My latest outing with the CAT SX saw me
competing at the new-look Indoor Finals race that’s now called the
BRCA British Winter Open Championship. In 2010 the BWOC would be
hosted by the Worksop club at the Bassetlaw sports centre venue that
also hosts the popular Schumacher Winter Series.
After chatting to Toni Rheinard of
Speed Passion Europe at the recent Petit RC event, my CAT SX was now
equipped with a Speed Passion speed controller and motor, replacing my
ultra-reliable but dated LRP stuff. The LRP products have been so very
reliable with the motor only ever once being removed in the CAT SX
chassis since it was installed around 15 months previously.
The install of the new Speed Passion
was relatively easy although its dimensions and design meant a little
dry fitting before finally deciding upon a suitable layout. The
greatest problem came from the MRT personal transponder that in some
places can have a serious affect on the range and level of glitching.
After some fiddling and adjusting, the Speed Passion package was
installed and checked, before packing up and heading to
Nottinghamshire.
The surface at Worksop is an indoor
sports floor that is rubberised and is of low to medium grip. The
tyres are the same as what we used at Maritime last month for the
Petit RC event but the grip is much lower. My starting set-up saw me
make a number of changes including removing the front ant-roll bar and
moving the front lower shock position back to the middle.
First practice was OK, but I knew I
wanted to try the chassis without the 130g lead weight under the
chassis. The second practice and the car was event better by being
more agile without affecting the balance. This was how I would start
the racing. Its now I have to confess that I am a RC driver who has
only competed at National and Regional events using the staggered
start system. As a result, my race craft is not as good as some others
who have honed their skills to a much higher level. All I can say is
that I didn’t enjoy the racing. The BWOC adopted the Reedy Race
format where you have five races against different people. In most of
my five races I found my inadequacies highlighted, ending up in the
middle of the pack. My other short coming is that I can drive better
in practice without the pressure, but my lines go to pot and I tighten
up as soon as the serious stuff begins! As a result, I was not at the
sharp end of the field come the end but the car worked well. It wasn't
helped though when the front belt snapped before one race and the fact
that I was collected a couple of times by drivers behind me. Hindsight
is wonderful and looking back, I probably should have softened the
oils as it was a little too stiff in damping, especially with the
large lead plate removed, but I can’t change it now!
That said, the Speed Passion items
worked well and I left the gearing the same as my previous stuff. I
did play around with the settings on the speed controller as I tried
different levels of drag brake and punch, but once again, I confess
that it was my ability that meant I finished where I did and nothing
to do with car or equipment.
As I write this though, I like many are
eagerly awaiting delivery of the new version of the CAT SX called the
SX2. With big bore shocks, tweaked suspension parts, new transmission
pieces and a revised chassis, there is little point in me running the
CAT SX so my focus has been on the 2WD. Hopefully my next update will
be all about the new Schumacher 4WD buggy and how that goes!
Thanks to everyone who assists me with my
racing including:
* CML Distribution
* Horizon Hobby UK
* JConcepts
* LRP
* Much More UK
* RudeBits
* Schumacher
* Speed Passion
* Trishbits
* Upgrade