So, tonight, a bit of relaxed club racing, and had the opportunity to run through a number of top-deck/motor mount combinations to clear up some thoughts in my head, and find out what was faster.... Now disclaimer before I start in that I was using my Stock car (17.5 Blinky), not my mod car, and they have different setups on at the mo. Also, the trac was a blown off tennis court (although is very new, and gives good consistent grip, and very smooth). However, I was able to treat it as a good comparison between the different options.

First run of the night, I treated as a setup run, as took a punt with the settings, and hadn't run the car before. Second run, made some changes to spring and shocks (down to HPI Blues, and up one hole on the tower) and car felt ok, although in hindsight, was washing in the middle, but also being a bit snappy on the rear if the car got loaded up too much. Anyway, treated that as the base run. Top deck wise, running the 2mm Flexie, with the standard V2 motor mount. Result was a 32lap run in 6mins, with a fastest of 10.1.

Third run, changed to the top deck with the front brace, keeping the standard V2 mount. Noticeable that the car picked up mid corner steering, and more reactive into the corner, and was just more consistent through the turn. Result was a 33lap run, 9.9s fastest

Fourth run, kept the front brace, and ran the split in the rear brace, and kept the V2 mount. The snappy-ness was almost gone, and the car was much more locked down in the rear, to the point of the car not wanting to rotate quickly in the slower stuff. However, in the higher speed loaded section, could be much more aggresive, and maintain the consistency. Result, 34laps, 9.6 fastest.

And for the last timed run, went to the BD7 style motor mount (V2 side mount, V1 centre, front screw only in bottom, and only front centre into top deck), with the front braced deck. Felt very similar to the above combo, but gained mid rotation in the slower corners, and interestingly didn't seem to suffer in the high speed... best run of the night at 35laps, with a 9.5 fastest lap.

In summary;
1) Standard TE flexie top deck + V2 Mount = 32laps, 10.1s
2) Front braced Flexie + V2 Mount = 33laps, 9.9s (0.3s gain)
3) Front braced and rear cut flexie + V2 Mount = 34laps, 9.6s (0.5s gain over 1)
4) Front braced flexie + V1/V2 Mount = 35laps, 9.5s (0.6 gain over 1)

Now, obviously, take those numbers with a pinch of salt, as there was some track evolution during the night, but I didn't have time to figure it out. Also, I couldn't really use consistency as a gauge, as there was a lot of lapping of other cars going on, and never really got more than 2 or 3laps in clear traffic, hence using the laps and fastest to gauge difference.

Anyway, off to test the mod car tomorrow, and given it already has the last combo on, I'll give the cut rear deck/V2 mount as try as well to compare, as they felt similar on track, and it was a subtle change.

Fun night though, nice to just go club racing and not worry too much...