- Schumacher Cougar SV -
Words & Pictures: Arn0

Bodyshell, wing and the remaining details

As previously discussed, Schumacher provides rims but no tires, quite standard for a racing car as every geographical region have its own specifications in terms of composition and surface; North American and Japanese tracks tend to be made of clay or dirt, and Europeans run on grass, Astroturf and dirt. In addition, as this car will be purchased by racing drivers, tires are not an issue and for sure the most appropriate ones have already been selected. In the present case, the car is set with Proline 4 Ribs on the front end and the rear end is equipped with Proline Caliber, a good combination for a dirt track. To have a global overview of available tires, you can have a look to this chart.

A bodyshell is part of the identity of a car and the Cougar SV one is no exception. And in the present case, the kit contains a body, a wing and a tray, all of them already cut - minor cuts requested - and so ready to paint.

The wing is over 6.5” wide and presents a slightly complex shape in its lower/forward area to give some space to the rear shock tower when shocks are mounted backward. But the most noticeable point is the shape close to the side, allowing some wheel clearance when the suspension is up, socket touching the bottom cap.

Body and undertray form a complete shell protecting all items fitted on your chassis including receiver, ESC and motor. The tray itself is maintained on both ends by the bumpers. On the front, you may loosen or better yet remove the bumper to install it. Once the bumper is back on, the undertray can't move and a M3 secures it for good. On the rear, the bumper does the same.

The body is elegant and fairly different from other mid-motor shells, the rear end sits low and two potential scoops are there. And in fact, that's only a potential for the right hand one as the left hand scoop must remain closed at all times to avoid dust and/or gravel going straight into the pinion-spur mesh. The spur cover is fully integrated into the shell; if you remove the body, you remove the named cover. The bodyshell sits around with four Velcro patches and two body clips; no way it’s going anywhere!

Installing the body on the car is not the simple thing to do when shocks are mounted on the front of the wishbones. You may install it first from the front and after put the back with the spur cover in place. The spur cover need some additional cuts and you may fold it to install it around the spur.

Electronics setup

Probably not the easiest to describe as there is a large amount of possibilities depending what gear you use. As per designed, the pack is located in the centerline of the car. A Brushless system will be used as it is the current standard, the ESC may sit on the right hand side and the wires must be short as both motor and battery connectors are near. The space is enough for all current ESC. The receiver goes on the other side which makes the wire connecting with the ESC run below the battery. Be sure to secure this wire properly. As the receiver is lighter than the ESC, you may consider balancing the car from right to left. Last point, the servo's wire will also run on the low desk and once again, make sure to do a good job with it - it’ll make things easier to work with afterwards.

On the track by J.M. & N. Risser

Arriving at the track, the car looks pretty and drivers around can't stop looking at it. Even though the Cougar SV uses a Mid-Motor architecture, it is a fresh design seen no where before, totally different from what is available on the market.

Our first run took place on the MBV Kampenhout track, the famous Astroturf track host of the Belgium GP; we know this track well and get some points of comparison to evaluate the SV. The car is built per the kit instructions with 35wt oil in front, 30wt in the rear end, the sway bar is on and the rear shocks are mounted forward. The motor is a 7.5T brushless, gear 24/83 (Ratio: 8.98), an 8.5 or a 9.5 motor would have been preferred but we do not have the extra pinions to gear those motors correctly.

Under acceleration the car provides excellent traction and we were surprised to have it run so easily with the amount of available power. Next, a miracle! The steering is a dream, sharp and progressive altogether, much higher than what we can get for the X6, even with additional weight on the front end. The forward position of the servo makes all sense here, no need for wing nor weight, it is perfect stock. With the stock springs, the car tends to bottom out a bit, nothing major for the very first run; Schumacher offers a range of springs that will help set up the car.

Back to the pits and the rear shocks move on the back of the shock tower, this shock position make thing easier to install and remove the bodyshell. We also changed the rear shock oil for the upper grade (35wt), removed the sway bar and back on track. The car is almost perfect, we can push it really hard, more than with our former car which we have almost forgotten about. The balance is excellent on jumps.

After those few runs, we only have positive things to say and we still have to explore the huge potential of the Cougar as there is a large amount of adjustment to play with. We haven't suffered any issues or broken parts but another driver also running the same car with a broken turnbuckle. Those are must-need on the purchase list.

Conclusion

Building this car is straight forward even if at first glance it looks complex due to a higher number of components in comparison with other 2wd buggies, something which seems consistent on Schumacher cars. But you must be careful while putting everything together, that's what makes the difference between a good car and an excellent racing machine. And definitively, the Cougar SV belongs is this second category, providing great handling, driver confidence and overall performance. As with every new product, there is some points that are worth improving or refining but, as the car is fast, reliability will be pretty easy to get, a constant in motorsport. There is tons of adjustments which can be made that will help to match both the track conditions and your driving style. And so testing sessions and practice is a mandatory step for every owner of this car - even some setups are already available - to get the best out of it, to understand the handling as well as the effect and the reaction of each change in the car’s behavior.

 

Many thanks to Robin Schumacher and Racing Cars for providing a car for this review. Also, I want to thank J.M. Risser and his son for their first impressions about the car, Loic Desvaux and Damian for their help.

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