Monday, February 2, 2009
Serpent 966 Conversion set
Categories - Cars, Products, Serpent - trackback
Serpent have unveiled further details of their new 966 1/8th scale chassis, which will first be made available as an upgrade set for current 960 owners. The kit includes the new 7075 T6 aluminium chassis plate, which has been heavily machined on both sides including recessed areas for both the carbon fibre battery plate and front stiffener plate. The set also comes with the beautiful looking rear end assembly, which includes the braking system we showed you yesterday. The anodized aluminium rear end keeps everything aligned and perfectly true and makes maintenance and adjustment much easier. Finally the set comes with the new carbon fibre upper wishbone mounting brackets as well as new rear shock tower.
Source: Serpent [serpent.com]
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1. James - February 3rd, 2009 at 06:22
Beautiful work, but I think we are getting into the realm of jewellery now or lab equipment – not really suited for the violent and dusty environment it is meant for.
I can see the bearings becoming loose in the housings in no time and it being distorted by a rear end impact- Alu does not have the memory of nylon and will not bounce back or absorb any of the impact energy which will now be transmitted straight into the screws and chassis.
Then there is the hassle of cleaning off the old loctite and applying fresh each time you strip to clean or repair.
Other than the top 1 percent of drivers, I do not think the sport needs these exotic materials and designs which tend to just make the sport more costly.
Looks good though!
2. John - February 3rd, 2009 at 07:08
It looks grand! That said, I’m having flashs backs regarding race day chassis maintence during my VTEC phase.
3. Andrew - February 3rd, 2009 at 12:20
Real race cars are also made of Carbon and Alu. The 966 is very close to a real race car now.
Guys who want to have plastics, buy a nikko.
4. nr-racer* - February 3rd, 2009 at 13:44
now that looks awesome:P
5. Stefan - February 3rd, 2009 at 16:18
Hehe Andrew pointed it in a certain way. These parts are super strong as coulb be seen (enough to see it here) for taking impacts. An impact that would bend something here would breake a normal car in pieces! BTW stiffer parts help to handle sharp like a razor blade. But not sure if it nevertheless will be the Velox 09 for me as it is more innovative to me. But the 966 seems to look as great as the Velox!
6. Sonicstep - February 6th, 2009 at 14:41
Going the way of the Hudy X-Ray T1.. for precise consistent setup. It’s long over due!
How can 1/8 scale cars be considered the F1 of RC onroad and yet use inferior injection moulded plastic parts in such vital areas as the bulk heads?
Oddly 1/10 scale has had the lead long ago less the 1/8 Slide..V5, which arguably has too much metal, now I also recall a 90’s Picco with much nicely machined die cast powder finished machined parts.
I have a feeling Serpent spent some time developing that rear end possibly due to other projects and ran out of time with the Winter Nationals looming. Other company’s developments such as Motonica may have pressured them to bring this to market sooner (although that looks more like a hatchet job than one of continued original design team product development progress).
This 966 reminds me of the initial Vector instalment followed by the more complete and refined Veteq 02. There is no rush. I would rather wait for the 966 02 with front end ally bulkheads.