As regular readers probably know already, the company has for some time Yokomo a special place in my heart modellers, which is not least due to their dominance in the 4WD buggies late 80s to mid-90s. My first contact was the experience of a belt-driven Works '91 to hear in an indoor race - or not. Since it had happened to me. I declare that I tried to restrain myself nobly with the use of superlatives while writing these lines. To put it soberly: It was not easy ...
It fell on a beautiful Saturday on the grounds of the club teams in Troisdorf panic that I could turn a few laps together with Guido Kraft and Bruno Czernik unexpectedly. The weather was almost too good, the track conditions thus not the fastest, but in good company and with a perfectly with driving Team Associated B5M with stiffened X-Factory RC Infinity chassis of fun was guaranteed this. By Much More 7.5er was for me sufficient power exists, and my quick laps leveled off in the mid to high 38 seconds a, so a little slower than in the NORC run in June. As always, Guido was much faster on the road and could with his by a Vampire Racing 7.5er fired B5M thanks to its clean driving '34 lap times show. In Bruno's Yokomo YZ-2 an elderly ThunderPower werkelte 13.5er standard engine, which was due to the upcoming SK-run in Langenfeld.
As for me already it was clear that the YZ-2 for the season was to be part of my vehicle fleet in 2016, I was naturally curious to see how the car would go. With the low-rider conversion kit for the B5M I ??had already driven a constructive similar vehicle, but it was not easy to find a set-up with which I was on the road safely and quickly at the same time, so I in accordance with the reflexes of an average driver had changed back to Enddreißigern to "normal" constructed B5M. In conjunction with the Infinity chassis I could follow it so well that I asked myself the question whether I did the Yokomo - apart from the obvious stunning materials and workmanship at all needed. Gratefully I therefore resorted to and for me unfamiliar spark on Bruno's offer, and initially explored the key figures of the large and grippy Troisdorf route rather weak motorized YZ-2 from. Quick was clear to me that the brakes have to be adjusted significantly more to go on record hunt, but otherwise the car, which was not specifically adapted to the track was absolutely beautiful to drive. The still lonely double jump before the platform could be taken as well as the large double-jump, and also the long-drawn chicane made animal spirits. To the limits I went with the borrowed car, of course not, but the view of the timing monitor confirmed what my grin on his platform had already suggest: 37.5, with a weak engine, weak set brake and foreign TV channels in your hand. Numbers do not lie ...
So it was then that I threw my good intentions overboard and did not wait with the purchase of YZ-2 until Christmas. Some automotive manufacturers offer their customers when buying a new car on a tour in the factory. My little new acquisition I took in a similar manner, accompanied by the unofficial YZ 2-advertising expert Bruno in Andernach at the headquarters of Yokomo-Germany Vertriebs Tonisport from where there was bustle in all rooms. Even if I as an end user already one or the other time was less satisfied with the sluggish processing of email traffic, I could here precisely detect the reason for this: It is really for the needs of customers in the personal or telephonic contact time, and despite a large number of ongoing projects constantly. Given the pending for the following days visit the Yokomo-management I knew the very nice conversation with Toni Rheinard and his team appreciate once more. Thanks again for the coffee!
Back to the actual topic, the construction: The YZ-2 comes in an attractive, flat box in which, unfortunately, just as is the finished vehicle no place. Since this is a genuine new development, are missing on the box references to the achievement of the B-Max vehicles numerous national and international titles. The kit presents itself completely gratifying. While the price of 379.- initially appear extremely high, this perspective very quickly when you look at what is offered in detail: High-quality coated shocks with X-rings, steering, Querlenkerhalter front and rear made of anodized aluminum in elegant black, shock towers and battery holder carbon fiber, and so on ... In the box is thus almost contains everything the ambitious or spoiled drivers would be retrofitted in other cars, so the pricing is presented very customer oriented. Distributors and manufacturers who are likely to be less pleased with the accessory earn their money on the compilation of the kit, however.
All components are packed to assemblies, which hold the learch fortunately limited. Damper and diff oils are included as well as the generally accepted mini tool kit, which includes a high-quality tie rod conclusions from aluminum. Since the supplied black grease is used for the wetting of the paper seal of the cone differential, is the manageable number in order. As with strollers are of course a body and contain a set of wheels around operating from our own production. The appearance of the building instructions in Japanese and English equivalent to the figure of all fasteners in original size and the technical drawings of the Japanese standard. In an interview with Toni Rheinard was discussed that German building instructions were quite in the foreseeable future at Yokomo the realm of possibility. But even in the currently prevailing form remain in the instructions for building virtually no questions unanswered: All required tools and accessories are listed (even if the battery the details seem a bit outdated) and general instructions are given. As always it is advisable to study the manual thoroughly before construction even what I have of course done.
The basis of the YZ-2 offers a perfectly crafted aluminum chassis with clean bevelled edges, in the two recordings for the front aluminum Querlenkerhalter are pressed at the front.
When screwing in the first screw into the plastic side panels I had unconsciously nodding approvingly: Thanks to the material used, the screws were pleasant and screw without aching wrist, the end point was clearly defined. About the fit can also only good things, so stopped for example. The lateral Bulkhead Holder already on the chassis before the first screw was screwed.
The steering is zero backlash and extremely smoothly, which is certainly also due to the oiled bearings. About the use of thread lock on bolt connections in metal, the construction manual is silent, probably because it seems logical for the target group.
In the steering unit's love is made clear again to detail. The YZ-2 converts visually in the footsteps of the touring car BD-7 Black Series, is saying the aluminum parts are anodized in a timeless black, bare edges beautiful accents. To adjust the Ackermann angle and the roll center are also black aluminum discs with in short supply, so that after the construction of even a few are left. Very nice! In the same building phase as managing unusually tight-fitting front upper wishbone bracket is mounted in aluminum. At this point I furrowed admittedly a little forehead, but when screwing in the front Rammers on page 13 of the holder has been fully pulled into the pits and sat where he was.
, the attention to detail is at the rear axle continued because even the plates, which are mounted under the rear wishbone holders made of metal.
The fact that the adjustment in terms of lower roll center, anti-squat and toe with inserts in the suspension arms can be realized, we know now by some manufacturers. Not all give their models this proven in practice variant but innately along the way. Often only one option here Series!
It continues with the shock towers made of carbon fiber. Shock towers usually make in the buggies are the most exposed parts, which is why they are among the most commonly purchased spare parts. Given the compact design and a material starch of 4 mm for the time being, I have refrained from me to put the shock towers into the box and for the time being confined myself to a forward bulkhead and each have a pair swing and steering lever. When the YZ-2 turns out to be as robust as its predecessor, I will never have to take these few parts from the package.
Before installation I have broken the edges of the shock towers with sandpaper and sealed with superglue. Whether this is really necessary, I can not judge. The instruction is then not one. At the rear shock tower wing holder are bolted on which the wing with two special washers and countersunk screws is fixed. I have the Wing Buttons Avid used that I had in the box; otherwise I would have been absolutely satisfied with the plastic parts. For the subsequent assembly of the shock tower speaks the guidance of head screws M3x10. To play it safe, Yokomo sets in the current kits but slightly longer screws (M3x12) in which to exploit the material of the transmission case better.
After mounting the rear upper wishbone holder made of solid plastic it comes to filling the pre-assembled, by a rubber band held together with metal cone differential offal. The enclosed 3000 oil than enough of, as the fat for wetting the paper seal that accompanies a Plastikbeutelchen.
Continue to the heart of the YZ-2, the series kits unprecedented gearbox, in which the main shaft (and thus the gravity) has been lowered as far as possible. Accordingly, the objective of lowering the center of gravity are the main shaft and the axes of the intermediate gears of aluminum. The intermediate gears are generously sized and correspond in size to those of the Team Associated B5M. After closing of the gear housing and the assembly of the flat motor drive the rear shock tower is bolted. Here it is clear that the performance were given priority in the design of YZ-2, serviceability thus had a little queue behind.
The final gear is mounted on rubber pads, interestingly enough, whereby the per se rather rigid structure is a bit more flexible and should build more grip.
Also interesting is the central front mounting point of the transmission, which ensures similar to the so-called. Floating power holders for a smooth ride.
Outside the housing provides a conventional double disc slipper his service. The recordings of the main gears are similar to those of Team Associated, which you can fall back on a variety of different sizes from various manufacturers. The new milled precision gears of Revolution Design Race Products are already at the top of my list! The main gear is only protected from the body, which has proved to problems in practical operation with the Low Rider, however, absolute. During a race day on the sandy route in Hellenthal I had no problems with it, with the encapsulated transmission of my T4 does.
It follows the installation of the transmission support, colloquially known as the "waterfall", and the battery holder. After two long established manner set screws are screwed into the plastic side panels and provided with aluminum threaded bushings. For the brace in carbon fiber is for padding adhesive foam as well as for the chassis plate. The large cushion I did not use, because in the corresponding recess can appeal to car set alternatively a steel plate.
Back to Front: In the C-hubs, different inserts can be plugged in, with which the caster angle can be influenced depending on the orientation in steps of 2.5° from + 5° to -5°. Need to come to the total caster angle, of course, the kick-up of the wishbone holder are added, so standard values range from 20° to 30°.
The front hinge pins are connected by a strut in the now familiar look and held by the robust front Rammer. Thankfully, did not save on material here, which is why you should probably look forward to a reasonable lifespan.
Take it back! The ball heads are vertically screwed into Kunststoffradträger, which greatly simplifies the adjustment of the roll center when compared to other constructions. The pins of the wheel slide sucking in the wishbone, the suspension is very little play and absolutely smooth. At the pre-assembled drive shafts prevent feather rings effectively falling out of the driver pin. Shrink tubing or similar aids are not needed at this point so. Contrary to my habit right to obstruct titanium tie rod, I used due to the excellent experience of a team-mate with the B-Max2 MR the enclosed steel skewers. The ball sockets are smooth and perforated, which adjustments are a breeze.
One of the highlights of the kit are the gold-colored bumpers, which are equipped with X-rings. Since the shock caps are the YZ-2 before the shock tower, I have the optional aluminum shock caps used to play it safe. As the piston machined plates were still in my stash, they were also mounted directly. Comes to fixing per piston rod only a single e-clip used on the underside of the piston plate accepts a washer fixation.
For the assembly of the housing are at Spritzast practical tools for the damper parts contain. It comes with two small bottles with 400 and 300 damper oil, of which I used the 400 for the rear. For the grippy Troisdorf artificial turf I filled front directly 550 oil to counter overturning when cornering at speed effective. In the vent is covered briefly in the instructions, and at the end of the section there is a set of excellent working shock absorbers. The enclosed springs make a very good impression. Yokomo still offers as an accessory other than a complete range of universal springs for a short time a range of springs specifically for use on rough ground, which are marketed under the label of the Yatabe Arena. For Erstfahrt I left it in the kit springs, a range of Yatabe Arena springs I had before buying the YZ-2 in the box. To mount the damper I grabbed again back to the JConcepts plastic nuts that have saved me in the past in collisions with impetuous Ride some piston rod. At the modular nuts course is nothing to complain about, I prefer at this point, however, a predetermined breaking point.
For the installation of electronics for current competition components even when using a servo full frame sufficient space available. With me was behind the XpertRC SN-4401 the Much More Fleta Stock knob into place next to the Futaba receiver. In order to place the capacitor of the controller to the receiver, I should have the cables extend a little. I simply decided to remove the larger of the foam blocks to the battery lock a little material. Speaking of battery: It can be used all common formats, using a low profile servos even adult stick packs. Meanwhile has established itself in the 2WD buggies de facto the Shorty as a standard battery, and also I put such a. In keeping with the regulator and the Much More Fleta ZX 8.5er engine I used a Much More Impact FD2 4500 mAh, which had proven its reliability and current strength even at recent races prove. The kit is an aerial tube, which can be secured with a set screw from falling out. The second set screw of the sachet finds its place in a 22er pinion of the house brand, which is characterized by a high quality finish. Given the large number of gears in the market for German importer has decided not to take the pinion of Yokomo in its inventory, which is why I have filled my pinion box several years ago directly from the land of the rising sun.
Now to drive the tires must still raised, assembled one of the two wings and the body are painted. For Schumacher Cut Stagger front I had the wheels in the usual way to edit the advice of the assembly instructions make for all conventional tires of course unreservedly.
Even master painter make a vacation, and therefore had to serve a monochrome body for the maiden voyage once. The material of Lackiermasken for the discs is somewhat reminiscent of a mixture of masking tape and masking tape Tamiya. The masks could be good and bubbles attach, without leaving any residue removed again, leaving no noses, top! The existing in the rear of the body blank Frontflügelchen I skillfully overlooked during painting and mitlackiert accordingly. When Rennkaro outstanding I will cut off the wings definitely before. To attach the bodywork are Velcro and body brackets included, which I left again on the Velcro completely. All holes are accurately mapped out so that I have experienced neither the antenna nor the outcome of the slipper shaft a nasty surprise.
Edit: The airbrush body has arrived ...! :)
Track Test: Yokomo YZ-2 on the track
To test drive, we went on to Troisdorf. Unfortunately, I had already been built in terms of the NORC -Lauf in Dortmund the transponder in my 4WD buggy, so I felt the driving experience did not exist in black numbers on white. Even with the modular springs the car was much better than my usual B5M. The tendency to tilt in the border area was significantly lower than in the Associated Buggy, unlike the low-rider-remodeling the stern remained better in the track. The lap record is currently held by Björn Prümper who also drives a YZ-2. Although set-ups of course always have to adapt to your own style of driving, I felt my way gradually to the suspension settings of Björn approach and was not disappointed.
Even after the change to the orange and green "Yatabe Arena springs" I realized, like a better driver can implement motor power directly into faster lap times with this cars: Björn Prümper is a incredibly strong 6.0-turn motor road while I on the test day took to be content with a 8.5er engine. The YZ-2 was extremely easy to control, the steering responded well, was good-natured and as soon as the engine just admitted. In a further step, I moved to the rear wings of the B-Max 4III in conjunction with the semi-axes of the B-Max2. Now the 8,5er engine was downright boring, even after I had mounted a 24er pinion: The vehicle was due to the greater track width again stable, the rollover tendency virtually absent. In the long curve at the end of the back straight before the platform I had to go so far with all vehicles from the gas, so as not to roll. When YZ 2 I had the gas finger lupfen very briefly, because in case of excessive speed began a good-natured understeer. Even the small 180 ° -Table I could without any tilting drive through immensely fast, just impressive. |
|
Under braking at the end of the start / finish straight I could clearly go later in the iron as usual, the stern remained like nailed. Painfully I missed my 7.5er engine that was bored with the transponder together in 4WD Buggy on a shelf, because the boundary I could not nearly plumb with the engine installed. Although I, as a convinced user of Avid Triad Slippers and after bad experiences with the Associated-double disc slipper was very skeptical, the modular-copy was also impressive. Whether it was due to the slipper pads used or to the fact that the main gear and slippers washers not hidden under a cover are stuffy and are always flowing around fresh air, I can not say, but it worked brilliantly. The chassis swallowed away all run over debris and poorly landed jumps with flying colors, which the shock absorbers and the plastic mixture of wishbone exhibits an excellent testimony.
In the relatively few crashes nothing was broken, what you actually may already be expected in a modern race car. In fact I built fewer accidents than on a normal day of practice, since the performance of the YZ-2 can be described despite the immense cornering speeds almost as foolproof. Was there anything to complain about at the end of the day? Yes, but nothing that would be attributed to the vehicle, but two of my decisions in advance: firstly, the fact that my motor faster slumbered along with the transponder in the 4WD Buggy, on the other hand, the choice of colors in the painting of the interim body. A green car is on green artificial turf naturally more difficult to see than any other combination. As for the planned racing body not a Fitzelchen will appear green, are the two minuses so purely temporary nature and would have been easy to avoid with a little more brain power.
Conclusion:
Compared to B-Max2 which was rather subdued demand in the region in its various forms, the YZ-2 has a huge potential to capture a large fan base. Excellent facilities already out of the crate already rich small changes in order to transform the already brisk car to a victory contender in the race itself at the highest level, such. B. Lee Martin, Marc Rheinard and Shinnosuke Adachi both the World Cup warmup code on the grip of the artificial turf Yatabe Arena as could also provide on slippery clay at EM Warmup demonstrated. Apart from extremely high-quality components Yokomo grabbed the YZ-2 is a graph with speed in the kit, which is unparalleled. Especially those who are traveling on artificial grass or carpet regularly should give the YZ-2 more than just a closer look.
