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My Predator!

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 4:10 pm
by Jedi Master
Some pics of my Pred. It's new built. Not sure what model.....

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As stated by other; the built quality is exceptional! 8)

Re: My Predator!

Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 9:19 pm
by tamiyadan
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Re: My Predator!

Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 2:36 am
by Jedi Master
Wow, thanks for the history! I bought mine due to numerous rumblings about how unique these things are. Never known anyone who raced one, but there seems to be a real 'love it or hate it' viewpoint on them! With such complexity I guess they have a very small set-up window, and anything even slightly outside of it turns it into a dog! Lol!

Re: My Predator!

Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 3:02 am
by Jirka
Jedi Master wrote:Never known anyone who raced one
BK won with one (cells on left & plastic chassis) 1996 Winter champs. Furutani was also in A-main there with Predator.

In Europe, UK especially, Predators were succesfull cars. Kevin Moore and later William Mitcham too drove those and were many times in A-Main at Euros. William was in A-main at 97 worlds (cells front chassis).

Jirka

Re: My Predator!

Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 7:34 am
by GoMachV
It always made me think they designed a trick platform, then said..."oh crap, how are we gonna steer it!" The bellcrank setup just doesn't look like the rest of the car. Wether the car was successful it not, it sure is sexy to look at!

Re: My Predator!

Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 8:14 pm
by terry.sc
Jedi Master wrote:Some pics of my Pred. It's new built. Not sure what model.....
That's a Predator International from 1996, identified by the moulded chassis and blue anodised alloy parts.
It's fitted with the Grand Prix rockers, that's the carbon plates on the moulded front rockers to change the geometry. They were an option part that became standard on later models.

They were pretty popular in the UK in the late 90s, with many UK nationals and European Championships wins, as well as the US Winternationals (Kinwalds first race with the car) and NORRCA nationals.
The only real fault with them was the bevel gears on the diffs, you really had to shim them correctly to make them last, too loose and you would be lucky to get through a meeting without destroying them. Later reinforced gears were much stronger but quite a few were modified to fit Associated TC3 gears instead. The one piece moulded chassis helped gearbox reliability as it meant you couldn't get the propshaft out of alignment when assembling the car. The early wishbones were weak but it didn't take long until the flat ribs were added to them that beefed them up.

Regarding the early carbon fibre chassis, Richard Weatherley, who basically was Tenth Technology, was a very successful karter up to world championship level, and was friends with the owner of Tillett Racing Seats who made carbon and fibreglass seats for karts. All the carbon fibre chassis were hand made by Tillett Racing Seats.

The last big win was the 2001 Euros where Ian Kenningley and Craig Drescher finished 1-2 with the Predator, but after that Richard Weatherley was concentrating more on his distribution company than developing the Predator.

After the X10 was introduced after a 5 year break, Richard Weatherley developed the TCS Thermal Cooling System which led on to TCS Micropumps. To concentrate on the pumps business the Predator was sold on to Team Xtreme, based in the UK. After developing the X11, Team Xtreme concentrated on their Vega mid motor buggy conversions and again the Pred was neglected. The Team Xtreme business was dissolved in February this year, so the Predator is no more.

Re: My Predator!

Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2015 6:10 pm
by yachty
A lovely looking car always wanted one of these seen a few on the ebay and thinking hard.....

Re: My Predator!

Posted: Tue Dec 06, 2016 6:33 am
by Jedi Master

Re: My Predator!

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 10:56 am
by THEYTOOKMYTHUMB
Jedi Master wrote:Sadly now up for sale due to being out of work :(

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/332053959101?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
Sorry to hear that. I'm sure it will turn around. Good Luck!

Re: My Predator!

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2016 2:23 pm
by Jedi Master
Thanks dude! 8)

Re: My Predator!

Posted: Sat Jan 07, 2017 7:40 pm
by jeps
well received ! thanks Jedi Master ;-)

Happy new year !