Yesterday, I had a practice day at Marin RC with the 416. Had the track all to myself with timing system over the speakers so I could here my lap times. I desperatly needed some time with the car and some driving time for myself. I drove pack after pack, making changes through out the day.
I had the car equipped with a 10.5. Started off with a basic set-up, short arms though. First pack I was droppng 12.9's and 12.8's. Good, but not good enough. I felt the car was to stiff. Came back to the pits and changed front and rear shock angles and made roll center changes. Second pack, running on OLD rp-30's I was bringing 12.7's to the table. The car felt much better with a softer shock angle and I flattend out the front roll center. Good, but not good enough. I can't believe what a difference the short arms make. The car is less stable, but stays flatter and turns sharper. Going thru the stingray carousel the car just wrapped around it with such ease. My 415 could do that, but it was more of a struggle and a finesse with the trigger type thing.
The track was feeling nice like it always does. It wasn't up to par like it was on raceday, but still traction was good due to the overcast skies. 3rd pack, I made more roll center changes. The rear end was washy in some areas. I was missing one key ingredient to my test day. I didn't have the right suspension mounts for the rear. My 2 degrees that I was running was to narrow. I have the suspension mount E on the way and I needed it to plant that rear end. Got on the track and dipped into the 12.6's and would back it with solid 12.7's. My rear diff still feels super smooth and better than any brand new 415 diff I ever built! Next pack I went to cs-27's. The car felt so comfortable. My old rp-30's just didn't feel right anymore. they started feeling mooshy, inconsisent and sloppy. With the 27's I was able to pull the trigger hard coming off the turns and lay down some heat. Still bringing 12.6's 12.7's to the table on 4th pack. 5th pack, drove like garbage not concentrating. 6th and 7th pack and made more changes, mainly droop and more roll center changes. I feel the car was tapped out with the rear end being too narrow. It was good in all areas, except for 2nd half of the S turn. The tail was geting loose in that area. Overall, a much needed day for me to finally get a feel for the car. The real test will be on raceday!
Thank you to Amy and Eric Wildt for the super Wildt paint job!
Track Test: Tamiya TRF 416 
