
So naturally being the friend that I am.......... I made them this copy of the Photon Setup Sheet, if you have any questions or if there is anything you would like to see differently, please feel free to pm me.
Enjoy ............Alex
08-17-2009, 12:05 PM
#1896
08-17-2009, 12:16 PM
#1897
Hey guys...
Just figured I'd pop in and give a little race report from this past weekends X-Ray challenge @ Jackson R/C.
To start off, I've been running a lot of 8th scale off-road lately as it's really become a 2nd love of mine in R/C racing. Because I've devoted a lot of time to 8th scale... it's hurt my personal TC program. I apologize to the TOP guys for that, 8th scale is like a drug that I can't seem to shake.
Anyway... after a month off from running anything electric, and knowing the competition coming to Jackson, I knew I was in for a challenging/busy day. Since the race was on Jaco Blues and the track was similar in size to SpeedWorld, I chose to do a mix between EJ's Reedy setup and some of Larry's setup he used last time at Jackson. It was more EJ's setup though. To add insult to injury, practice was limited to only a couple runs and I had to shake some rust off. Heck, my first run, my car was soo slow... only to find out my dumb a$$ put a 17.5 in the car and not a 13.5. 
So after practice and not really making any changes to the car, I was only about a tenth off what Lemieux was doing for laptimes. I thought that was good considering my limited time running the car and trying to shake some 8th scale offroad driving habits. Into qualifying... first round, I finished 4 seconds behind Paul, which I saw where I was missing time to him. I made setup changes for round 2 and the car was much better with us being way up on everyone else on the clock and I was only a second behind him before I delivered myself into a wall. After continuing to try to run, the car got really loose, so I stopped as I wasn't going to better my run anyway. In the 3rd qual, the car got really tight. Track temps dropped big time and usually that means we're all going to rip up the previous TQ. To everyone's surprise, we were SLOWER! Jaco Blues don't like cool tracks, from what I saw and drove. So in the end, I was 2nd behind Paul for the main, with Haynes, Cuffs, Spence, Randy Bernard, and others completing the field. In the main, I completely blew the 3rd corner into the first lap letting Haynes go by. As I tried coming back, we door slapped going onto the straight, which turned out pretty bad for Haynes. SORRY MIKE! Once I got going again, I was actually catching Paul. The car was pushing a little, but was stable to wheel hard. As I was catching Paul, I made the biggest rookie mistake. I watched his car instead of mine. I ended up rolling the car giving Paul a big lead. From there, I had no chance to catch him so I finished the run out in 2nd.
To sum it up... and yes this is a long post...... the car is really really good. It's really a matter of dedicating more time to playing with setup. It doesn't help that every time I've raced the car, it's with a different tire on it.
As for my final setup, I ran EJ's setup with lighter shock oil. Losi 37.5 front oil / 32.5 rear oil. Reason for going to lighter oil was that I was overheating tires and the lighter oil helped keep the car more consistent longer through the run.
Schreff out...
Just figured I'd pop in and give a little race report from this past weekends X-Ray challenge @ Jackson R/C.
To start off, I've been running a lot of 8th scale off-road lately as it's really become a 2nd love of mine in R/C racing. Because I've devoted a lot of time to 8th scale... it's hurt my personal TC program. I apologize to the TOP guys for that, 8th scale is like a drug that I can't seem to shake.
Anyway... after a month off from running anything electric, and knowing the competition coming to Jackson, I knew I was in for a challenging/busy day. Since the race was on Jaco Blues and the track was similar in size to SpeedWorld, I chose to do a mix between EJ's Reedy setup and some of Larry's setup he used last time at Jackson. It was more EJ's setup though. To add insult to injury, practice was limited to only a couple runs and I had to shake some rust off.
Heck, my first run, my car was soo slow... only to find out my dumb a$$ put a 17.5 in the car and not a 13.5. So after practice and not really making any changes to the car, I was only about a tenth off what Lemieux was doing for laptimes. I thought that was good considering my limited time running the car and trying to shake some 8th scale offroad driving habits. Into qualifying... first round, I finished 4 seconds behind Paul, which I saw where I was missing time to him. I made setup changes for round 2 and the car was much better with us being way up on everyone else on the clock and I was only a second behind him before I delivered myself into a wall. After continuing to try to run, the car got really loose, so I stopped as I wasn't going to better my run anyway. In the 3rd qual, the car got really tight. Track temps dropped big time and usually that means we're all going to rip up the previous TQ. To everyone's surprise, we were SLOWER! Jaco Blues don't like cool tracks, from what I saw and drove. So in the end, I was 2nd behind Paul for the main, with Haynes, Cuffs, Spence, Randy Bernard, and others completing the field. In the main, I completely blew the 3rd corner into the first lap letting Haynes go by. As I tried coming back, we door slapped going onto the straight, which turned out pretty bad for Haynes. SORRY MIKE! Once I got going again, I was actually catching Paul. The car was pushing a little, but was stable to wheel hard. As I was catching Paul, I made the biggest rookie mistake. I watched his car instead of mine. I ended up rolling the car giving Paul a big lead. From there, I had no chance to catch him so I finished the run out in 2nd.
To sum it up... and yes this is a long post...
... the car is really really good. It's really a matter of dedicating more time to playing with setup. It doesn't help that every time I've raced the car, it's with a different tire on it.As for my final setup, I ran EJ's setup with lighter shock oil. Losi 37.5 front oil / 32.5 rear oil. Reason for going to lighter oil was that I was overheating tires and the lighter oil helped keep the car more consistent longer through the run.
Schreff out...
08-17-2009, 07:35 PM
#1898
First club race and first ROAR event > TOP Photon is dialed.
Just took the TOP Photon out for its maiden run last Thursday evening and I placed 2nd out of the 11 guys for it's first club race in 17.5 Sportsman.
Then over the weekend for Norcal Hobbies first annual TOP Gun Challenge I made the triple A main in 17.5 Sportsman and ended 4th overall (out of 30 drivers) after the points were tallied.
I am just a Sportsman at this point in time. Mind you I don't normally race Touring since I am a "dirty boy" and when I do race TC I always always end up in the back of the pack or the last main. I drove an original TC5, Top Scythe and an HB Cyclone TC. The Photon by far is the easiest to drive compared. It works so well I can concentrate on my driving now.
It also helps that the local guys Kevin J and EJ were around to check on my Photon and give setup advice and support. Thanks both to Kevin and EJ. Also thanks to Michael (OD) for yet again great service and fast shipping. I also run the TOP Scythe metal spool up front with a TC5 40T Pulley and it works great and I don't have to worry about spool issues. I'll be ordering some spare Scythe spools and spare CVD bones from OD.
The only negative thing on the car other than the small top deck screws that strip easy is removing and reinstalling the pinion gear but that will be solved once I get my 1.5mm ball hex driver.
Josh the Photon is dialed, setup and working on it is easy. I am officially hooked on asphalt TC racing. Thanks TOP Racing USA I'll make the move to 13.5 once I get some 1st place wins in 17.5 under my belt. I need alot of work on my driving but the Photon makes it easy.
Then over the weekend for Norcal Hobbies first annual TOP Gun Challenge I made the triple A main in 17.5 Sportsman and ended 4th overall (out of 30 drivers) after the points were tallied.
I am just a Sportsman at this point in time. Mind you I don't normally race Touring since I am a "dirty boy" and when I do race TC I always always end up in the back of the pack or the last main. I drove an original TC5, Top Scythe and an HB Cyclone TC. The Photon by far is the easiest to drive compared. It works so well I can concentrate on my driving now.
It also helps that the local guys Kevin J and EJ were around to check on my Photon and give setup advice and support. Thanks both to Kevin and EJ. Also thanks to Michael (OD) for yet again great service and fast shipping. I also run the TOP Scythe metal spool up front with a TC5 40T Pulley and it works great and I don't have to worry about spool issues. I'll be ordering some spare Scythe spools and spare CVD bones from OD.
The only negative thing on the car other than the small top deck screws that strip easy is removing and reinstalling the pinion gear but that will be solved once I get my 1.5mm ball hex driver.
Josh the Photon is dialed, setup and working on it is easy. I am officially hooked on asphalt TC racing. Thanks TOP Racing USA
I'll make the move to 13.5 once I get some 1st place wins in 17.5 under my belt. I need alot of work on my driving but the Photon makes it easy.
Last edited by rcjunkie3000; 08-17-2009 at 07:49 PM.
08-17-2009, 08:19 PM
#1901
There are pics of how its done a few pages back. No tools where bent to do this either.
08-17-2009, 11:58 PM
#1903
I guess it must depend on which pinions you use... I use RW pinions and can use a standard (non-ball) hex driver as the grub screw lines up with the slot in the upper deck perfectly.
08-18-2009, 07:13 PM
#1904
EJ CALL CHRIS!!!!!!!