CE1 ... The XB2 that the XB4 could have been!

Now that Xray are about to release their 2wd drive version of the XB4 I thought I would show you a project that a friend of mine, Chris Ellis, has been working on.

After having a successful season campaigning his XB4 as a 2wd he has utilised this experience to make some alterations to the car that he feels will improve it's performance even further.

 After a few long evenings beavering away in the workshop he has produced a car that many people think the the Xray XB4-2 should be.

It is certainly interesting and worth a closer look.

As can be seen from the picture the changes are quite substantial.

The saddle cells are gone and the motor mount is rotated 180 degrees thus enabling the motor to be relocated at the rear of the chassis together with the esc and a shorty battery .

To contribute further towards the perfect weight distribution the servo has been centred under the front top deck.

What you see here is a prototype. Chris tells me the car drives as he hoped it would and initial tests have been impressive.

  Some top drivers have been enlisted to help him develop this car in to a winner, they are currently testing it in varying conditions to ensure it works well whatever the surface/conditions come race day. 

It seems to be a well executed conversion.

I don't know if Chris plans to bring this to market at some point but if he does I'm certain there will be no shortage of potential buyers.

Good luck with it bud.

The layout seems to make a lot of sense and is a good way to utilise the shorty pack that is becoming ever more popular. 

Team C clearly feel the concept has a future as can be seen below with the TM2.

It is quite exciting times for 2wd drive buggies with the bigger manufacturers picking up on the design solutions that talented home designers have come up with.

Watch out for new releases soon from Schumacher and, for the well heeled, Team Xtreme and the RudeBits DB2. 

Indeed is Dave DB1 Burton the man responsible for the rise of the forward/mid motor 2wd?

A note of caution however.

The rise in popularity of 2wd off road in recent times has been, in some part, due to the increased costs involved in running touring cars.

These new 2wd cars are flippin', and in my opinion unjustifiably, expensive and rip through tyres at an alarming rate, it's not unusual to see racers using a fresh set for every round at bigger race meetings.

I'm not sure this is the way forward.

What do you think?

Xray XB808 to 808E brushless conversion.

Over the last couple of seasons it has slowly dawned on me that I am not likely to become a 1/10 off road world champion any time soon.

Whilst I fully intend to pursue this thus far unattainable ambition I have decided to see if my talents might be suited to another class.

Regular readers will know that I am the proud owner of an immaculate Xray 808 nitro buggy which has been gathering dust in the man cave. 

I love this car but the need for a pit man means any form of gas racing really is a two man class. Being a bit of a grumpy old bugger I don't really like to trawl around the pits begging favours from fellow racers so the only solution if I want to go 1/8 racing is electric power.

Turn it on, put it down and race!

So dear readers I am off 1/8 electric buggy racing.

First job, strip down the old girl and decide on the way forward.

Out with the (just run in) motor, fuel tank, electrics and throttle/brake assembly.

I will wrap these up and store them carefully, I refuse to butcher any of them as I may well convert back at some point.

(Click on any image for gallery)

RC SureStart Engine pre-heaters

OK hands up who likes running in engines . . . ?

Yep, I thought not.

I too was like you until I discovered the RC SureStart. 

I know it sounds like the opening line of cheesey advert for washing powder but it really is a genuine sentiment.

Adur MCC: Winter championship decider.

A dry day on the south coast ensured a decent turn out for the last round of the Adur winter series.
There were trophies at stake so people were soldering in their quick motors and charging up their no.1 batteries.
I had an outside chance of winning the superstock class but needed an unlikely set of circumstances to fall into place. A tall order with the quality of the field that had turned up to race. The more achievable goal for me was to confirm 2nd place.

Entrants included Jay Westwood, Timmay Langdell and Tim Hancock so today was going to be quick!

 Chris Betts was in attendance and feeling confident. 

Oh dear ... I dun broke it!

Hello people.

I am afraid to say that I am once again seeking your commiserations rather than your congratulations.

This is what my Xray 009 looked like after heat 3 at the Adur circuit this past weekend.

They have, in their wisdom, installed some very solid and unforgiving concrete beams on the straight.

I decided to pay one of them visit and this was the resultant carnage!

  

It looks worse that it is however and although it effectively ended my meeting, and my tilt at the club winter championship, it is now fully repaired and ready to hit the tarmac again.



After the accident I did at least get the chance to run the new Mi4, as seen in my last post.

This didn't prove to be a big success however and I couldn't get close to the pace of my Xray.

It suffered with 2 problems.

• The rear diff far was too loose, thanks to my great build, and I really struggled to get off the corners quickly. A rebuild and a tighten up for now then hopefully just a short wait until SpecR release the new gear diff.
• Off power the car was really loose in the rear (ooh err!). I hope some attention to shock oils and and rear droop will help with this.

So it's back to the drawing board.
Any advice from you good guys most welcome at this point!

It was all worth it though to see Chris B suffering the after effects of a Jager bomb (or 3) and looking like he had slept in a hedge. There isn't enough coffee to put that right.
Top work fella!