ToraKitsu

Meh....Don't be swayed by those guys. The MST will cost a pretty penny, once everything's done. There are different schools of thought, when it comes to drift-specific chassis design. If you compare the MST to the Tamiya VDF, you'll find nothing but design similarities, and I can tell you from personal experience.....the VDF is NOT an easy chassis to tune, mainly because it's balance is not correct, out-of-the-box.
THEN, once you CS the VDF, it's balance has to be "re-tuned" all over again.

Nope, the MST is NOT a chassis that's worth your time right now. Getting a chassis that is already balanced is the best place to start, then as you get more familiarized with how things work, something like the MST would be a good chassis to get, but for right now, sticking to what you are contemplating is the best course. Believe me....it took years and a few dozen on-road chassis, before I got to know what is required to do what I want any particular chassis to do, working with it's particular design parameters and each chassis's design "foibles."

Take right now....That order from TQRC arrived today, and I've spent the last few hours assembling that carbon chassis conversion for my Grid. I can see, right now, that I will have to re-tune the suspension, because this conversion is LIGHT! About a quarter of it's previous bulk is gone! And the Grid's suspension isn't "standard." It's a McPherson strut design, and I went through heck trying to figure out how to get it right. Now I have to start all over again!

It's all about having the "new thing" with those guys who told you about the MST. I saw the same thing with the VDF when it was new.....I was sitting on a completed chassis, when everyone here was drooling over it, before it was domestically available. I chuckled through two years of threads fawning over the VDF, knowing how bad it was, balance-wise. Kinda made me wonder about how good those guys were, at drifting.....

subadubaru

see, and this is why i talk to you! lol!

ToraKitsu

Heeheehee!

I do have fun sometimes, just lurking some forums! The last chassis I was laughing at was the Traxxas X01. All these guys fawning over something that costs over $1,000, goes fast enough to slam into a curb or wall, and turn itself into a million little plastic bits in the blink of an eye, talking about how it can be made to "handle better."
RUH?

An RC car can't turn at anything over 40 MPH.......I wonder what they're *talking* about?

But on the flip side - I finished the Grid carbon conversion, and tested it last night - it requires only some different shock oil! Pretty good, considering how light it is now. I expected to be making far more adjustments, but it's all good!

Have you given thought to drift tires? I have a suggestion - try Yeah Racing 3 degrees. TQRC has them in the "drift tire" section, and they're pretty affordable, as drift tires go. I have been using them, with great results, so far. Another vendor is Raikou Drift Tires, online. their DXPE, EX and S45's and D70's are all good compounds, and one thing about tires.......

It's a good idea to have as many wheelsets for every compound you have. There is no such thing as an "all-around" drift tire, that will drift well on all surfaces. I, myself use six compounds, and no matter where I am, there is a compound that will work better than all the others, on any particular surface. I have stacks of wheelsets with tires mounted, but I can drift anywhere.
I would tell you to try as many as you can afford, and keep them in a box or something (I made a pit box out of a big fishing tackle box), so if one set doesn't work well, you can just swap them out for a set that does. After all, tires are the only contact with the ground a car has, and they will be the reason why a chassis drifts well or not.

Rocket-J

My Feedback: (1)

I am newby to Drift cars but not RC's.
Can you please give a full description of the difference in a Counter Steer car and what ever you call the other 4wd drift cars? What is the difference in geometry? At first I thought a 2wd car was the only Countersteer. You have me confused now.
I am an old Oval Dirt Car Racer. Real Modified Midget Racer. On a left hand oval we only turn right.

RustedRC

To have a counter steer set up on a 4 wheel drive the rear diff will have a different gear ratio than the front. in mine the rear will spin 1 and a 1/4 and the front is just 1 full spin. so the rear turns faster than the front. you always have to counter steer or it will just spin out. i'm new to the drift rc drift scene too so if any one wants to add or correct me please do.

Rocket-J

My Feedback: (1)

Do you have shaft or belt drive? Does it require a rachet front drive?
There is a lot to learn here.