Extra Vitamin C – Xray T2’009
Track test
For the track test we went to the permanent indoor track of the RCCG Neu Wulmstorf near Hamburg. The club offers a very nice location for weekly club racing and is ideal to test new cars and components. We met with Team Xray/SMI Motorsport team driver Daniel Horn who has a vast experience with the T2 ‘008 and also the new ‘009 and he was kind enough to help us out with some springs, tyres and of course helpful tips in terms of set-up etc.
We started with the ‘initial’ set-up as recommended in the build manual. With LRP VTEC 30R tyres we found out that the ‘009 had a good balance right from the start but lacked some traction and site bite so we opted to go for the softer Take-Off 27R rubber. The following laps felt much better as turn-in was very sharp and precise with tons of rear grip. We felt happy with the car now and so was Daniel but he felt that there was room for further improvements. First of all he advised to use harder 3.0 springs up front and 2.8 springs on the rear shocks as our T2 was very drivable when pulling laps on our own but was a bit ‘on the edge’ when battling with other cars. With harder springs the car instantly lacked overall grip as we soon found out. The solution came when we put the car on a scale. The overall weight was only around 1250 gram and therefore the new spring set-up way too stiff. The chassis was not able to ‘lean’ into the corners and that’s why the car behaved erratic. Therefore we went back to the stock C2.8/2.6 set-up but reduced the droop to a value of 7 up front and 6 on the rear with a ride height of 5.5 mm all round and voilà: there was the grip. And with it came a very forgiving car even in tough battles with other cars around as the reduced droop made for a much smoother ride with less tendency to ‘hook’ in tight corners.
The next step was to change the position of the rear upper links. We accidentally used the ‘US Foam Spec’ setting as we mixed up the drawings in the manual (hint!) and therefore we had long upper links mounted in the lower hole of the shock tower with the ball stud in the lower/outer position. Daniel advised to use a shorter link mounted in the inner hole on the hub carrier with the inner ball stud mounted in the low lower/inner position. If you are not familiar with the set-up possibilities on a Xray tourer take a look at our pics and you will notice that Xray found an interesting way to make for easy set-up changes of the inner upper links with the help of eccentric ball studs. But back to our car … The new link position gave our ‘009 a touch more grip when coming out of corners but the car still had tons of grip on corner entry as well as mid corner. To perfect our set-up we tried a set of Sorex 28 tyres as Daniel suggested these as the ‘must have’ tyres on his home track. The Sorex offered a bit more traction when on temperature but it was obvious that again the lower weight of the car (Daniel still uses the heavier NiMH cells) asked for a different set-up than usual. The softer Take-Off 27R tyres proofed to be better when using a lighter car.
At the end of our long and exhausting test day the Xray T2 ‘009 showed no signs of wear at all although we had run it on a high traction track with a modified motor in it. The differential still felt very smooth, the belts were like new and the suspension showed no sign of wear or slop. We look forward to more action with the ‘009 very soon. Thanks again to Daniel Horn for the very helpful tips and the advice during the day!
Conclusion
The Xray T2 ‘009 one again is one of the best if not the best electric touring car around. It offers high quality parts with very high performance out of the box. Although we did some set-up changes during our test the initial kit set-up was very good, drivable and fast. Just pick the right set of tyre to suit your track and off you go. The comprehensive manual and set-up book offers loads of advice to perfect the chassis set-up in case you have none of the very helpful Xray team drivers at hand.
Specifications
Scale: 1/10
Chassis: 2.5 mm carbon fibre
Upper deck: 2.0 mm carbon fibre
Drivetrain: fulltime 4WD
Differentials: spool/ball differential
Suspension: independent double wishbone
Shocks: alloy/oil filled/coil over spring
Dimensions
Length: 367 mm
Width: 187 mm
Wheelbase: 256–261 mm
Track – front: 162 mm
Track – rear: 162 mm
Weight: 1256 gr
*Stock set-up with wheels as tested
Equipment
Car: Xray T2 ‘009 [teamxray.com]
Motor: Team Orion Vortex 2008 Race 6.5T [teamorion.com]
Speedo: Team Orion Vortex Race Spec [teamorion.com]
Battery: Team Orion Race Spec 3800 30C [teamorion.com]
Charger: Robitronic Overloader 2 [robitronic.com]
Servo: KO Propo PDS-2367 ICS [ansmann-racing.com]
Receiver: Sanwa RX411DS [lrp.cc]
Performance Tips
> It is recommended to screw a 3×4 mm grub screw into the unused mounting hole of the rear hub carrier as the holes can be stripped during a crash especially when shims are used under the ball stud of the upper links.
> The rubber diaphragms (volume compensator) of the shocks have a small amount of flash on the outer edge that should be removed with the help of a sharp scissors. This helps to ‘seat’ the rubber part better into the shock cap. Be careful not to remove too much material as this can make for a leaky shock.
Review by Sebastian Suerstedt
