Rally Time

[Sith Lord]

Seems the thing to do is to have you're own rally thread, so here goes: I've just picked up the new Tamiya XV-01 chassis. I ended up picking up the Standard Kit version to save a few pennies. At the time I couldn't justify the extra $50-, for essentially CVD's, but no body, esc. As it turns out the standard kit doesn't come with an esc either, but the store advertised it with, so I got a free one thrown in after the fact. If I had known that, I would have got the Pro version, so would reccommend that to others considering the XV.

Tamiya Evo 7 (TB-01 era) body, with standard decals, but black paint, dumped nice and low for the Tarmac stages. Riding on standard Tamiya rims with Thundertiger Rally tyres. Picked up an interior kit off ebay, which thanks to another thread here, found it to be the DF03 kit from the Toyota Celica:




Suspension jacked up wth kit Tamiya Rally blocks:





Will get some shots of the some of the details up later, and talk about the chassis once I actually drive it.

[xigtc]

Looks awesome. Cant wait to hear some reviews in the XV

[C*H*U*D]

I love the looks of that car!!!

Shouldn't this be moved to the Rally Section?

[Sith Lord]

Originally Posted by C*H*U*D

I love the looks of that car!!!

Shouldn't this be moved to the Rally Section?

Thanks mate.

Didn't think there was a rally section, only a thread talking that there should be a rally section. Other than that, there are only individual threads or the 'Picture Only' thread.

Happy to put this down as a vote for a Rally thread though

[nascarkeith]

Looks good. What did you search on eBay to find that interior?

[Sith Lord]

Originally Posted by nascarkeith

Looks good. What did you search on eBay to find that interior?

'driver cockpit' or something like that... I got mine from seller jr-rc, but he doesn't have any in stock at the moment. A week or so ago there was a clear set on ebay too. Wasn't keen on that one as I don't know what sort of plastic it was, so whether paint would stick to it or not. My mate picked one up the other day so they come and go, I suppose.

[Sith Lord]

A few close ups. Drivers custom 'peaked' helmets.


Front view


Rollcage



Custom Mud Flaps

[OSRC]

Looks great! Agreed, I was a bit ticked that the base kit did not come with the ESC. Had I known that, I would have jumped to the pro as well. Interior looks fantastic!

[Sith Lord]

Well, took the XV for it's first run today. Just out on the street for now - tarmac. First thing I noticed was a very smooth drivetrain. Felt smooth and quiet.

Second thing, once I gave it some power, was that i was very taily. Seemed to lose the rear very easily. A few ideas why:

1. Wrong tyres - currently have Thundertiger Rally tyres on it (pictured above). Apparently great in the dirt, maybe not for tarmac.
2. Wrong body - VERY top heavy at the moment with the interior driver tray, roll cage, bunch of shoo goo, etc.
3. Suspension settings - With the small shock ends on the shocks, to run around 15mm rideheight I had no droop, therefore when the front end dives under brakes or cornering the rear lifts up providing zero traction to one or both rear corners (that's my theory anyway). I've changed to the long shock ends which will give me now around the 19mm ride height, but droop down to around 25mm.
4. A combination of all 3
5. I know nothing, so none of the above.

I'll get it out again tomorrow to see if anything worked.

[nascarkeith]

Sounds about right. Google the Hudy set up manual. You can download the PDF free. It's the manual that comes with their set up stations and explain every tuning option and their effects. Very helpful when setting up a car.

[Sith Lord]

Yeah, I've got the Xray and XXX-main book for my on road cars. One mistake I did make was make too many changes at once. However, same mistake worked this time:

Put on kit Tamiya Rally Blocks
Long shock ends to give me 19mm ride height/25mm full droop
No name brand green/dark green springs (a little softer than Tamiya kit springs)
50wt oil with 1 hole pistons all round
Pushed the bottom mount of the rear shocks out to widest hole
Put old crappy on road race body (ie: light) on for bashing

So with all those changes, the thing was a blast to drive. Really smooth. Did quite a few 'drop offs' from the street gutters - about 5-6 inches and the car was landing smoothly without getting upset at all.

I think 2 of the main negatives I started with, was the heavy body (will leave that for the shelf, I think) and the tyres. Looking at them, they were really cut up after only a few runs. Way too soft I think. Moral of the story - start stock and change one thing at a time - and shelf queen bodies are best left on the shelf. Better now ge started on a new body for day to day use.

[OSRC]

While I love the interiors, I agree they are more for show than go. My Celica saw some very light, careful cruising as I did not want to wreck that interior and bodywork. My XV got beat on though.

[RockEd out]

Sithlord, I love the blacked out look this! Nice job on the interior also!

[Tonysmini]

HPI's Pirrelli rally tyres are much better than the TRB's on tarmac, they grip really well and are pretty good on loose dusty bits too.

[Sith Lord]

Originally Posted by Tonysmini

HPI's Pirrelli rally tyres are much better than the TRB's on tarmac, they grip really well and are pretty good on loose dusty bits too.

Yeah, I've heard that. They were out of stock at the time, so I bought the Thundertigers instead as they also work well on one of the local dirt tracks (apparently).

[Sith Lord]

Originally Posted by RockEd out

Sithlord, I love the blacked out look this! Nice job on the interior also!

Thanks mate. Unfortunately the Evo and Interior are destined for the shelf. Kit Subaru with box art done now. As per OSRC's post, I wanted to ditch the red decals, so replaced them with paint. Also a slight variation with a red front splitter, no black on the side skirts, and included the rear wing.

Paint down:

Stickers - Jeez, there's a lot of stickers!

[TURTLE]

Damn! That is better then the box art!

[RockEd out]

Originally Posted by TURTLE

Damn! That is better then the box art!

X2

[Sith Lord]

Thanks guys. Appreciate it.

Couple of things I've noticed about the car - Unfortunately the cut outs in the chassis to allow rocks to fall through, also allow rocks to get caught from underneath :(. This one jammed the steering while driving. I guess rally cars aren't meant to drive amongst scale 200mm boulders.


And the dust covers over the electronics might be fine as Mud, Rock or or Leaf covers, but not 'Dust'.



A few other action shots from the morning:





And I came pretty close to taking out my camera guy. Just need to find a few more spots to play with some different terrain with more jumps

[OSRC]

The body really came out nice!! Great idea painting the front, really looks clean.