My plan was to have this published much earlier, but things don’t always go to plan. The early summer here was cold, wet and windy, making opportunities to test very rare. That was then followed by a super hot July, and to add misery I caught some strange infection which kept me in bed for a week and away from the track for at least double that.

Either way, I had still done a fair bit of testing in both June and July, but wanted to do a few more tests and especially a comparison test with my trusty ARC R12FF before writing down my findings.

I finally got this done late last week, so here are my combined impressions of the FFV4.

When building the car I was perhaps a bit sceptical towards the kit setup, which I also wrote in my presentation, but the first impression on track was actually surprisingly good.

The car was quite easy to drive and fairly fast straight out of the box. So I was a bit wrong with my expectation there.

The rear end felt a bit too stiff or solid for the track and conditions, but other than that it was really easy. One standout feature of how the car handled was how good it was in chicanes, i.e. quick direction changes.

I quite quickly broke one front steering block by just lightly brushing a wall, and the belt was skipping a bit, but other than that I have not found any weak spots on the car, and for the rest of testing the car has run reliably.

Steering blocks I advice to keep as spares, and the belt skiping was easily fixed by tightening the belt tension. Also remember to check the set screws in the steering assembly and layshaft, and use thread lock in these places.

I quite quickly removed the internal springs from the dampers, and I thought this improved the car quite a bit. I did try them again later in testing, but once again removed them. Using the internal spring in the rear damper only can work for some conditions or setups, but personally I like the car more with none of them.

I tried various oil and spring combinations both front and rear on the car, but actually ended up with the standard springs. I would like to do more tests with even more different combinations on this though.

To get the rear suspension to feel a bit more alive, I also tried various setups with the alu stifferner plates in different positions and also removing them altogether. In the end my preferred setup was to use them in their narrowest position.

Above you see the car during my latest test session, setup as it is currently. Changes other than those mentioned already are very small details here and there.

I run with a 17.5T motor and with Sorex tyres like I have done for many-many years on all the FWD’s.

These tyres obviously have a bit more grip compared to what is often used on FWD’s, but the track I mainly test on is much less used than many others which means grip is lower, so these tyres on this track is a good choice.

Like I already mentioned, I wanted to do a proper comparison with my ARC R12FF before writing this.

Of course I had already done this at the beginning of testing, but since then I had concentrated on the FFV4.

The R12FF is obviously well tested at this point, and I have on several occations mentioned that the setup on this car is the best setup I have ever had on any car, so it’s well sorted. Nothing can hide the fact that the R12FF was released in early 2021 though,which is already 4.5 years ago. And since last year I have done no maintenance at all on it as my focus has been on other cars. I still consider it a fast car though, as I have tested several of the newer FWD car and it has been able to keep up with everyone of them so far.

Above you see the R12FF in its current state, and if you want you can read much more about this car here.

When I did the comparison runs I used the same tyre set. Obviously there are some other differences, but they’re setup so that the speed is the same etc.

As I run the cars, the FFV4 was at 1115g, while the R12FF is about 30g heavier. Both cars are without ballast weights.

Here you see the last runs of this particular test day with the R12FF and FFV4.

As you can see, it’s very close, with the R12FF having the slightest edge, and basically one mistake per run with both cars.

Below you see the small and narrow, technical track.

So what’s my summary of the RaceOpt FFV4 after spending some time with it?

Initially I was surprised at how well it worked out of the box, and it was also fairly fast straight away. After spending more time with the car, this impression remains. For such a unique and different car, and let’s not forget that it’s a car that costs under 300 EUR, I think the car really works well. Even though I spent quite a bit of time with it on track, I’m sure that more time would make it even better, as it’s very different and there are several avenues one could explore with more time.

In the initial presentation I kind of expressed a wish that it would have been just a bit more like a conventional 2025 TC or FWD design, while still keeping the underlying unique concept of the car. This did not change with time spent with the car. I would really have liked to see this car made much more low-profile, with shorter dampers, a more conventional steering system, made even lighter, and so on.

As it is, it works really well, but I’m convinced it could be even better with some changes like that, and I also think the car would appeal to more people that way.

Some of the unique ideas work really well, like the super easy to use battery holder system, special rear end design, unusual gear diff and so on. But there are also compromises with the design, like the steering system with only set screws keeping it from shifting a bit and the possibility of the servo twisting the car in action. It also does not take much for the rear end to not be perfectly aligned, giving you ca crabbing car, and with little in the way of adjustability to get that easily corrected. The front overhang, or how long the chassis is at the front is a bit excessive which means it scrapes the ground a fair bit if there are any bumps under braking or cornering.

Overall though, we should be really happy that:

A) someone makes a proper FF TC in 2025
B) it costs under 300 EUR
C) RaceOpt are not afraid to make someting really unique that actually works

The special rear end design really makes the car unlike any other on track, and in certain corners or parts of the track it’s really better than any other car I have tested. It would be really fascinating to see this or a similar concept taken to the next level.