A lighter Mi5
Ok… so how did I do this?
It is possible!
Actually, it’s taken a few optionals, but not too hard. First, some background…
Now, it has to be said, that one of the things Schumachers have been a little guilty of over the years is being a little, well, umm, portly.. I got to experience this first hand at our recent state titles, where my car came in over 60g overweight. Admittedly , the build was a little hurried, and I was more concerned about getting the car on track and sorting out the setup more than trying to make it as light as possible… time was short!
Anyway, over the past few months, I’ve been steadily adding parts to help reduce overall weight, and also making notes along the way… so here’s the list! One thing to note is that this weight is done on “outdoor” tyres (Sorex 36RY, REX 34, MuchMore Rush36X). Some of the “Indoor” types (Ride with LT’s, Sorex 28 JB’s) are naturally lighter as a foam insert tends to be a lot lighter than a closed cell.
First up, biggest saving was by switching out to alloy screws on the top of the car. The standard steel screws weigh 33.2g, whilst alloy screws (I went with the plain Aluminium screws from Fastener Express) weighed only 9.3g, so a saving of 21.1g.
Next biggest saving was changing from a IB7200 battery (328g) to ProAmps 6000mah packs (308g). Pretty easy change to make, and also helps to improve the balance, and saving 20g.
Next big change was going to the 2mm chassis (67.5g). The kit 2.5mm (being thicker, duh!) weighs 82.7g, so it’s a pretty good saving there, especially as this is an option that I feel also helps the handling of the car. It’s a triple whammy as well. Thinner chassis plate means lower CoG, it’s stiffer for improved flex (gives a more positive reaction), and lighter to boot! (15.2g saved)
After those three, it’s moving into slightly lower savings.
Titanium Ball studs gave a 7.2g saving (15.8g kit vs 8.6g for Ti), whilst the using the Alloy rear driveshafts saved 7g (16.6g vs 9.6g). I also saved 3g by switching back to the kit aluminium lock nuts, from the steel ones I had on the car at the states… and a final 1g by using the carbon battery hooks (from the mid motor kit) over the kit plastic ones.
Totaling up all the savings, made for a total of 74.8g.. Not a bad weigh (geddit :p) to go, leaving a little even for balancing and tuning.
Parts used;
- U3833 – Alloy rear driveshafts (pair)
- CR283 – Ti Ballstud set
- U4398 – 2mm Chassis set
- U4240 – Alloy Screw set (I didn’t use this option, just brought screws in packs from Fastener Express.. but this is a good option all the same)
And just for completeness the rest of my equipment is as follows;
- ESC – Hobbywing V3
- Servo – Sanwa ERG BLS
- Reciever – Sanwa 451R
- Motor – Hobbywing V10 4.5t
- Bodyshell – LTC-R Lightweight (but with a can painted scheme!)
Happy Racing!
Ed