I really like the idea of two or more of these cars chasing each other around a track, so that’s now the first objective. And I think this also suggests a name for these vehicles – Serial Pursuit Vehicles, or SPV1 and SPV2. I’ll need to decide on the colour at some stage, too ;-).
I have not raced RC cars since I was 15, so I’m no expert on modern RC cars. In those days everything was simpler; we used to charge our NiMH cells from a car battery through a single, fat 1 Ohm resistor. And speed controllers got so hot they would do much more than fry an egg if you got near them (that’s linear regulators for you). But I am quite impressed with the Quanum Vandal kit from what I can see so far. It certainly looks sturdy enough for my planned use, which will be on smooth-ish concrete and has a decent amount of adjustment for the steering and suspension.
For the build, there are unused holes in the chassis tray that can be used to mount a platform for more components. It also looks as though the driveshaft could be used for an optical odometer when the time comes.
The battery area can also be used for other components as we will mount the batteries themselves elsewhere.
On that note, we will be adding a certain amount of weight, so it seems sensible to adjust the mounting points on the suspension to the stiffest position, front and back.
One potential issue is the orientation of the ESC, which has the signal wiring coming out immediately adjacent to the drive shaft. This might create a wear-risk over time, so all I have done is reverse the ESC. The motor wires now come out by the drive shaft, but they exit vertically and so there is no chance of them interfering.
Lastly I am removing the small, bash plate at the front. This takes up space that will be required for other components and is not needed anyway as the car will not be crashing ;-). It also gives two more screw holes at the front that might prove useful for mounting more stuff.
Apart from that, we are done with the basic chassis adjustments. In the next post we will add extra capacity for components with some flat plates.
Mike Isted 