I'll explain some of the setup points. First off I messed up on the setup sheet for the camber settings, I blame the RRS for this, as eventually I don't know which end of the car I'm looking at, lol.

We where on Sweep QTS32 tires and using SXT 3.0 traction compound. For the last 2 runs I was full rear sauce and only 3/4 of the inside of the front tire. Take note, if your running on a track with tape that is on the race line, the 3/4 or 1/2 sauce on the front allows you to hit the tape without the violent grip roll issue that can sometimes happen.

I found the same issue with the RRS system causing a touch oversteer on exit especially as the traction came up on the track. But wait, don't throw the system away, as I found that leaving the lower mount in stiffened the rear up a little and help make the car feel locked in at the back, especially with the 3.0 where we don't have the 3rd screw option in the top deck anymore.

If your diff is on the clear/white o-rings you may have to run lighter diff oil, I hear the black rings are better, but did not get a chance to try them. If your running a thicker oil with the old rings every once in a while the diff doesn't diff smoothly, usually mid corner and will give a strange oversteer on exit feel to the car.

The 2.0 top deck is NOT the flexi deck but the older full deck, this has really settled the car down for us on carpet. I tried the 1.75 and the 2.50 decks as well, but the 2.0 has netted the best results. The 1.75 feels better in the mod car and the 2.50 deck seems to be working well in the CTA/VTA cars.

Played around with the front steering blocks, running them in the normal position and in the flipped position and found that in normal the cars front end feels neutral, and in the flipped position it gives a slightly more aggressive feel to the steering.

I have been running the Traxxas blue xrings in my lower shocks, along with the Yokomo shims (0.2,0.3,0.5 set) which allows me to adjust the compression on the outer portion of the xring, this control the feel and the leakage quite nicely. I actually found one of my shocks need a slightly different amount of shims to get it to feel like the other shock. Not sure if its a machining issue with the shock body or a slightly different xring, but they both feel the same now.

Speaking of shocks, I also ended up running drilled caps in the front of the car. But in the rear I left them stock and had a small amount of rebound, which made the car react better in the tight sections of the track.

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Race Report

On the weekend of November 23-25, 2014 I competed in race #3 of the WCIC series in Penticton, BC. The race itself has grown in entries over the last 3 years that the club has hosted this race, growing so large that they had to move to a bigger venue for this year. This race I ran in 2 classes, TC stock (17.5) and TC mod, both my Serpent ERYX 3.0 cars eqipped with NOVAK Pulse V2 speed controls and NOVAK Vulcan motors (17.5 and the new 5.5 motor). Both of the cars ran flawlessly in both classes, mod class being a steep learning curve and stock being a hottley contested class with racers from all over, some having just competed in the TZ GP race.

After final qualifying, I managed to TQ the stock class, and 6th in mod, a pleasant surprise for myself as its been quite a while since I TQ'd a race.

In the stock final myself and second place got quite a jump on the field but then 2nd tried a inside move in a tight corner which roofed my car, he waited and by then 3 cars passed us, so we had some ground to make up. Chasing cars down worked back up to 5th then 4th, some tight racing to 3rd and caught second, but tryiing to run very tight lines to catch 1st I clipped a board and lost some ground to 1st and second and then the time ran out, still a podium on a hard fought race.

Mod was not as good a result, never really getting my cars setup to my liking, but the Pulse/Vulcan motor ran great. I managed to break my car part ways thru the main, so never finished.

I'd like to thank the NOVAK crew for all the support, SERPENT USA for the great car. Charlie Suanga for the technical advise and Paul Cicarello for the setup help and radio setup information, it all helped get a great result for me.

Thanks
Gary Lanzer
NOVAK RC
Serpent USA