More or Less~ in Control

The full counter Drift coversion is quite a challenge.

Today, I was trying two tryes. TE37 with HPI Drift tyre & Advan RS with Yokohama 01 tyres.

Also testing new 7deg Caster knuckles and rear wide axles.

Before, I could pull the car out of a corner with power AWD.  But now you have to set up for the corner much more. The line is very important. As is braking. Braking to enter the corner, much like the E-Brake is required to slow the car. Not the resistance of the AWD. So it requires a mind set change.

Something I haven't conquered yet. Keep trying. The odd time I get it all right, its great. It's good watching the front wheels keep opposite lock.

The new axles really allow the car to look awesome. The spacing is perfect.
HPI tyres have much more grip and that means control, however the car is always fighting grip and the with Full Counter Drift techniques you need loads more full throttle. I've noticed battery life considerably reduced.

Russ.

Yokomo 01R2 Tyre

This Yokomo Full Counter Drift (FCD) stuff is getting out of control.

New D-Max chassis, New Diff Gears, Castor Arms, Extra steering control arms for more angle, etc etc.
It is much more difficult to control the cars.

With massive camber 6~8 degrees required to get the most out of the car. Yokomo's SUPER CRAP! 01R tyres last about 2 minutes on the inner edges. The softer HPI tyres are MUCH MUCH better.

I saw today, they finally released the NEW Yokomo width ZeroOneR2 tyres to provide users with some form of control as castor changes with a rounder design. But there is still a catch to make you buy more. They have a small spacer to keep them thin, especially near the edge, so they will still wear out fast even though they claim long life.

It looks like they may fit HPI bigger diameter wheels too. Not sure. I guess I'll have to buy these too anyway.

More money. More money.

Full Counter Casteration!

Yokomo have released 7degree caster front hub carriers for the Drift package. I like the note in the pack.

But if you fit the TS-2109 extended angle bell cranks, you need to modify the hubs. I didn't feel like spending extra $30 for those.

Parts themselves are nothing special but you will notice I never pay full price, these were 580 retail -> reduced to 518yen. In Japan the RC shops compete for business and do huge volume sales, so prices drop around 15%.

They also have to compete with huge department stores that offer 20% loyalty point systems. The smaller shops can't survive...

Anyway.

Here is the install. The spacers must be moved to accomodate these.

And the result is more edge grip.

I'm yet to try these, but I have a few days off, so I'm sure they get a workout. I'm going to try and align the chassis properly this week in the pursuit of perfect FULL COUNTER DRIFT!

フルカウンタードリフト！！！

ラッセル。

Wide solutions.

It seems there's a solution for everything in Japan. Companies like TN racing make nice products that have you scanning the hobby shops for house to figure out which variations within 2mm are going to be perfect.

Don't think it's an easy task either. Because they are mixed in among the Tamiya TT-01, TA05, Yokomo MRTC versions , Hpi, ABC Hobby, Square Sports, Suzuki etc.

Confronted with a wall of axles and hubs screws etc etc etc

You need to take a calculator. I didn't have one on hand, but I figured I had +6 of space under the Hpi Mazda rear with Yokomo tyres might work.

The new rear axles get the wheels way out there.

Thats +12 in width. I can imagine the diffuser breaking off, it's pretty fragile. Surviving so far.

Wheels are now perfect!

Russ.

HPI Final Touches and FCD testing.

Have a look at the back of my HPI FD3s and you will see a few additions. My new Diffuser is looking awesome!

You can see how its set up here. There's a good sweep in the diffuser and many strakes to create some vortexes for reduced drag... If you need that for drift???

I just can't pick it up easiliy anymore... careful careful.

I also added my left over canards up front. But I think that the car looked better before. I also misplaced the centre hole, so they aren't so great.

You can see the bend... hehe.. I also swapped over my active light kit from my old Black Yokomo FD3s, so this is now complete.... maybe.

The last thing I did today, was change the toe setting on the car. I now have more control with the new FCD setup. It's pretty awesome actually. It's amazing what a degree or two will do to these cars.

They  repainted the pavement near my house. Grips up well on the blue paint.

Woo hoo!

Happy!

FCD - First impressions

OK, First impressions are crazy!

The car is now almost impossible to drive in a straight line. The imbalance in drive forces the car into crazy spins.

Also VERY noticable is the decrease in traction. I'm not running too much camber at the moment, so to counter this with Yokomo Drift tyres, I am going to have to run serious camber. Around 7 degrees to allow the inner edges of the tyres to get traction. 

Thats the next step for me, play with the settings.

It seems to hold the drift a lot easily though when you are sideways, but I believe you also need a lot more space. A small course has you at mid throttle and this is not good. You need to be wide open all the time. So that means small tight courses (like my practice course) are not so great.

Places like Yatabe Arena in Japan are huge.

I'll get there.