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Gentlemens class... F1 (9.21.2010)

TJ's picture
Posted Tue, 09/21/2010 - 9:21pm by TJ
Interestingly enough, F1 cars seemed to be more fun driving than how it did few years ago. It could probably be because now we have ASF (2.4ghz) and all the available kyosho and aftermarket parts for this F1 to make it more interesting to drive and tune. With new parts on the market such as: mantisworx rear spoiler, front bumper, lower plate and Kyosho’s damper plate kit. All these aftermarket/upgrade parts are “must to have” when competing in F1 class.
 
I personally haven’t spent enough time tuning these Formula 1 cars however, I did spent few hours with them on the track with SP cars, tuned ASF converted F1 w/ other aftermarket parts and tuned F1 with parts mentioned above. The driving difference from different type of setup/parts is very noticeable, especially on the rear end of this car. When properly tuned, you want your car to rotate in the middle/center of the car when turning. Not in the front or in the rear. You want it to be very well balanced and by doing so, you’ll need the parts that are capable of providing this to your F1 car. For MR02/03, finding the setup to have the car rotate in the middle, is very easy to do. F1 being a longer wheelbase car and has zero roll, it makes it a little harder to fine tune… that was then.
 
Just recently, I was lucky enough to drive one of the local drivers tuned F1. The car is owned by Ken Vidal and was tuned by Ryan Sagisi and Ken V. I was able to test drive this car until the new treaded tires had turned into slicks! Prior to test driving the car, first thing I noticed was the front bumper (keep in mind that I didn’t even bother to look at the car or even ask about the setup. All I did was grab the transmitter and put the car on the track.) being round just like how you’d want your Lexus SC430. This is one of the things you’d want to have or do to your car when racing mini-z. With rounded front bumper, you can now come much closer to the wall with confidence. No more worrying about the bumper catching the rails and the follower plowing into your rear end, causing traffic. Keep in mind that I haven’t been on the track for 3 mos when I test drove this car and that the car had a fresh battery pack with speedy07 motor.  On my very first lap on the track, I was on it already. I didn’t even had to re-learn how to drive or get use to the car. It was just on rails from the get-go. I was very impressed on how this car was running and instead of slowing down when there’s traffic ahead, I was smashing the throttle on full even if they were stuck in the corners. Not a good thing to do but I’m an experienced driver and this car just doesn’t want to be off power. It loves it being on-throttle and the car doesn’t get upset if you do an abrupt input on the steering. It is a very forgiving car. It almost feels like a 102mm LM mini-z car with round bumpers. It was dialed!! When I tested this F1, our track layout had a very fast on-power chicane. Most of the F1’s can go in there but not at full speed. They had to let off a bit when coming in and out of this section. The car I drove was just hooking up on this track and pulling 7.8 fast laps with a consistency of 7.9-8.1. That’s pretty fast for an F1. In comparison with the mod MR02/03 times that were at 7.4-7.5 fast laps with modified PN 32-33 turn motors. After driving the car for one full battery pack (20 mins runtime), I picked up the car and checked out what was under the hood (took me a while to figure out how to remove the body but that was “my lesson for the day”. Hehe… ) and found out that this F1 was running a T-Plate like rear suspension and a Damper Plate system, WOW!!! The bouncy F1 that spins out all the time that we know of, is not bouncy anymore and it has tons of rear traction! With the kyosho damper plate...
 

no damper plate= bouncy rearend

 
...the rear of the car was kept planted even when coming in on the sweeper at full speed. When coming out of the corner, F1 normally wants to be slightly throttle not pegged all the way. With the mantisworx lower plates...
 

I know it can be pain in the butt taking these 4 screws off everytime you change your batteries but I'll take 4 more is I know the car will handle as good as it did with this plates on!

 
...you can now hit the throttle at FULL coming out of a corner with confidence! I didn’t have to worry about the rear end breaking loose like the kyosho plates. It was hooking up on and off power and an increase in traction and confidence was definitely noticeable. If I was to race this class, I would definitely put time to have this car to run at its best. Not to say the cars I drove were not good or anything. They’re good cars but knowing myself, I would build myself a car that will run great for me to drive.
 
Here are the list of parts you want your car to have to take it to competition level.
-kyosho ASF 2.4ghz board
-kyosho disc damper system
-mantisworx front bumper
-mantisworx lower plates
-ball differential (converted to 64 pitch) reflex spur v2 or PN black spur
-mantisworx rear spoiler
-PN motor mount
-tires that would work on your track.
-and the most important to have is, gentlemen’s driving etiquette. If you want to know what I’m talking about, watch our friend from Reflex Racing, Joe Chen 2005 PNWC F1 World Champion and PN Racing’s Bill Crotty 2008 F1 PNWC World Champion. It doesn’t matter what car these guys drive, they will drive it like how a race car driver should.
 
More Pictures Below:

Why do we want this mantisworx spoiler? Here's why...

and now you know.

Is that side springs?  With mantisworx lower plates, you dont need these springs. Side springs makes the lateral suspension of this already stiff F1, STIFF! By removing them, the car can optimize more exit corner speeds without letting off the throttle.

This was the normal setup. Kyosho plates with the side springs.

This is the " nahh.." front bumper.

why not this bumper? Because they break easy, get stuck in the corner and the wheels sticks out a bit.

You see what I'm saying when I say, "wheel sticking out?"

mantisworx blinged out front bumper (who doesn't want carbon fiber?! ):

PN Motor Pod:

Reflex Racing V2 spur gears.

 
 FPR would like to thank the following:
Ken Vidal
Ryan Sagisi
Eric and Peter of FPR
and my new canon camera. lol

Now let's get this class going! Who wants to give me an F1 car!

 
 Tj Macabuhay