Extra Vitamin C – Xray T2’009

Middle
The ‘009 is equipped with a top-deck made out of 2.0 mm carbon fibre and should make for better traction especially on low-grip surfaces like cold asphalt and new carpet tracks or with harder hand-out tyres. The battery slots of the 2.5mm carbon fibre chassis plate now sit slightly more outwards to allow for more clearance between the battery pack and the spur gear. With the Team Orion LiPo battery we used it still is a very close affair so you will need to use (and cut!) the side battery stops according to your battery pack dimensions. We simply cut off the location pin and turned the T-shaped part by 180 degrees.

Also new and made to cooperate with the changed 34T drive pulleys are the new 20T centre pulleys. This changed the internal ratio of the T2 from 2.375 to 1.7. Some modified racers will find that they need to use larger spur gears to suit the gear ratio for LiPo racing but overall the lower internal ratio seems to fit both stock and modified racing better.

Rear
The rear of the ‘009 can be equipped with a 2.5 mm extension plate just like the front to raise the top deck slightly. This makes way for the casing as well as the plugs if needed. With the Team Orion Race Spec 3800 LiPo we wanted to use we found out that we didn’t need to raise the top deck. This may be different from manufacturer to manufacturer so you need to find out by yourself if the modification needs to be made. One thing you have to consider when using the ‘LiPo plates’ is that they may slightly stiffen things up, especially on the front …

Back to the changes of the ‘009. Or the lack of them. The 2009 spec car used the ‘008 set-up in terms of a 1.4 mm swaybar and C2.6 springs which make for a very good out-of-the-box set-up as we found out during the track test.

Another noticeable change are the new and very light weight 7075 T6 aluminium drive shafts with black anodizing. Xray promises a weight saving of around 38 percent compared to the spring steel items. Also into play on the ‘009 come the new and highly machined wheels axles which also save some weight over the usual design.

The rear ball differential is equipped with aluminium outdrives and special click-on dustcovers. The differential comes pre-build and pre-adjusted but needs some further adjusting before you hit the track! Ours slipped, so you need to be careful not to use it as supplied with the kit. The rear suspension set-up can be adjusted just like the one up front with the help of different shims, plastic holders etc. Just in case you are not familiar with the Xray T2 cars …

Finish
Electronic-wise we went full Team Orion with the ‘009. We opted for the new Team Orion Vortex Race Spec speed control made by KO Propo together with a Vortex 2008 Race 6.5T brushless motor and the aforementioned Team Orion Race Spec 3800 LiPo. Steering duties are taken of by a KO Propo DPS-2367 servo connected to a Sanwa RX411DS receiver. On top we fitted a Protoform Mazda Speed 6 body, once more painted by Chris of www.gingapaint.com.