Guide to the GT14B

We (Chris and CML) are very pro-active within the Carisma team and are always happy to help within the pits at club and National meetings. With this in mind I thought I?d write up a little guide to how I would personally go about setting my car up, as if I bought one fresh off the shelf of my local model shop. This guide presumes that you are running the standard 'N40' compound tyres that are fitted to your car as standard, and if using LiPo's you have added enough weight in the rear to get back to the original 'NiMh weight' of the car (the included NiMh saddle packs weigh roughly 140g). The first thing I would advise you do with your new GT14B is to set the diffs, and for this you first need to tighten your slipper clutch so that only the diffs will slip whilst you go through this process (don?t worry, we will loosen your slipper back off later!) Using the exploded diagram in the GT14B manual to work out which side of the car the diff bolt head is, tighten up both the front and rear diffs of your car. You want both diffs to be tight enough that the diff rotates but doesn?t slip. Ask a friend to hold 3 wheels on the car while you gently try to turn the 4th wheel. You want to get to a point where it just about starts to slip and then nip that diff up another 1/8 to 1/4 of a turn. I always run my front diff very slightly tighter than my rear diff so that it pulls the car out of the corner as I accelerate. As you use your car more and more you will find that the diff balls bed into the diff plates, so keep an eye on the amount of diff slip you have and tighten your diffs as required to maintain the correct setting. The next task is to reset your slipper from its tightened state. Ideally you want the slipper to slip for about 30 to 45 cm from a full power standing start. The best way to correctly set the tension is to remove the body shell, find the slipper clutch nut tool that is included in every GT14B box and insert it through the rectangular hole in the top deck so that it locates onto the slipper clutch nut. Now, with the front of the car facing towards you roll the car backwards (away from you) to loosen the slipper, and forwards (towards you) to tighten it. Simply remember ?towards is tighter?. Loosen your slipper clutch nut to where you think it should be and put the car on your main straight. From a standing start hit full throttle and see how the car reacts. If the car wheelies violently your slipper is way too tight. If the motor revs but the 14B doesn?t go accelerate as you?d expect it to then your slipper clutch is too loose. As I said above, you want your car to ideally slip for about 30 to 45cm. If you are running on a high grip track with hardly any jumps you could probably nip the slipper slightly tighter, and if you are racing on a very low grip track or a track with lots of ?big air? jumps you might want to look at setting it for 45cm or a little more. The GT14B has always had a lot of front end grip and in a quest to get more of a rear end balance the team always runs the rear camber link on the outer hole of the rear hub. This will offer more rear end side bite and traction as the car pitches in during a turn, which makes a very big difference to how the car handles. Ensure that your ride height is set so that both the front and rear drive shafts are level. You can do this by dropping your car (with the battery in as if going to the grid) onto a table from about 50cm then checking the angle of the drive shafts once the shock rebound and settle. This is a simple step but is often overlooked. The camber on your GT14B has been preset at the factory however it is always worth your while using a reliable camber gauge to check that it is set accurately. I currently run 2 degrees negative camber on the rear of my car and 1 degree negative camber on the front. The standard ?N40? compound tyres that came with your GT14B have the Carisma orange inserts, which are the only inserts I currently use. You may find that with new tyres (especially on high grip carpet) that your GT14B has a lot of initial steering and that the front end of the car digs in at speed. There are a few ways you can over come this if you are struggling with the ?pointy? nature of the car. The first thing I would do is cut the outer and inner row of pins from both front tyres, and if you feel the need you can also cut the outer row off the rear tyres too. Use a set of nail clippers for this, which make a lot closer cut than a pair of scissors. On the subject of tyres, I have been using the same set of N40 tyres on my 14B for the past 2 months, and although the tread pattern is wearing down the grip levels on the polished drift sections at my local club (Caldicot) is increasing! As your tyres wear you will find the car becomes more balanced, less twitchy and a lot faster! I see no reason for me to ever need to change to any other manufacturers? tyres, because in my opinion the Carisma tyres offer far better grip once they start to wear. The car comes as standard with either a 10T or 11T pinion which is designed to compliment the NiMh cells that are provided with the car, however if you looking for extra speed from the 4500Kv motor then I highly recommend you change to a 14T pinion. The spur gear pitch is a 0.5 Mod which means that any 0.5 Mod pinions (with a 2mm hole) will fit. I believe that Carisma do an optional range of pinions, and also that a 14T pinion for the RC18 will fit. That?s it, other than routine maintenance I can?t think of anything else that I would do to my 14B prior to entering a club meeting or Micro National. I hope this guide is of use to someone. I spent a lot of time last night at Weston?s WORM club helping the owner of a brand new GT14B, and by using the above information we got his car to a point where he was confident in the car and happy with its ability to perform, whilst also being able to see how each change make a difference to his lap times.