Andreas W

I'm glad you like the trakck, despite going in the wrong direction. That said it would work the other way as well, just like the 1:1-version (a trick to even out the wear on the ice surface, as most cars were running rally spikes and have big horsepower). You'll be amazed how fast you can go with proper tyres. I have had a couple of stints by 18C temps and the level of grip is hefty. The M-05 Golf added 5 laps yesterday after I switched to Shimizu-tyres. The flow is so good now.

I felt so bad for the poor Grasshornet after the DNF on the first stint Friday, so I had another go with it today. I brought the Tomahawk as well. I put a shorty in the Grasshornet for the first time and it was so much fun. The car was so much nicer with the light battery almost fully in front of the compartment. The ST motor was singing and the best stint was 1 lap better than the Terra Scorcher on Friday. It must be said that the conditions were better today. The surface within the ideal-line was nice and compact, almost free from debries, so the soft Scorpion tyres worked superb. The Tomahawk still has the 17t motor (its 23t is in the XV-01 ATM) and that is too zippy on such a small track. It would benevnt from a new set of Mini Spikes as well. Still it made it just one lap short of the Grasshornet. It is nicer now with the Turbo Scorpion front axle. All in all a good experience in the blistering sun and 17C. Next chance is on Friday. Then it's tarmac-time. Run, little Hopper

I mainly run on sandy gravel and they are significantly better. Actually on all surfaces I have tried. I do not run it on tarmac. You might find out quick that you want more front end grip. May I suggest white Tomahawk wheels (as a hommage to the Nikko Bison F10 - also a cool 2WD buggy of the time) with either soft Scorpion tyres or Schumacher Cut stagger low profile in silver compound. I use the latter and they are working superb together with the suggested rear tires (I have medium compound). With adapters from Ampro or drilled Scorpi drive washers you can run the corresponding Kyosho wheels instead, if you like. Edit: You gotta drill vent holes in the Tamiya rims, if you are to use them.

Here is my suggestion for something that is actually working and not is unicorn-poo: Kyosho Scorpion tyres. I have been riding them a couple of years now, allthough on Scorpion rims. For the sake of this thread I tried a spare tyre on a Grasshopper wheel and it fits like a glove. There might be that you need 4 drops of glue on both sides in addition. These tires transform this chassis. See the videos from @shenlonco on YT for further information and get convinced.

After several stints it's not hard to see where the course goes. The last pic was taken after I finished the driving with a free run with the Thunder Dragon. Until then the line was much narrower and nice.

We have had another wet and cold week here, so No tarmac running for me. I made a good lapcount last friday, so I see No point in running in wet conditions without any hope for improvement. But hey, let's enter more cars instead. Yesterday I ran four cars on gravel. It did not go all too well, but I also gota nice surprice. First out was the Grasshornet - this time with the ST motor again. It went nice and consistant until the soldering on one of the motor cables got loose at 3:18. Then there was the Dictator. This will be the bottom of the board, unless someone is running a Grasshopper with 380 in reverse on a swamp. It is fun to compare the referances from your youth, but in this context it is more frustrating. One thing is that the car is slow and is underpowered. What is worst is the minimal steering lock and the ultra slow servo. I only ran it for one stint. Then there was the Terra Scorcher on original wheels. It is bone stock, except for Steel pinion, shock oil, shock spacers all round and less preload clamps. This was a nice surprice. Despite the slow basic servo and sloppy original servo saver it went surpricingly fast and steady. Later I changed for the Hotshot frontwheels from the Dictator and then it directly improved with 2 laps. Unlyckily the pistol rod on one of the front shocks got loose and the collar went missing. I found it though. The advantage of yellow parts. The last contender was the Thunder Dragon. With 2s Lipo and TT motor the quickest of the lot on paper. Despite better tires and more power it was still slower than the Terra Scorcher. It is quick and nice to drive. No doubt. But the Terra Scorcher has the advantage of the rear anti rollbar. The Terra Scorcher slides nicely into corners off power. The Thunder Dragon does not, when the speed is so low like here. The Terra Scorcher is also not lifting the inner front wheel so easy. Until now I have not driven the two Dragons directly after each other and compared. It is clear that the rear anti rollbar brings an advantage in sharp corners at low speeds. In more open curves at higher speeds I am not so sure, though. Twin shocks in front is probably not a disadvantage either. Next week we will get nice weather and upto 20C temps. Then it's time to go

Nice to see a running Samurai again. I have not seen one since a classmate had one in secondary school.

I messed up the Terra Scorcher yesterday. I have been annoyed about that the servo does not return to senter. Beeing a kids car with basic radiogear I do not have too high expectations, but I wanted to adress this. I wanted to try my vintage Sanwa Contest to see if a stronger servo would fix it. I forgot that I have pinned it back to how it was originally, so I got magic smoke from the receiver. Luckily enough it turns out that the receiver survived, but the TBLE02S did not. It's probably the BEC. I have tried my spare Flysky GT-2 and I only get beeping. With a spare TBLE both radiogear is working, so then I need to solder on a Deans connector to the spare TBLE and all is fine again. The final solution is a 1060 and a metal gear servo though. A good oportunity to change the full size servo in the XV-01 for a low profile and get more space there. I'm lucky that the Carson reflex receiver made it. This is hopeless to get separate here in Norway (I bought it from Tamico).

Finally manned me up to modify my GT5 TX to fit the 2S lipo I bought for it last summer. There is not much left of the original battery tray now. I made myself more work than needed. First I did not notice that the buttons for trim-adjustment had fallen out and were on the floor. When I built the TX together again I squashed the negative wire from the battery-Connecticut, so I had to solder that. Now it's working fine and the lipo is tied up tight with foam. I also made new sprint shoes for the M-05 Golf. Inspired by Willy Iine I painted the dull, grey wheels in TS-38.

Correct. I see now that I forgot writing that on the final note with the pretty handwriting.

Yup, it's meters. Beeing from this side of the pond I just did not think about writing that on the drawing. We are running anti clockwise this time btw. Cool that you participate. Good luck and have fun racing .

I repaired my trusty Dictator with TL-01 axles, wheel adaptors spare from my Thunder Dragon and new Hotshot front wheels. Took it for a spin outside in the sun and enjoyed old times driving-caracteristics. It's slow compared with the Dragons (even on silvercan), the servo is helplessly slow and it's super nervous when running straight at full speed. But it's nice to have the ability to take it out of the box from time to time and run it now that it has working wheel adaptors again. At one point I am gonna strip the gearboxes, clean out the old grease and give it new bearings all round.

The weather has been ultra nice this week, so I have been running on warmer tarmac yesterday and today. Yesterday the Golf was much faster than the Lancia, still on rally blocks. I switched for Ride slicks today and the Lancia ended up only one lap behind the Golf. I am glad that I tested different layouts of the course. The original would have been a bit narrower. Witherspoon this layout the flow is good, if you go wide around marker 5 and almost touch it with the lett wheels on the way to marker 6. I cannot wait to try the Shimizu tyres on the Golf.

So, here is my suggestion for the next round. We are going to snowy Sigdal and will drive the track how Hebbe used to make it 10-15 years ago. We used to run it clockwise on Saturday and counterclockwise on Sunday. We are going to run it counterclockwise.

Were out with the kids yesterday in blistering sun and 12C temp running the Thunder Dragon and Terra Scorcher. We had a great time and I see they have a whole other level of control over these cars than on a hopper, which is a joy for me. Kids of today have so many other things to do, so it needs to be low effort, or they loose interest. The Dragons are both capable and easy runners (with Silvercan and 14t pinion on 7,2 Nihm), so a success so far. Pics will have to wait until I get my new phone this week. My current only takes pics looking like I'm using gay pride-filter now.

I just got an email saying that MCI has a 20% off-offer this weekend, so a good opportunity to get the correct decals for less cash.

Testing of the new track on the way home . Superb, but cold conditions on a new and remote industrial area. I will post the drawing on Monday.

Inspired by alvinwh my next build would be a Carten M210R. Two packets today. One with a gorgeous HPI 1973 Porsche 911 RSR which is going on top of the Carten. It was also and new YR Hackmoto 23T for the Lancia and the future build and decent diff oil for the Lancia. At work a package of tires for the Carten and the M-05 Golf waited for me.

Then I'll start working on it today .

Wow. Thanks for the racing., friends. Before the last snow I had 41 laps with both cars and struggeled to improve. After the parking lot got scraped most of the debries was gone and the grip improved drastically. The M-05 was the first to go over 50 laps. As I said the lapcount would be high this time. Cool to see some for me new names on the board. This can be good fun when spring comes and the temperatures and conditions improve. If nobody else wants to draw i course I can do it again. I think our tires want to go counterclockwise now .

Just like Wooders28 describes above I ran my Sanwa from 1992 as I returned to the hobby in 2020. I forgot to take out the batteries after I ran my Kyosho Burns 10+ years before, so that was a mess and the batteryholder had cracked. I glued the holder with epoxy and the radiogear worked fine again. I quickly found out that there was loads of more going on in the air than it used to be. There was endless interference. After I joined the 2,4 GHz-club I have not looked back. My brother is now also returning to the hobby and is not convinced that 27MHz is so bad. He gotta find it out the hard way.

Whatever makes your path stony I wish you the best, Ferruz. Looking forward to be crushed by you in the Racing by post again .

Yup. That's how it goes. I submitted my results already on Saturday morning. I could probably have done it earlier. The weather has been wet or cold and never really dried up lately. When it was dry I was busy with other things. I have tested different Layouts of this course extensively before it got official, so when it got serious I felt confident straight away. I saw no point in running on wet conditions, when I felt I had maxed the potential. I thought about entering the Tomahawk on astro, but never found the time for it. The last two weeks have been busy. I think we are going to see some serious lapcounts this time.

What a beauty. Even though the higher roofline has grown on me since the release, I gotta admit it looks espesially nice with the low roofline like this . It simply looks like a non boxart HSII, while the BH version straight out of the box has to be reckoned as sort of a new kit based on the design of the old one. That thought helped me start liking the BH version with the tall roofline.

And before you knew it I had healed the Terra's wounds.