XRay T4 2019 Review Part 2 - T4 2019 Mod Race report and settings

Following from Part 1 of the XRay T4 2019 build and review, Florian and myself were keen to take the Mod Xray T4 2019 out to the track. I had not had time to build the stock 2019 T4, an article on that will follow very soon. In the meantime here are the race reports and setting sheets from EWS round 1 and the Vienna EWS

Race report Xray T4 2019 Mod

EWS round 1

The first time we raced the T4 2019 was at the Essex Winter Series in Deanes, UK. The EWS is a series of 5 indoor races on ETS carpet. The tire used is a spec tire from Sweep with additive limited to a number of makes.

These races are very competitive and attract the best UK drivers and some foreign drivers. What makes this event so nice is that it is a one day event, with 1 free practice, 4 rounds of qualifying and 1 final.

When we participate at this race, we take the ferry at around 4am so that we arrive just in time for the track to open at 7am.

When we arrived at the track, we immediately purchased the spec tires, adjusted the ride height and checked the weight of the car with these tires. We then went to scrutineering for the spoiler and motor to be checked.

In modified, there were around 30 drivers. During the free practice, Florian checked if his car tracked straight and adjusted his transmitter to his liking. This was the very first time he ran the car, so he was a bit anxious. The car went very well, but we didn’t see any times because we used a newer Mylaps transponder which isn’t supported by the timing system used by EWS.

When we went into qualifying, we noticed that Florian had strong pace right from the start. The Sweep tires have however bit different characteristics then the Volante we normally use. The tires seem to have a bit more turn-in and a bit less rear grip. To compensate this, I made these changes;

• Ackermann only 0,5 instead of 1mm to get a bit softer turn in
• 3 degrees rear toe-in
• 2,5mm bumpsteer instead of 3mm to get less steering

In the final, Florian’s car was ok, but a bit slower than in the last qualifying. We suspect that the tires are best after 3-4 rounds and that they start to wear off afterwards. Florian was a bit unlucky at the start and dropped to P10. He then climbed his way back to P5 before clipping a kerb and dropping down the order again. In the end he finished in P6. Unfortunately Alexander Hagberg, who dominated qualifying, had a problem with his car and had to withdraw from the race.

You can find the setup of the Mod car here:

And the stock setup for the T4 18 car is here:

2. ETS round 1

The first race of the ETS season kicked off at the Modellbaumesse Wien. This fair is an ideal showcase for our hobby as it attracts a large number of visitors.

The track was quite technical with no so many passing opportunities. We raced the Xray T4 19 car in mod and the T4 18 car in stock. I will add the set-up sheet for the stock car as well, but give a bit more in depth information on the 19 car.

During the first practice sessions, Florian had a good feeling with the car. He managed to reduce his deficit to the fastest driver, Bruno Coelho, from .7 seconds to .5 seconds per lap.

We however decided to run in both our sets of allocated tires in the practice sessions, as the Volante tires get better after 2/3 runs. Florian was complaining about a lack of initial steering. We opted for the Protoform Type S body instead of the Montech Racer body to get a bit more initial steering. I also increased the Ackermann to 0,75mm and the bumpsteer to 3,5mm.

In Q4 we had the car more or less sorted as he was able to make a P19 run, which is quite excellent, moreover because all the topdrivers finished their runs. We made the car quite aggressive by running 1,25mm of Ackermann and lowering the roll center on the front block. Alexander Hagberg also told us to use the kit supplied C hubs and axle holders (we were running the graphite ones).

With his good last qualifying run, Florian managed to get a P26 overall position, which is his best ever qualifying position at an ETS. In the first final, he got caught up in the first corner melee and dropped to the back. The car showed good pace though, so we were confident for the later finals.

After the finals, Lucas Urbain, a French top driver, told us that the track was changing every run. This was due to the foodtrucks in the hall that were working overtime :). Because of this, there was a lot of fat deposited everywhere (you could notice it on the chargers) and off course on the track. This caused the cars to understeer a lot more than normal.

In order to get even more steering corner entry, I mounted an Avid solid RF block to stiffen up the front chassis and a low front suspension mount with a -1 insert. I however messed up the rear suspension and mounted the left and right dampers in a different hole. Florian told me his car was unpredictable and super difficult to drive, but he managed to get a P3 in that final.

For the last final, I used 1mm Ackermans shim and reduced the length of the shocks to 8.5mm instead of 9mm. This time the car was really good, with only a slight hint of understeer. Florian climbed to the P3 spot, only to drop down the order again after a body tuck. In that race he recovered to P3 and set his fastest single laptime of the day. With that laptime, he was only .2 behind the winner of A3, Marc Rheinard. This proved that the car was working very well at the end.

Here is the final set-up

When looking at the final ranking, we noticed that the 3 youngest drivers (Oliver Havranek, Andrea Ghilotti and Florian) were all driving the Xray T4 car.

We are really happy that Xray not only supports the top drivers, but also invests time and money into young drivers. This is something that we really appreciate.

Next up, will be my tips for a stock T4 2019 build :)

Special thanks to:
#Teamxray
#Rcconnect
#Hobbywing
#PowerHD
#GensAce
#Avid
#HiroSeiko
#7075it
#1upRacing
#TornadoOil
#RacingArenaLimburg