Top Cat in action @ Venon Vintage Festival.!!!!!!!!!!
Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2011 6:24 am
Well after spending countless hrs of prep and R&D on my Top Cat for the Vintage Festival it went very well.
The mods and Updates to this was quite extensive to make it turn well . I managed to get it to steer nice in the dry still with push but if i took my lines right it carved the corners with impressive speed. This was original built up with 13t brushless but raced it in silver can stock.
I wanted this to reamain a Top Cat and not the more common Cougar versions. It arrived to me from Bormac less shocks and wheels. It had quite a few of mods/updates on it that Jason had. ( Thanks)So i installed a set of GPM alloy shocks with Losi springs at the rear. For the front shocks i opted for a set of Yeah Racing alloy ones. Mounting these was a little tricky as the angle made it hard to mount to the bottom of the chassis. For rolling stock a set of J.C racing wheels went on with Proline Bow Ties at the rear and Losi ribs in red compound at the front.
After some initial testing i was searching for more steering ( No Surprise) A rear sway bar was installed for a little more on power steering . Still needing more i sourced a set of narrow track front arms from here ( Thank You MiniChamps) With this mod the steering was better and a slighter stiffer front end as well helped. To Run Hard case Li Po battery ( I wanted to stick with the stick pack for jumping balance) I had to move the battery cup at the front by 5mm. To do this the steering servo had to relocated by 5mm as well.Things were getting really cramped up the front now!!!! After all these small mods the Top Cat felt really good with the grunt of the 13t brushless. So my thinking was if it was drivable with this it should be great in stock.
The race meet rolled up and i was super confident with my Top Cat. In practice it was very nice so i opted to put her away and work on my other classes. With almost 20 entries i was in for fight with the more common rc10's and Jrx2's. I had a ripper in the first heat lapping the field but the faster guys were in the other heat. To my dismay the personal transponder didn't count all the time. I mounted it on the alloy chassis as they need to be up around 5mm. I was so dissapointed but still had3 more heats.
In the end i stuck the mighty Top Cat 2nd on the Grid with a very fast Dazza ( Retro RC & G.J.W were super quick) for the finals. Rain had started to come down and once again the vintage mud bath was on again. ( Same the Yr before) After a good 1st final and getting 2nd the next final was very messy and ended up last. Managed to get back to fourth but that was it. Rained stopped the meet.
Result was 3rd overall . I was pushed very hard by Garry Walker with his losi pro and Retro was too good. I was still happy with the Top Cat but i really felt it would have done better in the dry as i didn't do a ratio change for the mud. I was racing every class so didn't have time too.
The mods and Updates to this was quite extensive to make it turn well . I managed to get it to steer nice in the dry still with push but if i took my lines right it carved the corners with impressive speed. This was original built up with 13t brushless but raced it in silver can stock.
I wanted this to reamain a Top Cat and not the more common Cougar versions. It arrived to me from Bormac less shocks and wheels. It had quite a few of mods/updates on it that Jason had. ( Thanks)So i installed a set of GPM alloy shocks with Losi springs at the rear. For the front shocks i opted for a set of Yeah Racing alloy ones. Mounting these was a little tricky as the angle made it hard to mount to the bottom of the chassis. For rolling stock a set of J.C racing wheels went on with Proline Bow Ties at the rear and Losi ribs in red compound at the front.
After some initial testing i was searching for more steering ( No Surprise) A rear sway bar was installed for a little more on power steering . Still needing more i sourced a set of narrow track front arms from here ( Thank You MiniChamps) With this mod the steering was better and a slighter stiffer front end as well helped. To Run Hard case Li Po battery ( I wanted to stick with the stick pack for jumping balance) I had to move the battery cup at the front by 5mm. To do this the steering servo had to relocated by 5mm as well.Things were getting really cramped up the front now!!!! After all these small mods the Top Cat felt really good with the grunt of the 13t brushless. So my thinking was if it was drivable with this it should be great in stock.
The race meet rolled up and i was super confident with my Top Cat. In practice it was very nice so i opted to put her away and work on my other classes. With almost 20 entries i was in for fight with the more common rc10's and Jrx2's. I had a ripper in the first heat lapping the field but the faster guys were in the other heat. To my dismay the personal transponder didn't count all the time. I mounted it on the alloy chassis as they need to be up around 5mm. I was so dissapointed but still had3 more heats.
In the end i stuck the mighty Top Cat 2nd on the Grid with a very fast Dazza ( Retro RC & G.J.W were super quick) for the finals. Rain had started to come down and once again the vintage mud bath was on again. ( Same the Yr before) After a good 1st final and getting 2nd the next final was very messy and ended up last. Managed to get back to fourth but that was it. Rained stopped the meet.
Result was 3rd overall . I was pushed very hard by Garry Walker with his losi pro and Retro was too good. I was still happy with the Top Cat but i really felt it would have done better in the dry as i didn't do a ratio change for the mud. I was racing every class so didn't have time too.
