ftx street racer spec - CML Distribution

More documents

Recommendations

Info

➨ PAGES: 82-85 ● Furious Fun RACER - A NITRO MODEL AIMED AT THOSE WANTING SOMETHING FUN TO BURN AROUND with grease and are completely re-buildable whether for routine maintenance of if the driver wants to tune their car for particular track conditions. The centre gear assembly does not have a differential; it is a solid drive, permanent 4WD for the Street Racer GTP. Just a simple spur gear mounted on to a centre shaft. The centre gear assembly is also the mounting point for the single, ventilated braking system. All three gearboxes, indeed the entire drivetrain including both front and rear hubs are fully ball raced. Power is transferred from the gearboxes to the wheels via what many consider to be the ideal combination of drive shafts. Constant velocity axles are used on the front where they have to multi-task, provide drive, react with the suspension and move with the steering arms. The rear drive shafts, which only have to provide drive and work with the suspension are the simpler and possibly lighter, dog-bone style drive shafts. SUPER SUSPENSION It is very much the entry level/novice driver who initially wants some large-scale fun either in an empty car park or similar wide-open space. Thinking about the sector of the market that the FTX Street Racer GTP is aimed at, we think that the suspension is quite advanced for the category of car. The front uses a state of the art pivot ball knuckle arm assembly which would be more widely expected on top of the range one-eighth scale competition cars both on-road and off! STANDARD REAR The rear suspension set up is a much more conventional wishbone, hub and turnbuckle arrangement. Both front and rear suspension units use thick blue anodised alloy shock towers. Unusually for this type of car FTX include anti-roll bars for both the front and rear suspension. Continuing with the theme, the Street Racer GTP, comes with blue anodised aluminium shock absorbers, pre-assembled, filled and mounted onto the chassis. With this standard of suspension all settings are adjustable, camber, both front and rear, toe-in, both front and rear, the front width can be adjusted using the pivot ball system and the rear toe-in can be altered using the clever adjustable cam system in the rear in-board pivot support. Front caster is variable by means of spacers on the front top link. Ride height is adjusted by means of grub screws through the wishbones whilst the shock absorbers come with a comprehensive selection of spring tension spacers. The steering set-up on the FTX Street Racer GTP is very much a standard two steering arms and drag link arrangement with the servo saver built into the right hand side of the steering. Not surprisingly bearings are not included in this layout, the plastic parts running directly on brass posts. Proper turnbuckles link the steering arms to the outer hubs, so toe-in or out are easily adjustable. The steering assembly is secured position by yet another piece of blue anodised alloy plate. U AUGUST 2004 / RADIO CONTROL CAR RACER - 83
THRASH TEST WHAT: FTX STREET RACER SPEC: NITRO POWERED ALLOY CHASSIS CLASS: NITRO TC FUN COST: £289.99 ON TEST So straight away, it was clear that the power of the .25 size engine is put to good use in the Street Racer. Most 1:8 scale cars are powered by a .21 so the additional engine capacity clearly raised the power stakes. Fortunately, the FTX machine comes with a 4WD set up and all that power can be put down. It is easy to power slide the Street Racer as it has an abundance of power and the locked centre diff ensures maximum power is not wasted by a third (centre) differential. The Force engine is a popular choice for many and it has reliability to match its power. It never missed a beat throughout all our testing and. Our Porsche GT3 shell was ideal for playing around with although we feel that by choosing one of the other bodyshell designs, a little better performance could be attained by better aerodynamics. We would like to see how the likes of the McLaren M-GTR compares and the Mercedes CLK for that matter. For those of you not really worried about the effect of a shell, then the Porsche is probably the most realistic of the range as the rally cars look a little like the caricature artwork you see of cars with over-emphasised wheels and minimal ride height! ■* The blue finished oil filled shocks compliment the rest of the chassis WHAT WE USED ■ Futaba S3003 steering servo ■ Futaba S3003 throttle/brake ■ Futaba R103 40mHz mini receiver ■ four AA batteries ■* Force power! A potent 25 unit provides plenty of punch in the Street Racer RACER TIPS don’t rush sticker job oil air filter before running V ■* Chrome finished rims are held in place by bright blue nuts IMPACT STRENGTH FTX, the manufacturers, have obviously thought that the environment that the Street Racer may be used in may require some help to prolong the cars longevity. Nylon side-impact, stone guards are attached to both sides of the chassis, again much like a rallycross car. A massive plastic and foam protect the front of the car bumper, this should surely allow the Street Racer to take some knocks. With this being a larger scale chassis with obviously a large scale bodyshell, a set of substantial body mounts are used, 84 - RADIO CONTROL CAR RACER / AUGUST 2004 ■* The clutch mates to a solid centre diff arrangement these are one of the few parts that have to be fitted to the preassembled car. FORCE FIELD As we said right at the beginning, the Street Racer comes with a preinstalled engine. FTX have used a Force .25 pull start unit. That’s just over four cubic centimetres in new money, just that little bit extra! This extra power is transferred to the 14-tooth clutch bell through a threeshoe clutch. The engine comes with a pre-installed foam air filter, the only thing that needs doing is to oil the foam element, without the oil ■* These UJ driveshafts are installed in the front of the FTX chassis the filter will not work properly and the engine may be damaged very quickly. Fuel is supplied from what looks to be a standard 125cc fuel tank. Exhaust gases are expelled through a two-piece alloy manifold and racing muffler, joined together with a cable tied silicone tube. ELEMENTARY ELECTRONICS Radio installation is very simple on the large-scale chassis’, e<strong>spec</strong>ially as the blue anodised alloy radio plate can be removed to improve access, in fact it’s a critical part of the operation. We attempted to fit a proper battery receiver pack into the receiver box but found a simple standard four AA battery box an easier fit. FTX include all the linkages with the car, including the servo horns and that is where we did encounter a small problem. The steering servo horn fouled the front steering plate, a minor amount of trimming solved the problem, and other than this all the other linkages went together as per the instructions. FINISHING TOUCHES The FTX Street Racer GTP is available with several bodyshell designs, Mercedes DTM, Toyota
Page 1: THRASH TEST WHAT: FTX STREET RACER

ftx street racer spec - CML Distribution

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?