I spent most of my night wiring up and dremeling my new SpeedPassion motor heatsink/Much-More fans combo. The end result was satisfying though; a perfect fit and a stone-cold motor. Well, at least that's what I'm aiming for with this cooling 'beast'!
The final thing I did before going to sleep was updating my SpeedPassion ESC firmware with the new beta stock specific firmware update. (Although I believe the firmware is now out of the beta stages and has now been released on the HobbyWing website and will be released on the SpeedPassion site very soon). After some Windows 7 'run as Administrator' issues I finally got the software working properly on my laptop and updated the speedo. I then loaded up settings from Stefan (who had kindly explained all the installation and setup intricacies to me beforehand). A quick blip of the throttle whilst it was still on the bench sounded VERY promising indeed.
After oversleeping ever so slightly, we made it to Halifax to be greeted by warm dry weather with glimpses of sunshine to boot. So, after the setup of our testing pit areas we ventured out on the asphalt for the first time since the Mendip national last year.
Andy's car looked good, both round the corners and down the straight. I was concerned that even with my new SpeedPassion firmware, I wasn't going to be a match for the infamous new GM speed control's power. We took it in turns driving and pitting, with the pitman's main role being motor temping. As Halifax is the biggest track on the calendar, keeping motor temps down (especially with all the power the new speed controls are squeezing out of 10.5 motors) is usually the biggest issue.
I went out next and WOW! just, WOW! I was not to be disappointed by the new turn of speed the SpeedPassion had developed overnight. My car was like a missile going down the straight. It's always hard to judge speed with no one else on the track (and unfortunately Andy and I never got out together) but even Andy commented on how fast mine looked going down the straight. I was amazed. I remember the straight at Halifax seeming to take a while in 10.5 last year, this time I kept overshooting the apex at the end of the straight as I was arriving there before I was expecting to! Happy days.
My setup needed some work to get round the corners a bit quicker though, and while I was off the track making my second set of adjustments the heavens decided they had been too kind to us already and opened wide. Neither of us had fully prepared wet cars, so that signalled the end of our fun. Although, Andy had installed his new '2010' wet tub, so that got a bit of a trial in the inclement weather before we packed up and headed home.
On the whole, the test was useful. We both now feel confident that our cars have the straight line speed to compete this season (I even had to gear down as it didn't sound like it had finished accelerating!) But, some work remains to be done on our setups still; the cars weren't terrible but I wouldn't call them good either - it was just a shame we ran out of weather before we could work on them any further. Never fear though, there is still time for all that and more testing will be happening in the next few weeks before the first Mendip National.
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