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So what happens now? Well, I probably won't race it again until next years Revival race but I definitely want to do some work on it.

The FatCat shell will get fitted and I'll modify the rear upper wishbones to match the front. I also need a bit more power to compete with the brushless systems and I feel like the car can handle it without corrupting the balance. I need to look out for something like an 11 or 12triple and a speed control to match as I'm not convinced the HiTec could cope. I also think the rear shocks could probably benefit from 300w oil.

I also have a Wasp ballraced steering mechanism, but I'm pretty sure that's Procat era, not XLS. Anybody know for sure?

Yes Procat era so you won't need it, you can just send it my way buddy .

Your car looked good going round, but nowhere near Dan's XL that thing looked so planted all day. I was hoping to be in the same heat as you guys but with my belt and transmitter issues I was happy just to get some track time with mine.

Haha, sorry, that Wasp steering will just have to go on my Procat when I get around to building it then.

Yes, Dan's XL looked excellent.

Great update following on from what was an excellent day. The ethos of your build is very similar to mine, although I was running brushless, albeit 'only' Hobbywing 9t, which seemed ample for running gear and my racing experience.

After speaking to James on the saturday, I lost sleep trying to decide whether to run my brushed plus integrator'd but track proven XLS or MMS'd but unknown XL - the XL was absolutey perfect though. Only setup changes throughout the day were to loose rideheight and reduce timing on motor, after esc thermalled as I was heading for a 10 lap heat. Car was almost 100% reliable, other than breaking a crashback band, a leaking shock and partially shedding a tire in the final.

That paintjob is great - suits the car perfectly.

Ah, so that's what happened to you in the final. I guessed you'd had some kind of drama but didn't see what it was.

Green compound tires felt tight enough on rims to not need glueing - hey-ho, live and learn.

I didn't glue mine either - didn't want to risk trashing the chrome wheels when removing them. I must have got lucky then!

Great write up Iain

Don't blame me from not sleeping on Saturday night Dan! My XLS only managed 5th in the B final. I much preferred driving my other XLS the year before which although wasn't reliable drove lovely with old cells and a brushed motor. This years car with lipo and a 10.5t in it didn't feel right. I know the tyres weren't helping and the shocks on the back were causing issues but I just ran out of set up time. Car was bulletproof though and apart from messing with the shocks didn't have to touch the car from 3 rd round to the final! Not even charge the lipo! started 7th in the final and by the time I got to the tabletop was 3rd. Couldn't stay there though and bent under pressure from Chris and Rob and finished 5th.

Just to add, the XL ran with 350 wt shock oil all round, on kit springs (as far as I know). Tyres were worn green compound mini spikes, on fairly period correct Yokomo rims.

Preparations are well underway for this year's race for the XLS. I've finally got round to fitting the Fatcat shell which looks awesome IMO. It also featured in RC Racer May.

Groomi wrote:Preparations are well underway for this year's race for the XLS. I've finally got round to fitting the Fatcat shell which looks awesome IMO. It also featured in RC Racer May.

Weird body...looks kinda like a wagon...you've got the Dodge Magnum of RC cars right there.

Well we had the Iconic RC Revival event last weekend and as always it was a great event.

A noticeable difference this year was how much better race prepared everyones cars were. There were far fewer mechanical issues and many of the cars were very well set up indeed. Competition in the 84-88 4wd class was strong, but I think the most competitive class was the 89-93 2wd class.

So the preparations I had made this year were mostly improved electrics and better set-up. I also built up another almost identical car for my teammate who is a better driver than me, to see what he could do with it.

Having fitted the Fatcat shell (I don't care what anyone says, it's totally awesome!) I had much more space inside for electrics. I made the most of this by getting an even smaller ESC (Yokomo branded Masami Edition KO Propo unlimited) and mating it to a newly refurbished Reedy Modified 14 double. Batteries stayed as the 2600mah nimh stick packs and I squeezed another year out of the ancient Futaba servo, although there is so much play in it now that it'll be replaced for next year.

Here is my car on the right with my mates on the left, running a 14 triple motor and saddle nimh packs:


With electrical reliability sorted and a touch more pace provided by the ESC, I was able to take advantage of a casual Iconic RC meet at my local track to do some testing and set-up work. In the end, the only things I changed were rear damper oils and spring rates all round. The car was now much more stable through the corners and could even land some gentle jumps.

Here is the XLS at Eden Park Raceway taking the 'famous' Raceway banked corner while it was still a little too soft at the rear. I was running full spike tyres all round as they can be easily replaced new and EPR tends to wear tyres out quickly.


So onto the A1 Raceway for the Revival meeting and the car was brilliant straight out of the box. Although lacking straightline speed compared to the lipo and brushless cars, it was very settled through the corners allowing me to really attack the track and (unusually for me) make very few mistakes. I even managed one 'perfect' heat which I won having made not a single error despite driving flat out for the whole five minutes. Most impressive was it's jumping ability. I landed the tabletop every lap all day long when many more modern cars just couldn't do it.

Here's a couple of pics in action:




Happily I managed to qualify for the A-Final in 8th place and after a scruffy race, managed to bring it home 7th to match last years position despite the much stronger opposition.

And where did my mate finish with his near identical car? 2nd overall - great job!

Great write up and some great shots of the cars, I live in kent too, maybe a test day at EPR one day??

Great read! Thanks for sharing