Rat or Monkey? - considering a change
 

Currently i'm running the Mad-rat, although i am considering a change to a Mad-Monkey as it seems everyone is favouring mid-motored cars & this may be a step forward, am i doing the right thing or should i just stick with the rat?

Where you racing and what surface ?

mostly carpet indoors & astro outside, but generally anything that is going

Lol, the mid motor is easier to push than the rear motor on astro. Youll find it easier and faster to drive. More consistant too.

don't fancy an X2C then?

Cheers Mike,

1 thing i have noticed is the pendulum affect on astro, where the bike steps out & seems to throw the back out a tad, almost fishtailing when coming off a sweeper into a fast straight when the tyres bite for grip or when easing off the power at the end of a fast section when the weight shifts from the back to the front end of the car.

One "problem" (if i can call it that) with the rat is it does seem a bit unpredictable on jumps, i tend to jump mostly by letting off the power on take-off & letting the car naturally arch to a landing with a squirt of power or brake to control the landing as necessary. On slow jumps, the car seems to nosedive & on the fast jumps seems to "slam" into the deck on landing if which i put down to me not weighting the car properly & figuring out how the car lands when i keep the power on, which does seem a bit of a fiddle to get right. Even so a couple of people i have spoken to say the Monkey jumps a lot better & is more predictable in the air & just a squeeze of power or brake is enough to make the car behave.

i do but it's a question of finances.. i'm not exactly flush with cash, so yes i have considered it, but also considered yes i could probably afford the car but if i did change, then i would need to buy new bespoke LiPo's for it which adds to the cost, by using the monkey i can go with what i've already got.

Best run at TIchfield on astro with mad rat 11 laps 319 seconds
Same track with monkey 11 laps 307 seconds - literally took the setup from the rat and put it on the monkey to get a 11 309. Softer rear spring got the 307.

Track record I believe is 11 304 for 2wd.

Will be trying out front and rear anti roll bars at the ansmann meeting this weekend. Had a quick go indoors and a massive improvement. The car currently suffers from roll oversteer mid corner which loses time. The roll bar setup made it really consistent and got rid of any grip roll.

I went for the monkey for the exact same reason. I have some good 2nd hand stick lipo packs and don't want to buy saddles.

It's also great fun beating team drivers from other manufacturers with a car that even with the hop ups (shocks, bearings, RW idler gears and ceramic diff balls) owes me about £120.

Have to admit, that's one of the big plus points about racing an Ansmann car.. i've not exactly got the biggest budget to go racing, but for £100 i can buy a car & make it so that is just as competitive as something 4x the cost

mad rat /mad monkey
 

Hello mad wolfie.
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Ian, You know my answer to this question......Monkey or X2c as you know I prefer mid motor (seems to suit my driving style) but as Ben Smith has shown a basic Rat is still a decent buggy :thumbsup:


When on carpet?? ya 12th yes but hardly ever your buggy :p

The rat has done me proud so i would be sad to stop using it by favouring a monkey, however as you say it comes down to driving style & the monkey may well suit me better, plus the other factor is it seems a lot of people who run Ansmann 2WD's seem to run the mid-motor variety & the "rear engined" cars seem to be fading out as more people are using mid-motor cars generally. I was really surprised the other week at Southport & just in general club racing how many people are running mid-motor cars.

I'm not one for being a Sheep & following what everyone else is doing or buy what the top boys have or use kit what everyone else has, but it has got me thinking, especially when you see the difference in how the 2 types of cars behave on track, the mid motor cars do seem a lot more planted (none of the pendulum affect & they jump a lot cleaner) & seem a lot easier to control, however there are some drivers out there who no doubt favour the motor hanging out the back cars because they have become so accustomed to them & can make them dance to their tune rather than the other way around.

that's because 12th is currently my primary class & i have for a long time intended to have a bash at the 12th nationals this winter, so i've been putting in the legwork ready for that.. once the nationals are over i intend to become more pro-active with my buggy racing both in 2WD & if i can 4WD & perhaps even my 8th racing, so come the Spring the 12th may well be mothballed for a while & the buggy will be out a lot more often.

Plus as i've said to you before, i can't see the fun in racing a buggy on a flat carpet.. a touring car track with a 2" high speed hump does not become a buggy track to me. I may as well go back to racing boring cars if all i'm going to be doing is racing on the flat at the local clubs.

he sounds like a ace driver :):thumbsup::thumbsup: i wish i was lol, tbh chap am thinking of giving a monkey ago,

i can see ians point but if it were me ian i would keep the rat for abit, would say try myn see what you think but tbh its not stable as ive made it loose on the rear some how, but for crewe it works well as it gets around the tight corners so much better now

with respect though Ben, you have come into buggy racing from a drifting background, so the tail happy, loose rear end characteristic of a motor out the back end car probably suits you better, more natural to your skills if you like.

i dont realy like it loose at the rear , if your mainly racing it at crewe then i would keep the rat if other places then supose its up to the track, ive only had the rat and at crewe theres not enought difrence to worthy changing cars, me an lee have some good battles an each week its ether a rat or a monkey winning.

What surface do you race on at crewe?

carpet, but the track is tiny, and all 90 / 180deg bends with very short straights

can't see that i'm going to be racing at Crewe much longer though..