Forward cabs - Do they work?

[jamiekerr14]

I ran my 410 today with my new PL Bulldog shell, I was going to do some back to back after the morning meeting. But weather stopped that, So far It felt as though the car handled slightly differently from the stock shell. BUT.. I have not raced in a few months.. so my thoughts may change after some more testing. But so far, Im pritty sure it seemed to have a slightly more agressive steering feel to it. But I wont to do some back to back before I would confirm my findings....

In a nutshell, think most of them work and can suit some cars/driving styles/tracks. But dont think it would be the top choice for all tracks thats for sure.

[jkclifford]

back to back tested 2 210 against each othter one with sandard on with the bull dog.

when running the bull dog it was easier to tuck up the inside of the standard shell car.
Short straights and the main straight stadand shell pulls away nearly 3m on the straight, front wheels skipping, with a nervous feel. Bull dog planted and feels safe. If a little slower.

Tried both shells on both cars and were run together, generally over the whole lap not a massive difference. although you could defenatly see on tje track where each shell was better.
Cab forward was a bit easier to see which is a definate plus!!

[blue_pinky]

I've swapped to cab forward on a 1/10th 4wd (B44.1) and 1/16th micro 4wd (GT14B)...and in both cases the car just felt more stable and planted...

...I was a complete cab forward hater (and visually still am to some degree, although I'm more used to it now) and had originally put my old B44 shell on the new B44.1 when I got it as a result! But I can't argue with what I felt when I changed to the new kit cab forward shell to try it out and see!

I can't say as I noticed a dramatic steering change/increase as such, but the added stability certainly makes turn in (and the car in general) more predictable at speed, which might give the result of being able to more confidently throw the car around...and allow you to use more steering. If you see what I mean?!?!?

I'm not sure it's actually improved my fastest lap times either necessarily...but I do think it's helped with consistency, which over 5 mins of racing...I'll take any assistance I can And in the end improved consistency will improve confidence...and then laptimes will hopefully follow from that!

My personal thought is it's just cleaned the aero up generally...the rear wing is now more effective, which must help keep the back end in place better at speed, and the front face of the cab is closer to the front shock tower which must reduce the turbulence the tower creates, keeping the front end in check more. But I'm no aero expert so that is just a marginally educated guess!

Now very tempted to change my S2 style shell (that I love to bits!!!) on the C4.1 for a cab forward shell to see if it helps that one. My gut says it'll probably effect the 2wd even more as the car is generally lighter upfront on a 2wd...we will see soon enough I suspect!

[ianjoyner]

I'd really like to try one on an X6, that always feels to have a massive rearwards aero balance. Trimming the wing down and moving it forwards helps, the J-Concepts front wing helps, but is no where near as dramatic as taking off the rear wing. Intuitively though getting more front grip would be better than reducing the rear.

[James]

My centro is miles better with a cab forward shell, much more planted and I crash less. My Tamiya always feels like it needs one but when I try it there doesn't seem to be much difference on the 4wd.. - However a lot of testing gets done at RHR and we've back to backed numerous shells on a few 4wd's, some seem to respond to it more, particularly the B44 - you just seem to crash more with some shells than others without a great difference in feel. So personal experience is 2wd they're definitely noticeably different and better, 4wd much less of a difference but every little helps right..more of a personal preference.

[Big G]

I borrowed a 2wd to run at RHR this year and found the car better without the bulldog shell... but. On my own car I've been running a bulldog shell and found the car amazing.

I'm putting my first experience down to just that feeling of borrowing someone else's car.

my 2wd jumps really well also with all the control you'd want during flight time.

[Jms84]

Gonna be trying the Proline Bulldog shell next weekend at Torch. After reading this seems like it might be the best thing for my Losi22 after last time out

[Richard Lowe]

Originally Posted by James

...some seem to respond to it more, particularly the B44 - you just seem to crash more with some shells than others without a great difference in feel...

The amazing thing was we were comparing two cab forward shells!

[Martijn]

So I think you guys made me want to buy a forward cab body.

But wich one should I get?

(I run a B4.1)
Punischer? Finisher? Bull dog?
What do you use?
Also I'm NOT running the 8mm chassis

[Col]

I/we ran some crappy white cab forward thing for the first 5 hrs of this years York 24hr race, then switched to a JConcepts std shell for the remaining 19hrs.
The only difference I noticed was that the JC one looked considerably better

[Martijn]

Originally Posted by Col

I/we ran some crappy white cab forward thing for the first 5 hrs of this years York 24hr race, then switched to a JConcepts std shell for the remaining 19hrs.
The only difference I noticed was that the JC one looked considerably better

What cap was that?

[Col]

Originally Posted by Martijn

What cap was that?

cap?

[neallewis]

Originally Posted by Martijn

So I think you guys made me want to buy a forward cab body.

But wich one should I get?

(I run a B4.1)
Punischer? Finisher? Bull dog?
What do you use?
Also I'm NOT running the 8mm chassis

I run the bulldog on both regular chassis and +8mm. it fits fine on the short chassis. You just need to cut away a bit more around the front, to allow steering links and rack to pass freely. secure it with velcro around the chassis. The extra (about 5mm) cutaway make no difference on the +8mm.
Of all the B4 CF shells, I think the bulldog looks the best.

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by hazeandfizz

Yes they do. They create an area of low pressure in front of the screen, this gives a forward balance shift. They are a great tuning aid. I'm no top driver and I can tell the difference, if you want a little more front end stick on the cab fwd shell.

For information purposes only: You will always get higher pressure in front of the screen. Depending on the shape, this effect will be more (or less) pronounced. You will also get low pressure over the roof and behind the cab, with the shape determining how pronounced this is in relation to the high pressure area in front of the screen.

HTH.