Haven't raced since last year. No had any cash Running a Petrol Seat cupra didn't help! I used to run at Chesterfield as it was my local club not found anywhere as well run and friendly for 1/12th in the north west yet.
I have heard good things about the Kent club.
They main things to find out what tyres and additive the club is using,
usually jack the gripper and yellow rears and pink fronts. also you need find out what the FDR (Final drive ratio or rollout mm/rev or inch/rev) is being used to for you class you will need a range of pinions as tyre diameter and spur size effect the roll out.
Building the car is critical to getting to handle as if it built badly not amount of tuning will get rid of the problem.
These things go so fast and produce so much grip any imperfection will be shown up.
You should get the or the cf edges sanded and glued as the manual recomend take a but of time but worth doing and buy a foam bumper.
It is critical to to build the diff correctly the diff rings need to be sanded flat on both sides so that there is no high points to allow even loading on the diff balls. i usually run ceramic balls as they don't wear and become gritty like carbide and do not need as much pressure to eliminate slip.
See the Team irs site for diff building
Also it critical to space the axle out so the trace is equal each side and is 172mm wide max within brca rules
Front end on the x12 dosen't need much prep as the mould for the parts are good. But the lower arm should be checked to see if the ball cup of the lower arms is of equal height. you don't want one wheel slightly higher than the other.
King pins should be polished and the steering bocks should be reamed so the slide through the king pins. Also the ball that go in the upper and lower arms need to be pressed in and should rotate freely in the cups. Any binding will make the car pull to left or right.
it doesn't take long or cost alot to do but it reduces a lot of headaches when racing.
once built it is critical to get the Left right balance bang on remember these thing are sensitive to balance
See
mark payne blog on 1/12th scale building
Shell get a parma zytec to start with as this is the best shell in term of handling neautraliy and everone run them to it make it easier for other racers to help set the are up or solve issue with the car.
The body should measured a least as many times as you can to get it square on the the car. But the easiest way it to space the front and rear wheels by 2mm and slide the uncut body on. i use cut down bodyposts to mark where post and arial go. and use a circle cutter for the wheel arches.
www.carsrcracing.co.uk has a lot of useful info and links
I hope I Haven't scared you off but if you do all these thing when you put it on the track you should end up with a car that is easy to drive and steer without doing it strange things or frustration. then all you have to do it clean it and rebuild the diff for each meeting.
More stuff can be found in the 1/12th section of
rcracechat.com this is place to hear about the politics and lastest developments and banter.
Motor 10.5 if everone is running them or you will outpowered on the straight on big track like chesterfield or kent.Which is annoying or will cause an accident at the end of the straight, as you usally take off power with as much momentum as you can carry.You never ever use the brake in 1/12th if you are you are using too much throttle!
I would see if you can get the tekin as it small and compact and lot of the club member use them now so getting it set up an programmed shouldn't be an issue as the feel of the throttle is quite important.