Long-term Review: F1: Part 1: Shakedown

Started testing tonight with the Carbon Limited Edition F1. I ran it box stock at Kenon tonight to get an impression of any improvements over the bone stock original.

Initial reports are mixed. I'll get more in depth later, but here are a quick 20 questions.

1) Is it better than the bone stock car? Yes.

2) Is that because of the upgrade parts? No.

3) Does the car come tweaked like the clear chassis sometimes would? No.

4) Is the grey chassis stiffer? Yes.

5) Does it drive differently? Yes.

6) Is the grey bumper stronger than the clear one? Yes.

7) Does the grey bumper have good ground clearance without modifications? Yes.

8) Is it the bumper I would race with? No.

9) Do the plastic knuckles still stick with the stainless kingpins? Yes.

10) Is the plate damper system good? Yes.

11) Is it enough to plant the rear end? No.

12) Am I happy with the upgrades that came on the car? Yes.

13) Am I happy with the way the car drives out of the box? No.

14) Is the car competitive out of the box? No.

15) Am I disappointed? No.

16) Am I planning on modifying the car? Yes.

17) Am I planning on adding upgrade parts to the car? Yes.

18) Will they be expensive? No.

19) Is this car the best way toward a competitive F1? Yes.

20) Will Crotty beat me this year with a near-bone-stock car? Man, I hope not... :d

All in all, it was a frustrating but valuable test session. The car needs some lovin. I'm tempted to just throw my old setup on it and be happy, but I know that the competition has definitely caught up in the last year or so. That plus the transition to mod motors means it's time for a clean sheet approach.

-jc

Roll Centers on the MR-03

Well, it's been almost a month since my last post. I promised set-ups from the Tekin Race, but I just was not satisfied with them after I ran my car at the local track. The ILR track is funky and the grip is weird, so set-ups from there are very different from anywhere else I run at. I have edited the previous post with my old set-ups.

This post though, is about moving forward and fine tuning the new MR-03 front parts, that are getting rave reviews from customers all over the world.

Let me give you a run-down of what has happened at the track since the Tekin Race:

Last week, I raced for the first time at my local track with the new parts. Grip was a bit different, and everyone was running a bit slower than usual at the track (especially me). My car was about 2 tenths slower on fast lap from what I had done the previous time, but so was everyone else. Marcus (Mantis) was the only one that was going a bit quicker than before, but he was just starting to get his 03 figured out. Still I was the quickest in qualifying by about a lap over Jacob, but the consistency was not there.

In the first qual, I ran a 96mm set-up, while it was super easy to drive, I was not able to go any faster than a 7.36, which was about 2 tenths off of my quickest previous lap. Marcus actually ended up with the quickest lap with a 8.31 and Jacob had like an 8.4 or 8.5, so I knew I needed to pick up the pace.

For the second qual, I went back to 94mm and the F430. I instantly picked up a tenth and re-set fast lap at 7.22, but the car was not there yet. Consistency lacked, due to the fact that the car lacked rear grip. I was running the medium 94 FRP plate, so for the 3rd qual I went to the soft one. With the soft one I gained the rear grip I was looking for, but I also gained a lot of turn in, so the car became real nervous. I was running white low down springs, and they seemed a bit too soft. My feeling was right, as I traction rolled my 03 for the very first time ever in the carousel at the end of the straight.

So for the main, I went with yellows, the car became much more balanced, and much easier to drive. I was able to push down my fast lap to a 7.16, which was essentially the fastest I had run during a race. The only problem was that the dreaded traction roll had come back! :o This traction roll cost me nearly a lap and I even lost the lead for about half of the race to Jacob. I also had to drive conservatively at the end of the straight to prevent the car from rolling off the track again. In the end, I still took the win by like 5 or 6 seconds, but I knew that the traction rolling was a big issue that I had to deal with.

Having that in mind, I went home and I stared at the car for a while. I knew the problem was with the front end. At the moment I had lowered the front by putting 3 shims underneath the knuckle. This created an extreme angle with the upper arm which creates a really low roll center, which I was guessing was the culprit to my troubles. Whenever you have an angle that steep, you make the front act very soft and the only thing you can do is add a stiffer spring to fix this. I don't like runnign very stiff springs on my cars though, because I feel like it does not absorb imperfections as well.

I had a couple of options to raise the roll center. The first was running a smaller diameter front tire. This can be achieved with either a really small tire, or the smaller Mantis front wheels, or the combination of both. The problem, is that I hate to have to true down my tires too much and this is a waste of rubber. By running a smaller diameter front wheel and or tire, the front sits lower, so I can take some of the knuckle shims out.

The other option was the one that I actually went with. This was installing the PN Lowering knuckles for the 03. By raising the axle 1mm up, the car achieves a higher roll center, while keeping the ride height lower and the upper arm angle pretty much parallel to the ground. This achieves a little bit higher roll stiffness (think in between spring rates) with each spring. So now, the PN whites would actually work as a little bit stiffer spring. More importantly, the roll center being a bit higher, the car would not want to roll as violently in the corners, which in theory I thought, should eliminate my traction rolling.

Well, fast forward to tonight. Tonight was not looking like we were going to race. We had a very small turnout, so I had set my mind at working on my car's set-up. I wanted to test to see if my theory on racing the roll center would make a difference and I also wanted to try a couple of different bodies.

From the first run on the track with my Stock car was pretty good. The car was balanced, but a bit loose, this led me to bring the car into the pits where I experimented a little with lube on my DDS and the front knuckles. I found that a good combo was Kyosho 5000wt in the front and Atomic 500wt on the DDS, this gave me a car that was fairly aggressive and very planted. At the time I was running PN White springs in the front and I had the chassis slightly lower in the front than in the rear. After trying different pre-load combinations and springs, I found that this was the best and quickest setting, so I did not mess with it any more. It is important to note that the MR-03 is very sensitive to ride height and suspension stroke (how much the suspension compresses) adjustments, so don't be afraid to try them out!

In the spirit of experimentation I tried the Lexus SC430 body on my car. This is the body I won the World Cup in '07 with and also a very popular choice out with the Norcal guys. Instantly, the car felt really good. The grip was very neutral and the car seemed easier to drive than with the F430, remaining flatter through the corners and acting a little bit less aggressive. I really liked the body. Soon after, we all decided that it might be a good idea to run a couple of qualifiers and a main.

At the start of the first qualifier I jumped into the lead. I was able to stretch it out fairly well, the car felt good, but for somereason, I was not able to go any faster than a 7.2 second lap. Given that my fastest lap was a 7.16, it was not far off base, but I felt like the car had more to give.

After the run, I went into the pits and switched back over to the F430GT. Typically the F430 generates a bit more grip and it allows me to hug corners a little bit better than the SC430. The SC430 feels smoother and faster, but what came to light, was certainly enlightening. From the beginning of the run I started dropping consisten 7.1's and 7.2's, whereas before it was 7.3's. On lap like 10, I dropped a 7.03, a couple of laps later, a 7.06! This was what I knew the car was capable of doing. The scariest part was that it was a less powerful battery pack than what I had saved up for the main. Coming off the track Marcus even said "I guess that body works better!" I agreed...

Right before the main, I put the car on the track and took it for a lap. The car was a ROCKET!!! I thought for sure I was going to crack a 6.9 second lap. Off the start I jumped out into the lead and started getting into the groove. Unfortunately some sort of debris got into the commutator of the car and the car slowed down severely. It even left a little smoke trail going around the track, looked almost like a real car blowing an engine. Whatever it was, if burned off quickly though and the car got back up to about 85-90% of the speed it was going to. I knew this was not going to be enough power to do a 6.9, but I thought maybe I could do a 7 flat if I worked hard. Honestly, the 7.0 was probably a little bit of a stretch with how slow the car was, but somehow, I still managed to get 7.13. After the 10 minute main was over, I realized I had just shattered the previous stock class record of 80 laps in 10:06, not only that, but the Modified track record of 81 laps in 10:06 had also gone down, since I had ended up with 81 laps in 10:04. If I had only had a better motor, I know an extra lap would not have been out of question either...

After the dust settled I was really happy. This was the 3rd track day with the new Reflex MR-03 parts and I am still finding tenths of a second each time out! That to me, is VERY exciting. There is nothing like going faster than before after installing your very own option parts. Specially because the dreaded traction roll never made an appearance during the whole night.


THE SET UP:

Front:
-Reflex Extra Long King Pins and Delrin Balls
-PN Racing Lowdown White Springs
-PN Racing Lowdown Knuckles- 0.3mm shim underneath
-Spring Pre-load neutral (no slack when off the ground)
-4mm Spring Cup
-0 offset wheels
-Kyosho 30 slick, trued to a flat carcass
-Kyosho 5000wt grease on kingpin
-0 degree toe rod

Rear
-Reflex 94mm G10 Soft Plate
-PN 70 turn stock
-51/12 gear ratio
-Kyosho F1 Shock with greenspring
-Atomic 500wt oil on DDS
-Axle at 2nd highest ride height pos. On PN 94-98 Mount
-Kyosho 30 deg Rear Radial, tread gone
-Atomic Green DDS sprigns
-+1 Rear Offset Wheel
-QteQ Rear Diff Parts


Body: Ferrari F430
Battery: R1 Wurks 750

MR-03 With a Reflex Twist!!!

Well, as I told you guys, my next time at the track was at the Tekin Nationals in San Jose, CA. I had every intention in practicing during my vacation in Guatemala Ciy over the break, but the track was also closed there over Christmas and New Year's, plus, I was just busy relaxing and enjoying my family and friends, so gimme a break! :P

Where do I start? Right before I left on vacation, I finally received the prototype Long King Pins as well as the delrin balls and the FRP T-Plates for the MR-03, (this time we are doing MM and 96mm plates). I also received prototypes for some T-Bar mounts and the V2 spurs, but I was not entirely satisfied with the results, so I submitted some revisions to the factory so that we can get them "just right." Hopefully the new prototypes should get here by the end of the month. The production parts for the front end pieces and the T-Plates should arrive sometime within the next 10 days(fingers crossed).

Here are the set-ups I ran:

Touring Set-Up: (fastest lap in class, 5th overall)

Front:
Atomic 30 deg Slick R's
Extra Long King Pins and Delrin Balls
PN Low Down Yellow Springs
3 Reflex M2 shims under knuckle
3Racing Gold Spring Cup
Pre-load where spring is not loose when car is not on the ground
0 offset front wheels

Rear:
Atomic 8 Deg Radial
Reflex 96mm Medium Plate
PN Top Shock, red center Spring green front spring
White delrin disks on damper
500 wt damper lube
Green Atomic top spring Red PN Lower
Axle position #2 down
+1 offset rear wheels

Drive Train:
Reflex 35T
9/53 Gear Ratio
QteQ diff parts
Reflex 53T Spur

Body:
350Z 3007 Super GT
Batteries:
Orion 900

Pan Car Set-Up (TQ and 2nd Place overall- but I blew out, I should have won the race by at least a lap! This car was by far the best car at the race...)


Front:
Atomic 30 deg Slick R's
Extra Long King Pins and Delrin Balls
PN Low Down White Springs
3 Reflex M2 shims under knuckle
3Racing Gold Spring Cup
Pre-load where spring is not loose when car is not on the ground
+1 offset front wheels

Rear:
Atomic 8 Deg Radial
Reflex 96mm Medium Plate
Kyosho F1 Top Shock, green spring
White delrin disks on damper
500 wt damper lube
Green Atomic top spring Red PN Lower
Axle position #2 down
+2 offset rear wheels

Drive Train:
Reflex 35T
9/53 Gear Ratio
QteQ diff parts
Reflex 53T Spur

Body:
Atomic VDS 2

Batteries:
Orion 900

MR-03: 2 Weeks Later...

Has it been already three MR-03 race days? Wow! I am truly enjoying this new car. It sort of has re-awakened my love for RC Racing again. I never lost interest in the business and design part of Reflex , but I'll be honest when I say that I have been burnt-out of Mini-Z Racing on an personal level since Portugal back in 2007. This past 2009 was in part, a sabatical for me since the KO Grand Prix.

Thank goodness for the MR-03! This car has such good feedback an precision, it reminds me of my years of 1/10th scale racing, when I used to race exclusively because it was my hobby. This was before any sponsorships or travel or Atomic Mods or Reflex. It was before Mini-Z really took off as a racing class. It's just such a purist's car.

As a result, I know once again find myself working on my car in between race days (something I haven't done since my days when I first starting running Mini-Z), fiending for the next track day. Last week, I even went to practice during the week... :o

Anyways, enough of my rant on nostalgic RC Times. The MR-03 is now here and the reality of it is that it continues to impress.

After my first race day, where I raced Modified Touring against Jacob, I have had to race Stock Twice due to lack of entries in Modified. My first weekend out in stock, I did not even have a motor to race with. I ended up borrowing an old style PN 70 Turn from a buddy of mine and switched my car to a 94mm wheelbase and a Ferrari F430 body to make it more suitable for stock racing.

What can I say, the car was very graceful and composed in the shorter configuration. In qualifying, eventhough I was a little bit down on power vs some of the other cars, I was able to set the Top Qualifying position in each of the three rounds, round number 2 being the quickest, where I ran 40 laps in 5:05. This was a little over two laps quicker than second place qualifier.

In the main, I took the holeshot and built a comfortable lead. About 12 laps into it, I made several mistakes on the same lap and this allowed Jacob to take the lead for about 4 or 5 laps. I pushed the car hard, and after a couple of quick laps, I managed to squeeze inside Jacob and take over the lead again. Slowly I built up a comfortable half a lap lead that seemed to stretch a bit and then see itself reduced, when I would bobble, and graze a wall or two. With about 1 minute left, I had a couple of slow laps which allowed Jacob to close in with striking distance. This was the first time I had Jacob on my bumper, and I did not feel nervous. The car was so composed and well behaved, that I sort of knew I was not going to allow for him to make a pass on me. Jacob attacked for the last 2 or 3 laps, looking for an opening, but I never flinched, running clean, defensive lines quick enough to keep him from passing me, and conservative enough not to make a mistake. At the 10 minute mark, we crossed the line freight-trainin, myself with 78 laps in 10:03.93 and Jacob with a 78 in 10:04.08, yes it was that close!

With the result, I was even more motivated. I knew the car was not yet perfect, plus the motor was sort of slow, so I knew that along with another couple of small changes, I could probably cut 0.2-0.3 seconds per lap.

So this leads us to this past weekend. During the week, I did several things to my 03. For one, I prepped a proper stock motor so that I could get up to speed with the other stock cars on the track. I also lightened my AutoScale Ferrari F430 Test body and prepped one of my older lexus SC430 bodies to compare.

During practice, I used the Lexus exclusively. The car was nimble and agile, and the motor was a screamer. I was even able to gear down 1 tooth to a 12 tooth pinion to get more punch in the infield and still had as much or even more top speed than the other cars. In the first qualifier I managed to run a 40 lap run with several mistakes during the run, my fast lap had also dropped to a 7.15 or so, which was 0.15 faster than my previous fast stock lap. This lap time, was approaching Jacob and I's modified times.

After having run the Lexus, I decided to try the Ferrari. The Lexus was great, but I wanted to compare actual times between the two bodies. I thought that the car was going to lose a bit of time on laps. (You see, a race-prepped SC430 weighs in at about 32 grams, an F430 at about 36.) To my surprise, the lap times were identical on quick lap, but the car became so much more predictable and consistent with the Ferrari. My fast lap this time was 7.14, but my overall time dropped to a 41 laps in 5:05. This time was faster than our Modified qualifying track record and 1 full lap quicker than with the Lexus.

I found that with the Ferrari I was more comfortable hugging the corners. The Ferrari slides off the RCP barriers when you come into contact with them, where the Lexus will dig into them and spin. The Lexus also tended to lose front grip when going over bumps where the Ferrari would just soak them up. This has much to do with the fact that the F430 has so much more weight over the front than the Lexus. This could be fixed with perhaps a softer front spring, but I was already running the PN Red springs, which are the softest available. :o

In the last qualifier, I had another great run with the Ferrari, bringing the TQ time even further down to a 41 5:04. Second place Jacob was a little over a lap behind, with a 40 5:07. My fast lap improved to a 7.13, which was also the fastest lap of the night. It should be noted that I ran a set of Orion 900's in this heat, in contrast to my typical R1 or Orion 750 mah batteries. They were a little down on power, but I guess not enough to make much of a difference.

For the main I was really focused. I knew my car was the fastest by about 0.3 seconds per lap. This allowed me to focus on passing car in front of me instead of worrying about who was chasing me. This has always been my racing philosophy "Pass Everyone" is what we call it; wether it is a lapped car, or a position battle, my goal is to pass as many cars as I can for 10 minutes straight. This is what I did. From the get-go I managed to pull away. Lap after lap the gap increased steadily. After about 25 laps, I had managed to lap the 2nd place car. I was so comfortable driving the car in tight areas, through traffic that it was almost surreal. Although the driving was not as clean as in the qualifiers, I still managed to stay out of trouble decently and ended up taking the victory by a little over 2 laps. My overall time was 80 laps in 10:06.84, nearly 2 laps faster than last time. :)

Our club is now going on Holiday break. Believe it or not my next official race will probably be the Tekin 1/28th scale nats in San Jose in January. I guess my next MR-03 Racing Report as well as some pictures of the car will come sometime after then... I should have some of our prototype parts available by then as well...

Finally! MR-03 First Drive!!!

What a blast! Last night I finally got to test my car for the first time. The results were VERY promising.

First of all I want to put the scenario in perspective. Last night was our first race at our new place in Houston, Jacob Feinstein and I ran mod an went at it as usual. This was also my second time to race since the KO GP in March so I am a bit rusty and as you all know Jacob just came back from Barcelona where he won 2 more PNWCs.

The racing was close between Jacob and I. First qualifier went to Jacob by about a lap. My 03 was pushing a bit and needed to rotate a little bit quicker. I switched my front tires for the second qualifier and BAM! The car was ballistic. I was able to catch Jacob and pull away at will even with quite a few mistakes I was able to re-set the TQ position by a couple of tenths over Jacob's time. I also set the fastest lap of the night in the process.

In the third qualifier I tried changing over to the new PN Spur just to compare it to ours. The car lost it's ability to rotate as hard as it started pushing badly on exit. Surprisingly, it pushed on entry as well, even though it was supposed to give more steering. I think that the flywheel effect is what allowed the car to have more turn it with our much lighter spur gears (the car just slows down quicker). I was not quite a fast in consequence, being about 1 tenth slower on average. The PN Spur will probably come in handy for those of you that want your car to push a little bit more than usual on exit. It makes the car a little mellower on throttle as well, as it does not spool up as quickly as the Reflex Spur, having a little bit less punch. Grip was also coming up on the track and Jacob's 96mm 02 was starting to get much quicker as well.

For the main, I should have changed my rear tires. My Radials were about to go bald and I gambled not to replace them thinking that the grip would be enough to where I would not need the tread for much longer. BIG MISTAKE. I also went back to the Reflex Spur and put faster batteries (750's)and the car became just a bit too loose. I really had to battle with it the whole time and I was not able to give chase to Jacob who's car was getting quicker. He ended up setting fast lap in the main with a 6.92 to my previous fast lap of 7.02. He was running the WTF2, 96mm G-10 plates and SSG's with a 350Z body. I was on 98mm, with PN #4 plate, green front springs, 98-102 mount and GTR2008 body. I built Jacob's car with 4+years of knowledge on MR-02 development. The MR-03 I am just starting to learn. I found several things after I got home where I can improve the car, just by being observant, with the addition of a couple of key changes, the car will be very tough to beat.

Next week I will come back a little more prepared and as the car gets more crisp, my driving will also become better with more track time. Overall though I give the MR-03 an A+ on a first time drive. It was right on pace, super responsive to set-up changes and very, very fast.

Insight into Kyosho and the New MR-03!!!

Kyosho, like many Japanese companies have never focused on outright profitability. It the case of Kyosho, they have NEVER been the cheapest at anything. On the contrary, they have ALWAYS been the most expensive (just look at the Inferno Kanai editions, vs other cars in the market). They focus more on material quality and manufacture as much as is possible in Japan (including the electronics, by KO Propo). This leads the cost to be much higher than other companies out there that are looking to maximize profits and minimize costs.

A while back I talked to a good buddy of mine about this. He is/was a salaried Kyosho Team Driver. He told me that the owner of Kyosho just wanted to win, period. He did not care much about the profitability of the brand because it was a bit of a secondary business to him. Apparently, the owner of Kyosho is a very rich man, that made his money elsewhere. I don't know how much of this is entirely accurate. So in relation to pricing of the 03, they are not as concerned of it curbing demand as much as we may think.

In japan Mini-Z is big because space, in large cities, is at a premium. Therefore Mini-Z provides the perfect solution for racing competitively. The problem over there is that they cannot buy Chinese products. Importing is FAR too expensive, so you are hard-pressed to find any products for the Z's other than their domestic brands (Kyosho, Kawada, QTEQ, Atlas, etc). These parts, as expensive as they are, are still cheaper than importing PN or Atomic parts. Up until recently, there was absolutely no Chinese or American Mini-Z products in Japan.

So enter the limited editions and the MR-03's of the Z' world. To the Japanese consumer (which is by far the largest racing-oriented market) the price hike is not an issue because they are getting a better "box-stock"version of a Z. They will receive a product that is more race-worthy out of the box, at a relatively cheaper price than they would have to pay for importing aftermarket products. Also, the majority of their racing is Kyosho-Cup structured, which means little, if any other products than Kyosho are allowed for competition.

Hence their lack of concern for selling 500 v. 1000 units in the USA (arbitrary numbers). Their end goal is not to grow the Z so much that it cannibalizes their other forms of racing as well. It is just to have a nice little niche, where they can compliment their brand and product line.

Kyosho also manages their demand very well. We are always complaining about how stuff runs out and they should manufacture more. This will never happen, as part of the culture of the 'Z in Japan, is the exclusivity and collect-ability of the products, (i.e. the AutoScale COLLECTION). In order to manage their demand, they play with their pricing and supply of products.

The pricing ESTIMATE I received for the 03, came from somebody at Kyosho America, so it should be pretty accurate. On the plus side think, so far, from what we know, we will receive all kyosho plastic motor mounts, 2 different front ends and perhaps a wheel kit. Plus the electronics will be slightly improved. As much as WE don't use this stuff EVER, their primary market does, and this brings much added value to the car.

Remember, we have ALWAYS received the crumbs over here. Many items never even make it State-side from the Mini-Z line. (white bodies immediately come to mind)

F1 2009 Season!!!

Here we go! The start of a new season is upon us! Practice starts at 10pm tonight, so we'll so who's been faking and who's been sandbagging! Lots of new tech like adjustable front aero, KERS and slicks should make this a VERY interesting season. It's funny that KERS "rewards" lighter drivers with more HP...so if you're a big boy, you don't get to have an extra 80HP! Apparently they have yet to figure out the packaging to optimize the weight balance for the larger drivers. Most teams have just skipped it for this first round, but BMW has opted for a split strategy meaning Kubica will have to continue making Heidfeld look silly without a "nitro" button...

Brawn, Williams and Toyota are "legal" until the whiners appeal otherwise... McLaren has gone the more traditional route of copy and catchup. Brawn is going to pick up Virgin as a sponsor, which is a major coup for both parties. The management buyout goes through, so they have talented people running the team instead of corporate bureaucrats. Virgin gets all the branding they want without the headaches of learning the technical side of the F1 business. Brawn GP gets the funding they will desperately need to keep up with the frantic pace of development throughout the season. There is a small possibility of collusion where Brawn GP may have convinced Virgin to withdraw their offer to Honda so that the MBO would have less bidding competition, then gives them preference as a sponsor. Also the rumors of Todt's "retirement" are intriguing...

Here's hoping Rubens makes Button look as boring as he is!

And I've always got to root for Williams! With Brawn GP and Williams F1, I'm hoping for TWO competitive "privateer/gentleman drivers" teams showing the manufacturers how its done!