Xpress Team UK Driver: Mark Raddenbury got busy with some both outdoor and indoor testing. He is becoming more and more familiar with the car and is able to get a setup to his liking quickly at tracks he has not ran the car at before! No, not “testing, testing, 1 2 3… is this thing on?”, or even “well that was some testing, testing”. I’ve literally been doing some testing, followed by some testing. Managed to get a couple of hours indoor with the XQ1S at Forest Raceway, and some outdoor running with the XQ1 at Cotswolds Model Car Club as well. Sadly works been a bit quiet, so I’ve had some time to kill and what better way to kill time than to prep, prep, prep! I’ve got Halifax coming up Mid July and I need to get the miles in on the XQ1 to get it setup ready for action. I also wanted to try out 13.5t Blinky and Boosted, as these are categories I’ll be potentially moving onto over the winter (more on that later). The XQ1S testing at Forest Raceway was more to just refine the setup and do some motor tweaking and testing before Round 4 of the Summer Championship which I’m currently leading. So to the outdoor first! Cotswolds Model Car Club is a fantastic place to go and test. If you like planes, you’ll also like the lunch venue, the wonderfully named AV8 restaurant. Good food, great mugs of tea, and all ringside to the runway for departures and landings at this busy little airport. The model car club itself has a fantastic track layout, undercover putting (with power), air compressor on race days, hot food wagon… the list goes on! I’m glad I became a member here, although I am yet to even see another member on a weekday practising. Compare that to last year when I went to Mendip Raceway, there would always be someone there with me.
Cotswolds was looking good! New kerbs are awesome.
What did I find out? The XQ1 can easily hit the same laptimes as the VBCs were doing, and that’s before I even started on any kind of setup refining! Throughout the day I tried little changes to anti squat and dive, spring rates, damping and FDR. I “think” I’m getting close to a decent setup there, but there is still a few things I want to try out. Hopefully next week I can manage it. I did bolt a 13.5t in for a little bit, but to properly test the extra speed, I’ve decided to shelve that motor for a bit so I can work on getting a setup dialled in that works with my driving style. So far, so good though. The XQ1 responds so well to minor changes and is a real pleasure to drive. Also seems pretty light on tyres too, as the Rush BTCC control tyres I was using have hardly worn, despite already being a 3 run old set! Changes I’ve made so far are…
  • 500wt shock oil all round
  • Stiff spring set (was on kit medium)
  • 5k diff oil (kit standard)
  • Shocks 1 slot off upright
  • -0.5′ camber front; -1’8′ camber rear
  • 1′ toe in front; 2′ toe in rear
XQ1 gets the Yeah Racing setup treatment
I’d tell you what changes I made to the anti squat and dice, but I can’t remember without looking at the car. Sorry! Overall, the XQ1 felt fantastic. Biggest issue I had was a tailwind down the huge Cotswolds straight, that really affected the braking up the hill into a hairpin right hander. It’s surprising how much the wind can affect you when out on track! Got some good ideas to try next time I get down the Cotswolds track after speaking with other drivers. Watch this space. Indoor testing has been a little bit easier to setup! The beauty of the XQ1S is the simplicity of the chassis. You can’t adjust toe in at the rear, you can’t adjust the anti squat or dive. However, you can adjust a lot of other things! I’ve done a bit of work on camber setup front and rear, alongside some Ackerman setup at the front. Moving the link point to the inside of the steering arms has really opened up the steering abilities of the XQ1S and I can really pick a spot and nail it! Steering feels very reactive now and controllable. So reactive, I’ve dropped down to 0.5′ toe out to try and calm it a touch! The natural flex of the chassis really helps with the grip and I do tend to get some squealing off even the hardest tyres I use at the Raceway! I’ve also found I needed to firm up the damping, so I’ve gone to 1000wt oil front and rear in the shocks, with 2 hole pistons. Helps keep the car nimble and less prone to overheating the tyres towards the end of the run. I will be investing in the anti roll bar kit very soon, along with the same shocks I use on the XQ1. This will give me options come race days for tuning quicker than having to bleed and re-bleed shocks when I need to between rounds. Other things to try are going to be taking some of the lower suspension kit from the XQ1 and seeing how anti squat and dive works with the S chassis. Changes so far on the XQ1S to kit…
  • 1000wt oil all round
  • 3k diff oil
  • Shocks fully upright
  • 1mm shim on front inside camber link
  • 0.8′ camber front; 1.5′ camber rear
  • 0.5′ toe out front
XQ1S visits the Yeah Racing setup kit too
Plans for next week? Forest club championship on Tuesday evening (26/06/18) I need to maintain my lead from Mark Bruton-Young, and I have heard a rumour a certain Andy Travis might turn up?! More testing outside. Get a good point on the setup for Halifax BTCC! Get to Midlands Raceway to do some ETS carpet testing with Sweep tyres. It’s liking like I’ll be doing the CWICS this year and maybe the XRS so I need to actually try the cars on black carpet! That’s all for now. Look for an update after Tuesday evening! Cross fingers for more TQ and Win action!! Source: RC Radds