Ok, I'll just type it up here rather than make a video. To make a long story short, the '93 Works was almost flawless throughout the weekend in terms of reliability (I'll get to that later). I was only failed by my driving and my setup. Traction throughout the weekend wasn't too bad, but it was on the looser side and I was nonetheless on my toes driving with a one way center pulley on that surface. To leverage the one way effectively, especially on a looser surface, you need to use it to rotate the car into the corner and then punch the throttle, relying on 4wd to straighten the car out on corner exit. This requires you to be very aggressive and have very good timing. I'm used to driving more smoothly, so I ended up turning down the brake EPA to have only just enough at the endpoint to rotate the car if I needed to. This slowed me down a bit as I did not have full brakes, so I'm simply going to have to work on adjusting my driving to suit this chassis on this surface.
The car was occasionally loose on corner exit, but I think that had a lot to do with my running the shocks at maximum droop. I actually had this problem with all of my chassis (RC10, 10T, YZ10), as they were all set up for larger jumps than what the track had, and I was admittedly too hesitant to drain the shocks and tear them apart to add downtravel limiters (how nice would it be if 1/10 chassis had droop screws). It doesn't take long to do, but it is incredibly wasteful of shock oil and I figured I could compensate with my driving. That didn't work so well, as I lost a lot of time mid-corner to corner exit trying to keep the chassis stable. I eventually caved and did it to my RC10 and it made a good difference, so in retrospect, I should have done it to all of my chassis, including the YZ10. Oh well. Lesson learned.
In any case, it was generally difficult for me to put in a clean run with the '93 Works during the qualifiers. Most of it was just me over-driving the car to make up for past errors - my fault, not the car's. Nonetheless, I really really really enjoyed driving this chassis, and I'd like to use it at next year's VONATS. I tried my '94 YZ10 on the same track just to compare, and at least for how they were each set up, the '93 felt better (in fairness, though, the '94 feels better at my home track). I have other chassis that I'd like to run at VONATS (CAT 2000, Lazer ZX/ZXR), but I can always run those throughout the year and there must be somebody there to represent Yokomo at this race anyway
In terms of raw pace, I think I was on par with either a 3rd place finish (maybe 2nd if I'm being optimistic) with a clean run and more attention to setup. Getting taken out on the first lap of the A-main did not help with that (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXHmevf_eMg), so I spent the whole race just catching up to my 4th place qualifying position. I do not mean to have such a somber outlook on the race, though. I did have a really good time for the whole weekend. I'm just disappointed with my performance in all classes (2wd buggy, Stadium Truck, 4wd buggy). I anticipate the event will be at the same place next year, so I have a better idea of what to expect and will change my setup accordingly.
As far as reliability goes, a few things are worth watching out for:
1.) Belt tension. I had commented earlier in this thread about adding a turnbuckle between the rear bulkhead cap and the upper deck to brace the upper deck against slipping. This, however, does not necessarily brace the rear bulkhead from slipping. Even though I have the rubber gasket under the rear bulkhead and the screws are tight, the forces applied to the chassis throughout one or two runs will eventually cause the rear bulkhead to shift. I noticed a few times throughout the weekend, including towards the end of the A-main, that the belts started skipping. Kind of a double-edged sword here. The 870c eats rear belts with brushless power, since the rear belt tension is not adjustable (unless you have the RPM rear bulkhead) and nominally on the loose side. The Works chassis have slotted mounting holes for the rear bulkhead (and the motor mount), which is great for getting the front and rear tensions perfect, but the rear bulkhead will occasionally slip and so you have to stay on top of it. Make very sure to check both the front and rear belt tension after **every** run and adjust accordingly if need be.
2.) Universals. I am presently running the ZC (standard) rather than ZD (hard) universals. With a 10.5 motor, two days of testing at my home track, and a full race weekend, there is now noticeable play in the universal joints. It is not yet "severe," but it is noticeable. Get some ZD universals if you can find them, and/or be sure to have several spares. Or do a hex conversion per one of my other threads if you are feeling masochistic.
3.) Wheel hubs. Whether you run the Suzuki wheel hubs like I do, or the stock wheel hubs, they both mount onto the wheel axle with a grub screw that is supposed to "grab" the wheel axle. Check every wheel hub after every run. A few times during testing, I have lost a wheel due to the wheel hub sliding off of the wheel axle. Brushless motors are powerful, and the grub screw may not be quite enough to really hold the wheel hub tight, even if you crank on it. You can try to drill a threaded recess into the wheel axle, so that the grub screw threads between the hub and the wheel axle to lock it in. Or you can be simpler and use rubber cement or blue loctite to help hold the wheel axle on there. I don't do any of that. Too mucky/fiddly for me. I just rely on the grub screw, but I do have to check it after every run.
