Yokomo B-Max4F ready to go !

If weather allows, will have a trial this coming Sat !

Body shell for FF03 Pro

It is a Civic body shell (FD2) from East Coast. I matched a black wing from Yokomo.

VM2

Ran VM2 yesterday, changed to LRP SXX TC Spec instead of the GT 2.0, still ran with the Team Power 8.5R lite motor.
Fastest laptime was 15.4x sec while most of the fast laps fall in 15.5 to 15.6 sec range. About 1/2 sec slower than the 1/10 TC on the same track / layout.

SpeedPassion 9.5R with GT2 stock profile

Replaced the x12 with SpeedPassion v3 9.5R, all other setting (including gear ratio) remained unchanged. Overall performance is not bad and quite consistent thru out the whole pack, and the motor only reached 70C after 6min of run time under hot sunny day ! x12 10.5 was 95C and became a lot "softer" in the last 2 mins.

TF6 is ready

Finally it is equipped with Tekin RS Pro ESC and ready to hit the track this coming weekend !

TF6 75% completed

Outstanding items : build shocks, fit an old body shell and wire the ESC.

This time I will use Tekin RS Pro with the Tekin stock motor, all matching the red color tone :)

Photon with Yokomo BD plastic rear ball diff

Durability of the Top ball diff hosting and gear diff is questable ... fit in the Yokomo BD ball diff and it is almost direct fit with a few mm of shims. Will test it out in coming weekend.

Lastest pictures on FF03Pro

I tested run FF03Pro today with the following setting :

Camber : F/R -1/-1.5

Shocks oil : 40wt all around

Ride height : F/R 5mm

Droop : F/R 6/6mm

Anti-roll bar : F/R yellow/red

All the rest are the same as default.

Running with HobbyWing 120a 518stock with SpeedPassion 13.5R gear ratio at 6.4, turbo/boost are both enabled.

Chassis has a lot of roll during corners, can apply a light brake before entering sharp turn. Overall handling is very smooth and a little bit of understeering.

The car has good top speed on long straight but a bit lack of acceleration in in-fields. This should be compensated by more timing punch or different gear ratio.

Happy first run today !

FF03Pro

Progress on my FF03Pro so far - pending for a suitable 13.5R motor and plan to use the stock profile on HobbyWing 120A ESC.
Hope to test run in a couple of weeks time !

SpeedPassion stock profile setting with X12 stock spec motor

After a few weeks of testing on Photon, here is the latest setting of the SP GT2.0 with stock profile (0528 stock) :
DDRS - 7 (default)
AMTS timing - 3
Boost timing - 8 (max)
Turbo Delay - 0.2sec
Timing punch - 850rpm/degree

My x12 is running a LRP x12 13mm rotor (original rotor was damaged) and final gear ratio at 1:7.09.

After 6min run time, x12 is at 95-105C range under hot sunny day in Singapore BK track.

The single laptime and overall 5min laptime is now closer to what I can achieve with T3/SXX stock spec/x12 stock spec motor. I am happy with the performance for now.

Also tested different setting for DDRS (eg 4 or 5), the top speed improved but the acceleration was not as good with same gear ratio. Changed the gear ratio to around 7.4 but then overall laptime was not as good as the current setting. DDRS is more like ESC operating freq (similar to the KO VFS1 ESC for brush motor), higher freq (lower DDRS value) will produce more top speed but less torque.

Latest changes in Photon

The new alloy spur adapter has not arrived yet and there are some minor changes on my Photon since last meeting :

(1) Change to Sythe front solid spool - it is not direct fit but required some shiming and filing, tested for a few packs and quite like this 416-alike front spool. Front pulley is from Yokomo BD.

(2) Rear low friction belt

The previous BD plastic spool was damaged in a small crash. It has been serving my BD and Photon from many months ;)

Next upgrade for T3

Next to test ;)

Xray T3

Almost forget to take picture of my Xray T3 - it ran a few times on track but I forgot to blog it.

My T3 is equipped with alloy shocks (I hate plastic shocks, who like it ?), SXX Stock Spec ESC and X12 10.5 stock spec motor. Motor is the same as the one on my Photon and they both produced the same best record on the same track/layout - 20 laps at 4'48". This might not be the limit of the chassis or electronics I am sure, but instead, it is the limit of the driver ;) Also I found that X12 motor like to work with LRP ESC more than SpeedPassion with stock mode. The motor is not as hot as the same motor on my Photon after 6 mins run time.

The next most-wanted option for Photon !

Any objection ??

First test on gear diff for 1/10 TC

Tested run Photon with rear gear diff today. Installed the gear diff with half-full Kyosho 5,000wt oil. Basic setup and electronics components are similar to last week, except that today is a super hot day here in Singapore.
After 9 packs of runs, no sign of leaking ... yet. The handling is quite similar to ball diff except that I can accelerate even harder when exist corners and overall the car tends to be more stable as well.

I am using Yokomo BD front plastic spool with alloy cover in front. This plastic spool is quite durable as it has been used for quite sometime on my BD and now moving on to my Photon. It is a direct fit replacement to the original plastic spool.

Also tested the Top 044043 insert (firm/thin) on Photon, the same set of insert has been used for 2nd time with Sorex 40R. There are storage of Hara firm insert so we have to find a replacement product. The insert works fine so far under hot weather in Singapore (sunny, dry day) but for super hot weather (hottest day, no rain, no cloud, 1pm-3pm), I prefer either using Tamiya firm insert (black/thin) or go away for lunch break ...
More to test with different setup during next few weeks.

TOP Racing - Photon new look

After a few months of test, over 120 packs of battery on track, my Photon is now with the a different chassis (Lipo version chassis), a work-better solid spool (Yokomo BD plastic spool with alloy protector), boost & turbo enables ESC (instead of the LRP SXX TC Spec). It is currently equipped with a X12 10.5 stock spec motor with 13mm rotor (final gear ratio ~7.4) and achieved laptime similar to my T3 (also with X12 10.5) at my local track.

Motor heat is the major challenge when running stock profile with boost and turbo, my X12 reach 90-100 degree C after 6 mins of run, but it is sure very drive-able in my local track. I can reach very consistent laptime from pack to pack, and I can focus on improving my drive-line and throttle.

The first time I am using the SpeedPassion GT 2.0 ESC with stock profile 0528stock with default setting - it turned out to be very fast on long straight but end up killed the X12 original stock rotor broke at exactly 4 mins ... ... amazing and lesson to learn ...

The next options to be on my Photon would be the rear gear diff and will also try the front spool from Top - an option for its previous racing car Sythe.

Xray 12Link

Tested run my Xray 12 Link last week using single cell Lipo and a DC 6x2 brush motor.

In-fields are good but no top speed in long straight ! Need to find the solution and I ran with a 12R5.1 with LRP x12 5.0 motor, it is much much faster !!