1:8 Rallycross, Mendip RC Raceway

[Mad Ax 11754]

A week ago today, I set out on a little road trip and racing weekend, beginning with a drive down to the Avalon Marshes in Somerset for a pleasant stroll in the summer sunshine, and then along to Porlock Weir for some fresh sea air, with a stop at a restaurant on the way for a light lunch.  Then I made my way back up the coast to Weston-Super-Mare, where I stopped for an hour at Uphill Beach to kick along the sand, before getting back on the road again for the 10 minute drive to Mendip RC Raceway, where I would camp for the night.  There's a really good curry house a short walk from the track, where I had a fantastic meal while I worked on the laptop.

The real fun began the following morning.  I was awake early, but the site was still empty so I had a lazy morning waiting for everyone else to arrive.  Note to self: there's enough time to head out for a walk before racing starts at 10am!

It was a mixed-media meeting, with a busy schedule of buggy and short course racing taking place on the tight little astro track, and 1:8 rallycross on the tarmac circuit.  This actually works really well, because there's two different timing systems running, so one track's racing doesn't hold up the other.  That means there's plenty of people on site, but not too much hanging around between heats.

Rallycross formula uses 1:8 buggies with 3S power, wearing semi-scale touring bodies and non-grippy control tyres.  I don't actually have one of these, but Mendip has a club car that can be hired for just £10 per day, so I figured this was a really good way of trying the formula to see how much I enjoy it before jumping in and buying a new or used car.

It was gone 9am when the club car handler arrived and signed it over to me.  It was already set up for Mendip's general conditions, so all I had to do was charge the battery and go drive.  Fortunately I'd remembered to not be a complete noob and bring my charger, transponder and tools, although I had to borrow an adapter to connect charger to battery.  With racing beginning at 10am, there wasn't enough time to get out for practice, but I took a moment to check the track layout.  The tarmac circuit is big (it was originally made for 1:8 touring), but for rallycross racing several cut-throughs and astro sections are utilised, along with some ramps, to add to the excitement.

Here's some pics of my weapon for the day.  I think this might be a Ho Bao Hyper GT, or some earlier version thereof:

[Mad Ax 11754]

I don't know much about these cars, but they're pretty solid in construction.  Way more so than a 1:10 Tamiya, which is just as well, as things can get a bit close out on track.

Here's a few pics of some other cars in the pits:

And a couple of shots of the track, with tyres, cones and ramps

[Mad Ax 11754]

So, how does this rallycross racing work?  Is it just like touring, but with weird-looking cars?

Well, no.  Here's the key differences I can remember:

The Start: In their first heat, drivers choose "front or back."  There are two lines drawn across the start/finish straight, one ahead of the other.  Drivers who choose front start side-by-side on the forward line, drivers who choose back start on the rearward line.  In the next heat, the positions are reversed.  In qualifying, cars are released together - there's no second-split release.  In this respect, it feels more like a race.

Passing and Defending: in qualifiers, you are entitled to defend your line.  This is different to regular touring, where etiquette is to move over for faster cars.  Only in the finals are you obliged to pull over when being lapped.  This also adds to the feeling of racing, and leads to some great battles on track.

Joker Lap: once per race, every car must take a joker lap.  This involves driving a longer section of the track.  You can choose when to do this, leading to some interesting strategy calls.

Tyres: the tyre is a control tyre, and it's really not grippy.  Even with Sunday's high temperatures, it didn't have much grip.  Too much throttle out of the bends and the car spins around.  There is also a wet control tyre, but this is only used if race control calls a wet race - in this case, everybody must run the wet tyre.

So, how did I get on?

There weren't many rallycross entrants, so we were split into 3 heats.  As the novice driver, I was car 4 out of 4 in heat 1.

The tyres really are slippy - most of my first race was spent spinning out of bends.  Completely the opposite to 1:10 touring, where the trick is in tuning the grip out, with 1:8 rallycross the trick is tuning it in without making the car so soft it bottoms out on the jumps or astro sections.  Getting out of corners basically means getting full straight before hammering the throttle and using the 3S torque to launch the car down the track.  Turn-in under power is impossible, it's necessary to hit the brakes to load up the front before turning in, but once turning the cars are very stable.  With a lack of grip, the cars don't roll over like 1:10 touring.  This is a revelation for me.  I find 1:10 so frustrating, to have to limit how hard I can push based on how hard the car will turn before it flips over and rolls off the track.  Rallycross is the opposite - turn as hard as you like, it'll either grip and turn or it'll understeer and go wide, but it won't flip over.  The flipside is that it will spin out if I throttle too hard on the exit, but that's easier to manage, for me at least.

We were all a bit slow in round 1, but I finished out front with 9 laps and a fastest of 24.01, the fastest lap reported was 22.58 (one car had no transponder, so times may not be representative).

 

[Mad Ax 11754]

Round 2 was much better, finishing with 10 laps and a fastest of 22.85, finishing second behind 11 laps and a fastest of 20.89.  The fastest drivers in heat 3 were in the 18s, so there's a way to improve yet.

I improved my 10-lap time in round 3 and took a heat win, with the round 2 heat winner only managing 7 laps, and in round 4 I broke the 11 lap barrier for the win, although my fastest lap was slower at 21.91.

With qualifying over, I had earned pole position in the B final, ahead of 7 other drivers.

After a close and energetic race I finished the first final in 2nd, just 3 seconds off the win, and in the 2nd final the roles were reversed, with me winning by just 3 seconds.  The overall B-group win would be settled by the final final, and I started well but lost the lead, then caught up to take it back, but then I took a tight line across the gravel and dropped a wheel into a dip.  I'd been doing this all day, but when it counted most, the chassis caught up on something and cartwheeled the car.  I landed back on my wheels and got straight into playing catch-up, but frustration got the better of my and I put down too much power coming off the ramps and span the car.  By then it was all over, I had no answer to the pace, and I had to settle for 2nd, one lap down on the leader.

But coming 2nd in the B group on my first day with an unknown car really isn't bad, especially as I don't really consider myself that fast a racer, so I was really pleased with my results.

Next step is to figure out if I want to do this more often.  I'm pretty stacked out until October, but rallycross runs throughout the winter (they even race in the snow), it's a nice drive to the track across the hills, it's closer than most other outdoor tracks, and it finishes early enough that I can go for a walk along the beach before I go home.  It's not cheap - a Hyper GT roller is over £200 and then I need some hardcase 3S LiPos and a big power system to go in it, so it could take a few months to save up for everything I need.

Still, the guys tell me these cars are indestructible and almost nothing breaks, so I guess it's a big up-front cost but a cheaper formula by day, especially as I'll spend less on fuel than my usual vintage racing, and there's always the option to camp over and have a curry if I feel like it.

Loads more pics in this album: https://tcphotos.net/album/biTa

[Superluminal 4232]

Thats the sort of racing i would love to havd a go at! Doesnt look like it takes itself too seriously

[ThunderDragonCy 9191]

This sounds like a proper bit of me. Excellent write up @Mad Ax

[Mad Ax 11754]

@Superluminal that's pretty much what all the racers said, nobody takes it seriously and everybody has fun.  Last winter they raced in the snow, even making a snow ramp.  With low-grip tyres it was almost impossible but everyone had fun.

Some people don't like it because the bodies aren't exactly scale - they're too short and wide - and perhaps there's fear of the unknown when entering into the 1:8 world, but as a pure smiles formula it's brilliant.  Despite the 3S power and motors the size of soup tins, it's nowhere near as fast or frenetic as boosted touring.  The scale really makes sense, especially on a larger track like Mendip.

[bRIBEGuy 3424]

Great write up.  Sounds like good legit fun... something that for me at least, has been missing in a lot of racing.

[StueyS 52]

I would really like to have a go at this, but it's too far away. My local club does some 1/10 scale rally racing which is a bit difficult on a pretty bumpy track, but it's good fun 🙂

[Mad Ax 11754]

So, it's taken me a fair few months to save up for all this, but finally, I'm almost ready to go!

I got some money for Christmas, so I went straight online and ordered a HoBao Hyper GT, the same car as I hired back in August of last year.  I was a little worried, as Modelsport (the only UK stockist, as far as I could find) had one in stock for months, and in early December it went onto supplier stock only, and stayed there for a few weeks.  Since there was no stock anywhere else in the world, I wondered if they might have been stealth-discontinued, which would be a shame as converting another 1:8 buggy would be even more expensive, and although there are other 1:8 rallycross chassis out there, they aren't cheap.

Fortunately, after waiting for around 2 weeks, I got a despatch notification, and then the beast arrived.  It's a shame these are supplied as rollers, as they would be a seriously cool build, but at least I didn't need to find any additional build time before I can get on track.

The box is a whopper, but the bonus of an roller-including-body is the finished car will fit in it

Packaging isn't great - I wouldn't find out until I came to paint that there's some damage to the back of the body, but this isn't a forever-body anyway and it'll get a battering on track soon enough, so I'm not too bothered

1:8 is a whole different world, though.  Solid aluminium chassis, alu shock towers, huge shocks.  Surprisingly no top deck on these, but I guess the chassis is strong enough to not need it.

The body is ugly as sin.  The LWB body option is much nicer (looks like a Nissan GTR), but most of the Mendip racers use the SWB car.  LWB is actually a different class, although sometimes they race together if there aren't many LWB entries.  Like I said, this isn't a forever-body, it'll get me going as I get the hang of racing but when money and time allows I'll get a more scale (ish) replica body.

[Mad Ax 11754]

These things really are huge, and the scale is way off.  Here it is next to my Top Force Evo.  The wheelbase isn't actually miles off the 1:10, so in that respect, 1:8 might be about right, but remember, this is a SWB model.  The LWB is longer (obviously).  Also consider a 1:10 buggy is significantly wider than a 1:10 touring car, and this is supposed to replicate a touring car.  This is all because it's actually a 1:8 buggy, with touring car wheels on - so it's a lot wider than a 1:8 touring car is.  Effectively this gives the whole thing go-kart like dimensions, which makes for some seriously fun handling traits on track.

It would be all the way into February before I could afford the rest of the bits I need.  The club runs an GRP S4 control tyre for dry weather, with a GRP R1 compound for a declared wet race.  I also needed some new tools and 3S hardcase LiPos (with the 2000Kv power system I'm running, I would be allowed to run 4S but most racers consider that too much - 2100 on 3S is considered the perfect combo, so I'll only be slightly slower than that).

All this came to a pretty penny, even shopping around for the best deals, so getting started in this rallycross malarkey isn't cheap

I even needed a new wrench for the 17 inch wheel nuts.  Now, I could have saved a few pennies here and bought a glow plug wrench, or just used one of my smaller automotive tool sets, but I'm famous for turning up at the track having forgotten something important, so I wanted a wrench to live in my tool box.  In fairness, I could have spent twice what this cost on a Hudy one.  I also bonus with some new Arrowmax stickers to go with the several hundred that I already have.

These are the dry tyres.  Nice that rallycross wheels are spoked - I hate flat / dish wheels.  Nice that they have a tread pattern too, even though it's more for looks than function.

These tyres already have the compound labelled on the inside (nice touch, I lose count of how many tyres I own that have lost the little blob of paint on the inner sidewall) but I like to label the corner and put a date on them too.  I've been known to pull tyres out of the box 10 years after they were first used to enter a vintage race.  If nothing else, sometimes it's nice to see a date and go "wow, was it really that long ago..?"

Tyres fitted and 3S LiPo strapped in to prove it fits.  I'm picking up a 2nd hand motor/esc combo at the track on Sunday (I really hope it shows up - it's being transferred through an intermediary before it gets to me!) so I can't rest-run the car until then.  I'll be taking some spare servos, as this chassis uses a standard servo size despite being so big and heavy.

Body is painted - pics to follow when I have a spare moment  

[Mad Ax 11754]

I can't go on track without throwing some paint on the body.  It might be the middle of winter, but that's never stopped me before.  The thermometer on the paint bench says it's perhaps a little chilly for paint, but I've got a few tricks that say otherwise

This is my trusty paint bench.  It was actually a workbench that my wife made years ago, it desperately needs a clean and some new vinyl film fitting over the surface, but it was clear enough for a lexan job.

These are halogen inspection lamps.  I think these are now banned in the UK as they are horribly inefficient (each lamp is 500W) and they were often used for floodlamps on patios, where all that energy is wasted, but they are very useful where you also need directed and ambient heat.  The cases get hot enough to make my coffee to warm to drink if they stay on for an hour or so.  Incidentally the heater in my studio is 2000W and I think these probably do a better job of heating a small room.  They are inefficient at producing light, but IMO, they are one of the most efficient ways of producing light and heat at the same time.

These are cheap shower curtains.  They're a bit past their best now, having lost some hooks, but they do a good job of keeping the dust and heat in the paint area.  Temps in the booth go up to around 11 degrees after 30 mins or so (no more than that where the probe was during this spray run, but the probe is at the back and not under the direct glare of the lamps, so the paint area was probably a little warmer).

I fill a plastic tub with hot water from the tap, then put it on top of a lamp to keep it warm.  It'll make a Tamiya paint tin too hot to hold with bare hands if I leave it on there too long.  Here I have added the silver layer (it was easier to mask for the silver first).

[Mad Ax 11754]

I use a hairdryer to gas off the paint between coats - this way I can add all the coats I need with only around 60 seconds drying time between them.  With temps this low I wouldn't want to leave wet paint on the shell too long as it could attract moisture out of the atmosphere.  When the silver was done I took the body into the house for around 45 minutes to let the paint cure naturally for a while.

A word of warning if you want to try this trick - heat from the hairdryer can cause the masking tape to shrink and lift, so make sure your body it well masked and check between drying in case you need to stick it back down or add more.

A few coats of metallic blue, before going back into the house to cure again for a while, then some more silver (mostly just the scrag ends of old cans) to back the blue.

Then it was time for decals.  I'm pretty pleased with the paint job so far.  For the curvy lines, I used Core RC 6mm curve masking tape.  This stuff is really good and can handle some nice swoopy curves.  Give it too much and it will fold, but for a this style of masking it was great.  So much easier than masking fluid, and has no risk of weaking the body with a score line.

The body comes with window surrounds (for the front and side windows, none for the rear) but the front window is a two-piece, not a 4-piece as Tamiya usually are.  Pre-cut is a nice touch but they were hard to get off the sheet and harder still to place.  I put the bottom part (with the side bars) on first, as it made sense to line it up with the bottom of the screen, but that meant I had no reference for how far apart the bars should be, and when I came to add the top strip, they were too close together.  To get around that, I stuck on the top strip a little lower (actually a lot lower) so it lined up properly.

To cover up the gap, I used black electrical tape, although wide black trim tape would probably have been better, as it's a darker black.

From the outside, under a strong flexible lamp, the difference is obvious, but I've got a way of hiding this...

et voila

[Mad Ax 11754]

fin

[bRIBEGuy 3424]

I like this a lot.  Very nice.

[Mad Ax 11754]

Later on I'm going to measure up for some custom decals, and plan to print and fit them tomorrow evening.  I feel like it needs some proper sponsor decals too, but I'm not sure any of my 1:10 decal sets are going to work.  Maybe I'll risk printing some custom stuff on white laser vinyl - it usually doesn't come out that well but I think a rallycross car needs some proper local business logos.  Maybe I've got some really random stuff lying around.

More updates later!

[bavee 1200]

Oohh. Actually. That paint job looks real nice!

[Mad Ax 11754]

Updates!  I can't believe it's been a whole week since the Hyper GT had its first outing on the racetrack.  Actually, it feels like a whole month  it's been a bit of a long one...

Anyway, before we get as far as the racetrack, let's look at the decal job.  I raided my stash for this - some of my own graphics left over from other projects were used, and I even found some large Scrapspeed decals so I didn't have to print any more, but mostly I raided some repro SRB decals (because they're big and bold), some really, really old silver stickers that came on the cover of Max Power circa 2000, and for the primary sponsor I went for the unused MAN TGS race truck decal sheet.

Here it is in the workshop, the night before the race.

 

[Mad Ax 11754]

[Mad Ax 11754]

So, how did the racing go?  Well, firstly, don't expect a lot of pics - I didn't have time to take many.  There were only 3 heats on the Rx track, with a 15 minute break between heat 3 and heat 1, so there wasn't a lot of time between rounds for taking pics, plus I had trouble with my leisure battery and was having to carry my LiPos back to the van after every marshalling stint and sit around while they charged.

Anyway, they day dawned bright and fresh, and I was out of bed at 6am (which is my usual getting-up time anyway) and off down the drive around 10 past.  Fortunately there was no frost, so I didn't have to scrape the inside of the windscreen (the drawback of a larger vehicle).  The roads were empty, so I picked a favourite route and set off for the coast, and got to Brean Beach before 8am for a 30-minute stroll along the sand.  I had a whole 7-mile stretch of beach to myself, which was nice.  The track is only a stone's throw from the beach, but due to the layout of the roads (and the inconvenient existence of a wetlands reserve) I had a 15 minute drive around winding lanes to get there.  Still, I was at the track bright and early and long before the racing started, plenty of time to set up my pit area and have some breakfast.  Mendip RC Raceway has a large undercover pit area, which is great as it saves the need to lug table and awning around.  It looks like there's power on site now too, so I don't need to tow my ancient leisure battery around any more (which means I may be able to do some meets by motorcycle, if the weather is good).

My ESC and motor were bought from another competitor, but as he wasn't racing that weekend, they were being delivered to me via another racer.  He arrived in time for me to get it bolted in - everything fit properly first time, which was nice - and get out on track for a spot of practice.

Here's a photo of the power system.  This comes as standard in the RTR version of the kit, IIRC it's a 2000Kv motor and can run up to 4S.  The club rules state that 2000Kv is the max limit for 4s, or 2600Kv on 3S, although according to a recent Facebook post the sweet spot for the track is 2100Kv on 3S.  So really, I'm not that far behind.  And for £35, who can complain?

As I hadn't had a single chance to run the car until this point, the first thing was to dial in the trims and make sure it drove straight.  I threw it on the track and did a few metres on a disused corner.  The brand new tyres had zero bite and it was a bit of a handful, but it drove arrow-straight and the ESC needed no adjustment.  Then the wheelnut came off.

These 1:8 cars have thin 17mm wheel nuts on a 12mm thread, and there's no knurling on the standard nuts.  I found out later that a common trick is to file slots on the back to give them some purchase, but I made do with some threadlock and brute force.

I had been wandering around the pits checking out everyone else's cars - mostly trying to get a feel for ride height and droop - and it seemed like my car was way too low at the front.  I wound up the front springs but pretty soon was on the droop screws, and still nowhere near anyone else's cars.  Even winding the screws all the way in, I couldn't get either the droop or the ride height that I wanted.  The track has some jumps, and the ramps are made of heavy old bits of ply, so a bit of clearance is needed to get over it.

Well, it transpires that there's an optional long shock shaft for the front end, so I'll be picking them up at the track next week.  Until then, I relocated the lower shock mounts to get as much height as I could while still having a little droop, and went out for my first race.

I'm not going to do a blow-by-blow account of the racing, as it was a week ago and I can't remember it.  I'll just say that it was awesome fun, the car was a handful but the tyres came in real quick, and it's really cool how they evolve through the race.  At the start there's very little grip, but by the mid-point they're a lot stickier and allow for harder pushing.  A complete lack of grip-roll is refreshing - no more gluing the outer edge or turning the car so I can turn in without flipping over.  In fact there were only a few rolls across the enter 3-heat grid all day, and even then, only when they hit something bigger and heavier than they were.

Driving style for me is a mix of point-and-squirt and long drifty slides, depending on the corner.  Coming out of the twisty sections, too much power will cause it to spin out - by default the punch on the ESC isn't too strong, but even so, it'll start to pick up and then spin out as the power comes in.  It might even be easier to control with the punch turned up and using my throttle finger to finesse it, instead of giving it welly and having to guess when the power will come in.

In corners that allow for a controlled entry, big drifty slides are where it's at.  I can't decide if it's faster than keeping it all in line, but it's great fun, and most other drivers drift a lot too.  It's a very controllable car to drift.  Line it up, a Scandinavian flick, on the power and hold it around the hairpin and all the way onto the ramps.  Transition on the ramp so the car lands facing the way it needs to go.  Get it right and it's a hoot.  Get it wrong and I'm off-line, although rarely in the tyres.  Another bonus of these bigger cars - they don't get stuck so easily!

 

[Mad Ax 11754]

And the results!

Round 1 I finished at the bottom of the ground, with only 9 laps and a best laptime of 20.73, although I (and a few others) misunderstood the joker lap route, and so my best time probably cut out a good part of the track.  Still, I was only 1 lap off the rest of the heat, so that's not bad going.  The top heat were doing 14 laps to my 9.

Heat 2 I was late to arrive, having had issue with my battery, and this probably upset the timing system a little.  We do mass starts in rallycross, so I when I dropped my car on the track and ran up to the rostrum 15 seconds after the race had started, the timing system must have assumed I'd completed a lap - because I got a 16 second laptime, which would have put me right up with the big boys.  Nonetheless, I managed 11 laps overall, same as the nearest two drivers, and only one lap down off the lead.  The top two drivers were still only doing 14 laps.

Heats 3 and 4 were much the same, and I didn't come last because someone else dropped out!  Overall I qualified 4th out of 5 cars in the C Final, so at least I wasn't plum last!

Final 1 was fantastic, with some really close racing, a 12 lap race and a 2nd place finish, one lap down on the lead and a lap up on 3rd and 4th.  The driver who came 5th would probably have knocked me down a position, but only managed 6 laps before retiring.

Final 2 was in line to be just as good, as I was tussling with the leader all the way around, but I lost that silly wheelnut 8 laps in and had to retire.

Final 3 was less good - or rather, my times were better than final 1, but everybody else got quicker.  I managed 12 laps, same as the leader, but my best laptime was still over a second off the others, so it was only consistency that got me there.  Still, with a bit of tuning and a lot of practice, I'm sure there's lots more to come.

The car felt a little pedestrian on 3S and was very slightly slower in a straight line than other cars in my heat, so I think a larger pinion is needed next time out.  Fingers crossed for next weekend!

[Mad Ax 11754]

The other major benefit of racing at Mendip RC Raceway is the journey home takes me across some of the best scenery in the region, so I was able to stop at a favourite spot, cook the burger I hadn't had time to eat during the racing, and do a quick 5 mile hike before going home to unpack the van.

Next weekend I have a plan to add even more fun to the experience - stay tuned for updates!

[bRIBEGuy 3424]

Great write up... sounds super fun.  The livery on the car worked well!

[Mad Ax 11754]

Sunday February 26th was the next round of the winter championship at Mendip RC Raceway, and the second outing for my new HoBao Hyper GT, which isn't looking quite so new any more.

I was aware that I'd need longer shock shafts for the front of the car, but I couldn't get them until I picked them up from the pit shop on the morning of the race, so I didn't have time to rebuild the shocks before the racing began.  I did however get hold of a 22-tooth pinion to replace the stock 18-tooth and hopefully give me a bit more straight line speed.

I had time for a brief practice, then sat around for a while due to a delayed drivers briefing after the timing system failed and had to be set up again.  It was bitterly cold at Mendip - although the sun was bright, a freezing wind was blowing down between race control and the pit tables, and we spent the morning - in fact the whole day - shivering.

Race 1 started well, until my ESC parted company with the electrics tray and got stuck under the wheels, putting me out of the competition.  Fortune would smile on me, however, as a mistake made when the timing system was reset earlier meant round 1 was discarded, so my last place didn't count.

Back in the pits, I discovered the servo tape used to secure the ESC had gone completely - probably ripped off on track.  I re-secured it with new tape and some zipties to prevent it coming loose again.

 

[Mad Ax 11754]

For Round 2, I added my new 22-tooth pinion, for that extra burst of speed, and went back out again.  My fastest lap of 16:53 was a second or two off the pace, and I was having real trouble getting the car to turn in on the tighter corners.  A general lack of front grip has got to be the main part of the problem - I've turned up the front preload to get as much ride height as I can, which still isn't enough, which has dialled out most of the suspension in the front end.  Somewhat compromised by not being able to rebuild my shocks between rounds, I had no choice but to stick with it and make the best of it.  A technical mid-part of the lap, with a hairpin and an immediate switchback, proved almost impossible for me to get right, and cost me loads of time, as I'd forever overshoot the switchback and get stuck against the tyre barrier.  This would be a problem for the whole of the rest of the day.

Too much power-on oversteer was a problem too, and fortunately the pit shop owner (also a keen rallycross racer) was on hand to advise me on setup.  Apparently the solution is to put a million weight oil in the centre diff - as standard it's too loose, and when powering on out of the corners all the torque goes to the loose rear and causes it to oversteer.  With some very stiff oil in the diff, the front end has enough torque to pull the car along, while still having enough compliance to turn in.  Even more fortunately, he was able to sell me some Oil with the Power of a Million Weights, as well as some 50wt for the front shocks.  I still need to get some 30K for the front diff, apparently.

Of course, with limited time between rounds (only 2 heats and a 20 minute break) there wasn't time to pull out the centre diff and rebuild it, so again, I was stuck with what I had.  My 22-tooth pinion also has the Grub that Won't Stay Tight.  I'm sure we've all had those.  The stock pinion has a 2.5mm hex, but the new one only has a 2mm hex, so it can't take as much torque.  It didn't cost me a race, but it did need tightening after every round, and chewed up the radio box some.

This was no big deal, though, as the racing was still awesome.  Rallycross really is one of the funnest ways to spend a day.  I didn't improve in round 3, and was marginally better in round 4.