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The 3.0 generation oval cars are all new and do not use much of anything from the 2.0’s other than the front end. The biggest differences that make these cars superior to the old ones are the center pivot, rear pod, and even the chassis plate itself.
The center pivot is now offset left on both cars to improve drive-off without jacking a bunch of wedge in the car. This allows the car to have a heavier left front tire which helps the car get into the corner and roll the center without being too free off the corner.
The chassis have gone on an extreme diet. We have removed an incredible amount of right side weight and filled in all of the old NiMh cell slots to increase left side weight. Overall, the chassis are smaller and lighter, but have increased left side weight percentage.
Another awesome feature is the ability to add “static” (or “a fixed amount of”) rear steer. All link cars (or “monoball” as some may call them) have the ability to add reactive rear steer by raising the front of the links. While this increases steering and response, it can make the car feel inconsistent or unpredictable depending on how hard you turn the wheel. Having static rear steer gets the car into the corner harder without the degree of rear steer changing as the chassis rolls. This makes the car feel much smoother and more predictable while making it turn-in like an animal. On many larger CRC Fastrak carpet surfaces this may not be a huge deal, but on really small short tracks and especially on “hook-n-loop” type commercial carpets, it’s huge.
There are some other cool new features as well.
The verticle rear shock tower allows more adjustability of the side shocks without having to add or remove shims. It also allows for much shorter, stiffer body posts that help in the overall consistent, predictable feel of the car; as the body will not flex and move around as much while going around the track.
Molded, bolt-in battery bumpers locate the pack in place where you want it and make it so 1 wrap of tape is more than sufficient. This may not seem like a big deal, but we’ve seen some cars that have tape wrapping 3 ways around the battery, and in multiple layers. This not only looks ridiculous, it’s expensive! good strapping tape isn’t cheap, and even if it was, encasing your pack and chassis in multiple layers of tape looks awful and reduces ride height, forcing you to raise the whole car.
The Battleaxe 3 comes standard with 3 CRC Encore Shocks (money!) and off-set rear pods with the correct length hubs. This was over $100 worth of upgrades on the old BA2.
Also now standard equipment in both kits, is CRC’s slider pods that are also standard on the new Xti road course car. They make ride adjustments super easy and feature a perfect bearing fit for a very free axle fit with no play. They do NOT ever move when used properly; Worlds, Vegas, Cleveland, New Year Dash, Snowbird’s, ROAR Carpet Nats… many events and we have not had the pods move, crash or not.
Nearly everything is adjustable on these cars; wheelbase, width, shock position, rear steer, roll centers, battery position, shock angle and more. And both kits now come with a super lightweight foam bumper as well! This was also an additional purchase for the previous version cars.
The CRC Battle Axe 3 will come out of the box more track ready, more consistent, faster, lighter, & overall less expensive than ever before. There is not another oval car on the market that comes this complete out of the box within this price range, …and is ready to go from the bench to the winner’s circle. The only thing that will slow you down is all of your friends and competitors stopping you to take a look at the new ride!
1901 – Battle Axe 3.0 1/10 Oval Car
Retail – $499.99
[source: www.teamcrc.com]
