Track test I was racing on a small technical carpet track. The grip was low to medium and the boards were ready to catch me out in case I made a mistake. I mounted a set of Sorex 28 blacks on the car and had a few installation laps with no additive just to check that the car was pointing in the right direction and no screws were going to come loose.

I had forgot to pack most of my 20mm springs so I was limited to some Xray 2.5-2.8 progressive springs and the kit included Tamiya springs. So for the first race I mounted the 2.6 springs.

The car launched away at the tone and the lightweight, free drive-train spun into action and the car launched away. I had tuned my Muchmore Fleta ZX on a motor analyser (Article soon), and I was really impressed on how quick the car raced down the start straight. This lead onto a large sweeper and the front end instantly responded even when I was on full throttle. The car was over-steering massively so I had to come off the power to keep the rear end in check. I had a little bit of a comfortable gap so I dialled out some of the dual rate and gingerly drove the car around to still take the win.

With the first race under my belt I wanted to calm the car down a little and gain more grip at the rear. I removed the centre post from the motor mount. I then placed the lower deck screw in the motor mount hole where the centre post was held in with the grub screw.

I also changed the screws in the lower bulkheads. This should change the way in which the centre of the car would flex.

As I placed the car on the carpet for a few warm up laps before the second race I instantly noticed a massive improvement on the rear grip levels. The car was very very stable, almost too stable for me as I do prefer a car to feel reactive. I almost couldn’t lose the rear end even if I tried. As I finished my few warm up laps I lined up and the car was a breeze to drive, very stable and very quick. I was 0.6 seconds faster on my fastest lap! I had no problem with the car and I managed a good gap for the lead in this round.

For the third round I wanted to dial in a bit more steering again without getting rid of the very stable rear end. I decided to use the new feature of the TRF419X and I shimmed out the bulkhead camber link mount points by 0.5mm on the front. A shorter camber link would give me more camber gain on the corners and this would make the car feel more reactive. This was really easy to do and it only took a few minutes track side to do this. I also swapped the springs for the Tamiya parts to see what they would feel like. The seemed a little softer than the 2.6 springs that I would normally use on carpet.

I got to the track as quickly as I could to see how the car felt with the changes and I was pleased to see that the chassis had responded well to the new settings. I could tell with just a couple of practice laps that I had made the car feel more alive again. The rear end was still planted, but the camber gain on the front really helped give the front more turn in and more on power exit steering.

I was feeling confident for the third qualifier and the car did not disappoint. The qualifier itself was a bit more messy that the previous rounds so I didn’t improve on my fastest lap (although I was very close). I was keen on avoiding any incidents and confident enough that I would probably get FTQ that I was just focusing on looking after the car and playing with different lines.

Suddenly, a backmarker who was recovering from an off, accidentally drove into my racing line as I was charging down the straight. The TRF419x ricocheted off the car and walloped into the barrier. After a few rolls it ended up on it’s wheels. Tentatively I pushed the throttle forward and the car moved silently away, I was expecting some damage but the car felt fine and I continued getting to grips with the car for the final few minutes of qualifying.

When back at the bench I inspected the car and I was pleased to see that the larger bumper had done it’s job. The car was perfectly intact and the C-Hubs were all fine with no damage.

So it was time for the final. I decided to make one more change, I shortened the rear turnbuckles again by moving out the rear bulkheads with a 0.5mm shim. The car felt great in the last round, but I was keen to make the rear just a little more free so I could release it when I wanted to speed up the rate in which I would rotate on a couple of the very tight infield sections.

I got a little sidelined as I nattered with guys in the pits and I didn’t have any time to test the new settings on the car as I ran to get to the the podium quickly drove the car to take its pole position on the grid.

The race was set and I was hoping that the TRF419X would have a good start to its racing season. One the beep the car stormed ahead towards the sweeper. As it was the first lap and I was ahead I did take it a bit easy around the corner without exploring how the new settings had affected the handling. However as I took it so easy the second and third place racers were already on my tail as we entered the tight infield section.

Without hesitation I went deeper into the tight 180, dabbed the brakes and hoped that I had freed the rear end up enough to ensure I could rotate around the apex quick enough to get a good line out. The TRF419X responded perfectly, and I hugged the apex whilst carrying a surprising amount of corner speed, I then powered out and the rear was very stable as the power went down, pushing me ahead. I quickly arrived at the next section which was a tight S bend, the car was incredibly responsive to deal with me taking my preferred line a little late. The car was feeling great and I was buzzing on how good it felt. I managed to gain a good lead and I eased off a little as I was encountering a few backmarkers and I didn’t want to jeopardise the win. For the remaining few minutes I just enjoyed how easy the car felt to drive quickly, the corner speed was really impressive, and the car was smooth and very easy to drive, despite the set-up that I had installed on it. I crossed the line to take the win with a good lead and a smile on my face.