Mini-Z Norway

New motormount and more

2012-02-05T19:47:00.002+01:00

Been testing lately.

The new RR motormount, spur, and a couple of other things as well have been put trough some real stress.

Reviews are coming soon, but here are some impressions.

The new RR motormount is very nice. It is an evolution of the first one.

Wheelbase settings has changed. It is now adjustable in 1mm increments. Stock form with std T-plate gives you 94- 95 - 98 - 99. With 96mm T-plate you get 96- 97- 100 - 101 wheelbase.

It is beefed up in some parts, and my initial feeling is that it gives you more correct side to side balance in the rear.

The V3 spur is superlight, and gives you superb accelleration/ decelleration.

Other things:

We have been able to build a ball diff that weighs only 3.2 grams with everything. Cant tell you more yet, but man it rocks!

Other prototypes have also been in the testing stages. More on that later on.

Mini-Z Buggy. New Kyosho option parts

2012-01-04T21:35:00.001+01:00

Fully hopped up Buggy
- Rear shock stay
- Rear suspension mount with toe
- Front shock tower
- Front suspension mount
- Front knuckles
- Rear Hub
- Steering bar
- Ti covered suspension rods
- Hard center shaft
- Ball diffs
- RR Silver springs
- RR Lexan Wing
- RR 43 turn motor
- DIY foam inserts F/ R tires

The added rear toe stabilizes the car a lot. 2 degrees are shown in the pics. Also available are 1 & 3.
The steering plate and alu knuckles removes the irritating steering bar pop outs.
Front shock tower gives you more adjustability, as it has a set of outer holes extra compared to the stock tower. The rear is identical.
On the Lazer you now mount the rear of the body with a cbodyclip instead of the plastic ears.
The rear wing has much better support.

There is some weight added, and the balance of the car are changed some. The rear is slightly heavier than before, so it is not so sensitive regarding nosedive when you let off the throttle in the air.

Total weight included transponder is 217 grams. A bit on the heavy side, but the traction levels and stability is actually very good with stock tires on RCP.
Jumping and wheel to wheel racing is so fun:D

Also expect exiting parts from Reflex Racing in the near future.

I am doing a detailed write up about these parts sometime later.

MB-010 Buggy. First impressions.

2011-12-20T22:51:00.000+01:00

The MB-010.

This has to be one of the most well thought out mini cars ever made.

The quality has impressed everybody at our track.

In stock configuration it holds up extremely well. It jumps beautifully. Reacts well to setup changes, and are very easy to drive.

The stock suspension config are good. Springs, oil and angles really do work well together, especially with the stock motor.

A couple of things to improve.

The dogbones do get worn, so the cvd's are wanted soon. Use some soft foam, or RR reverse king pin soft (black) springs inside the diff drive cups front. This helps a lot.
Take care when building the shocks. Front rear are different length! Also. Use green slime or equl to help seal.
The steering rods pops out a bit easy, but a small simple fix helps a lot. Use some thick sealing tape (0.5mm) and fasten it to the hubs in front. See pic right at the bottom. This limits the throw, but only when you clip a curb etc. It is not noticeable when driving.
The differentials are the same as the AWD. If they break, change to ball diffs, or the strengthened gear diffs scheduled for release. But I have to say. The stock diffs has held up and functions very well.
Slop. Shim the hell out of it. There is some slop in the suspension. Shims from 0,1 to 0,3 are very useful here. Also shim the rear wheels. After a good round with shimming, you get an amazingly tight car. Dont overdo as you get to much friction in your suspension.
Glue the tires!
Inserts. The front tires can fold up and you loose grip when traction gets good. I feel soft inserts helps out a lot. Some dont. (Tip. The Losi micro SCT inserts are usable)

With stock drivetrain we have limited the motors to around 40 - 50 turn motors. If you go any hotter I would think the diffs and the drive cups would suffer.

Other than this it is not much needed on this car.

On RCP you need to sand the tires to get rid of the smooth surface. After this they hook up reasonably on RCP, and gives you real fun.

The options Kyosho has released so far is very high quality as usual. The only thing I have not tried are the hard center shaft.

The car in the pics are set up like this:

RR 43 turn motor.

RR silver springs.

4mm preload rear.

3mm preload front.

55WT oil f/r. (the kit includes 400cst)

1 degree toe out.

Kyosho front tower.

Kyosho front hubs.

Kyosho rear hubs.

Kyosho front brace.

Kyosho Ti suspension pins front.

Kyosho AWD ball diffs.

RR rear wing.

Atomic Mini-Z Aluminium lower arm set

2011-11-24T21:09:00.000+01:00

Atomic has been real busy lately, and are sending out new products all the tmie.

This time I have tried out the new aluminium lower arm.
The one I got was without the lower servo cover, but a version with this in the package is also out.

Inside the package you find very nice machined delrin lower balls, kingpins, and the alu bar.
I have not tried the king pins and balls, but they are very precise. The king pins are of the same diameter (this is not always the case if you measure your kingpins), and the balls are a very nice fit to the lower mount.

The alu piece is of real nice quality, and I am overall impressed by the quality of ATM parts lately.

All in all this gives you a lot of good parts for the money.

As I use the RR low profile reversed setup, I wanted to see if this could be used together with the RR recessed balls. I can confirm this!
They are a perfect fit. Nice.

It offers the exact same geometry as the stock lower mounts. (I was maybe hoping for it to be a bit a tad wider, and with slightly raised king pin mount. This would have given us another setup option, but I understand why they also make it equal to stock.)

It adds a bit of weight, but since most race rules are giving the MR-03 a weight penalty, this is a good thing in my book. CG is important, and this adds weight to the lowest part of your car.

(In the pictures you can see the lower cover from RR)

A well thought out product from Atomic.

Prototypes from Reflex Racing. First look!.

2011-09-14T17:11:00.004+02:00

A lot of new products are in the works at Reflex Racing.
Some of these have been mentioned at a couple of forums, but pictures has not been published. Yet.....

Yesterday we showed a couple of pics of a car with these new parts installed, but they are very hard to see so only a few people noticed them.
Yes i got some emails about this:-)

1.
First up is the new diffuser for the Reflex Racing adjustable wheelbase motormount.
The angle of the diffuser are spot on to what we have been having good results with. The weight are also placed in a way so that it balances out the rear end quite nicely.

This diffuser is in production as we speak, and are scheduled for release soon.

More detailed pics are coming up soon.

The other part is a first proto of the raised lower arm. This is not the final product, but it gives you an impression.

It will be redesigned, and a new revision are in the plans.

The main feature of this is the raised lower arm. Perfect for reverse king pin setups. This makes it really unike in the way that the springs and e-clips is no longer the lowes part of your car. For this you can use your old low profile reverse king pins, delrin balls and springs.

Extra long "spring over" king pins will also be made, so you can choose your favourite configuration.

More pics in the next couple of days.

If your still reading, take another look at the diffuser pics to check out the new RR differential parts. A closer look are coming up.

It works superb, are even lighter than the Qtec parts, and reduces the wobble of the spur gear.

Prototypes! Can you spot them? First seen on Mini-Z Norway

2011-09-13T22:55:00.001+02:00

Yes. i know they are hard to see, but look closely.

One of them is a first proto, and the other is in production as we speak. Both from Reflex Racing.

Have a guess in the comment field;)

Thermal image of MR-03

2011-09-08T19:49:00.000+02:00

Here you can see a MR-03 a few minutes after running. This is with Reflex Racing alu cover installed.

Peak temperatures just after running are as hot as 58 °C

Reflex Racing Top Cover & Knuckles

2011-09-01T18:27:00.013+02:00

It has been busy lately, so I have not had much time to do any updates. Sorry for this. Now we are on again.

Reflex Racing has released their new aluminium top cover for the MR-03.
The top chassis cover are maybe the weakest part on the MR-03. Not only does it break quite often, but you also have to buy the whole chassis set to get the cover.
The original cover are also very soft, so you get a lot of unwanted flex where you want all movements to go through your damper system.
Reflex Racing hit the nail on the head with this release. The new top cover are strong. You can clamp down your damper system without worry that destroy the plastic threads. It does not move or flex at all!

When you run hot motors, the FET's get really hot. We are talking so hot that the solder can melt. Roughly around 180°C.
Because of these temperatures, the top cover also deforms from the temperature.

It also acts as a very good heat sink. A lot of the heat from the FET's gets channeled trough the cover, and should make everything more efficient, and your electronics should last longer.
I will get back to you with surface temperatures later. I am doing a small project to transfer even more heat to this plate. Stay tuned for more on this.

The fitment are superb. It is an exact replica of the stock cover, but requires a bit more fiddling to get it on, as it does not flex at all. But this is no problem at all.
It weighs 2 grams more than the stock cover, but finally we never have to change these again.

Knuckles!
The knuckles are not that much to write about. They are of great quality, and has no more slop than other makes.

The main feature of these, are that they are a lot shorter than the stock knuckles.
Stock knuckles are 6.55 mm
These are only 5.07 mm, so you get a lot more room to play around with your suspension geometry, and also are opens up new possibilities in wheel diameters.
The axle are placed at 2.80 mm from the bottom (blame me if slightly wrong), so this gives room for shimming both over and under the knuckle.
This picture shows it with 2mm under the knuckle. 0,7 over, and 0 preload on top.

Compared to some other knuckles.
Stock plastic: 6.55 mm. 0.6 grams each.
3Racing: 6.57 mm height. 0.9 grams each.
Atomic FS: 6.07 mm height. 1 grams each.
Reflex Racing: 5.07 mm height. 0.8 grams each.

For a regular sliding knuckle setup, they give you less friction. For a reverse king pin type setup, they give you more setup options.

PNWC Stockholm Sweden 2011

2011-05-25T15:44:00.001+02:00

A little writeup about PNWC Sweden, April 2011.

Image: Isak Hjelte

This year I did not have to travel alone. Oslo Z'ers Christoffer and his father Dag joined in, and gave me a ride down to Stockholm.

We arrived at the track friday evening, and was met by a lot of nice swedes. Super friendly as always.

The sight that met us inside was amazing. The track was the biggest i have ever seen live. It measured 17,5 X 7 meters.

The event were held in MHF's locals just outside Stockholm. The facilities were very nice, although a bit cold. The temperature in the building was only 13 degrees celsius, so i am glad I brought my slippers and some thick sweaters.

As always Jocke & co gave us a really nice professional event. Everything went according to their plans.

Christoffer was attending his first race ever, but he has a lot of practice on a local track in Oslo. He knows what to do, and kept his cool all weekend. Only 16 years old, he has shown a lot of improvement this year. He is open for setup tips, and really sucks up all the information he can get.
He signed up for stock and mod GT with only one car, and you can say he got the hang of changing motors between qualifiers and training! My guess he will be builiding another car for next outing:-)

In mod GT he had some troubles initially, but just kept on practising. In the end he qualified for B finals, and ended up in a very impressive 11 overall. Considering the level all these guys are at, this is very impressive for first outing.
In Stock he had a bit easier way to the finals. In the last qualifier he managed P6. A big crash at the start of the A-main messed up the field a bit, but he came trough and finished in P3. Well done!
I am sure he will be hard to beat in the future, as he has shown big improvement in the last few months.
Christopher rocks an all Reflex Racing tricked out car, wich he is truly happy with. His driver profile will be up later. Here you can see pics of his car.

As for myself, I signed up for Mod GT and Pan car.
I really dont like pan cars that much, and have never raced one in my life. But I really enjoyed the experience. These lightweight cars are very fun, and can be really fast.

I had a base setup I had decided to use before the race, and stuck with it. The car was quite easy to drive, but not as fast as some of the others out there.
Q1 & Q2 went ok, and I was in the A main. In Q3 i had a horrible crash at the end of the main straight. Busfrö went on the inside and we brushed for a second. I ended up in the wall 1 meter above the track and destroyed two wheels. The Jomurema carbon axle actually held up the punishment! This surprised me, and I am now very sure of its durability.
Q4 went very good, and I ended up P3.

The race was very good until my nerves cracked. I was P2, but started to shake as a leaf and made a lot of mistakes.
Busfrö beat me to third by 3 tenths of a second. Ola Nordström took an impressive second. Dahlis took a superb victory. Congrats!

Mod GT.
I really struggled with traction rolls at the end of the main straight. The cars had around 35 kmh at the end of the straight, so you had to be extremely careful with the steering input.
After Q1, Q2, and Q3 I was in the A-main, but was unsure if it would hold as a lot of the other racers really found a lot of speed.
Before Q4 I completely altered the setup. I usually use small bodies and 0 - 1 offset wheels. This time I went for 2 front and 3 rear to get the car a bit wider. This helped with the traction rolling problems I encountered earlier.
P6 was my result in qualifying.

My goal all weekend was a podium, but this seemed to slip out of my hand.
Before the mains I took a chance and went for a very soft setup.
This did the trick, and I secured 3 place! I was super happy with that. I also had the second fastest lap of the race. 1 tenth behind the super fast Dahlis. Ola Westholm secured second, after a thrilling battle with Dahlis. Ola must be one of the fastest guys I have ever seen on the track. He is very laidback, but extremely fast.
I only had 1 second down to Busfrö in fourth, so you can say the racing really was tight.

I feel I am starting to learn more about RCP, and how the cars reacts to setup changes. Chatting up with Dahlis and Busfö gave me some good setup tips for RCP.

The traction at this race was extremely good. Even better than what we experience on Regupol with rubber tires.

I also must send out a big thanks to Cristian Tabush, and Reflex Racing for their great support, and wonderful parts.

As for the F1 class. I really wish I could have attended this. These races looks so much fun. Actually this tempted me so much, that I have now built me a car so I can join in on the fun next time :)

Finally. A big thank to Jocke and everyone who made this possible. Also a very big thanks to every racer attending. The racing was very clean, and everybody are friendly to each other. You are all extremely good drivers!
See you next time in September!

My Setups.
Pancar:
Front;
Wheels: 1 offset. PN Delrin dish wheels.
Tires: PN Slick 8 front. Trued to 23mm.
Reflex Racing low profile front end.
Caster 4 degree
Camber 1 degree
Toe. 0 degree
30000WT grease for front dampening.

Rear:
Wheels. 2 offset. PN Plastic.
Tires: PN Radial 6. Untrued.
PN 98-102 LCG V4. 98mm.
Lowest rideheigt
Diff: QteQ, Jomurema, Reflex.
PN/ Reflex tri damper. Mix & match:-)
Kyosho 15000WT grease.
Kyosho oil shock. 560cst oil. Yellow spring.
QteQ T-bar set to "free floating".

Other.
Bearings: Reflex Racing High grade
Body: PN Lexan
Chassis set to level.

Mod GT:

Front:
Wheels: 2 offset. PN Plastic.
Tires: PN X pattern 15. Trued to 23mm.
Reflex Racing low profile front end.

Caster 4 degree

Camber 1 degree

Toe. 0 degree

Kyosho 30000WT grease for dampening.

Rear:

Wheels: 2 offset. Atomic dish

Tires: PN Radial 6. Untrued.

Reflex Racing adjustable wheelbase motormount. 96mm.

Lowest rideheight.
Diff: QteQ, Jomurema, Reflex.

Reflex Racing tri damper.

Kyosho 15000WT grease.

Kyosho oil shock. 560cst oil. Yellow spring.

QteQ T-bar set to free floating.

Other.

Bearings: Reflex Racing High grade

Body: GT-R 2008

Reflex Racing lexan wing.

Atomic diffuser

Chassis set to level.

Here are videos from the A-mains (courtesy of Jocke the Boss), and a few more pictures.

Stock

Mod GT

Pan

Image: Isak Hjelte

Review: QteQ Four Ball Connect T-Bar Set

2011-05-09T19:26:00.000+02:00

This is a product I have been using for a couple months.
The review has been in the pipeline for as long, but I just never had the time to finish it.
Sorry for taking so long.

The parts are of the usual great QteQ quality. The finish of the alu parts are as good as it gets, and the plastic parts are very precise and durable.

Monting this piece together takes some patience and accuracy.
Make use of the instructions found here: Instructions
And diagram found here: Diagram

If you have any questions regarding installing, or need some more information, dont hesitate to contact me by email, or post a comment below.

A couple of extra tips:

Do not overtighten the screws that connects to the chassis. The pillow balls can deform, and the threads in the chassis can strip easily.
The T-bar has tweak screws. They do work, but aint necessary if you are using a tri damper setup. Then you can adjust tweak with preloading the springs on the side damper.
Where the bar attaches to the motormount, you have a small set screw. Adjust this carefully until slop is minimized. Do not overtighten!
When you have everything installed, remove all dampers attached to your rear end.
You should now have free movement both laterally and pitch. Make sure nothing binds.

This T-plate are ideal combined with a tri shock system.
You will then have a completely "free-floating" rear end, that you are able to control to perfection with different springs and dampening fluids.

Between the mounting screws, you have a small screw for adjusting the tenison of the plate. This is for use if you want a more regular T-bar feel, or want to use it with a disc damper.

This is very good for making small adjustments on the fly, without having to change the springs on your dampers.Think of it as an adjustable anti roll bar.

The slop in total is very small. The car behaves as precise as with regular T-plates, but it does not change after use as a regular T-plate.

I dont think I will go back to regular T-plates in a while.
I feel i am much more in control over my setup, since all spring action are controlled by the different springs you mount on your dampers.

After two months hard use and abuse, it has never failed. It is extremely consistent and still my favorite T-bar to this date.

Long term review's. A little write-up on my "essentials"

2011-04-25T02:05:00.000+02:00

A lot of products have come and gone on my car these past months.
Products I don't end up using or keeping as alternative parts for different setups, I rarely write about. This will not be changed in the future.

The products I have on my car now, has stayed there for a good while, and I have a feeling they will for a good time (until something better shows up)
This is a little write-up about what i think is the essentials of my setups on two of my race cars.
Click "recap" on all the reviews to see the full original reviews.

I will start with the latest addition to my setup.
The Reflex Racing adjustable wheelbase motormount.

First a little recap from the first review.

Light weight. 5 grams.
Very easy to adjust wheelbase
Very easy to adjust gearmesh
Suspension mount are very sturdy
Very precise bearing cups
Compact
Well thought out, and seems to be solid

I can confirm these initial results.

The mount has taken some serious abuse. It has been smacked into walls in almost 35 kmh. It has fell off elevated tracks. It has been hit hard by fellow racers.

Not a single time has the angle of the suspension mount changed. Nothing is bent out of shape. The adjustable wheelbase part has not become loose or anything at all.

This mount really can take all the abuse I have been able to give it. Seriously. It is tough as nails.

As for adjustability, it still works absolutely fantastic.

I cant recomend this piece high enough!

The Jomurema carbon diff shaft.

The recap.

Very light weight!
Precise
Looks skinny, but has held this far

As for the long term review.

The shaft has held up remarkably good.

It has taken a lot of direct hits, with the results of a few broken wheels. I have even hit a wall after a 17 meter straight with a speed of around 35 kmh. The car rolled, and went about a meter into the air, and hit a wood wall. Both rear wheels splintered to pieces, but the shaft was as good as new. The shaft is still straight as an arrow, without any signs of breakage or flex in the carbon shaft.

I have used this shaft now in two of my cars for the last 4 months. And I drive quite frequently. None of them has failed me a single time.

I actually dont think I have destroyed a diff shaft in my almost 10 years with Mini-Z's, but I have seen a lot of bent shafts over the years.

I think some of the hits this shaft has taken, could have easily bent most other shafts out there.

The Reflex Racing adjustable upper arm mount.

The recap.

Looks great
Highly adjustable
Very sturdy
Compatible with almost any part out there

Long term.

The front end really holds up well.

The adjustability has really helped me many times with dialing in my cars. Camber, caster and roll center adjustments "on the fly"

Securing the arms after adjusting camber or caster has never loosened. Thread lock has not been needed.

I really like this one.

Reflex Racing Low profile suspension & Delrin arms

The recap.

Removes slop form your front end
Light weight
Very smooth suspension
Easy to dampen with different types of grease in the lower pillow balls
A bit tricky to adjust rideheight and preload.

Long term.

Still silky smooth. Almost never needed a rebuild. I just remove the lower e-clip, take out the pring, lift the king pin a bit, and clean the dampening grease out with a paper twirl. Regrase, and go!

As for tricky adjustments, you learn how to do it fast. No problems here.

The e-clips have never even loosened on me.

A-arms holds up as they should. No problems here at all!

This is a really good option!

The PN tri damper setup 98mm.

The recap

Very adjustable
Easy to adjust dampening individually front/ side
Easy to adjust tweak
A bit tricky to route the motor cables
A little heavy.

The long term.

Holds up very well. Low maintenance. The pillow balls and shocks has not worn out after a lot of use. It is a bit heavy, but works flawlessly every time.

The one thing I dont like much, is that the dampers are mounted so far out from center, that they will give you problems with new rear tires and wheel offsets less than 3mm.

I use this together with the PN 98-102mm LCG mount for my pan car.

A real good product.

The Reflex Multi option rear suspension.

The recap.

Light weight
Very adjustable
Easy to adjust dampening individually front/ side
Easy to adjust tweak
A bit tricky to route the motor cables

The long term

It only works for the RR motormount and the PN LCG 94mm mount, but that is no problem since these are perhaps the best mounts out there.

The shocks and pivot balls holds up real well. A fellow racer has had one pillow ball fail after tightening the screws to much. Other than that is has given no problems at all.

It works with all wheel offsets. Are very compact, and are super lightweight.

It is my favorite side damper kit by far.

QteQ diff parts.

Recap.

Very light weight
Strong
Looks great
Great fitment

Long term.

These has never failed me. Ever. Insanely great parts. These are essential for a real lightweight diff build. QteQ rocks!

Reflex Racing Spur gear V2.

Recap.

Light weight
Precise
A bit tricky to get right, but super smooth when doing so
Fits superb with the 64 pitch pinions available

The long term.

It is almost indestructible. I have changed out one spur gear after an incredible amount of mileage. In kilometers I have done a quick calculation. The one i have pensioned have been run at least 480000 meters.

This was still absolutely usable, and will be kept as a spare.

The pinions wear in a faster rate though, but that is ok with me. They wear a bit quicker since the contact patch are a bit smaller than on the other spurs available.

The reduced rotating mass are also really important for me and my driving style. Coupled together with the other diff parts I use, it gives i my view the absolute best ball diff out there.

The "unreviewed" parts.

Some parts has stayed on my car for longer than this site has existed, and have been forgotten.

I would like to mention some of them.

The yellow Kyosho oil shock.

This is by far the best top shock I have ever used (and I have tried every single one). Superb dampening. A lot of springs available. Only the imagination stops you.

Leaking is no problem, and it is light weight. Since the top shock are the highest part you have on your chassis, this actually does a lot regarding the handling of your car.

PN LCG 98-102 motormount.

It is the motormount with the lowest cog. If you use 98 or 102 wheelbase, this is a motormount you really should consider trying out.

It is strong and very well thought out.

The gear mesh system is not everyones favourite, but it works ok.

The cups for the bearings are not very precise, but this can be fixed.

The next upcoming review will be the QteQ pivoting T-plate system.

This is so extremely good. It is on all my cars now, and works absolutely fantastic.

Reflex Racing Adjustable Wheelbase Motor Mount

2011-03-06T03:08:00.001+01:00

Finally I have the new Reflex Racing motor mount in my hands.
This is a prototype, but the latest one. I think this is the final design before production.

RRAWM:-)

This is truly a well thought out motormount.
Only 6 screws, 4 alu pieces, and the bearing inserts.

The name states it features adjustable wheelbase. This is done by the piece that you mount the t-plate on. Regular position gives you 94 - 98mm. Switch it around, and you have 96 - 100mm whellbase.

In the future they will release optional parts for 1mm increments adjustment. This is one of the great features of this mount.

The complete motormount, with all hardware, are advertised weighing in at only 5.1 grams. I had to check out this, and on two different scales I measured 5.0 grams. This is with everything but the ball bearings.
This has to be one of the lightest mounts out there.

A pivoting design makes it super easy to get the correct gear mesh.
The top motor screw, are also the screw you use for setting gear mesh. Almost as the old Atomic mounts.
One of the best things are that the motor are never loosened from the motor mount when you adjust the gear mesh.

Mounting it together was really easy. Just look at the pics. Not a lot of parts.
Everything fit really good together. Even the bearing inserts are a precise fit. Not sloppy, and not to tight. Just perfect.

Damper position.
Loosen one screw on each side, and you can slide the damper mount up and down as you like. The difference between this and most other mounts, are that it is fastened at both sides of the mount. This means a much more stable base for your dampening system.
Misalignment should be of no worry. The damper mount are really stable since it is fastened on both sides. It also slides on guides, so there really are no chance on movement at all.

The part where you bolt on the T-plate seems to fit perfect on the following plates: Atomic, PN, Reflex Racing, QteQ and Kyosho. I guess the other makes also fits.
As mentioned, this bracket can be switched around for wheelbase adjustment. In the picture you can see the 96mm configuration.

In the picture above you can also see the screwholes for attaching a diffusor. ATM diffusor fits, and RR are also planning a Lexan version.

Regarding durability, I guess Reflex has done their homework. I only tested it alone on track for about two hours, and it still holds up (no surprise). But the way this is built, I think the material are plenty strong to hold up even the hardest impacts.

Reflex Racing says the centre of gravity are optimized for best all round performance. I am not doubting them. Our track has quite good grip, and it seems perfect for this track.

At $39.99 this mount surely must be most bang for the buck. As for adjustments you can make. Wheelbase, ride height and damper position, it is one of the, if not the most, configurable mount out there. I also doubt there are lighter motormounts out there.
My old 94mm mount weighs in at 6,4 grams with hardware.

As for tracktest.
Slapped the car on track after installation. Works great!
Now lets see if I can go any faster than before :-)

Atomic Lexan Windows

2011-03-06T03:00:00.001+01:00

Lexan Windows.
Why you ask?

The windows in the Autoscale bodies are usually very heavy. This weight is at the highest possible point in your car, and this is something we usually dont want.

Typical weight of the stock windows are around 6 - 8 grams. Many of us do the "sunroof" mod to shave of some weight, and to lower the CG. You can save maybe 1,5 grams from this, and it is really noticeable in the handling of the cars.
Imagine what saving 4 - 6 grams will do.

The lexan windows gives you a real performance gain regarding CG and weight saving.

A couple of examples:
Lexus SC430.
Stock window: : 6,2
ATM Lexan 2,1

Nissan GT-R 08.
Stock window: 8,2 grams
ATM Lexan: 2,3 grams.

The fitment are really good. They are quite precise, and are vacuum formed to almost 100% the correct shape.
In this pic you see the GT-R 500. Here you replace not only the windows, but also the roof.

Here you see the SC430:

They are made as lexan pieces usually are, so that you have to cut away the extra material around the part you will want to use. Instructions are in the package, so this is not hard to understand.

You must also remove the tabs used for the stock window in your body before you glue it in.

These windows are clear. I like the way the car looks with them, and a lot of the lap counters out there use IR, and this will aid regarding better signal for the reciever unit.

With all this weight saved, you now have much more room for playing around with ballast and really hone in your perfect setup.

The only downside I find with these are that they are not allowed in some races.

For only around $3 you get a real good upgrade for your cars.

For now they are available for the following bodies:
Ferrari 360/ GTC
Ferrari F430
Chevrolet C5-R
Sauber C9
Nissan GT-R 500 2008
Lexus SC430

Jomurema Ceramic pressure plates

2011-02-04T21:51:00.002+01:00

Jomurema was kind enough to send me two sets of their new product for testing.
Ceramic pressure plates for 2WD ball diffs.
Big thanks to Johannes at KB-M.

Reducing rotating mass have always been important, but this has not always been so easy to do with the parts available.

Reflex Racing was early on with their Lightweight spurs, and this sparked the interest of a lot of other manufacturers out there to do something about this.
PN came out with their superb alu lightweight shaft, and QteQ have the insanely good and light diff housings and hub.

Various manufacturers has recently released prebuildt lightweight ball diffs, and these are actually very good products.
But for the ultimate lightweight diff you have to combine a few parts from different manufacturers.

Now onto the review.

The ceramic plates arrived in a small plastic bag.
White in color, they look trick, and the dirt buildup is very easy to spot. Nice!
No sanding necessary, since they are super flat.

I was a bit worried about the fitment, since ceramic are next until impossible to modify without breaking it. I took a pair of QteQ diff housings to testfit, and they were a direct fit. Kyosho housing was also a direct fit.
I have been told that D cut plates also will be available for Atomic and PN diffs.

Measurements Jomurema:
- Thickness: 0,83mm
- Outer diameter: 15,14mm
- Inner diameter: 8,20mm
- Weight pr plate: 0,3 grams

Measurements Kyosho original:

- Thickness: 0,83mm

- Outer diameter: 15,33mm

- Inner diameter: 8,20mm

- Weight pr plate: 0,8 grams

Mounting is easy.

Remember to glue the pressure plates to the diff housings.

I used ceramic balls in my build, but I am not sure if this is the best for these plates.

The feeling of the diff changed a bit, especially if you run some slip in your differential. I guess this is because of ceramic against ceramic. The wear does look to be zero.

I have a feeling that the grease will be very important in diffs built like this. You can change the way the diff "grips" quite a lot with different grease, so do not be afraid to try different manufacturers ball diff grease.

I have always used Kyosho and RC246 ball diff grease in my diffs. This is a grease that contains some kind of filler to grip better.

The action of the diff are extremely smooth. I had to adjust the tension a bit harder than I am used to to get the action to be the same as before. The good part is that it is possible to get the feeling to be almost exactly as with regular pressure plates.

The total weight of my diff is now as stated 4,0 grams. This is insane.

Acceleration and deceleration are improved. I guess this will be very popular in stock class, but also in modified if you like lots of drag brake and the added response.

I am going to try these plates with steel balls also to see if I can spot a difference. This could also affect the wearing rate.

After roughly 3 hours runtime, mine has started to show signs of a groove. (More of a polished look really) It looks to be as other plates regarding wear. Only time will tell if they are better or worse.

All in all. If you are trying to build the lightest diff out there, these plates are a must. I love them already :D

This is my part list for my (for now) ultimate differential:

QteQ Ultra light weight differential housing set. QT-081101
QteQ Light weight differential left hub. QT-080801
Reflex Racing 64 pitch Machined spur. RX1154
Reflex Racing High grade diff center bearing. RX1157Reflex Racing High grade ceramic thrust bearing. RX1137
Reflex Racing ceramic differential balls. RX1119
Jomurema Carbon diff shaft. JOM280001
Jomurema Ceramic Pressure plates. JOM280002(Prototype parts)

4.0 gram ball diff! Jomurema/ QteQ/ Reflex Racing!

2011-02-04T01:19:00.004+01:00

For full review, click here!

New prototype pressure plates from Jomurena.

Diff complete with everything, and bearing in the Reflex Spur.
I did a long tracktest today, but now its late so more on this tomorrow :D

Part list:
QteQ Ultra light weight differential housing set. QT-081101
QteQ Light weight differential left hub. QT-080801
Reflex Racing 64 pitch Machined spur. RX1154
Reflex Racing High grade diff center bearing. RX1157Reflex Racing High grade ceramic thrust bearing. RX1137
Reflex Racing ceramic differential balls. RX1119
Jomurema Carbon diff shaft. JOM280001
Jomurema Ceramic Pressure plates. (Prototype parts)

Until then. enjoy the pics:-)

Jomurema Carbon diff axle

2011-01-17T23:56:00.002+01:00

I found this on eBay just browsing around, and couldn't help myself ordering one.

The axle are made by 4 parts. One carbon axle in center, carbon pin, and two aluminum pieces at the ends.
It looks a bit skinny, but actually seems to be quite solid.

The whole piece are straight as an arrow, and the aluminium pieces seems to be well glued to the shaft.

I had to weigh it when I opened the package. 0,9 grams. That is 0,3 grams lighter than the previous lightest axle out there!
As we know, the diff weight is very important, so I was looking forward to try it out.

I built it together with the following parts:

QteQ Ultrra light weight differential housing set. QT-081101
QteQ Light weight differential left hub. QT-080801
Reflex Racing 64 pitch Machined spur. RX1154
Reflex Racing High grade ceramic thrust bearing. RX1137
Kyosho pressure plates. MZW206-3
Reflex Racing ceramic differential balls. RX1119

Fully assembled, with left hub, this differential now weighs in at 4,8 grams. That is insane:O

The axle seems well thought out. The main alu part where the spur and everything goes looks to be an exact replica of the Kyosho steel axle. The other side are as the PN lightweigh alu shaft.

Initial testing are very promising.
I have only used it alone on track, so I have not had any hard impacts with it, but I think as long as the wheels are protected by the body, it will be very hard to destroy it. I will write a follow up after I have tested it some more on track with more racers.

I assume the weak points are where the carbon shaft are glued to the alu parts, and it will be interesting to see how it holds up.

The weight saving on the differential are as always noticeable. Be prepared to adjust your drag brake :D

It absolutely seems to be a real good product, and I will be looking forward to see what other parts this manufacturer will come up with.

Reflex Racing Low profile front suspension

2010-12-23T23:12:00.004+01:00

I have been somewhat sceptic about the whole reverse king pin idea. This is mainly because of the added unsprung weight.

It took me a while before I installed the system in one of my cars, but when i finally did, I am happy to report that I have been wrong.

Mounting are very easy, but a bit fiddling are requiered. Spend time making sure everything are absolutely bind free.
Click here for a full installation "how to"
One thing you need to get are a ball end reamer. 4.75mm. I cant praise this tool to much!

The fact that you remove a lot of slop, and have less friction in the front suspension really makes up or the added unsprung weight.
There are much less slop and as a result you get a much more precise car.

As for it beeing low profile, it will give you a lot more room inside your body. You can now use for example the Atomic pan car bodies etc without having to modify them.

Compared to the Extra long king pin suspension, it wont give you a faster car over one lap. Over a race distance however, I feel it gives an advantage.
I have at least shattered my own personal best 3 minute stints :D

Go ahead and rebuild your suspension. I dont think you will regret it.

I have buildt it using the "how to" on Reflexracing.net, but tweaked it a bit to get it to work with the Atomic FS knuckles. These are 0,5mm lower than stock.

Settings are as follows:

Silver springs
Bottom shim (ride height): 0,5mm
Middle shim (camber): 0,5mm
Top shim (preload): 0,3mm
1 degree camber
30000WT K grease

PN sidedampers with Reflex Racing damper plate.

2010-10-26T23:36:00.000+02:00

The Reflex damper plate fits perfectly with the PN sidedampers for the LCG 98mm mount.

The angles are matching up better than ever.

Will try to come up with a way to make the RR dampers work. The PN lower mount are way to wide for them to work, and I dont want to modify the motormount. I really need to shed some rear weight on this setup.

Aerodynamics

2010-10-17T20:08:00.004+02:00

A lot of talk has been going on regarding aerodynamics on these small cars.

The opinions are many, and a lot of people has been secretly experimenting with these things.

Does adding a wing a wing really help?

Can you add downforce by changing the underside of the cars?

At our track we have been using lexan wings for some time now. Made fron the Autoscale boxes. Cut and bent to shape using different tools. We think it works!
Lately Reflex Racing has made a lexan wing that the rumors say are much more efficient than the home made big wings. Racers all over the world says they work!
Brian Ma (Color01 on mini-zracer.com), and the creator of the MRCG pan car, has been making some interesting discoveries regarding front diffusers. The results so far shows that it seems to work! He are also investigating on rear diffusers.

I could not resist trying out a few things myself, so I made a flat floor and a rear "semi diffuser".

It went trough various revisions before I could barely make a conclusion.

The first test was done with a flat floor, and a very simple rear flap to see if I could notice any effect.

It actually seemed to have an effect. A almost completely neutral car actually got a bit understeery in high speed corners.

This sparked me into making a few different diffusers, and the last one is the one you can see pics at the bottom.

The ideal solution would be to include the body in the floor, but I have not found a way to make this practical.

The diffuser itself are form fitted to the rear of the Supra. All the air that channels trough under the car will now be let out at the rear without making turbulence inside the body.

The effect I feel it gives are not a "night and day" difference, but it does something!

Notice all the grit that attaches to the roof of the diffuser. That I think shows that the air seems to attach all the way to the end of the diffuser.

In my mind this shows that it actually works.

I am not sure that it actually gives any faster laps (at least so far). The grip these cars have these days are really good, but maybe in low grip situations it could help?

Take a look at the pictures, and feel free to comment.

Reviews

2010-10-17T17:34:00.233+02:00

Click on the picture or text to read the full review.

Atomic reinforced lower arm

Reflex Racing Alu Top Cover & Knuckles

QteQ 4 ball connect T-plate

Atomic Lexan Windows

Reflex Racing adjustable wheelbase motor mount

Jomurena Ceramic pressure plates

Jomurema Carbon ball diff axle

Reflex Racing Low profile front suspension

Reflex Racing Multi option damper kit

Reflex Racing adjustable upper arm mount

Reflex Racing Spur Gear V2

Eagle Racing Setup board & Ride height gauge

Atomic Oil filled shock

Reflex Racing Adjustable T-Bar mount

PN Tri Damper

Atomic Front suspension lower arm

PN Racing upper alu caster arm

Atomic Front upper brace

Mantis Worx adjustable offset wheels

Reflex Racing Extra long king pins

Reflex Racing WTF 2

Atomic Stock-R

Atomic AD Stock Motor

PN Racing PNWC33 Motor

Reflex Racing Ultra High Grade HW Motor

Reflex Racing UL Delrin Spur

QteQ Ball Diff parts

PN Ultra Light diff shaft

PN Racing Double A-Arm MR-02

PNWC Stockholm, Sweden 2010

2010-09-28T15:48:00.004+02:00

My first RCP Race.

Radicalrides in Sweden has been asking us to participate in the PNWC event for some time, but as everyone are quite buzy I ended up as the only Norwegian there. But I had a great time.
The event was very professional, and the people were absolutely amazing.

I came down friday night, and were in desperate need of some sleep.I had an 8 hour drive to get here. The practice started at 0900, but I was still asleep. I made it to the track just before the qualifying started.

Since this was my first RCP outing, and not beeing able to participate in he practice, I had to make the best use of the quailfying rounds to dial in my setup and learn the track layout.
From the getgo, my car was decent. I managed to stay on the same pace as most of the other after a few laps, and could increace the pace gradually.

Q1 results: 45 laps. my best lap time was 9.679.
For Q2 I changed a few things in my setup to get a bit more steering. This proved to be the right thing to do.

Q2 results: 45 laps. Best lap of 9.318
I was on the pace for roughly 47 laps, but a collision took of my body and I ended up with no improvement other than best lap.

Q3 was another story. Now I had a setup that was working ok. I still wish I could have practiced a bit and tried some other tires etc, but i had no time to do so.

Q3 results: 48 laps. Best lap of 9.020. Fastest lap time in my heat. I was happy with that.
I am happy to say I qualified for A-Main:-)

I had by then roughly 40 minutes of tracktime before the main, and felt quite good before the race.
Before the race I did not change much. I did a differential service, and relubed the front king pins.

Race summary:
I had a really bad start. I messed up, collided, and my car hooked in a barrier. Result was a start lap of 14 seconds. 4 seconds lost for a newbie mistake.

I tried to relax and get into the rythm for the rest of the final.
After halfway race I was in 4 position, and kept on increasing my pace. The car worked great, and I could just concentrate on my lines and avoiding other cars.

I ended up as P4. 3 seconds behind P3 Joakim Linné, and 7 seconds behind P2 Isak Hjelte. 60 laps on all of us was the end result. I had the second fastest lap in the A-main. 0,150 behind Ola Westholm who managed a 8.859 lap wich was the fastest lap in the finals.
Dahlis managed to squeeze out 63 laps. He was extremely consistent, and handled traffic superbly. Congratulations to everyone!
Ola Westholm turned some crazy fast laps, but i think he tangled into some of the other drivers during the race.

To sum everything up, I have to be pleased with my first RCP outing.
I really wish I had the chance to test some other tire combos, but went with what almost everyone else was running.
I also regret that I only signed up for one class. GT Mod. It would have given me much more tracktime if i had run a couple of other classes also. Lesson learned!

After this experience, I can now say that the setups we use with rubber tires on Regupol tracks are very equal to the RCP setups.
The thing that differs the most are the high speed steering. The car understeered badly in the high speed corners. As for the low speed corners it is very much the same feeling.
The fact that the track are made up by tiles also makes for some inconsistent grip and you can notice some hooking between the tiles.
The main difference between our regular tracks, and the RCP tracks are the soft barriers. You will hook if you touch the barrier!

As for the whole event. It was real great to talk to the other drivers, discuss setups and also have a face to the guys you have been talking to on forums etc.
It was also cool to see the famous P28 pan cars, and talking to the guys behind it. I hope I can test it out sometime;-)
Everyone were superfriendly, and showed really good sportmansship. I will definetly attend more races in Sweden. Hopefully there will be some events closer to home also:-)

Now to my setup:

Front end:
Reflex Racing extra long king pins
Reflex Racing adjustable front end
PN White lowdown Springs
Reflex Racing Spring cups
Lowered 1mm
0,3 mm preload
Atomic alu knuckles
1 degree camber
4 degree caster
Roll center raised with 0,1mm
0 toe
3000 WT oil on the king pins
20mm wheels.
0 offset
PN Slick 10 shore tires
Tires trued down to 22mm
Glued tires

Rear end:
Reflex Racing multi damper (15000WT grease)
Soft springs
Reflex G10 T-bar. Medium
Kyosho oil shock (500WT oil)
Reflex Racing V2 Spur. 53 tooth
QteQ hubs, and diff housing
Reflex Racing light weight pressure plates
Reflex Racing Abec 7 thrust bearing
Reflex Racing carbon balls
PN Ultra light weight diff shaft
PN 94mm V3 motormount
Second highest axle position
PNWC 33 turn motor. Trued by CT
PN Parada tires. 6 shore
Taped tires
20mm wheels
1 offset

Other:
TRP 900 batteries
QteQ wheel nuts
Reflex Racing Ti screws
Reflex Racing High grade bearings
TQ motor wire
350Z 2007 GT body
PN Front body mount
Lexan wing
Total weight 178 grams

Click here for the results

Some pics from the event. Courtesy of Radicalrides.se

More pics can be found by clicking here

Jocke the Boss

Review. Reflex Racing Tri shock system

2010-08-21T00:03:00.001+02:00

I have always liked side damper systems.
When Reflex Racing released their single side damper tube for a few years ago, I have never gone back to the DDS type dampers. For some reason, my cars have always been the fastest and most consistent with this system.

When PN released their side damper system, the PN Tri shock, this was my favourite. Mainly because of the added adjustablity.

Now Reflex Racing has made their improved tri shock system. This is super light weight, and has superb geometry. The side dampers are perfectly aligned in 90 degrees. This makes for a perfect linear motion.

The system consists of the following parts:

Friction shocks in plastic
Top plate with an all purpose design. Can be used as DDS and TDS
Three different pairs of springs. Hard, medium and soft.
DDS plates
Mounting screws and spacers

You also need:

Kyosho oil shock
Dampening fluid/ grease

Installation is quite straight forward.
You have to make sure that the side shocks are not binding. A little rubbing with 1000 grit sandpaper on the "pistons" takes care of that.

The side shock spacers are made a little long. These have to be grinded down to make the perfect length.
Take your time on this. Make sure that you grind down one side at the time, and make sure you have them equal.
I chose to make one side 1mm longer than the other. This is to have two options on damper angle. Just switch them around to adjust the angle.

When you have done all four. Grease up the dampers, mount together, and install the Kyosho oil shock.

Even though this is a prototype, the quality are very good.

The parts fits really good together, and the finish of the carbon mounting plate are great.

The weight will be an advantage. I also feel the damper angles etc really helps in improving the feel of the car.
Compared to DDS systems, the TDS systems really makes for a faster car especially in fast direction changes, and I feel it gives overall better steering response.
The lighter weight also gives you an accelleration and decelleration advantage.

Pros:

The mounting screws on the side dampers dont interfere with the rear wheels in any way. Even with 0 offset and new rear tires.
The top plate and mounting postions of the dampers does not interfere with the motor in any wheelbase.
Perfect geometry= linear dampening.
Light weight!

Cons (not really):

Takes some time to mount together (But when you are ready, it really works!)
Routing the motor wires takes a bit of work, but easier than other systems due to the smaller size dampers and position.
I would have loved if a body mounting system was included as on the old RR side damper.

Reflex Racing Tri Shock system

2010-08-19T23:49:00.002+02:00

Review. Reflex Racing adjustable upper arm mount

2010-08-12T00:37:00.003+02:00

It was with great anticipation I opened the package with these mounts.

When I have them here in my hand, I am impressed.The anodizing looks to be of good quality. Everything is smooth and has an even surface.
The fitment of the parts are as always good, and the adjustment tool looks like a Ninja star:-) This will be a good weapon in the pit when you are about to loose an argument.

Since I use Reflex Racing upper arm pins, I had to polish these a bit with "Autosol" metal polish.
After a few spins in my Dremel they were absolutely the perfect size.
I also test mounted with both Kyosho and PN pins. Both fits fine without any polishing etc.

The total added weight on your car is only 2 grams. 1 gram if you have used the ATM brace before.
The mounting are really straight forward.

Cut off the stock mounting points with some wire cutters.
Unscrew the two screws on the top cover.
Testmount the new mounting points on the brace and to find out what side you want to face forward. One side gives 2 degrees of caster, and the other gives you 4 degrees. Here you can see it in 4 degree caster configuration.
Push the top brace into its place. It fits perfectly in the holes, but gently force it all the way down.
If you need to raise your roll centre, this is where you do it. Add shims in the holes to adjust it.
Place the arms on the brace. Fasten them lightly with the supplied 3mm screws on the inner hole.
Insert the longer screws in the outer hole. Do not tighten all the way at this point.
The supplied tool are made for the upper arm pins. Use some stock ones or the ones you have and place them in the position you want. The 4 sides on the tool are marked with 0 , 1 , 2 and 3 holes. These tells you have much static camber you will have. 0 - 3 degrees.
Insert the tool into the new mounting points. Make sure the key hole in the middle are in the correct place.
Now you can tighten it down. Use tread-lock if you feel the need for it.

Now you are set. Mount everything together and drive.

Also see Reflex Racing's own install guide.

Use this mount together with the longer king pins from Reflex Racing. They are made for each other.

The adjustable camber is nice. You can use the stock plastic arms ( they are the lightest available now) Feel free to cut of the inner pivot. Reflex are also coming out with there own arms. Hopefully these will be even lighter than the cut down stock ones.

Unsprung weight is something you really should focus on minimizing. The more unsprung weight, the slower suspension movement you get.

The caster settings are one of the strongpoints of this front end. You get maximum 4 degrees of caster, but this really! helps dialing your car in.

You get a much more stable, straight tracking car with more caster. You get away with more toe out if you add caster. The gravity will always try to straighten the wheels. You can say that caster adds self centering to your front end.

You also get added camber gain.

The camber adjustment are really solid. I have not needed any tread-lock to fasten them good enough.

On track this front end really rocks. The adjustments you can do on it really helps you dialing in your car for every track conditions.

Just try it and you want be disappointed!

Finally! Reflex Racing adjustable front end & Tri shock

2010-08-11T00:58:00.000+02:00

Reviews are coming up tomorrow, but I just had to share some pictures.

Forget about the cone tires. I just ran a few laps with to much camber:-)