For people with concerns about the gears, belts etc, don't worry about any of these things as that is the sort or norm that we do lots of testing with, and there won't be any issues with any of this. As for the motor plate as Matt has tried to explain, its a very simple and effective design, just sooo much easier to explain by showing you rather than trying to explain it in words on a forum, so please be patient until you get to see it, then all will make perfect sense :thumbsup:
Also for you guys that don't like it and want something pretty, would you prefer something cute, pink, pretty and slow, or like the new Cat SX, a completely state of the art brand new unique design that is fast!!! Believe me, when you get chance whenever it is to see it go you shall be very pleasantly surprised, this thing is Fassssstttt!!!!!! :p
Mark

so the new Pred is fast and this is fast !!!

so what ur saying is that if i put the same motor in another car then it wont be as fast ??? because its the car thats fast :thumbsup:.

:lol::lol::lol: sorry i dont buy it

Well, i will say this much. Last time we tested, we first did one run with my xx4 with a Speed Passion 5.5 motor. Then we did a run with the SX and a similar Speed Passion 5.5 motor - and it isn't printable what i said as i went down the main straight on the first lap with the SX.

I'm not going to claim it is purely car - but i will say that on that day on that track with similar motors, the SX had more straight line speed than my own xx4.

Well the cars will be similiar speed straight line, yes I agree, but due to the balance design and handling characteristics of this car you shall be fast over the laps I guess I should of put, :thumbsup: Just wait and see!!! Ha Ha Matt I remember those words that we said when it went down that straight, and your right, not really printable on here :lol: was it a blurrrrr or something if I remember :p
Mark

Well its definately a new design and great that these guys are back to designing new stuff instead of copying. however it doesnt appeal to me so Tamiya has my order, and thats a shock as I never thought I would ever buy a tamiya.

Only thing I would say on that Welshy is make sure you will be able to get spares for your Tamiya if your at a track and break it, or if many others at your local club or friends will run that car to assist with parts. I know most UK shops have pre ordered the new Cat SX and spares will be readily available throughout the Uk, and there will also be team drivers present at lots of big meetings for assistance if needed. Just a couple of things to bear in mind.
Mark

Hope it is there SUnday, will be really interesting to see it in the flesh.

Kind of surprised if the straight line speed is strong to be honest when compared to other cars with same motors etc, as that looks a hellishly inefficient drivetrain, motor through spur through a gear then 3 different belts!

Not saying it won't work, just I'd have thought it would be less efficient which probably isn't important now we can all run faster motors than we need and plenty of runtime along with it!

One Q, is that LIPOnot really exposed? Say landing the chassis on a ridge of a jump, if its tilted on that side the LIPO will get a direct hit won't it?

I have to say that the lipo fit-ment really looks to be an afterthought - it sticks out of the side of the chassis at the front, requiring the undertray to be cut, plus it moves the servo out on the other side, again requiring the undertray to be cut.

This would seem to be counterproductive to keeping the inside of the car clean, which would be very important on dirt tracks with those exposed gears.

Can someone explain how the front layshaft is mounted? It appears to use a single fixing point like the Mi3? Not sure how well this will hold up considering the size of the pulleys an how far away they are from the mounting point.

It does however look very well balanced and the chassis is certainly slim enough.

How do you adjust the slipper, with that 2mm hex head screw I see on the spur gear?

doesn't wow me now but I will have to see it in the flesh and see it go before I make my mind up completely.

also £350!!



mark; were your chips nice?

I just noticed that in the feature list it says "internal gear cover" - I hope that refers to the idlers gears, it will be one less thing to worry about on dirt tracks at least.

Anyone else noticed that the car has Fireblade style UJ shafts rather than rebuildable CVD's?

is the only difference on the lipo chassis the lack of battery slots? couldn't you in theory mount nimh cells in the same position as the lipo and add some battery stoppers so the batteries don't move ? i like it :thumbsup:

re previous comment about the aerial mount - I notice that the aerial is mounted different on the NiMh and LiPo versions in these photos - so guess all you need is a drill!

Personally, regardless of how the transmission looks, I want the car to go well - after all it is from a British company!

Interesting!

2WD next?

I was only just saying to my wife that £350 isn't really alot of money for a top line car nowadays, yes the B44 is super cheap, but when you build one you can see why, but when I think back to paying £340 for a Pred in 1995, cars are cheaper now in real terms then ever before:thumbsup:

As for the Cat, I like it, its different, so as long as it works, who cares what it looks like, and at least its been designed over here, on our style of tracks, so shouldn't be the compromise that some of the cars from the rest of the world are when they get here, remember the XXX4, works in the States, not so well here, or even the BJ4, won the worlds, makes a great club racer, but hasn't really lit up our National series has it?

I think John is correct - cars are kind of the same price that they always have been. Sure the B44 is cheap.........in more ways than one, but that isn't really the norm.


Please be aware these are prototype shots and some details are subject to change.

.....................there's a message in there somewhere.:lol:

Not sure why you'd want to do that as it'll be nowhere near as well balanced as arrangement Scumacher have chosen.

Dont like to be rude but i dont like the car much i just dont like the layout But i have no idea how it will peform

I'm looking forward to seeing one, I really like how 'out there' some of it is, but out there because of a purpose and design philosophy that is sound and makes sense. It has to be proved if this is reliable enough but at least Schumacher have it out before the start of the year so I'm sure Si and Matt will have it competive quickly and so by mid season we'll all have to see how quick they can make it.

If £350 is all in and needs no further upgrades then that is about the going rate to kit out a race car. The xx4 is cheaper but even that needs a one way which isn't cheap. The B44 is exceptionally cheap and is bringing 4wd to the masses but I hear some parts are not so good quality, as indeed are some of the B4 bits I put on my new X6 in the week but that's another story.

A nice review would tell the story :thumbsup:

C'mon guys!

The design is kinda Volvoish / boxy, but the engineering is very clever indeed! I like it when engineers think for themselves, there are way too many factories just copying successful designs!

Mi first thought was: "Ah! Why haven't anyone thought of that before?!" I mean, the driveline has always been "in the way", so why not move it! I'm sure you all know that for track nitro cars the long belts are put out on the side.

Will be interesting to see how it handles!

Schumacher as far as I know have always been known for making winning cars. Complicated and a bit vulnerable perhaps, but still a winner in the right hands. I'm sure it will be fine after SP1!

Open gears is never ideal, but as well as the body is well closed I guess it should be no biggie... Should be possible to make some wafer thin lexan covers also perhaps?

And don't pick on the shell! It's not too bad! And that's always highly subjective! I mean, I know many like the TRF501-X body. Myself I'm just wondering when it will transform into a robot... :lol: I'm qute sure I've seen that car in a Transformers movie!

*applause* :thumbsup:

BTW what's the idea behind the Schuey logo??? (the 3 arrows)

i just don't like the fact of having to have packs that i can only use in this car and can't use in others...kinda sucks

Why don't you switch to X-6 and X-60 :eh?:

I wonder whether you could use standard stick/3+3 saddle in the LIPO version if necessary?

The car is an interesting concept, will be good to see how it works out. There's so much variety, the Tamiya (Yok?) style which I'd call "standard belt", B44/BJ4 "standard shaft", then cars like Serpent/Aero/Atomic Carbon which seem to go for ultra narrow (never heard this explained but I assume its aiming for low polar moment of intertia), the pred which goes for ultra aerodynamic (not that I can work out how Aerodynamics make a diference at our speeds in standard air pressure :eh?:), and now the Schumacher which looks (obviously don't know how they approached it) as though it was drivetrain comes first and narrow too, which from these pics makes it look to me like it may have a higher centre of gravity (although I see all the electrics are down low).

I'd be very tempted by the Schu next winter as it allows me to go LIPO racing, but still worried about the LIPO being exposed, and also landing on the shell could destroy the drive train!

It looks rather neat, i wonder if there will be trouble with that middle big belt with them either rubbing the cells. On my old MI2 the belts wore rather quickly without it not touching anything. I wonder if they will wear fast on this car?

why is the arial mount soo far away ! :wtf:

I must say im looking forward to seing it on the track.

One thing not mentioned, now the motor spins WITH the drivetrain, does that mean it'll be backwards to jump?

i.e apply throttle to lower the nose instead of raising it?

I'm not a buggy driver, never jumped one so I don't know. :thumbsup:

Yeah, re-soldering 1 bar and 1 wire is a HUGE problem :wtf:
(And any config will still fit your B4 or CR 2WD)

to be fair, the high up weight is in the center of the chassis, so has less influence in the cars handling, and with all things, it is a compromise, to get the belt low would also mean moving the cells out, etc, and as the cells are the major weight component in the car, Schumacher have tried to optimise the weight distribution of these, and the motor/electrics.

It isn't by any means an 'elegant' design top offed by a less that pretty shell, but I can understand the concept and appreciate the approach, and innovation is good...... as long as it works. I personaly think the drivetrain is over complicated, and for racing, too many points to fail so it all comes down to how 'strong' Mr Schumacher can make them bits.

p.s. the shocks look aweful, I hope they intend to put a finish on the outside of them shocks to stop em furring with corrosion for starters......

Should not be a problem!!!!

Most 2wds use either 6 in line so what is the difference between IIIiii & IIIIii in reall terms???

If you really wanted to have cells that you could run 4 x 2 , inline and 3 x 3 just lay the cells out

III i ii

so the second "3 pack" uses a link wire between the 2 cells and the 3rd rather than a battery bar!!!!!

No issue at all and certainly no reason to reject this car, or any other that uses 4 x 2 for that matter.

If your more worried about battery pack configuration than getting the best balance out of your car then may I suggest that your not going to get the best out of any top line racer.

Don't wish to sound rude but really performance should be the driving influence to any car design.

Us X-5 owners already addressed this:
http://www.one-ten-rcforums.com/4wdr...ic.php?id=1382

I might add that using Deans plugs in stead of plugs/tubes (Corally style) makes it a lot easier to make'em fit any car!

Question: Shaft-drive cars give a sideways torque effect, which isn't ideal. Why not use a bevelled spur & pinion gear and mount it longitudinally? And in addition make the gearboxes assymetrical like on the eight?

it represents the ball diff, which was designed by Cecil Schumacher

nope
its the rotating mass that alters the angle of the car, and that in a buggy is the wheels/tyres drive train, motor has little effect of a shaft car would roll to its side in the air when power applied

... and with brushless motors the armature is also quite smaller & lighter compared to brushed motors = even less rotating mass...

Dont worry about spares, as I have plenty of places to buy from, and before I go and race again i will have enough spares for every conceivable problem.

However back to the point, yes the car looks a bit of a disaster, but there may be something to this new Cat, and lets hope that they can get back into the game with a big bang. If they can get some good drivers that can make an impact at the worlds then they will be half way there. Its about time, and hope they do well with this car.

Si Moss and Matt white are good drivers wise in the UK, I assume the next worlds isn't until 2009 now though?

I havent heard of them, have they made any worlds A's? If not then maybe Schumacher should try and get someone like Neil Cragg, now he is a good driver. Im not saying that the guys you mentioned are good, but I kindof doubt theyd make an impact at the worlds.

Hmm looks like it could get quite noisy on a dusty track with those exposed gears at the back, how do you adjust the slipper clutch?

As i said before in the video I saw it looked ace going round the track though, and who cares what chassis looks like? It's the performance that counts.

Wayne rooney isn't a good looking guy, but he is a very good footballer.

Hope to see it on sunday if it's there :thumbsup:

how to make friends and influence people lol.

Sometimes good driver can drive but can't design a car though....

hey shy, my other cars are all saddle packs..so yeah it is a pain so get over yourself

You mean other 4WD cars then? Which ones?

And didn't mean to sound rude, sorry! It's so boring to be nice all the time :lol:Just trying to help really! I had the same "doubts" before buying the X-5, but it's been no biggie really.

200% agree with you SHY :D

The point advanced in the specs sounds as flat tire :eh?:

Olivier, how about the question I posed: Shaft-drive cars give a sideways torque effect, which isn't ideal. Why not use a bevelled spur & pinion gear and mount it longitudinally? And in addition make the gearboxes assymetrical like on the eight? (= motor in dead center)

What's your opinion?

I guess you would have to change both the spur AND pinion when changing ratio to get a good gear mesh. But you normally don't change that.