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Poll: What day works for a bash.
 October 10
October 11
October 17
October 18
October 24
October 25
None of the above.
Any of the above, I just want to run.
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Duratrax Mini Quake - Track Time (stock)
by Pat (aka CooLJoE) on Friday 03 December 2004
Ok you all asked for it, and now I can finally deliver. I finally got to an offroad track to test out the MiniQuake in stock form, exactly as it comes out of the box. No moving of shocks, no changing of battery, no nothing.....STOCK.
Let me give a quick rundown of the track. Its located in Commerce Twp in south east Michigan. For those in that area, its on Haggery road, just north of Pontiac Trail. The track has a decent layout. Starts with a long straight that curves around to an S. The S goes into a jump and an immediate turn, which followes into a double...smooths for about 5 or so feet.....and then a triple (the S-area/double/triple area is on a 45 degree angle from the rest of the track). After the triple it goes into another S and meets back up with the straight. The track is hardpacked and was wet when I was running (not damp, but enough to eliminate dust completely). It has pits and grooves around the track since its raced on 3 times a week from Nitro (trucks and buggies) and electric (trucks and buggies). Otherwise its decently maintained.
With that aside, lets get to the results. First thing I noticed was that the V-tread tires hooked up just fine on the track. Pins or bowties (if ever made) would hook up awesome, but for now the V-treads are fine and do a good job. Next up, the acceleration was good as was the torque. First time around the track I rolled over the jumps and got used to the track design (was my first time on this track setup and haven't been to this track in about 2 years). The truck rolled nicely throughout the track and soaked up every single pit and groove, just like the bigger MTs do (thanks to 8 oil filled shocks). Torque was nice and I was able to pull up the jumps even at low speeds, or from stand stills.
Finally after a couple runs I decided to try out the jumps a bit. Not too much, since these are designed for 1/10th trucks and were about 3-4 times the height of the MQ, but enough to utilize the suspension and test the air control. I'll tell ya, the truck is just like the bigger versions. First it soaks up bumps just like them, as mentioned above, but now I find it reacts to jumps in a similar fashion. Launching the jumps was the same as the bigger ones. You'd lift off and it wouldn't nose dive or backflip; it would sit level. And cuz of the big meats and 4wd action, air control was great. It doesn't have the torque like the big ones to force a backflip, but you could easily nose dive or frontflip if you wanted. Landings were good too. The suspension just soaked them up, and the tires grabbed nicely and let you accelerate out of the jumps with ease.
Speed of the STOCK MQ was about the same as a stock Mini-T with bearings, 6-cell nimh pack, and tuned 300 motor (roughly 20-22mph). And I don't think the 380 motor in the MQ is tuned/optimized, so theres another 3-5mph. Also, with all the turns, jumps, and fullspeed straights......I never flipped it. Well....I flipped it on the jumps from bad launches or bad landings (my fault), but what I mean is that it doesn't flip from high CG or anything like that (aka, what the Maxx's were famous for doing early on).
All in all, the MQ is awesome on the track. I'd love to be able to race them on dirt tracks all the time. Unfortunately, most places are setting up carpet tracks for these things. I'm gonna see about convincing this track to try a dirt class for awhile and see how it goes. I think it would be alot more fun than carpet.
Only downsides are the 600mah pack gives low runtimes (around 6 or so minutes before it starts to slow down. full dead pack would probably be around 10-15 minutes), the mini-t wheels aren't compatible, and mini-t bodies are too small to really fit well. Runtime problem can be attributed to a couple things. 1) its a 600mah pack....1100s will give better results for sure..and a power increase to boot. 2) the servo is a fullsize servo and probably draws more power than the submicros (used in the Mini-T, RC18T, M18T, etc). I'm looking at getting a metal gear micro servo since it will pull less power, and getting a couple 6-cell GP1100 packs (8-cell will come later since I have to custom make a battery bar for those). The wheel issue could be resolved with new driveshafts/axles that have the nut/bolt setup with a pin-drive, like the Mini-T. Bodies...well I'm sure someone will release a couple bodies at some point. For now, you could probably try out the proline regular looking truck bodies (ones that don't look like stadium race trucks....Hummer, Escalade, etc).
If you don't own an MQ but are thinking about it, I recommend keeping an eye on the aftermarket (specifically in terms of wheels/tires) for the MQ.....and keep an eye on what Xray has coming out. The MQ and the "MT-mode" M18T will be perfect competition. If Xray pulls the MT thing off as well as the MQ....the Xray could be the one to get. Time will tell.
BTW, I'd like to mention that Tower sold out of MiniQuakes early this morning (monday morning) and my LHS got there's in 5 minutes after I left the store on Friday and they sold out that day. So the MiniQuakes could catch on nicely and hopefully warrant some good hop-ups (aside from Duratrax ones).
Rating:
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No events for this month.
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