The super Xray
Feb 24th, 2005
I'm becoming a chronic Xray customer.
And the reason is simple - I bought the first
one.
When you buy an Xray after having to deal with the
Yokomo MR4 SP there's no way you'll turn back (and there's no way
you buy another Yokomo either).
In spite of looking the same as an EVO2 with
short suspension arms, there are a few details that make all the
difference.
The bulkheads were redesigned and they look like
lace when compared to the previous ones. Xray removed every
little bit of material that could be removed. The same robust
car but an absolute lightweight. I had to put more than 100 gr.
of ballast in the car to reach minimum weight. Absolutely
amazing.
Building
The building of the cars reveals the small
details that were changed from the EVO2.
Short suspension arms (a porting from the Xray
T1M 1/12) redesigned bulkheads, new drive shafts, new rear diff
outdrives and front one way outdrives and of course the new
internal ratio (1.77).
The upper deck is now solid (unlike the EVO2
with a slot along the middle and the rear shock tower has a new
design, more fluid than the Ultra tune EVO2 shock tower (the one
that looks it was shot with a 12 gauge shotgun).
Like all the cars before, this one comes with
the excellent rear diff completely assembled and all the pieces
fall together like a charm.
I changed a couple of things to suit the car to
my taste. The wheel base adjustment is now made with plastic
shims that I replaced by the much more versatile caster clips.
That way I don't need to remove the arm axles to change the
wheel base.
The front arms were slightly filed on the front
(around 1mm) in order to adjust the angle at which the front
drive shafts "attack" the wheel. They were swept to the rear and
this little touch makes them look much better. The handling also
improved tremendously with this small modification.
Running the car
This was the car that I raced only a few times.
Time and personal life didn't allow me to go to many races and
quite frankly the crowd at the track in race day are not
the kind of guys I like to hang out with.
However I managed to run this car a LOT in
practice (practice for what you may ask). Well, to practice my
skills and improve my setup skills.
And I have to say it was a very profitable year
in terms of driving and setup.
With two good friends that run Xray too, we were
constantly improving our setups and making excellent lap times
that would put us on the top 3 of every race. That alone and the
fun we have is more than enough for maintaining us addicted to
this class.
The small things I tried on the car paid off in
terms of effectiveness and driving. We found ourselves doing lap
times typical of warmer days when the track develops some grip.
All of a sudden with tire and insert choice, and setup our cars
were glued to the ground day after day.
Along the way a few changes were made to the
original:
-
Thick Chassis
-
Thick Upper deck
-
Battery on the left side forward one slot
This resulted in a very consistent car on
asphalt. The lap times became closer on all the laps. It seems
that rigidity is the key for a very similarly behaved car in all
laps. I liked it a lot and if your driving skills are ok, give
it a try. |
