S2

[spenner]

After running the car for the first time in competition i got to say how impressed i was.
Mr Clarke leant me the car for the Bury national, the work and craftmanship that has gone into the car is 110%.
I never touched the set up on the car and the performance was great, only problem was the tripples which the car really struggled on!!
Around the rest of the track the car was super fast.
I managed to qualify 10th in the D Final which wasn't bad considering i didn't jump the tripple all day. And i was putting in 26 sec laps, just shows how quick this car will be.
Worst part of the weekend was having to give it back.

[Northy]

Strange, i was nailing the tripples all day with mine ;)

G

[PaulRotheram]

your an animal northy. :D

the s2 indeed did look ace, im impressed with the work AC have put in to it, and hope they continue to do so.

well done!

[spenner]

It is very strange, myself and Craig Harris really struggled on the tripples. We watched yourself all fly over them!!!
Not sure what it could have been, tried smaller pinion, turned punch up on speedo. Car just would not get the traction/accelerate over the last jump

[PaulRotheram]

i know what it is.. i think

northys car is very light.. 3 gramms or so over weight wasn't it G? the car is alot more nimble cause of the weight reduction and easier to put the grip down.. then fly abit further cause of the reduced weight.

that's my theory on it.. i struggled at first on them with my b4.. removed all extra weight and it flew over. a milder motor also works better as the new astro on the triples is very loose, so traction is very important.

If you looked in rounds 3 and 4, more people were running new rubber due to the fact the sand was coming up more and more through the day.

[Northy]

Yep, my car is very light, I had to add weight as it was 10 grammes under after ppractise when I checked.

Also, you want power but without wheelspin :) My tyres were not wearing as fast as most people due to the easy power delivery of the car ;)

G

[Stu]

John,
with the X-6 short of traction I've found the trick with that bit of track is to take the apex with two wheels on the white concrete, and then roll the first hump (I'll not call it a jump). Get the power down smoothly on the downslope.

http://www.northernracer.com/bury5.jpg

The Slim did look really good, I was watching it while taking pic's.

[spenner]

I think i cleared it 3 times all day, and you managed to get pic of one!!!!

[Stu]

http://www.northernracer.com/bury6.jpg

Sounds like you are of the same opinion as me with the mid-motor thing, the traction problem is small, but the overall handling package is ACE.

[OldTimer]

Strange one really as both cars were running the new gearbox, which gives a lot more rear end grip, the week before bury i tested the car at Stotfold, and i was using worn out tyres and 2 deg rear toe in, as i had so much rear end grip.

I did notice that if you went wide into the triples and onto the sand you would struggle even with the 4wd ;) to clear them, well i did lol.

But there are more development parts to come for the S2 to further improve it :cool:

[OldTimer]

I think i cleared it 3 times all day, and you managed to get pic of one!!!!

So what did you do those 3 times you did not do the other 68 times :D

[spenner]

No idea !!!! I stood there and watched most cars go over, watched Craig struggle with same problem as me, it was only place on the track. Everywhere else the car was like a missile out of the corner. I would love to go back and run the car round there without the pressure to find out what it was. I personally think it was something to do with the way we had the car set up.

[Body Paint]

I agree John, I would like to go there and try every option part in my box aswell as a few that aren't.

The car was indeed awesome round the rest of the track and had tons of traction. I think it was the lack of anti squat due to us not having all the option parts availabe yet, we are currently only able to run 1 degree anti squat.

Also after thinking back neither of us were following the law of the triple as described by Stu.

[Northy]

Well I was running 1 degree antisquat too :confused:

[Body Paint]

Yes, but, you were a fair bit lighter than us and you were obbeying "the law"

It wasn't till I watched the finals that I really clicked about that triple, but it was a bit late by then :rolleyes:

[OldTimer]

Live and learn :p

[Northy]

I didn't ride the white curb, I thought that was slower. I just tried to make sure the wheels never left the ground over the first one, then NAILED IT!!!!

I think confidance is probably 80% of getting over it tbh.

There is another way, and that is to hop the first one, then nail it, but you have to land on the throttle, any hesitation and you don't make it. Hence the confidance thing ;)

G

[PaulRotheram]

agreed about the confidance, the first time i went i could barely do it.. another meeting or so later and got them spot on.. i think rolling over the first one completely and hitting the throttle on the downslope is the best option.

[Body Paint]

I think I was kind of hoping then nailing then crashing then swearing.

Perhaps if I'd nailed the bitch more confidently I could have left out the last two ;)

If I ever go for the keep the wheels on the ground approach.

[PaulRotheram]

swearing to your self i hope craig :D :p

The cars did look good, i was actually in northys heat and his car did seem alot more consistant, my B4 could be quicker in certain sections.. but over 5 minutes, or even one lap northy definatly had an edge over me.

[elvo]

I think it was the lack of anti squat due to us not having all the option parts availabe yet, we are currently only able to run 1 degree anti squat.




You do have the bits. You simply flip the hinge pin braces over. Gives 4 options:

Front hole up Rear hole down = 2°
Front hole Down rear hole Up = -1° (Pro-Squat)
Front hole Up rear hole Up = 0°
Front hole down rear hole down = 1°

I did draw the hinge pin braces with a number of notches on them to reduce the confusion a bit, but somewhere along the way over to Fibre-lyte, they got lost :)

[OldTimer]

The notches are on there ;) just on the bottom of the hinge pin instead of the top.

[Northy]

They're a little hard to see, but they are there. :cool:

G

[Body Paint]

You could of told me :rolleyes: :D

I probably should have worked that out though TBH, it's not exactly rocket science is it:p

You do have the bits. You simply flip the hinge pin braces over. Gives 4 options:

Front hole up Rear hole down = 2°
Front hole Down rear hole Up = -1° (Pro-Squat)
Front hole Up rear hole Up = 0°
Front hole down rear hole down = 1°

I did draw the hinge pin braces with a number of notches on them to reduce the confusion a bit, but somewhere along the way over to Fibre-lyte, they got lost :)

[PaulRotheram]

are the blocks pretty bulky? i cant remember them when i had a nosey at the car on the weekend.

[Northy]

Yep :cool:

G

[elvo]

You could of told me :rolleyes: :D



It's in the Google Design/Evolution Document, too.

Hey Jonathan, things like these are why we need a proper manual for the S2 ;)

[caneye]

any pics available?

[craigosh]

I tried to get a pic of one today but they're so damn fast!!

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1334/756423048_dfa36a62a4_o.jpg

[PaulRotheram]

haha, looks familiar!

[craigosh]

'nother pic of Rother's S2 at Southport yesterday, and thats all ya gettin!!!

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1121/760986516_054549077a_o.jpg

[OldTimer]

Great photos Craig :p

[caneye]

any nude pics? ;)

[PaulRotheram]

Stay tuned after oswestry national.. it'l be worth the wait.

[craigosh]

got some neckid picks but I dont think i'm allowed to get em out in public :D

[jimmy]

I should have come look at your flash setup mate, looks good! I don't know how practical it would be at a race meeting, but for some of the review stuff I could really do with some off-camera flash to make things exciting.

What flash sync can you get with that setup and how much was the wireless stuff?

[craigosh]

Nah i dont think it would be that practical for in race stuff as you'll get to many people moaning :p Though over time people might get used to it like at MTB and BMX events

Setup wise it was just one canon speedlite with a bowens radio trigger. I did have a second but the bats in the trigger were dead. Think I managed to get the three units for £270 as i bought a studio kit at the same time. I could do with some more powerfull lights as on bright sunny days the flash to ambient ratio is a bit low, but finding good value battery powered units is proving difficult.

Flash sync wise it should be the same as your camera, so for me its 1/250th but i'm pretty sure i was getting syncs at 1/400th which was a bit odd. But i have used em in the studio with a sync speed of 1/1000th on a mamiya, thats because of the leaf shutter in the lense

[Cooper]

http://www.rc-offroad.be/pictures/2007_07_01_bnk4_mbv/images/bnk4mbvcoop_060.jpg
http://www.rc-offroad.be/pictures/2007_07_01_bnk4_mbv/images/bnk4mbvcoop_110.jpg

[elvo]

Wow, I should check my ride height :o

[Cooper]

you made the track smooth for Flipside so he could take the win... 8)

[Body Paint]

You did say you were running it really low.... :o

[elvo]

Flipside measured it with his high-tech ride height gauge, it was 16mm.

Aside from that, I felt that the new wider hinge pin braces were fantastic for reducing traction rolling. Much more effective than widening the car at the CVD stub end.

Next race is on soft dirt.

[Body Paint]

I agree, I was quite amazed how much difference they made.

I've also switched to brushless this week, WOW, what a huge difference to the way the car handles... Much smoother transition through the corner right from brakes to mid corner and exit steering, all three seem much more consistant.

[elvo]

Very true! A brushless rotor is much smaller and lighter than a conventional armature. Much less of a torque reaction!

I found it a bit too smooth for my liking (LRP) and added 15% throttle punch on my KO TX, and set initial brake to 3 on the ESC.

[ttboyy2k]

Will any of the S2's be competing at the worlds this year in Japan?

[Body Paint]

I did here a rumour that Elvo was planning to go..

I can confirm at least one will be at the Euros in Finland, possibly 3 but we're waiting on some gearbox parts to build another 2 cars.

[elvo]

What? Who? Me? Japan? :o

[Body Paint]

I did say it was a rumour LOL

[tjf]

The S2 looks nice in the Oswestry pics when we gonna be able to get one???

[OldTimer]

Its going to be a while yet, maybe sometime over the winter.

[tjf]

so can we pre order?

[OldTimer]

so can we pre order?

I am trying to work out a accurate figure / price range for the S2 conversion before i add a pre-order list to the website, but you are more than welcome to drop me a PM or email.

[ashleyb4]

Its nice to see a car go though the stages of develpoment as cars such as the B4 and CR are made all behind closed doors so we dont see anything but looking at the pictures and reading threads like this is really good its nice to see what happens. the s2 does look a good car.

A

[Body Paint]

As a small team the only way of us finding out what works and what doesn't is to race our cars against the best drivers and cars that other manufacturers have to offer.
This has it's plus's and minus's. You guys get to see everything we do which gives you a sense of how hard we are working to get the car right for others to enjoy. It also means that you get to see the screw ups! eg. my S2 was not great at Bury Metro this year, I then took the same car (with some updates) to Finland, Spenner and Church had the "new" S2 EC spec car whilst I stuck with the older G4 spec car. Mine was improved but still pretty poor and John and DC's car were awesome. Now I have the S2EC spec car I am back on the pace.

This just highlights the good and bad parts of developing in the public eye. Unless you are "in the know" you can summise all sorts of things about the cars that may or may not be factual. That's why we try to answer any and every question about the cars that are put to us.

[ashleyb4]

You learn from your mistakes so mistakes arent screw ups really its just more development at least you know not to do that again or to run that again etc

A
[quote=Body Paint;61277]It also means that you get to see the screw ups! eg. my S2 was not great at Bury Metro this year, I then took the same car (with some updates) to Finland, Spenner and Church had the "new" S2 EC spec car whilst I stuck with the older G4 spec car. Mine was improved but still pretty poor and John and DC's car were awesome. Now I have the S2EC spec car I am back on the pace. /quote]

[ttboyy2k]

Are the S'2 running equal or faster lap times than the rear motored 2wd buggies on the market?

[annie_himself]

Just curious.

Can us Americans buy the S2 or S4?

[Body Paint]

As with all cars there are tracks that suit the S2 better than B4's XXX's etc. I have had my best ever National result this year driving my new S2 on an Astro track, I feel the car was helping me punch above my weight.

The S2 feels as if it has better balance than a B4, especially on a high grip track. I find the car flows much smoother through a corner and jumps flatter, needeing less input from the driver to keep the car level. This, I find, makes for much more consistent, fast, lap times and less mistakes.

After running my S2 through this years National series I would say that since the introduction of the 4 gear transmission I could not have done any better with my B4 at any of the tracks I have raced at this year.

Are the S'2 running equal or faster lap times than the rear motored 2wd buggies on the market?

[David Church]

I agree with what Craig has said, these cars have made an improvement to my performance, and Yes they are for anybody to buy, just send Jonathon a message and ask him when you can get yours!!!!!!!!!:D

[Body Paint]

The S2 is not available for sale, yet. You can pre-order though ;-)

There are several proto-type versions around at the moment and the team are currently working hard to bring all the updates together into a package ready for sale.

The S4 is available, you need to speak to the Atomic Carbon boss man "Old Timer" aka Jonathan.

Just curious.

Can us Americans buy the S2 or S4?

[annie_himself]

The S2 is not available for sale, yet. You can pre-order though ;-)

There are several proto-type versions around at the moment and the team are currently working hard to bring all the updates together into a package ready for sale.

The S4 is available, you need to speak to the Atomic Carbon boss man "Old Timer" aka Jonathan.
I found out that the S2 isn't available yet but I love underdog ideas and cars.

I will shoot him a PM. Thanks.

[ttboyy2k]

Will the S2 accomodate lipo batteries when it is released to the public?

[David Church]

The S-2 takes saddle packs, so as soon as Lipo's come like this the S-2 will be able to use them.
The S-2 should ba avaliable early next year, or so????????

Jonathon??????? We are waiting??? lol :D

[Thomas P]

Yes, may i ask, Jonathan i will buy one ASAP the chassi wll be sold..any date for some preorders? - since the S4 is the best ive ever tried i WANT the s2... let us kno

[OldTimer]

No dates yet for the S2, all i can say is sometime next year.

[ttboyy2k]

It would be nice if a lexan undertray came with the production S2 kit just like many 4wd's have.

[OldTimer]

No need as it will have a carbon fibre tub chassis like the S4 ;)