Race Bodies

Race body: It is really drivers preference. I personally LOVE my Lexus SC430. This is why I only have one type of body in my tool box.  It doesn't matter if the track has a lot of traction or has zero traction. You'll only see me with one race body and that would be, Lexus SC430. I like this because for me, it felt very balance even with the big rear spoiler in the back, the car still felt balance. It is also probably because it has half bumper in the rear that evens it out with the spoiler's weight. I have stability when the car is coming out of the corner (on-power) and on the straight away, the car feels very stable like the '07 350Z and turns in (off-power) somewhat similar to Ferrari 360GTC.

F360GTC= for steering on/off
'07 350Z= for stability
=> SC430 body.

Some may agree or disagree but this is just how feel about this body after running it for 2 straight years.

Lately, I have been messing around with the Porsche GT1 body:

and it had drastically dropped my lap times to almost .20 of a seconds. So, I started practicing with this body for few days even though everything in this race body was againts to my religion. lol... The rear spoiler, rear wide bumper, it's length and the front bumper being too fragile, so on and so forth... But the results on the clock was still .20 sec faster than my SC430.

It being fragile, I decided to save the body for the race and use another body that has similar driving characteristic. This is when I put my F360 Modena on the track (street version of F360GTC) and then I added the same weight I have on my porsche rear end, 2.2 grams. I was able to do this by adding 1.0 gram of weight on each side of the rear bumper by the taillights. I also added my home made rear spoiler to complete the 2.2 grams of weight I needed.

After all that, the car felt pretty close to my GT1 but this Modena wasn't even close to SC430's stability on the straight away. Every where the car was good butthe straight away! It was a bit twitchy on the straight, as if I had 7 grams of weight all sitting in the front of the car but I didn't. After driving this body for about a week, I decided to bust it out on last weeks race in the A-main and the result was great.  After that night, I've invested into buying a real race body, Ferrari 360GTC! I know this body is used around the World by top drivers and there has to be a reason why they use this body. When my new painted 360GTC body was ready on the track (Thanks to Ryan Sagisi for painting my body and to David "quag" Castro for helping me clear the rear and have tight fitting on the chassis!!) I tried it without changing anything to the car and the car was just amazing!  Yes, sir you heard me right. It was amazing!! The stability and quickness infield is not even close to comparison with my SC430 body. Which, like I mentioned above, is the only body I have been using for big event races for 2 years! It's stable in the straight away and on/off power steering is given without adding weight or whatsoever. Although it's a great body, I still needed to get use to its driving characteristic. So, I spent all week with one car and one body. The results just keep getting better and better.

this is where the RCP corner wall would rub on a 360GTC body:
Correct! It'll rub on that smooth/round surface which will make the car to just slide off.

On a SC430 body, this is where it will rub...
exactly! It'll rub on that sharp edge side skirt which makes it stick on that corner wall!

look at how much rounder this front bumper is compare to SC430? Check out the side bumper, tucked in! This makes it very forgiving around the corners. Almost feels like you can fit every where even if there's not enough space.

Why is this body better than SC430? Well, as mentioned by everyone in the World, this body has more steering due to the over hang weight in the front. It is also flat and low which makes this car fast inside the chicanes/in-fields but these are not my concerns. My main concern is the body having a narrower and rounder front bumper than my race body, SC430. It is about 2mm narrower on each side! Just like the GT1 body and this is why I was faster with this body than my SC430... I was able to buid my confidence with this F360GTC body. I'm not afraid to come close to the wall anymore and worrying about catching and getting stuck to it. It is a much forgiving body and this is why, I like it. It is also a plus to have it the same length as the SC430. Unlike the Porsche GT1, it has almost 4mm longer.

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Update 03.15.2010:
Yesterday I was finally able to run my new Ferrari 430GT body (that was painted by David "quag" Castro and side clips were mounted PERFECTLY! Thanks Quag!!!) for about 4 battery packs on my PN70 stock spec car. Keep in mind that I didn't change anything to my set up. I just remove and replaced the front clip and then the body. With the F430GT, I was able to tell the difference right away. I definitely gained initial turn-in and about the same if not a little bit more corner speed with F430GT body vs F360GTC. I know the initial steering was achieve from the over hang weight in the front but the corner speed is probably because the side clips were lowered which, raised the body up by 1mm. This made the body lean more than the F360GTC while cornering.

I have never traction rolled on my F360GTC. I just don't see it happening to this car. This car is just planted on the ground but still have the quick transition infield. When I drove the F430GT, initially I thought I was going to roll it on the sweeper but it didn't. It doesn't lift or anything but the car just felt like it was on the edge. Although it is fast and consistent just like the F360GTC. On my last battery pack, I was trying to push the car to its limit (fyi... F360GTC fast lap was 9.17) and when I hit the left hand carousel, the F430GT lifted on both wheels about 1" off the ground but I was able to save it! It didn't lift right when I got in the corner but rather in the middle (mid-corner) of the corner to exit. This tells me that this car has definitely more corner speed than the F360GTC. As I mentioned, I have not seen my F360GTC rolled and especially, I haven't seen any cars tractioned rolled in this corner of the track! That said, I think I found another set-up that I may be able to use to get more corner speed however, RCX race is this weekend and my car is running at its best for the past 3 weeks with almost the same exact setup. My fast lap with this car is 9.22. I think if I put a little time to it, I can drop this down to 9.1 with a consistent time of 9.3's... Right now, I have 9.4 consistency on my F360GTC.

Update 03.16.2010:
Ofcourse another update!  The set up on my car is now completely changed! Ok, I'm just kidding. hehe...
Last night I was able to spend all night with this body on the track and as I suspected, traction roll did occur but only when John Hicks called my name and I looked over and hit the wall. LOL Seriously though, the car last night had zero traction roll. Although it was definitely on the edge (I was able to see my rear wheel lifting a few times). With my race packs that was charged 4 hours prior to its use, the car was able to drop 9.2's on its second lap and by 4th lap I was able to hit 9.18. This is while I was being chased by John.  

So that is your update for today! F430GT will definitely see RCX this weekend!

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It took me a while but I think I am finally retiring my SC430 body.  You guys will see me with my new race body and I hope I can match these guys fast lap! I hope...

New drivers and SC430 owners, dont get disappointed with SC430 body. It is a great body. As you see, I have used it for couple of years. Alright, that is it for this week!