Mardave VRXce Showroom

[Chequered Flag Racing]

Post your car pictures in here

[Gazza]

Taken from http://www.rccircuitcars.com/ (http://www.rccircuitcars.com/) :thumbsup:

Well as you all know I have been a Mardave nutter right back to the days of first having one when I was a Young lad in my teen age years.

So as Mardave was then owned by Wes Raynor and based in Leicester which was about 4 miles from where I lived this was great as we could pop over to the Mardave Factory and buy the bits of Wes there and then but it was a 1/8th I.C car back in them days then I think in 1976 the great electric car explosion took off and the car to have was in fact the Mardave ( now know to many Ardent Mardave racers as THE DAVE. . )

We still run them to this day in the hands of Chris Wilkinson so all tho it has changed hands a few times with Lee Bishop and now with Chris at the helm it was a real surprise to see this great little car starting to flow with the times and to my surprise it now comes with a GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic ) chassis YESS. . .
Don't get me wrong the ally chassis is ok but for ardent racers it needed to be Carbon or back in the old days when we made them out of GRP this now means that in a heavy crash the alloy twists and your now stuck with a bad handling car so to move with the times its nice to finally see the New Shape Chassis . . oh yes its shaped as well you guys. . .

Now as you know I have never held back on what Mardave bring out and if it was wrong you know I would say it on almost every Forum going that its totally wrong and it needs this or that so Chris was probably shocked when I rang and the Conversation went some thing like this . . .

Ring . Ring .Ring . Ring .

Hi Chris I have to praise you on the new car. . . . in fact I could have sworn I heard a thud when I said its Gazza and I want that new car like Yesterday hello . . hello you still there hello

Oh hi Gazza fancy you ringing what have I done wrong Now

Nothing mate its Mega just what the Dave drivers want cant believe you finally moved with the times Send me one out A.S.A.P I will even pay for next day delivery ( I can only imagine the look on Chris's face with others with smelling salts etc )

Err yea OK as soon as I have made up a few more kits Ill send you one out in a few Days . . No I want it now got to get it ready for the week end and the first Nats at Ardent . . Ok ill do my best to get it to you . . ok thanks . . bye . . Click

So with the minutes now feeling like hours and hours feeling like days . . . OK you get the picture
Well Thursday morning came to around 10:30am and a Knock at the door its the Royal Mail . . sigh here please . . Sure thing mate thanks bye

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats1.JPG
Wow I think I know what this is OK runs off into the workshop clears the bench and its rip open the package like a kid on Christmas morning

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats2.JPG
Oh yes look what I have a V12 Circuit Edition

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats3.JPG
And a Jiffy bag . . . yea its the GT2 shell

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats4.JPG
WOW. . . right make a coffee and we are off

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats5.JPG
Just look at that Chassis DroooooL. . .

LOL also it comes with the Ball raced front wheels I think this is now standard I'm not sure Chris to Comment on that
Ok before the Build starts I will be using a Diff and standard none ball raced front end and wheels every thing else is going to be a Standard kit build I'm doing no modifications to the car what so ever then I will race it this week end to see how I get on with it
Right so first off lets get the Front chassis bolts in and build up the front end and to my surprise gone are the self tapping screws and in with counter Sunk 2mm M3 bolts ( Chris this is a Nice touch well done )

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats6.JPG

Next up is the front wish bone and plate assembly ALL NOTE we now upturn the wish bone as they are further away from the chassis therefore the ride height will be less as in picture below and these are screwed into place with self tapping pozzi screws as it now incorporates narrow track along with wider wheel base so no counter sunk as the holes are quite close to each other ( Chris another pat on the back nice touch . . LOVE IT )

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Top%20wishbone.jpg

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats9.JPG
Here you can see how to make the front end narrow / wide as well as long / short

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Wishbone.jpg
The complete unit ready to be fitted

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats10.JPG
Next up is the steering linkage and these are a nice turn buckle with plastic cups

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats11.JPG
Here you can see the 1mm castor adjustment


Ok next up is now going to be the Servo saver and for me I just like to run a 2.5mm drill through the plastic so as not to weaken it
http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats%2012.JPG
The rear end is just as per Normal Mardave pod settings

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Completed%20chassis.jpg
and then comes the finished product

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Finished.jpg
Happy Days . . . . love it

but mine weighed oh so light and I think this will be discussed at the AGM but here is the way I did it . . .with some builders Lead cut to fit around the inside and trimmed to suit I then cut a strip the width of the rear pod and rolled it to fit into the opposite hole
http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats13.JPG
So you end up looking like this below

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats14.JPG

Then I scored the lead through the hole take it all out place on the bench and Soldered it to the other piece and let the solder flow from the top to bottom ( use some good flux I just used my normal iron that I used for doing NiMh Cells with
Now with talk of its got to much flex and it will give grip roll . . . that's the idea guys if you were going through front tyres like no tomorrow then all you now need do is to go up by say 2 or 4 tyre ratings so if you run your standard Dave on 44 fronts then fit 46 or 48's its that simple I normally run 46's and went for 50's and it was just right I could have tried 48's to give a bit more grip on the front but other than that and I kept them on all week end so that's 8 races on the same front tyre's how's that for consistency

So all in all I very nice Little car to play with and strong .. . . LOL did I mention strong well Just wait till you read up about the First meeting and the end of the Ardent Straight we had cars hitting the safety wall but that's another story but just to say that the Dave is stronger than a 1/12th car is an under statement

Ok Now the Bit That Chris is dreading likes & Dislikes

Dislikes

Just the one
Wish it came with the cobra battery holder as I don't like the Velcro and Lexan tray But as the Chassis is already Drilled to take the Tray fitting the Cobra one in the same place is deffo a no no as the holes are to near to the existing ones IDEA. . leave the chassis with no holes for the battery mounting. And have in the box a paper / sticky template so you can drill & fit either one or you have two chassis a Lexan mount one or Cobra mount one or a blank one you drill your self may sound daft but I bet you drill the servo holes to mount which ever servo you have ?

Likes

Every Thing the chassis is a little thicker than the ally one the 2mm M3 bolts are brilliant and the counter sunk chassis is done just right the new look of the chassis is good as well as its a little wider towards the rear which makes fitting the cobra battery holder a lot better as there is plenty of material to cater for it the New Gray Plastic rear pod is NOT like the first V12 VRX that came out and broke as you just looked at it but some thing else and yes its strong and it can take the knocks as you will see in my next write up about the very First Mardave circuit National stay tuned
Mardave web site <<<<<<<Click (http://www.mardave.co.uk/)

All the Best Gazza

[Chequered Flag Racing]

Damper Tube

what oil/grease type worked?

[Gazza]

Came ready built and filled :thumbsup:

[Chequered Flag Racing]

Came ready built and filled :thumbsup:

is it like 12th grease damper tubes on CRC's or the oil cross dampers on R5's etc

[Gazza]

its as per Chris's answer on his site :thumbsup:

[Gazza]

Well after some 33 years of racing my Mardave it was a pleasure for the BRCA to take us back under its wing and to race it again at top level the first one at Pontins hobby festival in Weston-Super-Mare Brean Sands and then again years later to race the Latest one at Ardent wow that has got to be dedication on my part spanning some years I can tell you

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Dave%20mk1.jpg
Wes Raynor's Dream all this for £37.50

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Dave.jpg
Front end

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Dave..jpg
Rear end with wiper arm speed board

This was the 1/12th car that we ran in them days then there was the likes of Les Pipe - Bill Masey - Neil Francis -Nigel Hayel -Phil Greeno and Nick Adams who built one of the first Electronic ESC and all the others that I cant think of at the moment then as it got under way we had Associated - BoLink - Jerobee cars all of which were then classed as 1/12th electric and we ran super soft tyres covered in Dow corning silicone as we raced on wooden floors . .Oh my have we come a long way since then or what

Well for me to get a hold of a new Mardave car ready for this weekend I was like that little 17 year old kid again it did indeed bring back some memories as I was building it up but on with the show
Well As Saturday came it was up early and off to Ardent ready for the day and as I got closer I get a phone call from a Mate asking which way to Ardent I think I missed the turn LOL.

So we arrived at Ardent only to find we where the first there at 7:15am funny on the site it said doors open at 7:30am oh well hang around have a coffee and a natter

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats15.JPG
James Carvell - Chris Wilkinson & Jim have a natter as we wait for Ardent to open up

Well As I and the rest all get set up I start to wonder what's what as I have not done a BRCA 12th meeting in years so I find out we normally have a practice round followed by 4 rounds and a Final. . . But I want to run me Dave its not even turned a wheel yet But as we finished booking in it was the Dave's out first only 2 heats but never the less it was well worth it I went out with standard 54pink rears and 50 fronts it was going like a dream but I had this funny twitch on the steering to which I put it down to the tyres and setting up the car after all it was its first time out but as the week end went on all will be reviled there were to be two of us with steering handling problems

So with me thinking back on what I have learnt in all the years of racing I decided to alter / check the car over and I could find nothing wrong ( I just wished I had it a week earlier to run at club and find the little problems )

So over the day I was looking at the cars and seeing what people were running and low and be hold every 1 was running the Dave in 13.5 1s Brushless mode I think Young Josh was on a G2 tho as I did not get to see his car

Now for me this was a Joy as I had tried to convince all the top Dave drivers that going 13.5 Brushless and 1s was the way to go we are trying to get the ESC sorted and that not to use turbo or boost so we had a list on what to use and others saying I cant run then as I only have a Speedo that has turbo / boost . . well buy one that has not got it then simple

But alas Chris decided to let them run it as long as it was in blinky mode hmmm I thought will this really make a difference
Well I have a few ESC all of which have this boost and turbo and all of which can be turned off and my GTB2 which is 1s LiPo ready so does not need a booster and this is what I was running so for the life of me I cant remember what happened the rest of Saturday only that we were trying to set a Standard weight system as the new CE was oh so light any way we settled for 950 Grams.

with my car as I was annoyed by the car pulling to the left or right under load not taking corners . . so by the final my plastic bumper had split and I now have a chunk of plastic jammed against the front wheel so no steering LOL and that brings us to the end of Saturday but a Good win By John Plummer well done John

Sunday and again we are there early I made a GRP front bumper ready for today a bit of a rush job but it did the trick I also now had a chance to swop out my GTB2 for a speed passion and run it in Blinky mode to see if there was in fact a difference and although there did seem a little more punch it was not any faster than my GTB2 so save your money don't get a esc with boost etc just run a cheaper GTB2 right back to my car and still no Joy on the corners and at the end of the straight would it go around would it heck as like BANG straight into the barrier ahhhhh

So this was now to plague me for the rest of the day and I to felt sorry for Chris as he was still playing turtle all day yesterday and again today he was rolling on his roof so Mr Mardave was now Mr turtle even I said change to 50 fronts why the others are doing ok why not me well to be honest we all drive our cars different as I found out many years ago what works for 1 person will not work for you but would he change to a harder tyre .. . . . NOPE

Right with the steering playing up I went to swop my servo to another one only to find it was a little bigger and wont fit oh how I wish I could have a mobile workshop but decided to carry on and try a few things out the only thing we all agreed on was that the V12 CE does generate front end grip and with a normal servo mine being a Hitec 225MG I'm now convinced that it could not handle the Grip load on the front end and thus the steering was all over the place on fast flowing corners but was I 100% on this

oh yea almost forgot my old Fusion 13.5 has now got a bent shaft hence the horrible gear mesh sound so I had to get a New motor so thanks to John Plummer who had 1 left for sale . . .

Well finals time and I had a bit of a bad day and so did Chris "the turtle" Wilkinson the other guys were doing so well with there's even James my partner in crime and race buddy we swop ideas with each other and play around as James is also a long time Dave racer going back to Dave's when he raced the 1/8th I.C cars

Then James told Me that Wes was going to pop in and I could not believe it Wes was here and wow so many Memories when we were so young and how things have changed

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats16.JPG
Chris meets Wes Raynor the Founder of Mardave

So Jame's and my self have a natter to Wes and talk about old times and catch up on what's what He is now in the development stages of R/C slot cars with out the slot ?

http://www.youtube.com/v/kUgtisHeLfM

So we carried on talking about cars like you do and then thought we better take some pictures as I have not done any write ups for ages and im a little rusty so bear with me all

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats17.JPG
James Carvell meets his Mentor from the past

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats19.JPG
Thanks for helping so many kids in there youth even today many thanks Wes

So finals time and I was in 5th Place and pole sitter Karl with his old Dave and GTB2 esc was doing so well and the line up was
1st Karl
2nd Richard
3rd Tomo
4th James
5th Gazza
6th John
7th Chris
8th Chris Hardisty
9th Lee
10th Don

What a race they all performed so well and James having on off by Karl I think other wise the New car would have had a real good day out well Chris and my self still got problems and I think Chris was on about the Servo saver ( he had that one for about 3years) was on its last legs and the spring could not hold the wheels as the car and carpet where giving it so much grip it could not cope and I think that's what was going on with mine but not the servo saver but the Servo it self as I don't think it can cope with the Load on it and I possibly only got away with it due to me running 50 fronts So time to do some club testing me thinks and as I have had 2 good days I have to now pay the price of resting my back so No Ardent to day ( Tuesday ) but might try for Friday
Nice to see the young ones Back into the sport and what a way to help them into it than to run a Mardave

The B Fianlists

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats20.JPG

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats21.JPG

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats22.JPG

Well done to you guys Ill get there names next time unless some one can send or post on here


And the A finalists

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats23.JPG
James Carvell

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats24.JPG
Tomo

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats25.JPG
Karl

http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/Nats26.JPG

http://i656.photobucket.com/albums/uu285/paulnuneaton/vrx/318391_292981884064559_100000582507234_1064140_147 5328853_n.jpg


OK here's Looking forward to Hereford
http://www.trackside.co.uk/Mdave/settings.jpg

Till next time Race Fans
Gazza