Syncro RC10 B7 - Horatio

[Nelson.81]

Interesting - 80's style shocks!

I do wonder if the trade off for lower CoG pays off versus the increase in unsprung mass by Inverting the shocks?

This whole reverting to 80's style shock mounting was re-started by the Hall Brothers.

There are fairly strong arguments for not doing it this way, but I guess time will tell.

I remember watching a vid about this, I think it was posted by hall brothers I’ll try dig it out.

 

[Nelson.81]

Jez 2 years ago where’s the time go.

 

[Horatio]

Jez 2 years ago where’s the time go.

Yes, it seemed like yesterday.

I remember JQ got his panties in a wad over it!

But he made some good points. What the Hall bros were achieving was very good, but was inverting the shocks really a good idea - or could the desired handling traits be achieved another way, without increasing unsprung mass?

On smooth, high traction surfaces, it may not matter as much. But I was always of the mindset that the least unsprung weight, the better - the more agile your suspension - regardless of your choice of damping, spring rate and choice of overall shock package.

 

[Horatio]

 

[Nelson.81]

This was suggested to me on YouTube

 

[Horatio]

This was suggested to me on YouTube

Gotta love Xray. Quality.

 

[AggyMi]

Haha, I think I was sat in bed yesterday evening casting those exact videos to the TV

 

[Horatio]

So, here's a couple of little detail changes:

Vs the stock turn buckles - 1.6g of difference!

New 3 gear conversion is lighter, lower rotating mass and is moulded better.

My brass C block has been replaced with the revised Associated one, which fits the new revised case.

Yeah! Now we're cooking on gas....

Front end version 2 C hubs and 0° KPI steering arms fitted ready for race day.....

Significant weight savings.

The track:

SWRCCC 25-26 Winter Champs Round 3

I was aiming for a 2nd place finish with buggy, so was reminded by other SWRCCC members that this was 'unlikely to happen' given the lineup.

Through qualifying though, I was generally in the 2nd - 3rd zone, so was happy with my eventual 3rd place on the grid.

The buggy was agile, landed jumps well and I could consistently land closer to the apex off the jumps. I felt my buggy was better through the infield than most (if not all) my competitors.

During the A Final, it was evident that all I needed to do was try and follow first place team Xray driver. Sadly, there was a gap fairly early on (translation: I had my arse handed to me!) - so I raced my own race where I gained 2nd on lap 1 and continued to pull out about 1/2 a lap lead over 3rd position. 2nd was in the bag! Until the last 10 seconds where I was collected by a marshalled back marker and lost a whopping 7 seconds - putting me back to 3rd.

You can see that race here - see below - filmed by Woody in 8th on the grid.

Conclusion: the B7 felt very agile yet easy to drive. This was essentially a shakedown against some fairly stiff opposition.

Is the buggy quicker with the changes?

Yes. Definitely.

For comparison, I compared my lap times with my potent 22X-4 Elite and for the first time, mid way through qualifying, at one point my 2WD time was actually faster than my 4WD time.

By the end of the meeting, I confirmed my B7's best lap was just 0.4 of a second slower than my 22X-4! Super impressed. But - let's not discuss the combined cost of the B7 team kit plus all the upgrades. The combined cost was much greater than the 22X-4 Elite plus the carbon chassis. In that regard, the Elite has turned out to be quite the bargain buy! That being said, it's great honing these rigs into carpet weapons over winter when everyone is otherwise miserable.

 

[Horatio]

Defining moment for me was 2:50 mark where I made my way through with zero margin - here:

Despite being on a tighter line, the agility of the buggy enabled to maintain speed as well.

On the opposite end of the Spectrum was my rubbing wheels with the race leader due to a miscommunication on the Rostrum!

Not easy to pass there, would have been better after the jump - but: Sponsored Team Xray Drivers.....

 

[AggyMi]

So, here's a couple of little detail changes:

View attachment 11704
View attachment 11705
View attachment 11706
View attachment 11707
Vs the stock turn buckles - 2.6g of difference!
View attachment 11708
New 3 gear conversion is lighter, lower rotating mass and is moulded better.

My brass C block has been replaced with the revised Associated one, which fits the new revised case.

View attachment 11709
Yeah! Now we're cooking on gas....

View attachment 11710

Front end version 2 C hubs and 0° KPI steering arms fitted ready for race day.....

View attachment 11711
Significant weight savings.

The track:

View attachment 11712
SWRCCC 25-26 Winter Champs Round 3

I was aiming for a 2nd place finish with buggy, so was reminded by other SWRCCC members that this was 'unlikely to happen' given the lineup.

Through qualifying though, I was generally in the 2nd - 3rd zone, so was happy with my eventual 3rd place on the grid.

The buggy was agile, landed jumps well and I could consistently land closer to the apex off the jumps. I felt my buggy was better through the infield than most (if not all) my competitors.

During the A Final, it was evident that all I needed to do was try and follow first place team Xray driver. Sadly, there was a gap fairly early on (translation: I had my arse handed to me!) - so I raced my own race where I gained 2nd on lap 1 and continued to pull out about 1/2 a lap lead over 3rd position. 2nd was in the bag! Until the last 10 seconds where I was collected by a marshalled back marker and lost a whopping 7 seconds - putting me back to 3rd.

You can see that race here - see below - filmed by Woody in 8th on the grid.

Conclusion: the B7 felt very agile yet easy to drive. This was essentially a shakedown against some fairly stiff opposition.

Is the buggy quicker with the changes?

Yes. Definitely.

For comparison, I compared my lap times with my potent 22X-4 Elite and for the first time, mid way through qualifying, at one point my 2WD time was actually faster than my 4WD time.

By the end of the meeting, I confirmed my B7's best lap was just 0.4 of a second slower than my 22X-4! Super impressed. But - let's not discuss the combined cost of the B7 team kit plus all the upgrades. The combined cost was much greater than the 22X-4 Elite plus the carbon chassis. In that regard, the Elite has turned out to be quite the bargain buy! That being said, it's great honing these rigs into carpet weapons over winter when everyone is otherwise miserable.

Fantastic write-up

 

[Horatio]

Fantastic write-up

Cheers buddy. I'm on a role right now. Could really use some sponsorship. Not sure what summer stuff I'll be in, but there's talk of the MKGP.

Sounds massive. The world's best drivers will be in attendance. Where making an H final is epic.

 

[Horatio]

2WD A Final @ 40minutes.

Many thanks to Chris With A C RC for making such a great video.

 

[Horatio]

Now for 2026 - a revised set of titanium screws....

Stock steel M3 x 8 button head...

Versus the R1 Wurks machined UFO head 2.5mm hex....

.... basically 50% lighter than stock screws.

But most of mine weren't stock. So why did I bother?

Whilst I'd enjoyed significant weight and durability benefits with some unbranded Titanium for the latter part of the winter series, it was time to take advantage of the 2.5mm 'flying saucer' heads on their Swiss lathed titanium screws

I opted for blue, seeing as it was going on to a B7.

It contrasts nicely with carbon and the Jconcepts black titanium turnbuckles.

The 2.5mm hexes allow me to use my trusty ball-ended 2.5mm driver - for those harder to reach screws. Pit work can make the difference between making a round - or not.

Plus - 2.5mm hexes are much burlier. Less chance of anything getting stripped or coming undone. To finish first - first you have to finish!

Titanium screws hold my motor mount (with 2.0mm hex, CSK heads).

Savings of about another 6g, but on a stock rig this upper deck set saves about 17.5g off the top of the rig - reducing CoG significantly.

Lower rear shock mounts are installed - stronger, and lower unsprung weight.

Ready for battle in 2026 - the B7.1 won't worry this rig. It's future proof for a while I reckon.

 

[AggyMi]

Now for 2026 - a revised set of titanium screws....

View attachment 12401
Stock steel M3 x 8 button head...
View attachment 12402
Versus the R1 Wurks machined UFO head 2.5mm hex....
View attachment 12403
.... basically 50% lighter than stock screws.

But most of mine weren't stock. So why did I bother?

Whilst I'd enjoyed significant weight and durability benefits with some unbranded Titanium for the latter part of the winter series, it was time to take advantage of the 2.5mm 'flying saucer' heads on their Swiss lathed titanium screws

I opted for blue, seeing as it was going on to a B7.

It contrasts nicely with carbon and the Jconcepts black titanium turnbuckles.

The 2.5mm hexes allow me to use my trusty ball-ended 2.5mm driver - for those harder to reach screws. Pit work can make the difference between making a round - or not.

Plus - 2.5mm hexes are much burlier. Less chance of anything getting stripped or coming undone. To finish first - first you have to finish!

View attachment 12404
Titanium screws hold my motor mount (with 2.0mm hex, CSK heads).

View attachment 12405
View attachment 12406
View attachment 12407
Savings of about another 6g, but on a stock rig this upper deck set saves about 17.5g off the top of the rig - reducing CoG significantly.

Lower rear shock mounts are installed - stronger, and lower unsprung weight.

View attachment 12408
Ready for battle in 2026 - the B7.1 won't worry this rig. It's future proof for a while I reckon.

I'm a big fan of the aggregation of marginal gains

 

[Horatio]

I'm a big fan of the aggregation of marginal gains

It gets harder and harder to find gains when cars are already good. So it's definitely a scale of diminishing returns.

Despite this - I'm a fan of improving this and that over time because slowly slowly catchy monkey!

Plus it's great fun. Being a nerd, I get to run through all the Live Timing data and analyse everything. I can see how much faster it really is and if I'm finding it easier or harder to manage.

I'm all for upgrading - especially if I find greater consistency.

Greater durability, lightness, stiffness, etc - I'll gladly take any gain I can. I need all the help I can get!!

 

[Horatio]

On that subject, I am now officially part of Team Onyx Power Systems!

2026 is going to be a very interesting season.

For my 4WD MOD, I'll be using these....

And will report back here. My using HV packs will be an opportunity to race them at SWRCCC at full HV, but also at 4.2v per cell.

These are about 24g lighter than my Redline 5400 cells (which have been excellent) and 2.5mm lower. These are the perfect match for my 4.5t powered 22X-4 Elite.

For use in my B7, I will need to add about 22g of weight up front, so during the changeover from Redline to ONS, initially 4WD will be the test bed to find the best ESC settings for LiHV.

Whilst 2S shorties are the focus for the racing side of things, Onyx have a potent range of both high power speed run and basher batteries.

If you are interested in any of their range - please PM me.

 

[Horatio]

This rig is obscenely light. Game on.....

 

[Horatio]

Racing 2WD with my B7, powered by Onyx Power Systems HV 5250 Shorties.

SWRCCC Round 1 was a tough race, so I was happy with 3rd on the grid and a 3rd place finish. I spent a significant amount of time in 2nd, so I knew I had potential to challenge the top 2 drivers.

Round 2 was on the 31st May - and the rig had some TLC.

The buggy is light and punchy - extremely responsive to setup changes accordingly.

I spoilt myself to new tyres all round, with a choice of Cactus or Azumi for rears. Splinters on the front.

Crucially, I reduced rear toe-in to 2°, which improves rotation.

Round 1 qualifying showed some promising pace. I was just 1 tenth of a second off the race leader's laps - and showing some nice consistency.

Hell yeah! Strolled through into 2nd place in round 1, comparatively stress free.

By round 2, grip will have come up - and I intended to exploit this with some tactical setup changes.

Round 2:

Erm....brain.exe just stopped working. Meticulously prepared car thrown onto the start line - but it wasn't switched on. Neither was the battery plugged in.

Rather than DNS - I went for it. Despite my 34 second starting delay - I managed a 4th place finish and was on pace for a 23 lapper. On that round, it would have placed me in TQ position. It also gave me an opportunity to pass some cars in qualifying, test a little Racecraft.

Inspired by what clearly started out as a brain fart, I knew there was hope. If only I could maintain some sort of brain function through to the next round, I might be onto something.

Round 3:

Now the pace was picking up. You could see the lap times coming down, but my consistency was sub-par. That said, I had a cheeky 23 lapper and a 2nd place finish.

Q4 saw a scrappy last round which cost everyone time. Interestingly, I finished first - but it was kind of academic, given the 22 lapper.

But Q4 went to me!

Again, my consistency was sub par. But - my best 2 scores would put me 3rd on the grid.

It was all about the final. Qualifying position is not the finishing position, and whilst the race cannot be won in the first corner, plenty of races have been lost at the first turn.

The start was bedlam and people were not happy. 1st and 2nd placed cars tangled, people from further back tangled with them for good measure. Then again on lap 5.

Meanwhile, Captain 'brain fart' just breezed on by. And off into the sunset!

I'm not going to lie - I avoided all the drama and raced my own race. Head down. Fastest lap? Nope. But my average top 10 were good and consistency was nice too!

Absolutely chuffed with my first B7 1st place finish.

Car was absolutely on point and I functioned at just enough of a level to exploit what my car had to offer.

This is despite the distraction of building the Kraton EXB V6.

 

[Horatio]

Bulkhead mounted front wing for the next round, which is a non-championship race.

This will be an interesting aero bolt on which the B7 Team comes with as standard. Funnily enough, I've never tried it with my B7 team, as I built it differently from stock team version from the start.

The only vaguely annoying thing is that I had to mount it with steel screws. Albeit very small ones!