TORCH Summer Series Finale

As the summer season winds down I made the now familiar journey to TORCH for the final round of their popular summer series.

This series has been consistently well attended all year and Sunday was no exception, 72 drivers booked in for what promised to be a good days racing under a late summer sun.

There were some nice trophies to fight over for 1st 2nd & 3rd in the A, B & C finals.
Bring it on!

Losi TLR22 2wd Buggy . . . The Build (Part 3)

Now the, not so straightforward, job of wiring it all up.

There are plenty of options for the layout of the electrics.

Losi sell a 'stubby' sized lipo specifically for this chassis that allows a bit more room. There is no way I am buying a battery that will fit only this car so I needed to work out the best way to do this with my saddles, not so easy with an enormous HW speedo and standard sized Sektrum rx.

As the saying goes; 'where there's a will there's a way'!

I like the HW speedos but the size doesn't help when space is at a premium. It is the 60a version and will be running the '119 stock' (with boost) software to spin up an 8.5 turn 'Bullistorm' motor.

This is what I ended up with, I think it's best described as functional rather than pretty but I will probably tweak it over time.

Losi TLR22 2wd Buggy . . . The Build (Part 2)

Suitably refreshed I ventured back into the shed to crack on with the build.

Next on the list was the gearbox assembly.
This is significantly different for the mid and rear mounted motor variants.
Alot of racers are using ceramics in the diff, I decided to build it to kit spec and see how it holds up.
I gently sanded the diff rings with some wet and dry then assembled using the included silicone grease. The end result is silky smooth, at least on the bench, we'll see how it lasts in the heat of battle!

Tip: Don't forget to run your diff in before using in anger, run gently then readjust, it's easy to damage a diff with excessive slip when new.

Assembly is straightforward enough, all the gears run on beefy shafts with what appear to be decent bearings.

Tip: I used a precautionary dab of threadlock on the long bolts that secure the alloy motor plate.

Losi TLR22 2wd Buggy . . . The Build (Part 1)

I have (rashly) entered the 2wd offroad carpet wars at Maritime so thought I had better build, and start practising with, my Losi TLR22.

The last couple of kits I've built have been Schumachers. They have both been good, high quality, builds so the 22, my very first Losi, has a tough act to follow, let's see how it stacks up.

When I hand over a big wodge of cash for a toy car I like to feel like I am getting some value, decent packaging goes some way towards this. The Losi doesn't disappoint, coming in a nice sleeved box.

Upon opening one is greeted by the familiar sight of a pile of numbered bags. They are easily identified by the numbered headers. A nice surprise is the two sets of wheels that are included, an indoor and outdoor set perhaps?

Wet astro . . . Summer, when was that then?

The weather man had, unconvincingly, predicted a nice day for Sunday.

It was indeed a nice morning so I packed up my gear, including my shiny new SX3 and set off for TORCH.

The only problem was that Saturday night hadn't been so good, in fact it had been chucking it down!

As a consequence the track at TORCH was a little soggy.

Oh well, I guess I've got to learn it all so I paid my money and got myself prepared.

Some of the earlier arrivals got busy with some industrial sized squeegies in an effort to clear the surface of standing water. This was a bit of a thankless task given the that the track sits in a bit of a dip.

A good effort nonetheless, well done chaps.

Indoor buggy racing at Taplow

The indoor buggy track at Taplow was my destination of choice this week.

This was one place the awful weather couldn't spoil my racing.

Taplow is a well known venue in buggy circles and is highly thought of by some top drivers who make occasional appearances here.

The track is run by Janos who spends most of Friday afternoon clearing his employers body shop and putting together a testing track. The track changes each week but is mostly carpet, liberally punctuated with testing features including jumps and yumps of varying sizes. The restricted space guarantees a fairly tight technical track that tests driver ability and car durability. 

Schumacher Cat SX3 . . . The Build (Part 2)

So onto the suspension.

Most of these parts come straight from the SX2, thats a good thing. The drive shafts look like they are from a Scania truck, well up to the rigours of off road racing and no pesky drive pins and grub screws to keep on top of.