cat SX....

[cjm_2008]

is it really 'that good' or is it just a new chassis honeymoon period?

I am tempted. I fell like i've reached a plateau with my b44, maybe a new car would push me to improve. plus, it's from a british company - I like to support UK based enterprises.

I'd be interested to hear from drivers who've already switched. does belt drive make that much difference? does it come with all the bits you need? should do @ £350!

[frogger]

I've just switched from a B44 to a CAT SX. I've not raced the CAT yet so my experience is limited but the CAT is extremely well put together and is clearly a no expense spared kind of race car with far fewer plastic bits than the B44. The CAT seems a lot more tune-able but also more complex. It took me a while to get used to the way the B44 drove (came from a ZX5 before that) and I only ever started liking the B44 when I stuck the front one way in there whereas the CAT has been easy to drive straight from the box.

So far the CAT seems to be thought out better. It's a doddle to get to the diffs and you only remove 4 screws. Try that with a B44! That CAT also seems more beefy out of the box than the B44 with 4mm carbon shock towers and link plates and beefier looking suspension arms. Racing it outdoors will tell if it holds up better. The CAT shocks are much easier to build and work on that the Associated shocks and mine is built with whities and not seen a leak anywhere.

It seemed to me (haven't looked for a while) that setups for the B44 seemed to be more available by US guys for US tracks whereas the CAT setups are for our tracks that we drive on.

I was able to use all my B44 wheels (after adding a little washer on the front to move the B44 wheel out by 1mm). That CAT ships with a set of Schumy Yellow Mini Spikes.

I found it hard to really tighten up the layout of the electrics on the B44 but it has been so much easier on the CAT. You need to make sure you get the correct battery (assuming you are going lipo) otherwise the battery wires might be a bit tricky.

[glypo]

I can't really comment to much on B44. Driven one, but never for long enough to be fair. I moved from a ZX5 to a CAT SX and found it awesome. Like the ZX5 the CAT SX is very smooth and agile out on the track. From my limited experience I found the B44 to be very quick but more 'snappy' so I suppose it depends on what suits your driving style best.

Belts remove torque steer, apart from that you won't notice much difference compared to shaft drive. As for price, as said above the CAT SX is high quality, so you get what you pay for I say. They are £314.95 @ MK by the way, with free postage, so a little cheaper then paying the full rrp from Schumacher.

The Schumacher section of this forum has plenty of threads on the CAT SX, so that's worth checking out if you want to do some more research.

[cjm_2008]

thanks guys.

I'm already running lipo in the B44, obviously in saddle formation. I'll just have to sell off a few of my trakpower 3200's and get a couple of lipo bricks instead, assuming I take the plunge.

I've found that my B44 sometimes doesn't suit my style, which is pretty smooth as my rc experience is mainly snoring cars. the snappyness is something that has annoyed me occasionally.

glad to hear that the b44 wheels fit - I would have been very annoyed about having to buy yet more wheels and tyres....