Average Club racer tries out a Schumacher Cougar KC
Available from Schumacher Racing - : http://www.racing-cars.com/pp/Car_Showroom/Cougar_KC.html
## Please read the following considering I am not a top driver .... and my setups etc are personal preference, usually providiing a well balanced car, rather than a razor sharp car. I am sharing my experiences considering how I feel the car has improved my racing, and how I run the car.##
An experienced guy once told me, you can give the top drivers any car, and they always do well, however a real measure of how good a car really is, is when you look at club racing, so here is my review of my first 3 days with a KC, for what it's worth, I'm not blisteringly fast, or particularly mechanically minded, but maybe thats just like you?
Reviving the blog:
My Previous 2wd cars:
- Associated RC10 B4
- X Factory X-6 sqd
- Centro C4.1
- Kyosho RB6
- Schumacher SV2
- Schumacher KF
Let me put this review in perspective:
I received this kit 3 days ago. I built the car from 10pm Friday night, until 3am Saturday, not ideal, but the only time I had available.
And here I am, having built it in five hours, and raced it once, feeling compelled to write a review, the car has been that impressive.
Why a KC? Why now?
Those that know me, will know I keep my cars a very long time, and very rarely change. Even with Schumacher releases, I am slow to adopt the new cars, sticking with the SV2 upto 1 year into the KF release for example.
However, looking at the improvements in Schumacher 2wd results in the short time the KC has been available, was enough to convince me to buy into the KC early.
Orlowski - EOS win (carpet)
Yardy - British Winter Open Win (carpet)
Williams - UK Masters TQ (low / medium grip)
Neal - British Winter Open 3rd place (carpet)
The build:
Schumacher builds are widely recognised as one of the best (both manual and parts organisation), and it was a pleasure to build. The fit and finish was excellent.
Prior to this build, I would've agreed the Schumacher builds were well organised, and clearly documented above the other manufacturers I had experienced. However, there were some other brands that had superior parts, fit, finish and materials.
Considering the latest 4wds (K1 and K2), I thought these were on par with the best, but never thought the KF was up there with the premium brands. With the KC it became clear the bar has been lifted, and the KC is now up there with the premium brands.
Examples of good bits?
The best example is looking at what most will consider a carryover front end.
However, if we consider the front right outer hingepin on the SV2 / KF, I found it needed checking as it had a tendancy to work loose with suspension movement. An alternative method of fixing, when I ran Associated, I understood the binding that could occur with captured hingepins. The KC now uses an outer hingepin keyed into the wishbone with a retaining grub screw locking the pin in. Brilliant.
Shock tops: On all of my previous cars, the alloy shock tops / or alloy pivot ball within the shock tops, had a tendancy to wear, creating quite a bit of slop in the top shock mounting. The new KC has a super strong plastic ball cup mount, which pairs up with the alloy shock body and collar, and steel ball stud, to create a precise fitting, and low maintenance cost, high performing shock top. I was initially concerned with the strength of, and reliability of the shock caps, but from handling them, and really strength testing them with my crashes, I have no worries. As with the other ball studs on the car, there is a small hole allowing access to the hex drive of the ballstud, which means the shocks tops do not need to be 'popped' off.
Also, with them having the optional bleeder holes, they are multi functional, sealed or vented depending on if you drill them or not, so more options covered in the kit. Speaking of which, with all of the belts, layouts, shims, spacers, and holes available, all in the kit, this kit really does have it covered for all conditions.
^^^^^^^ yes that's a KF bodyshell mounted on there, until I get my KC shell painted ^^^^^^
.... and body off shot:
What setup?
I was booked in to attend a North East regional @ MBmodels, an all carpet tight indoor track.
An area I feel Schumacher are ahead of the game, is the wide variety of setups from A team drivers, which are a great starting point for everyone else.
So I went with Orlowskis EOS winning setup:
http://www.racing-cars.com/images/Technical_Info/Schumacher/Current%20Cars/Cougar%20KC/Set%20Up%20Sheets/KC_MO_EOS_R3_Trencin_SK_print.pdf
.... with the following changes: Front shocks moved to inside hole on wishbone to get a bit more turn in around the hairpins at this particular track, and moved rear shocks to outer hole on wishbone to prevent the rear collapsing on power going onto the straight.
I'd only been to this carpet track once before, for 3 x 5 minute runs 6 months ago. So effectively, I wasn't familiar with the track. The track is attached to a shop, and there are some very very fast locals who work in the shop, or live nearby. I knew this would be a difficult meeting.
In the 3 minute practice, the car felt very natural to drive, very well balanced. I always felt that all of my previous 2wd cars had a balance that was very speed / throttle sensitive. Whether it was a little understeer on power or off power, coupled with oversteer on power or off power, I never found a really well balanced setup. From the first few laps, the KC felt so well balanced, to the extent that I didn't need to get used to the car at all, because I didn't need to compensate for any handling traits. My only concern was, how would the lap times appear, as I usually associate an easy to drive car with not optimising lap times.
Mechanic at fault
I must admit, that havnig finished the car at 3am, I had taken (notably one) shortcuts. The rear turnbuckles ... I pulled turnbuckles from another car, and popped on the KC. It was to be my undoing.
Rd1 - I rolled the car, several cars piled into me, and popped the turnbuckle off (the one I had stolen from another car). The marshall popped it back on, but I only managed 36th in round. Individual lap times were good though, maybe 0.7s per lap slower than the top locals.
Rd2 to 4 - Despite a few big crashes into immovable objects, the car held together really well. Strength test successful. My lap times closed a bit nearer to the fast locals, as I became more familiar with the track and the car.
I qualified 5th overall.
Final - After a bit of a messy start, I got up to 3rd on the track, behind Jack Hirst, and James Helliwell (TQ). I was around 3 seconds beind at the 3 minute mark, but managed to close the gap and get back into the race with them with around one minute to go. Jack made a mistake, and I was briefly up to 2nd, before Jack recovered from the mistake (don't ask). I then pushed to get back to 2nd place, rolled, and the turnbuckle popped off again. The lesson here is not to take shortcuts in the build, and use the Schumacher parts.
FInished up 4th:
Electrics:
ESC - Hobbywing v3.1
Motor - Thunder Power 7.5 geared 24/83
Cells - Nosram P5 LCG shorty
Servo - KO RSX2 response
In Summary:
Such a well balanced 2wd car, I could concentrate on racing lines with confidence, and throw the car at the track if needed. I was much faster with the KC, than I could've dreamed of with any of my previous 2wd cars.
I found the KF / KF2 always wanted to over rotate on power, but this KC had no tendancy to do this. I suspect the real test is in 2 weeks time at the UK Masters on a low grip surface, however A team drivers have already reported that on power, and on breaks, the car remains balanced and controllable on line. I think this is due to the new central transmission, and the motor rotating the opposite way to what it does in the KF.
It seems incredibly strong, easy to build and maintain, with great support and setups already emerging from a wide driver base on all surfaces.
Video of the race:
My car is the blue car running in 3rd , starting just off camera (the pink and black car is 1st, the white car is 2nd). Probably only worth watching from 3mins to 5 mins.
https://youtu.be/QAeU0hYoq3g?t=3m8s
Thanks to Davey Liddle for the video.
The Schumacher KC is available from http://www.racing-cars.com/pp/Car_Showroom/Cougar_KC.html
Thanks to Mike Parker www.number5rc.co.uk for your support, and painting skills. Check Mike out for custom paint jobs, or his model shop for all your hobby needs.
I must add that I am a sponsored driver for Schumacher Racing www.racing-cars.com , however I would not be running these cars if I didn't believe they were the best cars out there in 1/10th electric. Thanks to Schumacher for their support, and the provision of a quality RC car.
No comments:
Post a Comment