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Old 23-01-2012
stall4king stall4king is offline
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Default RB5 Vega vs Durango DEX210

Whilst many of you were this weekend wimping it out at the Players event, with your electrical heating and hot food, there were a hardcore trio of us consisting of myself, tobys and porchesse (pit crew and dog in tow) that braved the elements and ventured upto Robin Hood Raceway for a days testing.

And brave we were. Although bright, it was bitterly cold with gale like winds. Never in my time racing have i thought that there was a very real danger of the wind blowing the transmitter out of my poor hands! It was so cold that at one point that i lost all feeling in my thumbs and my car went veering off over the track! Those of you who can remember the Frosty Fingers series at the old Donisthorpe club will have some idea of what it felt like!

Robin Hood Raceway is one of my, if not favorite, track(s) in the country. It is very technical with a lot of different features to master...and a variety of ways to attack them, because of this i think it is a perfect place to come and test your cars and set-ups.

Seeing as both tobys and porchesse both have the new Durango DEX210, and im running a Vega i thought it would be interesting to test them both back to back and compare them. I started out with my Broxtowe outdoors set-up, simply because thats the only place we have raced outdoors with it. It felt good straight away and although we made a few changes it became apparent that better lap times were not going to be achieved without a better set of rear tyres...which we didnt have.

I really like driving the Vega, i often (particularly outdoors) feel like im driving well within myself but also getting relatively fast times. I like how it is so agile and can tip-toe its way through tricky sections with the minimum of effort. It may sound stupid, but the car is always going forward...it carries momentum coming out of, and inbetween, corners like no 2wd car ive driven, it generates a lot of grip. The car is well designed, nice to work on, driver friendly, strong and generally just an enjoyable car to drive...which is very important to me.

As for weak points on the Vega id have to be really picky as ive not had it long, and it would be unfair to attribute a weakness to the car without having tried a variety of different set-ups first, but i would like the car to rotate out of the middle part of the corner a little better. Im positive that the time is within the car, its just a case of finding the proverbial key to that car! The obvious disadvantage of the Vega is actually not to do with the car itself but with the business side of things. The price of the car means that not a vast amount will be sold when competing for business with much cheaper alternatives. Apart from that, errrr, ermmm...well, i dont like the original bodyshell

Tobys and porchesse were also getting on with their Durango's...at one point we were on track together, i knew by how well the Vega was handling that they were also quick. Toby had started with a pretty much kit standard set-up and although the car was working mechanically well and to a decent standard, he felt that the rear end was collapsing too much in the corners. To rectify this he changed from light blue to dark green rear springs, took out the washers from out from under the inside rear camber link, and changed from Multi-Bytes to Schu.Yellows on the rear, keeping uncut staggered ribs on the front.

The changes had the desired effect and it was shown in the lap times...this was my chance to steal a go! I was very impressed, there were immediate clear differences between the two cars, particularly in the steering. It felt a lot more direct and i could naturally carry much more entry speed into corners, flick the steering slightly, and id be away again without ever feeling the car was going to bite me. The fact that both the Vega and Durango do this...but in different ways, is a great credit to the designers of both manufacturers. In my short go with the car i realied that was the biggest differences between the two, and probably where the DEX210's greatest strength lies, performance wise anyway.

It also jumped well (although due to the high winds jumping was kept to a minimum!), accelerated well and was again just simple enjoyable and to drive. I would have changed a few minor things to suit my own style but that would be nit-picking again.

I think the DEX210's biggest strength is actually Team Durango themselves. They have designed and built a high quality, competitive car at a price much lower than the Vega, and they back it up with cheap spare parts, quality distribution and track side help from an ever growing team of experienced drivers.

Performance wise i think they will prove to be very evenly matched, both having different strengths and weaknesses, and it will be interesting to watch the battle for the big honours this season. Overall though i think the DEX210 is probably the best all round package, just due to the price and the overall service you appear to get with them. This however will not nullify my desire to beat as many of them as possible and i expect all us Vega dudes to give as good as we get this coming year

For the record, Toby was fastest with laps which i think were in the low 29's. The fastest i went with the Vega was a slow 29 and my fastest with the DEX210 was a 29.5...(im blaming tyres obviously!)

Let battle commence!
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Old 23-01-2012
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Gayo Gayo is offline
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Great reading and infos, thanks
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Old 23-01-2012
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yeah,intersting read.......i nearly bought a 210 after seeing how well my friend went with one after swopping from a cougar,i stopped because iv only seen them indoor,knowing how well my RB5 Vega goes outdoor ill be sticking with the Vega,and as you say BRING IT ON
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Old 26-01-2012
porschesse porschesse is offline
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well done Iain great little write up and at least our courage and bravery will go down in history, lest we forget! hopefully Broxtowe this weekend will be less windy and I might be able to stand still on the rostrum!
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