nice one, certainly full of shinny blue bits!!!

*pfft* I can see your problem right there. You won't get much traction without tyres... :o

:) Nice car, just a nice amount of blue.

Unknowledgable websites? I hope you mean Radiocontrolzone and not Tamiyaclub.

Elliott.

Hello.
 

Hi.

This is the first time that i writte in this forum. I'm from Bilbao, in the Basque country so forgive my bad English.
I always race with tamiya cars. The last 2 years I raced with one DF-02 but this summer i bought my DF-03, directly with sleeper, one-way, turnbluckes, 5 Star carbon shock towers. I also use DF-02 shafts and GMP shocks. I only raced once with the car and I should say that it was incredible, very handle, smooth aceleration. In the same level of the Losi XXX4 or the CAT 3000 of one friend.
My question is the next?. Which is the behavior of 3Racing's carbon chasis over the track? Is better that the stock plastic chasis?.
Now I'm in your country for a couple of weeks, in Cranfield.

Bye :rolleyes:

Hi Eotz,
I've not raced my DF-03 since I fitted the carbon chassis (and I'm working late shift this week so I can't go this week! :mad:) but I had a quick rip round the car park the other day and it does seem to make a slight difference to the handling. It makes the car a bit lighter as well. I've made up an under tray for mine which protects the electrics from getting any water in them, I could do with getting some better ones vacformed up :) The only problem I had with the carbon chassis (apart from having to take a hacksaw to it because my Trakpower battery didn't fit! :rolleyes:) is that the way they've retained the battery door restricts the space you have for fitting the speed controller and receiver. I had trouble finding somewhere for a mini Spektrum receiver and a Quantum speed controller! :o Apart from that it's a very nice bit of kit. I'd recommend taking the screws out and threadlocking them, as the chassis is assembled from the factory.
-Steve

That is a surprise. I thought it would come as a kit.

I don't see what is wrong with the kit chassis. But then I haven't tried the cf chassis.

I work with a guy from the Basque country. Great guy, he loves his home region.

Elliott.

How does the motor temp go with the new chassis?

Also, all 3Racing chassis's come assembled, but DO need dismantling and reasembly, even if it is just peace of mind.

Race report... :)
I haven't raced the DF for about 4 weeks (took it apart to re-design it Pred stylee, but never got round to designing the front end properly or getting the parts made up :rolleyes:) so I was down in the bottom heat with the other inexperienced/slow drivers. The track was quite a twisty one this time, with a crossover jump in a kind of snail shape, through an S chicane, up 2 ramps at 90 degrees to each other, over a crossover bridge, then a 270 degree turn down 2 more ramps and under the bridge. I managed to get a good line through there during practice and used that line while racing. The track where I race is in a small village hall with a polished wooden floor, the track is laid out using large shipping ropes (about 3" diameter) and tyres, and the crossover and jumps made of wooden ramps. Average lap times were about 16 seconds.
In the first race I was still getting the hang of driving the car again, I'd rebuilt it with the 3 racing chassis, 50 weight shock oil rather than 70 weight previously, and rebuilt both diffs. It had zero camber on the back and about -2 on the front, can't remember what the front toe was. I managed to get 16 laps, 2nd place but only on lap times, 1st got 16 as well, 3rd got 15. Not bad seeing as I sat on the line on the start for a second to let the others past then whizzed round them in their customary pile up in the first corner! :D I got the fastest lap time of the race but I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was about a second quicker than anyone else.
The second race didn't go to plan, one of the ball joints on the top of the steering knuckle unwound itself about 2 minutes in. I thought it had just come off and asked a marshal to pop it back on but he told me it was broken so I went back to the pits. I fixed it about 2 seconds before the end of the race... :rolleyes:
The third race was pretty good again. I got 2nd again, but someone had spilt shock oil on the main straight so it was a bit hairy. I got 15 laps that time, again the 1st place guy got the same number of laps and just pipped me on lap times but my fastest lap time was quicker than him. :D
After the race the guy who runs the club (Alan) and one of the regular A finalist drivers (Ollie) came over and said they were impressed with how well the car was going and how much grip it had, which made me chuffed as I'm nowhere near as good at driving as either of them. :) I was about the only person to constantly get the line over the crossover right in my race, and the supposedly "better" drivers in the next heat were often getting it wrong :rolleyes: In fact in the first race the 2nd heat guys (who I marshalled) the 1st place guy only got 1 more lap than me, and the 2nd place guy got 1 less lap! Properly happy.
Anyway sorry to waffle on, but it was quite a good race meet. The car's going better than ever now, and is actually doing what I want it to do. I think my driving cound do with some improvement but the car's going well now so I can concentrate on improving my driving without worrying about the car doing something silly. It's almost a pity I've got a 501 on the way as that'll effectively make the 03 obsolete. I'll probably alternate them, race the 501 one week and the 03 the next, and see which is better for indoors. ;) Next time I'll try and borrow my mate's camcorder and get some video footage of the racing and some stills of the track so you can see what it's like (if you're interested, that is... :p)
-Steve

It seems no one has tried KM's Dark Impact kit.

All the comments I've seen about it agree that it's taking away the DF-03's main feature of a centrally mounted battery which is part of what makes it handle so well. If you put the KM chassis conversion on a DF-03 it would basically turn it into a shaft drive version of a TRF501 :) I was thinking about it, but I'd have to re-wire all my batteries. Ooh, hold on, my TRF501 uses saddle pack batteries... ;)
-Steve

plus the KM-RC is about twice the price of the 3racing one.

Just got my DI. Picked it up for about £68 in a Shanghai model shop. Should I sell it and buy a 501 though???

N

Does it mean central stick batteries chassis is better control than saddle pack batteries chassis?

remains to be see, but generally in a 4WD you want the weight closer together (motor and cells) rather than spread along the length. The dark impact weight distribution should make for a stable car but slow the car down in the turns - I would guess ?
anyone?

Yes and no Jim, it will throw it's weight for and aft a little more, being that the weight is spread further along the longitudinal axis, but, with the weight also being centralised, it should be far more controlled in turn transitions, like a left right, as it isn't having to roll as much weight, saying that, it means nowt if you have your suspension set up like a pair of saggy pants...

true, true. I am excited to see how it does actually go.

It is actualy quite good, only thing I don't like at the mo, is how much it squats under acceleration, but without the bennefit of being able to raise the front of the rear wishbone a tad to stop it squatting.... bah, 3Racing should of listened to me!!!

I just got the KM Concept dark impact (df03) carbon chassis conversion kit this morning. All looks very fine indeed and the chassis is milled for wishbone droop and front gearbox height. This conversion looks even better than the previous ZX-5 one that I reviewed.

Jim, when you are done with it, let me know if it is a keeper for you or need to get shot...

Then how about the jumping performance of both batteries placement?

I think the 50aX will be more poised in flight.