I was not going to buy an FK'05 because I am basically an average racer. Middle B main talent. Thats 12.2-12.5 sec laps 23 laps in 5 minutes which I was doing very well with my Evo II/FK pivot ball hybrid. I preordered one anyway because it was going to be kinda expensive to do a c-hub conversion on my current car. I did know before I got the car that I did not want to tape anything anywhere for whatever the reason. I wanted a oneway too. I also have a nice collection of 64pitch spurs and pinions I didn't want to give up. So having to deal with all that I wasn't getting with a $400 purchase, I was less that excited when the kit arrived. I built it without incident except that my Kimbrough 116t spur was too thick. The first week at the track was uneventful because I am not crazy about the c-hub suspension and the learning curve I was going to have to go through. My results were the same, middle B main. I asked for a little help from the guys who were more familiar with the c-hub and the other '05 owners who were not as brave as I was to race it just yet but were working on their setups. My car was scrubbing too much speed in the turns. I made the changes and the car transformed. But I wouldn't know just how much until next week. I still could not get the car to rotate like I was used to with my now previous car. I added a rear swaybar and that was the final piece. My lap times during the first qualifier were 11.8-12.1 and 24 laps. I made a droop change and my laptimes went to 11.68-12.0. I got a driving tip from one of the fellas also running a '05 who consistantly lands in the A main. I did what he said and in the final qualifier my times went to 11.56 and 25 laps. I missed winning the qualifier by 2 seconds. I placed third in the B main, and if it wasn't for an aggressive backmarker who did not know to get out of the way, I would have won it. My average lap times during the main were just .5 second off the A main pace. I am writing this so say I have shut up about c-hub suspensions, I have shut up about taping the batteries, I have shut up about not having a oneway, 3mm chasis, or wide top deck, and every other bitch and moan I had before I got the '05 on the track. Plastic shocks in a $400 kit?.. SO WHAT!! I got results. I had better drivers than me patting me on the back saying "good race". For an average racer like me that was priceless. A .7sec decrease in laptimes out of the box. I got no complaints.
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