My first impression of the Prodigy 12 after the first day racing it is that it is incredibly fast. Take my feedback for what it’s worth, I am a club racer. I have won only a single big national race way back in 1990 and had a few top ten finishes at regional events back in the day. Today, I am a fast club level guy but I am no Josh Cyrul. I beat him once earlier this year, but he was driving a car with broken rear damping for 6 minutes of the race. Head-to-head with unbroken cars, I should be able to stay on the same lap with him or close to it in eight minutes.

That said, I love breaking in a new car and finding its handling balance. I only got three runs with the P12 at Larry’'s Performance RC because Friday night club racing is only two rounds and a main and a little time for practice once I got there. I also wanted to run my A12 and compare things, so I had two runs with that as well. The Prodigy 12 was really quick in the very first run. Even with the stock -3 trailing steering blocks and zero front plate, the car had an incredible amount of steering. I started with A12 black springs in the front and P12 Pinks in the rear. Front A12 black 0.9 are a little heavier than the front P12 reds. Rear P12 pinks are a little heavier than XRAY silvers. I made a quick change for the main and increased front springs to A12 Olive 1.0. I was rushed so I didn't check the front droop, which ended up being zero. I think I would have pulled one or two of the shims from under the steering block to have 0.5mm of droop if I had thought about it at the moment.

My fast lap with the A12 was 7.542 seconds, but honestly it pushed a little so with changes it could have easily gotten to low 7.4s. With the Prodigy 12, I was able to set the hot lap of the day with 7.221. I didn’'t win the A-main. I got caught up in a crash on lap 2. It took me 6 minutes to work through the field and catch my good friend Tim Stamper, who was leading with his Prodigy 12. His car had heavier springs front/rear than mine. My setup was quicker in the 180s and Tim’s was quicker in the sweeper type corners. It was a super fun race, but I ran out of talent at the 7:30 mark and clipped a board. Tim went on to win. The Prodigy 12 is really quick. Super happy that I bought this car.

Other things that I learned:

• Center chassis ride height is a bit of a challenge. The spring perches need to be longer, I shoe gooed a washer to the chassis under the spring (see photo below). I spoke with Josh and they are working on a solution. For now, the washer works. Without it, the center of the car is too low.
• I do not think that the Awesomatix ride height gauge is necessary. Set your front and rear ride height, then set the droop screw for the rear (mine is 1.5mm of droop). Finally, use a standard ride height gauge on the chassis point right in front of the rear purple pivot. I ran my car even all the way through, 3.6mm front, middle, and rear. Maybe the set up sheet needs a center ride height box?
• Rear dampers are kind of small and will need much heavier damping fluid than the A12. Anything under 100k fluid and the car is too springy. Associated 200k seemed about right with the Pink P12 springs. Tim ran a much heavier rear spring so he had some other magic grease that seemed a little heavier. I guess if I ran a softer rear spring, I would match it with 150k and if heavier, would need a heavier damper fluid.
• The damper rods are fragile. I broke one in practice in a hard crash in the sweeper at the end of the straight. They cost $8 for four. I suggest carrying spares. I also bought spare damper pivots ($5) to carry, just in case.