the weather held off long enough today for me to get some test runs in. i had a 5' wide dry strip on my road, however due to the recent windstorm the road was covered in crap. i had moved the batteries forward as recomended, and it did help a bit with stability, however not much. i took the car back to the bench and rechecked the tow, i had it set at 0.5 degree tow in (with the top alcohol dragster i work on we run 1/8" tow in), i decided to forget what i knew and tried 0.5 degrees tow out and it helped big time. at speed the car is now somewhat predictable.
i do have to say that this is the fastest rc i have ever owned, im confident i hit 65+mph before i ran out of room, and it was still pulling. im running 87/16 gearing (5.44:1 ratio) and a 3.2" tall tire, calculating the top speed using 60,000rpm as peak rpm (couldnt find the spec for my motor, however i found some 10 turns are around 38000rpm at 7.2 volts, i have an 8t on 14.4 so im using conservative numbers) top speed should be 105mph not taking drag into effect. i would be very happy if i could hit 80mph.
one thing i do need to work on is only doing a few pulls then letting the batteries cool. i did 15-18 passes before the batteries dumped, when i pulled the body off the packs were around 180 degrees. i think i could help that out a bit by pulling the packs apart and resoldering them with proper battery bars and better wire, but im not sure if ill bother. if i limit myself to 5 pulls im sure the packs will be much cooler. i was happy with the motor temp, a cool 85 degrees. ive never had a motor run that cool, ever