MadRat - Making it club ready to race

[jo90]

Hiya

I just managed to pick up and ex-demo MadRat for £59.99 for my son to start getting used to racing....and for later when i start racing off-road again.

So far I can tell the shocks will be a weak area from what I have read. I don't want the best of the best and i dont mind if they are not adjustable collar (using spacer clips is fine). What would people say are the best upgrade for them ? Happy to buy second hand here too.

I've ordered bearings already to replace the oilite brass bearings in the hubs. Noticed that the rear hexes where plastic and nakered, so im temporarily using some 4mm Hotbodies one's off my TCX to get the car by for now. Is there a good replacement for these, assuming the X2 uses metal ones ?

The towers are the graphite plastic type, are these up to the knocks club racing would give, giving as well my son is totally new to racing, so the car is bound to get a knock or two ?

Aside from this would there be anything else anyone recommends as spares to carry ?

I realise I could go mad upgrading it all, but perhaps then it would be just buying a whole new car, so this is more about making sure hard wearing area's are covered and not worrying to much about competitive performance.

Cheers for your help, it's really appreciated !!

John

[lordnikon]

John sounds like a decent start with the bearings. If you are running a brushless setup then certainly think about the diff balls being upgraded to ceramics. Idler gears can be problematic, again you can get metal or nylon upgrades for these.

Shocks wise a used X2 or X2C set, Team associated B4 ones all fit. I believe even ansmann do some metal cased ones for not much $$$ although they will be the non-adjustable type.

[Lee24h]

The graphite shock towers are okay for club.
Level although i bin my x2c at the end of a straight and i broke a front
One it depends on how much straight line speed you have
And if your likely to crash full throttle at the end of a straight
Atomic carbon make a 4mm carbon tower which i am buying at the moment

[cigbunt]

spares are cheap, get wishbones all round, front/rear shock towers, and front bulkhead.... i dont think you need carbon but its a "nice to have"

make sure your got the right tyres for the track that'll make all the difference!

[Hpi_guy]

I run my mad rat standard apart from electrics and bearings, and one set up correct it corners perfectly, the only things that I break are rear hubs and front chassis plate my stock shocks are fine

[Dave Dodd]

Defo the idler (ar28t)
front lower nose cone
front upper susp arm holder
the shocks may be okay for a while.

if your using a mild motor like a 13.5t or slower then the diff will be fine

dont see many broken wishbones or shock towers on a rat

hope this helps