Quantum Mechanics – TOP Racing Photon

Performance Tips
Differentials
We left the thin 12×0.3 mm shims on the outdrives off as to achieve a small amount of axial play between the differential outdrives and the bearings (Step 05). Also the triangle shaped slots in the differential gear hold extra ball grease. This is a nice idea and seems to work but we advise not to use too much grease as otherwise things can become a bit messy. After our first run the rear differential felt a bit gritty. Maybe it slipped a bit under acceleration. We disassembled it, polished the diff rings with WD40 and very fine grit wet & dry paper and reassembled it. After this treatment the differential felt smooth and consistent for the rest of the day.

Centre drive
When gluing the centre drive pulleys and the outer flanges together we first pressed the outer rings onto the pulleys and applied tiny drops of CA glue after that. You can dose the amount of glue easily by applying a small drop on the tip of a scalpel and let it drip into the gap. (Step 06)

Pinion gear
The grub screw of the pinion gear is a bit hard to reach. Best thing is to use a good quality ball hex driver or a short standard hex that is placed between the top deck and the spur gear with the driver angled to the back of the car.

Top deck/motor screws
Install the upper of the two motor screws before fixing the top deck. We found it quite hard to insert the screw as the button head touches the top deck making it nearly impossible to put the motor screw where it belongs. If you already installed the upper deck remove the four 2.5×6 mm countersunk screws located over the layshaft and raise the top deck slightly so the button head motor screw can slide underneath it.

Steering servo
Two different steering servo brackets are supplied with the Photon kit. We suggest to use the larger ones They make the servo stand away from the centre line of the chassis a bit more but otherwise the steering lever of the central steering crank will hit the servo. We additionally suggest to make use of the rearmost location holes for the servo as otherwise the steering lever will hit the servo mounting lugs. This is the only real issue on an otherwise very well designed car. (Step 37)

Team Orion goes molecular
Just in time for the track test of the TOP Racing Photon we received a large shipment with Team Orion’s all new Advantage Race Spec charger and a set of the new Team Orion Carbon Molecular 45C LiPo batteries. The all new ‘Molecular’ LiPo packs offer specially designed cells that are developed exclusively for the use in all demanding RC applications and offer true 45C according to Team Orion. The packs made our Photon equipped with a 6.5T Vortex Race motor fly around the track and we think these are the most powerful LiPo cells we have used to far. The Carbon Molecular packs are available as 4600mAh, 5000mAh and 5400mAh straight packs as well as 4500mAh and 6000mAh Saddle Packs. You can also choose between Traxxas and Deans high performance plugs or 4mm gold connector ‘tubes’. Ours came with the excellent Deans plugs that offer a low resistance and are very easy to use. The packs do not come with lower locating lugs like Team Orion’s Race Spec Carbon packs but since the Photon chassis offers a very clever LiPo retaining system this is not much of a problem. Although the Carbon Molecular batteries offer 3C charging we only used 2C as most of the current chargers only allow for a maximum of 10A of charging current.

For more information on Team Orion’s new Carbon Molecular batteries visit the Team Orion website.

Team Orion Advantage Race Spec
The all new Advantage Race Spec charger is developed by Team Orion’s own ‘guru’ Oscar Jansen with maximum battery performance and life span in mind. It is suitable for 1 to 10 NiMH or 1 to 4 LiPo/LiFe cells and offers a charging rate up to 10A. Delta Peak detection for NiMH cells is adjustable from 0 to 20mV. LiPo and LiFe cells use Constant Current/Constant Voltage detection. The Race Spec charger comes with an internal balancer so there is no need for additional devices. Good thing is that Team Orion supplies a suitable adapter for 2S to 4S LiPos as well as a charging harness for the use with gold plug equipped LiPo packs. The input wires come with 4mm gold plugs for easy use with current power supplies as well as 12V lead batteries thanks to additional large crocodile crimps.

Adding to the ability to charge batteries the Race Spec charger offers up to 10A of discharge current as well as input and output reverse polarity protection. 10 different individually adjustable profiles offer the possibility to have charging profiles for all of your needs: Receiver pack, power pack, receiver battery, glow plug etc. We used Team Orion’s new Race Spec charger throughout the test period of the Photon TC with no problems. Nice thing about the charger are the two very silent fans that do not run permanently but only when needed.

For more information about the Team Orion Advantage Race Spec please click here.