s14_tat

Local off road track closed down, need to switch classes. One of my racing buddies got into USGT with his 2015 xray t4 and me and him was pretty closely matched racing stock 2wd buggy. I have experience on road over him by running mini z's. I am currently broke, but he dragged me out to a race this week and I got to drive his car, and I was doing better than him when he first started on road. He is however now a borderline A main driver ( I am 1.5 seconds off pace on from him in a 14 second lap ), and actually won the whole thing this outting. Me being competitive with him feels the need to catch him now.

The track is indoor crc carpet with a huge 80 ft back straight and high traction. The track gives hand out motors to keep things nice and even. Would a more recently released vehicle like the xpress execute xq1s be as fast as a older x ray t4? I know the overall cg might be a little higher on the xray vs the xq1s since they lowered it in 2018 with the lower shock towers and shorter shocks.

If i get the xq1s, I would add sway bars and double jointed front cv axes and that would be it. Also what is a good FDR for USGT running 21.5 with a back straight of 80 ft? What would be a good spur and pinion combo? Currently my friends car is topping out before half way down the straight. I really don't have $300 to spend on a newer t4 roller and I am torn between between these 2 cars. If the xq1s is like 98% of the t4, I would pick the xq1s.

Thanks in advance.

gigaplex

iTrader: (2)

My only experience is outdoor asphalt but the XQ1S and T4 should be comparable in the right hands.

grippgoat

iTrader: (8)

A t4 '14 would basically be as fast as a 15-16, I think. And cheaper. The ball bearing sways make it a bit easier to get them working smooth, but not necessarily better. The 16 does have the newer motor mount that offers a little tuning, but it's not as significant. The 16 also came with ARS which nobody uses on carpet, and Xray ECS which are nice, but again, not necessarily faster than cheaper aftermarket ones.

You could use the money saved to get 18 shock towers and short shocks. Random hong kong brand shock towers are probably 15-20 each, and I think a full set of shocks is about $75 from rcmarket.com.hk.

I'm a big fan of the xrays because they're easy to get going well, and really hard to break.

Is it the newer black CRC carpet, or the older gray CRC carpet? On gray carpet, you'll be fine with carbon chassis and the higher CG shocks.

You probably want to be around 3.6-4.0 final drive, I'm guessing. Maybe as high as 4.2. I'd ask locals for confirmation. But probably somewhere in the 69-72 spur range for 48p. Internal ratio on xray is 1.9. FDR = 1.9 * spur / pinion. Pinion = 1.9 * spur / FDR.

I've actually got a T4'14 I need to get rid of. Been too lazy to post for sale. Would love to help get a new onroad racer up and running on the cheap, though, so PM me if you're interested.

johnzhou2476

iTrader: (9)

Grippgoat - thanks for the feedback and good advice. I'm the friend that OP mentioned. We run at 360 v2 which is a super high grip black crc track. I have the '16, we run CamAm motors with fixed timing and gearing.

Do you think ULP shocks make that much of a difference? I've tried it, didn't feel too much difference...could be the overall setup. How much of an improvement are we talking about...a tenth or more? I'll consider the upgrade but it ain't cheap.

grippgoat

iTrader: (8)

I don't have experience with the black carpet, I've just heard stories. Especially about that track. I'll be experiencing black carpet for the first time this weekend, but grip won't be quite as high as your track. So it's probably best to seek more specific advice from locals that know the track.

The ULP shocks are mostly about CG, as far as I understand. I haven't seen any measurements of exactly how much, though. If you aren't having issues with traction roll, you're probably fine with the SLP shocks.

Good luck out there, and always remember to have fun. Trying too hard can lead to frustration, which can lead to burnout. It takes years to get fast, and good drivers with cheap equipment are almost always still competitive.

s14_tat

Yeah, I ended up pulling the trigger on the xq1s. I will bump this thread when me and John swap cars and see how our own lap times compare. I always liked to drive different cars than the main stream hence why I drive kyosho cars.

iTz Nicholas72

iTrader: (19)

s14_tat

Since this car is mostly plastic, I would assume quit a bit of weight needs to be added to make weight right?

gigaplex

iTrader: (2)

I didn't have to add much, only about 35g