RE: Nitro direct drive
The Tamiya clutch bell came today-now I can get things moving! Still have a few parts to build, and we have to cut and TIG the little Tamiya dog bone to the larger OFNA shaft, but I have everything I need now, save for special clutch shims.
My only real concern is that the clutch bell won't be able to take the heat. With a 6.24:1 ratio on my other GT, I cooked standard bearings and shoes in minutes trying to get the power of that OFNA .32 to the ground through such tall gearing. This chassis is lighter, but the ratio is half. Only one way to find out, though.
I have decided that I want to try to break the current nitro speed record as well. I'm sure it'll take awhile, with many revisions, possibly even completely redoing it. But 120 MPH just doesn't seem like such a high bar. I'm not afraid to throw money at this, and I firmly believe that it's a good platform.
Probably going to run OFNA belted street tires, but I'm waiting for a response from them as to whether or not these tires can handle 11,000 RPM. That is the speed a 4" tire needs to rotate at to hit 130 MPH. With the 3:1 gear ratio, that is 33,000 engine RPM-attainable in theory. I do not know how much downforce the spoiler will apply, though, so the drag and friction coefficient may require more power than the stock motor makes to reach that RPM.
Even if I can't get there, I'm sure I'll have built the fastest RC10GT around [8D]
I hope to have the dog bone welded, engine & servo mounts made & installed, and brakes hooked up by Sunday. My goal is a first run by the following weekend. I will keep this updated