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Project Veteq 2005 (28/03/2005)

By:

Glenn M. Cauley

Linked to:

VETEQ O2 1/8 scale 4WD

Hired Gun

During our club’s 2004 nitro racing series, I was thoroughly enjoying my new Serpent 710; it was by far the best-handling (and coolest) 200mm nitro sedan I had ever owned.  We were about half way through our local series when one of our favourite events, the Canadian Gas Nationals, was held in St. Eustache, Québec.

I was planning to race only my S710 at that event, when my friend Dean Mondor planted an evil seed inside my head.  He innocently(?) offered me his newly-acquired 2002 Serpent Veteq to race at the upcoming Gas Nationals.  Having never driven a 1:8 nitro on-road car before, I was at first hesitant yet excited at the idea; with a minimal amount of arm twisting, I agreed to be his “hired gun” for the event. Unbeknownst to me at the time, this was the beginning of an exciting new chapter in my nitro racing experience.

The experience of racing a high-performance 1:8 nitro on-road racecar for the first time was both exhilarating and terrifying. At first I was “racing on eggshells”, since this rocketship did not even belong to me and I didn’t want to wreck it!  But the more laps I put on the Veteq, the more comfortable and confident I became with it, and the more I respected its sheer ferocious power and performance.

Continuously pushing the envelope lap after lap, the car and driver held solid and started doing ballistic laptimes... incredible for a first experience!  I did very well with the Veteq at that event - driving faster, smoother, and cleaner than I (or my racing buddies) had thought possible.

From Mild to Wild

In the middle of my first practice session with the Veteq, I knew I was hooked.  Soon after that event I bought a new-in-box 2002 Veteq and a used .21 TOP engine so that Dean could have his Veteq back again. We began to attend out-of-town races that hosted a 1:8 class.  My Serpent 710?  While still an extremely fun and competitive car, the S710 simply fell short of delivering the pure adrenaline rush that 1:8 racing gives.

During the remainder of the 1:8 racing season, we made new friends, caught up with old friends, and learned more about 1:8 cars in those few short weeks than we had learned about 1:10 cars in an entire season. While we concede that the Veteq is more complex and time-consuming to set up than other 1:8 cars, once we figured out its secrets it became a force of nature on the track.  Nothing compares to having the Veteq hunker down and corner flatly on rails, while other cars roll and sway. To this day I don’t understand why many racers say their Veteqs remain “shelf queens” instead of tearing up the racetrack... what a waste!

My season ended abruptly many weeks later with a grenaded engine (fractured rod lower bushing, shattered piston... very ugly). I can attest that the old adage “it runs best right before it blows” is very true... at least on that day it was. Though upset by the loss of a good engine (my ONLY .21 engine), I occupied my mind on the trip back home by mentally planning “Project Veteq” for the 2005 season.

Mico Veteq Chassis

When it comes to researching RC cars, my friend Dean is awesome.  During the off-season he found many new and used parts and hop-ups for the Veteq from some very interesting sources.  One of those new parts, a unique Mico 1-piece Veteq chassis, formed the basis for Project Veteq 2005.

The 2001 Veteq had a unique 2-piece lower chassis (main piece in front of the engine, and another piece behind the engine). This allowed the engine to sit low between the chassis plates for an extremely low CG. The drawback to this design was that even with bracing motor mounts that spanned between the left and right chassis side-plates, the split lower chassis provided little protection to the bottom of the engine and allowed for more chassis flex. Also, since the engine crankcase became an integral, stressed chassis member, extreme impacts could cause fracturing of (and sometimes destruction of) the engine crankcase.

The 2002 Veteq comes with a more traditional 1-piece main chassis, ‘normal’ engine mounts that bolt directly to the top of the lower chassis, but no bracing between the left and right chassis side-plates.  While having a more conventional layout, the drawbacks include reduced engine compartment bracing and a higher CG due to the raised engine.

The Mico 1-piece Veteq chassis gives the best of both worlds. The Mico chassis is a 1-piece chassis made from an ultra-stiff, ultra-tough aluminum alloy that would have the Space Shuttle engineers drooling.  Developed for the 2001 Veteq, the Mico Veteq chassis was designed to fit the engine in the car using the much-lower 2001 bracing engine mounts.

How could the engine fit with a lower chassis in the way?  The Mico chassis is machined directly beneath the engine so that the engine can fit without touching the chassis.  The 2001 bracing engine mounts (which must be used with the 2001 left and right chassis side-plates) create a dramatically more rigid engine compartment.  

Having to switch to 2001 side-plates and connectors, I took my time in assembly and ended up doing a bit of custom machining of the side-plates and engine mounts to ensure that all parts had adequate clearances.

The overall results of using the Mico chassis are a dramatically lower CG (lower engine), stiffness and protection afforded by a 1-piece chassis, a more heavily-braced engine compartment, all with the removal of the engine as a stressed chassis member.

Centax-2 Clutch & LC Gearbox

The 2002 Veteq kit comes with a Centax-1 clutch and the original-style 2-speed gearbox. Having had experience with the newer Centax-2 clutch and LC gearbox, I knew that those were the components I wanted in my Veteq. The Centax-2 clutch has several advantages over the original Centax clutch: larger/stronger thrustbearing and ball-bearings, easier shimming method, and easily modifiable flyweights.

When installing the Centax-2 clutch in my Veteq, I had to use the smaller 36mm flywheel. The 38mm flywheel cannot be used with the new Mico Veteq chassis and lowered engine, as the larger flywheel would stick out below the bottom of the chassis.

After I obtained Serpent’s LC layshaft for the Veteq, the new LC gearbox installed very easily.

Braking Duty

The original 3-piece brake disk included with the 2002 Veteq kit is well designed and dependable. But when I saw Serpent’s 9605 ventilated brake disk, I knew the original would be put aside in the spares box. When coupled with Serpent’s 9607 racing brakepad set, the braking performance is something to be experienced to be believed.  

Perfectly mounted and trimmed, the brakepad set features sintered metallic pads, much like Ferodo pads for full-size racecars and motorcycles.  After breaking it in as per Serpent’s instructions, this braking system proved to be powerful, dependable, and fade-free.

Powerplant

With the old, grenaded TOP engine sitting on the shelf (whose piston/rod now adorns my keychain as a memento), I set out searching for a new powerplant.

I was extremely fortunate to find a brand new NovaMega SX21KHM Evo6 engine (ABC construction).  Don’t bother trying to search the Internet for one of these… you won’t find it.  It is a limited-edition Team Serpent “factory” engine with ABC construction (brass cylinder) rather than the publicly-offered version with AAC construction (aluminum cylinder). Looking at the hand-ported cylinder and crankcase from the hands of engine guru Karl Heinz Meister, I know this engine will be a powerhouse.

Breathing duties are handled through a Motor Saver airfilter and Serpent 1-piece EFRA pipe with conical header.

Final Touches

A few other small touches make Project Veteq unique:

*  Aluminum middle transfer block – replaces the standard plastic block to eliminate flex on the belts

*  Custom electronics mounting system using a hand-made switch mounting plate and S710 receiver cover

*  High-capacity 1200mAh 2/3A receiver pack to get me through long mains without fear of dumping

*  Futaba S9402 servos – fast, strong, dependable

*  Full complement of stainless steel Allen socket flathead machine screws replace the standard Phillips flathead screws

*  Jaco 1:8 Nitro Shoes provide outstanding grip, consistency, and durability

*  Serpent VDS Lola Mk2 body (1756) provides the great looks and handling

*  Sombra Labs Shadow-3 receiver – the ultimate ‘crystal-less’ receiver. This awesome new receiver has easy channel programming, fully configurable channel/pin mapping, and even has built-in failsafe modes (no more separate failsafe module required).

Final Note

I would like to thank the many people and companies that have made the transition to the 1:8 class fun, easy, and (relatively) painless:

*  Serpent MRC for designing the Veteq in the first place.  Wow… what a car!

*  EasyStreet RC – our local racing club

*  Hobby 2000 Gatineau for the honour of allowing me to be one of their Team Drivers.

*  Canada RC for taking me on as one of their proud representatives, and offering such great RC products

*  Sylvain Buisson, Daniel Rouleau, Enzo Cifarelli, and others from RC Montréal (hosts of the 2004 & 2005 Canadian Gas Nationals)

*  Gary Swayze, Raye Field, John Elliot, Darrin Charbonneau, Raymond Duschesne, and others from Hamilton’s Ontario 1:8 On-Road Racing Club for their knowledge, patience, and gracious hospitality

*  Larry Bradshaw of Team Tamale Racing for the great products (especially the fantastic Digital Gap and Endplay Tool)

*  Patrick Henraath of the Netherlands for his help with Veteqs in general and for offering really cool products

*  All the other individuals and websites that offered friendly, helpful advice

And last but certainly not least, a big “Thanks” goes out to my good friend and fellow racer Dean Mondor for getting me started in the 1:8 nitro on-road class in the first place!

Now all we need is a rich philanthropist land-developer interested in RC to build us a permanent local track!   Ahhh... the dream goes on…

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