Due to me completing
year 2 of uni and my dad retiring at the end of last year, at this
time, me and him have a fair bit of time on our hands. We decided that
last wednesday (may 23rd 2007) we would take advantage of this and
took the x11 to a local purpose built track for a days testing- the
x11 never got a full work out at the Kidderminster national round so
we wanted to see what it was made of, also, we tested some of the new
hop up tuning parts that will be available following the x11 release (which
isnt far off at all you will be glad to know).
We took the car to the Coventry astroturf track which has been
mentioned on this site many a time before- its quite a brutal track,
if truth be told, its better suited to 1/8th but is a great test bed
for a car as it gives it a good work out. it is predominantly
astroturf, with a notoriously tricky double jump, some very deep
aggressive bumps and combines both flowing and tight corners. The
weather was sunny and warm, and the track was very grippy.
We spent around 5 hours at the track, trying many radical set up
changes, testing the extremes of the set up and finding the sweet
spot. 1 thing stayed constant though, and that was using the new 1 way
unit in the front of the car... it is awesome! the car corners so fast
with a 1 way in, I would estimate that the car laps around half a
second a lap faster, what does occur is lots of extra steering so it
is necessary to make a few set up tweeks to balance the car out. I
would strongly recommend you purchase 1 of these. I am going to share
with you the set up that we ended the day on, this was when the car
lapped the fastest and felt the most consistent, the x11 is very, very
good and me and dad both left the track very happy. As I say, the
track is quite tough on cars, a few bad landings can cause major
damage and I will own up to the fact that i did crash the car now and
again (i was trying to find its limits... honest!) but never broke a
thing except a rear ball joint which is an area being rectified before
release. The car so far appears pretty bullet proof I must say. Below
is the set up we ended on... looking at it you will think its crazy
and that I have made many typing errors in it, but seriously, give it
a go on your x11 when you get it, or stick it on your x10 it should
feel pretty similar, you wont be able to use as much caster on the x10
however or adjust the anti squat. Remember, this is a set up for
a bumpy, high grip track, with high jumps. I'm going to try this set
up at kiddy this weekend too as I have a regional there. Enjoy!
FRONT:
Caster: 5 washers back, 1 forward.
(the x11 allows you to run 6 washers right back, 3 washers more
than the x10)
Push rod placement: mounted on top of the rocker.
Roll-bar: none
toe in: 1degree
ride height: 18mm
camber: 2degrees
Springs: 5.5t black
Oil: Associated 35wt
pistons: 1 hole with rebound valves fitted.
1 way unit in the front, fixed prop shaft.
REAR:
Roll bar: yes- soft setting.
Toe in: 2degrees
ride height: 23mm
camber: 2degrees
Anti Squat: 3.5 degrees (we tested the new anti squat blocks which
drop the anti squat down to 3degrees or 2.5 degrees. due to the
track being so high grip and very bumpy we noticed little benefit
when reducing the anti squat, this mod will be more useful on low
traction surfaces e.g. clay/dirt/dust/worn grass)
Shock pick up position: middle hole
hub pick up position: upper hole
springs: 6.5t black
Oil: associated 30wt.
Pistons: 2 hole
OTHER:
Motor: Nosram storm evo 5.5
gearing: 16/72
tyres: we used worn BB green spikes, but schumacher yellows would
have worked also.
As you can see, particularly looking at
the shock settings, the set up is pretty radical, we ran the front
stiffer than the rear. we never tried this before but when running the
car was much more stable, cornered well and lapped fast. we also
raised the car all round to allow more corner roll and reduce front
end snatch which can occur when the ride height is much lower at the
front than the rear. If you have any more q's about the test day, our
findings, or x11 info, feel free to ask.
Tom Yardy
