The HPI Super F-1 is the first complete kit put out by HPI. Oddly, it's been more of a success than the RS4, at least to me. The car combines the best of both worlds: reliability and handling. In fact, the "spindly" looking front arms are much tougher than those on the RS4! And the independent front suspension, plus hi-tech rear suspension, with all that graphite stuff, makes for an impressive looking car.
I've driven this car on two types of surfaces so far: rough asphalt and flat abrasive cement. Oddly enough, the F-1 handled better on the rough track than the cement surface. To be fair, however, certain crucial factors were changed.
| Rough Asphalt Setup | Smooth Cement Setup | |
| Chassis | Standard Graphite chassis | Standard Graphite chassis |
| Motor | 30 Degree Stock 27 turn | Tamiya Dynatech 01R |
| Gear Ratio | 28/94 | 28/94 |
| Front Tires | Stock | JACO Purple Dots |
| Rear Tires | Stock | JACO Green Dots |
| Front Springs | Stock | Stock |
| Rear Shock Spring | Stock, 5 mm preload | Stock, no preload |
| Shock Oil | Stock | Stock |
| Rear roll Springs | White (softest) springs | White (softest) springs |
| Front Camber angle | 1 degree negative | 1 degree negative |
| Toe Angle | 1 degree toe-out | Neutral |
| Front Axle position | Inline | Inline |
| Castor Angle | Both castor spacers rear of arm | Both castors spacers rear of arms |
| Differential Setting | Tightest | Locked |
| Aerodynamics | Stock Front/Rear Wings | Tamiya B195 Front/Rear Wings |
| Rear Wing setting | Maximum Downforce | Maximum Downforce |
| Miscellaneous | Tamiya F103 Battery Box | Tamiya F103 Battery Box |
| Additional Hopups | Lunsford Turnbuckles | Lunsford Turnbuckles |
Driving notes: Like most RWDs, this HPI has to be driven with care in order to make the times. It absolutely cannot be thrown around like a 4WD sedan, or a FF car. It was quite a bit of culture shock for me to drive, being my first RWD. The car is remarkably stable once the driver knows his, as well as the car's limits. There's basically one rule of thumb: Don't try to accelerate as you turn. Try to slow down, or maintain cornering speed. Only when the car is straightened out can you roll on the throttle. If you have a torque-adjustable ESC, I recommend it be turned down to it's minimum punch setting. With these in mind, the HPI has proven to be a worthy opponent to the 4WD sedans on rough asphalt. Despite not being able to match the speed of the sedans through corners, it will make up on the long straights. Other than this cornering speed niggle, the car is quite well behaved on asphalt. However, on cement, the car was not as pleasurable to drive, given the fact that I used a Dynatech 01R (mild modified, 19 turns), which proved to be too punchy, even on lowest ESC torque settings. It was difficult to drive, and the differential was locked by glueing the balls to the diff washers and spur gear, in order to extract bearable handling. It could not handle fast sweepers well, the tail whipping too quickly for me to slow down, despite maintianing constant speed while in the corner. However, the car excelled in speed, and turn-in, still managing to slot inside the sedans' turn radius. I will be trying this same setup, with a stock motor, to see if it makes a difference.
Please email me if you have any suggestions, questions, hate mail etc.
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