My new PGE (pre-ground effects) race car!

[ZackM]

I built this car up over the last couple days to see if I can compete with the Slot.it M8d's that normally dominate this category in our club.

It is an Avant Mirage GR8. Pretty neat car, light body, wide in the back, and fairly low lines. It also comes with stock independent fronts that are pretty neat, although they take some time to get setup correctly since they have 3 height adjustment screws per side!

Here is the list of things I did to it in hopes of knocking out the Slot.it cars.

Flattened chassis and pod (mine were quite bad)
Ball bearings mounted in pod
Slot.it S-can motor, Mounted with screws and shoe-goo
Drilled front wheels so they could be mounted on truer, cut down .75mm and sealed with CA.
Rear wheels are Slot.it 15.8x10 air wheels.
Rear tires are NSR 20x12 Supergrips
I removed the rear body post centering ring, to improve the float at the rear of the car. This may need to be done at the front as well.

I will get some pics with the body off after the race tonight, it was keeping pace well with my best M8d at my home track. Lets hope it holds true!

[Apexdreamer50]

This is a nice body style, I like the long hood, well I guess the stretched look of the entire car is cool. How did it run?

[docdoom]

It set a new track record for laps in the class . So I say pretty damn good...

[Cgyracer]

Very nice job. Looks fast.

[SpeedyNH]

looks a lot to me like a Porsche K8. nice.

[ZackM]

The car exceeded my expectation for the first race. It did however take a lot of fine tuning and some more weight once the grip came up at the track. It ran smooth and quiet, especially when a lot of attention was paid to getting the front independent axles perfectly setup.

I will still try and get some body off shots on here soon.

Zack

[dw5555]

"Rear wheels are Slot.it 15.8x10 air wheels"

[ZackM]

A lot of people seem to not like them. But on a rubber tire I have had exceptional results using air wheels!

Zack

[KK Racing]

This is good stuff and something I've been playing around with for awhile myself Zack.
Firstly, I really like the two car Gulf, Avant Slot Mirage set I have. They remain pretty much stock with the exception of 12 or 13 tooth pinions (can't remember?), bronze bushings and urethane tires. They go like crazy with the stock orange Hurricane motors in them but some guys seem to have trouble with the rear end chatter in these Avant Slot cars with the stock long can motors installed. I guess I just got lucky................................. on both of them.
Other than hot gluing the pod in solid, I dont' think I did anything else out of the ordinary and these will run down any of the cars you named above with most of the stock parts still in place, aside from what I noted previously. I think the pinion gear change helps numb some of the high torque characteristics of the stock long can motor. All that said, they could be much better from testing I've been doing.

The s-can motor you used or a hot FK-130 is a great way to go as you have demonstrated. Allot less weight swinging around at the rear of the car (about 9 grams or more if I remember correctly) and the weight of these motors is better centered in the chassis than the long can motor is.
I have been experimenting with the ScaleAuto FK-130 motors, Tech 2's and 3's mostly, in anglewinder (Avant Slot, MR Slotcar, NSR's, Racer Sideways Lambo's and Slot.it LMP) cars recently with very positive results. These motors have just as much GO but weigh allot less and because they have less torque than the stock motors this leads to a more controlled braking feel and better handling. The tech 3 is a bit of a beast , I would only recommend this motor for use on a fairly long track where you can fully use its 30,000 rpm range. Using a Tech 2 in your current setup would be pretty similar to putting an NSR Shark 25k in place of the Slot.it Orange 21.5k motor you currently have installed. Depending on the length and complexitiy of the tracks you run on this may also be a bit much motor for your use but not for my track. I have not yet tried an FK-130 in either of my Mirages but that day is fast approaching. I will eventually test these two cars head to head as they sit and make the motor swap on the slower of the two cars and we shall see what the outcome is. Both motors will be rated at 25k but the FK-130 will have allot less torque than the FK-180 Hurricane and weigh at least 9 grams less.

You are certainly on to something here and this can be applied to all or any of the overpowered and ill handling anglewinder cars out there. The lighter and lesser torque Flat 6 motor line from Slot.It works in somewhat the same fashion but they will not be as well centered in the car as an FK-130 or S-Can motor would be. Keep it up, more track records are sure to fall.


Cheers
KK

[ZackM]

On our local tracks I have found the Piranha and Slot.it motors to me more than enough in most of the cars. This car did just fine power wise against the others, plus we are limited to 22k rpm in most of the classes I race in.

Interesting note about gluing the pod in your car, I have mine setup functional still. I did struggle with chatter a little bit, but with a bit more lead and some find tuning of the screws I was able to pretty much completely eliminate it.

I just bought a Avant LMP car that has some interesting features as well. I am looking forward to seeing how it runs after being very impressed by this car!

Zack

[chappyman66]

I bought half a dozen of these chassis when they went on clearance a few years ago. I agree....they are very quick indeed.