just got in from a little beach bashing session. had some high tides so all the beach was hard, flat and very smooth - ideal for high speed testing then!

still using the 1/8 buggy wheels, new 2 speed works very well, engaging just a little early... very early with all the wheel spin from a standstill. had a wheel fly off, which is always good to see... then something strange happened - i realised id lost 4wd, but hey rwd is funny with this thing, but the brakes came on the front wheels by themselves and it stopped but i still had throttle control and rwd.... as soon as it stopped and idled, it started going backwards! uphill!! lol, i couldnt see anything obviously wrong with it so, very confused, and low on fuel - i called it a day.

turns out the balloon i used on the throttle servo had caught the prop shaft, wound around it tighter and tighter and caused the set screw on the cup to slip. it must have released itself then caught again to act as a front brake only, and then unwound to make it go backwards.

sounds dumb now, looked funny at the time tho - forwards. stop. backwards, stop... again and again.

decided that taller pinions are a good idea. seeing as i could just get away with a 14/18 combo on the tmaxx rims, i dont see them being any problem at all with the buggy wheels, i will see what ofna/hobao have to offer, as the engine is easily *****g out on these ratios.

engine took some retuning today tho, it wanted a load more fuel on the hsn, nearly half a turn... ah whatever keeps it happy suits me. its pretty cold out tho, northerly winds too - not nice, may well be my last beach session for this year. the centre diff chassis might get something done on it in the mean time, see how that performs onroad maybe.