Szczerba's 2012.2 Secret Agent'd 3.5 Bodiless Berg

[Szczerba]

ahhh...I missed labled course# in video...doh.


good driving broseph!"thumbsup"

Courses were wicked tough and I didn't have the 100% correct foam setup up front. They wouldn't conform the rocks like I wanted them to. That foam setup worked great at ECC though. I have some more secret squirrel foam tuning ideas.

Vids for new page.


We have been setting up tougher courses over the last few months at ARCC. This comp was no different.
Petit Jean is a beautiful place for a comp. We were on the lookout but there is 2-3 more spots in the park too.
This rock is jagged, chunky, holey with lots of verticals and sidehills, It has it all.

I didn't change my foam or tire setup from ECC.
Blues up front with Med outers and Closed Cell inners
Golds out back with Firm outers and Closed Cell inners
Should have put some softs up front with a tuning ring. Or put the golds up front with Medium outers.

A little more knuckle weight could have probably helped too.

Thanks to RolandRockShop for the Videos and editting.

Course 1
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oBzi5NQmGRI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Course 2
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SXgmRaiEBSU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Course 3. I was the only one to make gate 5 :mrgreen: Highlight of my day.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GqeF_k7pCiY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Szczerba]

Completed some more foam testing yesterday with the Gold and Blue Voodoo compounds. Eddie and I texted back and forth with some front end foam setups. I already had some 6" Closed cell inners on hand. JeremyH had good results with them in the Voodoo's.

The 6" inners were ok but I wanted to shorten them up a touch. So after chatting with Eddie we came to what is shown below. I used my 1" bench mounted vertical sander to "channel" out the inner foam.

Front Setups: 6" narrow shaved inners with soft 5.5" outers do good in both gold and blue compounds. Just depends what tire compound is best for the rocks. The channelling of the 6" inner helps lower the height a touch but really gives that better sidehill feel than a 5.5 inner. The 6.0/5.5 Gold setup could possibly use an outer tuning ring to get a little more support but I'll keep running them without for now. They work good on the berg but it's lighter by 3 oz than my shafty rig.


I couldn't run a 5.5" inner with a soft foam at all before, on either compound. Too much side wall flex for my 4lbs 4oz berg rig. Now I can run that soft outer with the 6" inners. "thumbsup".

5.5" inner with med 5.5 outer is just fine out back too. For either compound. I do like a 5.5 inner with a Firm 5.5 outer out back on the Golds too.
No need for a 6" inner out back. IMO.

 

[Nova's Ark]

Completed some more foam testing yesterday with the Gold and Blue Voodoo compounds. Eddie and I texted back and forth with some front end foam setups. I already had some 6" Closed cell inners on hand. JeremyH had good results with them in the Voodoo's.

The 6" inners were ok but I wanted to shorten them up a touch. So after chatting with Eddie we came to what is shown below. I used my 1" bench mounted vertical sander to "channel" out the inner foam.

Front Setups: 6" narrow shaved inners with soft 5.5" outers do good in both gold and blue compounds. Just depends what tire compound is best for the rocks. The channelling of the 6" inner helps lower the height a touch but really gives that better sidehill feel than a 5.5 inner. The 6.0/5.5 Gold setup could possibly use an outer tuning ring to get a little more support but I'll keep running them without for now. They work good on the berg but it's lighter by 3 oz than my shafty rig.


I couldn't run a 5.5" inner with a soft foam at all before, on either compound. Too much side wall flex for my 4lbs 4oz berg rig. Now I can run that soft outer with the 6" inners. "thumbsup".

5.5" inner with med 5.5 outer is just fine out back too. For either compound. I do like a 5.5 inner with a Firm 5.5 outer out back on the Golds too.
No need for a 6" inner out back. IMO.

Thank you for posting this Shane. For those old enough to remember Panther Cougars and F400 foams, it's the same idea. Cut away at the foam until you get the desired response and feel. Only now we do it to the inner foam, not the outer.

 

[JeremyH]

For those old enough to remember Panther Cougars and F400 foams

:ror:

 

[Szczerba]

Thank you for posting this Shane. For those old enough to remember Panther Cougars and F400 foams, it's the same idea. Cut away at the foam until you get the desired response and feel. Only now we do it to the inner foam, not the outer.

Yep, The 6" channelled inners up front are working good.

I ended up 3rd at Yesterday's NWARC comp at Crystal Lake. Think ECC traction with tons of cracks and undercuts.
Congrats to Chad30w on the win. "thumbsup" He ran the a Secret Agent Berg as well.
Thanks to RockedUpRicky for the pictures.


I ran 6.0" Inners and Soft outers up front and Gold Compound Voodoos
5.5" inners with 5.5" Firm outers and Blue Voodoo's out back.
Truck is still 4lbs 4oz.

Tires were working good. They really shined in the "need that extra height" department. Sidehilling was great. The minus for the day at this spot was the V- Cracks and ledge undercuts. The bigger tire would get hung up where Rovers and BC's went through without much issue.

I really liked the way the tires grabbed this rock. No issues with traction or too much traction. I was surprised at some the things these tires could do.

Check my 2.2s thread for some interesting thoughts on the Blue compound Voodoo's.

 

[Tgreer]

Those voodoos really shined at that location, the bigger tires helped with gaps and you really seemed to have smooth consistent traction with them, I think they were even more consistent than the rovers out there. Good driving! See you at state!"thumbsup"

 

[Szczerba]

Those voodoos really shined at that location, the bigger tires helped with gaps and you really seemed to have smooth consistent traction with them, I think they were even more consistent than the rovers out there. Good driving! See you at state!"thumbsup"

Thanks Thommy. The only thing the Voodoo's didnt like were some of the cracks. I didnt make the finish gate on course 4 that most did.

There were some "wow" moments with these tires for sure.

 

[Szczerba]

Been needing some more wheels to test tire and foam setups.
Got some DE Racing wheels ($6.95/pr) and some KL Designs Carbon Fiber wheel face supports. I used a 1/2" counter sink bit (perfect diameter for SLW hub hole) and a dremel sander but to clean out the back side of the wheel. I used a D-Lux delrin SLW spacer for the bolt hole template.

With 600 hub, long 4-40 screws, CF supports and sticker.

 

[DeadlySwan]

How can I get my hands on some KL Design wheel face supports?

 

[Szczerba]

Klabeaume "KL Designs" just made a few sets for testing. He's Waiting for some feedback to see If more will be made.

 

[Harvo]

I beat on mine a little today and had one good fall on the same wheel I previously pulled screws through in Atlanta. With the KL Design supports nothing pulled through.
"thumbsup"

 

[Szczerba]

Right on. This dish surface gets thin after hogging out the inside ribs for the SLW hub. Ive never run plasi-wheels. Been raining here all day. Might get some running on them tomorrow. Have some gray DE wheels to mod up too.

 

[klabeaume]

Klabeaume "KL Designs" just made a few sets for testing. He's Waiting for some feedback to see If more will be made.

I beat on mine a little today and had one good fall on the same wheel I previously pulled screws through in Atlanta. With the KL Design supports nothing pulled through.
"thumbsup"

Thanks guys, looking forward to your feedback and testing results. "thumbsup"

 

[DeadlySwan]

Klabeaume "KL Designs" just made a few sets for testing. He's Waiting for some feedback to see If more will be made.

Thanks.

 

[Szczerba]

5.25" Tall VooDoo Golds.
Brought to you by Crawler Innovations.

 

[TURBOFEST]

Why 5.25"? That's really short?

 

[Szczerba]

5.25" unmounted. They crown a bit mounted. Ill get some pics up in a bit. Roughly same height as khoas-rovers mounted.

 

[Szczerba]

Couple comparison shots of reduced Voodoos.

Why reduce a perfectly good VooDoo? Well, this is RC Crawling and rarely anything is left stock.

Reduced Voodoo golds on left. Stock voodoo silvers on right.

Reduced Voodoo golds on left. Boss Claws right.

Reduced gold voodoos on left. Rovers on right.

 

[Tgreer]

Good driving today state champ!"thumbsup"

 

[Szczerba]

Good driving today state champ!"thumbsup"

Thanks Thommy.

I was able to pull the win in the 2.2 Pro Class at the ARCC State Championship today.

Rig was ~ 4lbs 1oz RTR and felt great at that weight. The Secret Agent is still performing well for me.

I had less than a minute of testing on the reduced Gold Voodoo's friday night. Well, about 40 seconds. I had an Rx wire come off my front esc and I didn't get it fixed until 11pm.
While I was at it, I freshened up the comm's on the Holmes Hobbies Torque Masters. "thumbsup" Nothing like some fresh comm's for a comp.

I ran 5.5" Crawler Innovation's "Comp Cut" Closed Cell inners with 5.25" Soft outers up front
I ran 5.25" Crawler Innovation's "Comp Cut" Closed Cell inners with 5.25" Medium outers out back
Tires are about 5.25" tall up front, mounted and about 5.4" tall out back mounted.

I really like the height of the new setup. Thanks to Eddie at Crawler Innovation's for taking the time to reduce them for me.
There was no question the Voodoo compounds are great.
No pins cut.

You can see the tire size comparison pictures above.

Videos in a few days.