GLF Formula 1 Chassis

[mugler]

Perhaps one of the more significant releases for this scale in a while, the new GLF by GL Racing, scheduled to be released within a couple of weeks based on announcements on social media.
Like many others who've expressed the same, looking forward to grabbing some next generation Mini F1 Action

[TPDazzle]

This looks amazing. I haven't decided about getting one yet, I would love to, but I won't have anyone to race against locally. I am still tempted . . .

[mugler]

I'm not sure if you're are part of the Tri-Cities Mini-Z community who participate in the HFAY series but if you are this chassis and any other F1 for that matter can be used in the OPEN class ( not in the main racer class).

Always been a huge RC F1 racing fan ( any scale) so I'll be running it in that Open class myself with the other 2 cars on the track whatever they may end up being on our race day... at the end I'll get ranked with all other members form all communities some of of whom i suspect will be running GLF at some point soon.

[TPDazzle]

Originally Posted by mugler

I'm not sure if you're are part of the Tri-Cities Mini-Z community who participate in the HFAY series but if you are this chassis and any other F1 for that matter can be used in the OPEN class ( not in the main racer class).

Always been a huge RC F1 racing fan ( any scale) so I'll be running it in that Open class myself with the other 2 cars on the track whatever they may end up being on our race day... at the end I'll get ranked with all other members form all communities some of of whom i suspect will be running GLF at some point soon.

Yes, I am the instigator and track and timing system owner of HFAY Tri Cities Mini Z. You bring up an interesting point. I have a bit more passion than my cohorts (for a long time I supplied the car for one of our participants, I am super excited he finally bought a McLaren rwd). Although we have a lot of fun, we are not finding a competitive pace running 70T, and I found last season that I did not have the wheel skills to improve my laps on the small HFAY tracks with a 5500 motor. I did, however, do well with it on a larger track when I raced with PDX (a fun but rare event for me). Anyway, I follow and enjoy full scale F1 and I would love to see one of these ripping around the track, but I'm not sure if we could manage an open class yet. I would love to get one, but it might be a little used luxury. We will see, I might not be able to resist. Do you know if I can get a micro reciever for this car that will work with my EX6r?

[mugler]

Yes PN sells a stand alone receiver that will work with your EX6R's ASF mode ( part # LCRC8002), I have the FHSS version which I use with my EXII.

Good getting to know you. If you do decide to get a GLF the next best bet in your circumstance would be to do an 8 minute one man time trial to see where you "would have" ended up in the open class ranking, you can even post your results on the forum...it should still be good purposeful chase the result type of fun even if no official ranking.

[EMU]

We are expecting strong participation in the F1 class here drie to the GLF. At least 10 racers that I know are pre ordered, with others waiting to see if the class takes off befor buying in.

There is a lot of excitement about it around here, as we had at one point a very competitive kyosho f1 field, but the lack of support from kyosho didn't help. There are a few with cars that would like to run, but not enough to stop running an existing class to make the space for the crew threat want to run. Being able to run a full grid or two heats should be enough to get the class going.

I feel that the cost to get the car on track is quite reasonable, that once others see the cars on track (if they perform as expected, shown in video), that it will be a hit. I might try converting my kyosho to brushless and lipo and see what it's got as well...

[TPDazzle]

Originally Posted by EMU

I feel that the cost to get the car on track is quite reasonable, that once others see the cars on track (if they perform as expected, shown in video), that it will be a hit. I might try converting my kyosho to brushless and lipo and see what it's got as well...

I would be interested to see if the kyosho F1s could compete at all. Just on paper, it seems it wouldn't but I'm sure the right tune with the right driver could give the GLF a run.

I was excited to see the Xpower F1 (which was fabulously expensive and is apparently no longer listed on their website), and the MC3 F1 (so cool that they made that happen!) But the GLF price point and package really seems to hit a sweet spot.

[SuperFly]

I've never driven a Mini-Z scale F1, so wondering if someone can answer this:

What happens when you make contact with the wall? Are you perfect drivers, or constantly replacing front knuckles? Just considering the front knuckle breakage I see with too-wide-for-the-body offset wheels, I can't imagine surviving very long in an open-wheel car.

[TPDazzle]

Originally Posted by SuperFly

I've never driven a Mini-Z scale F1, so wondering if someone can answer this:

What happens when you make contact with the wall? Are you perfect drivers, or constantly replacing front knuckles? Just considering the front knuckle breakage I see with too-wide-for-the-body offset wheels, I can't imagine surviving very long in an open-wheel car.

Good question! I know the front wing is usually a bumper as well, so that offers some protection. If you watch full scale F1, even the slightest contact usually splinters carbon and puts them out of the race. Definitely no "rubbing is racing". I'd be interested to hear what people that race mini z F1 actually say about this. Shockingly I seem to hit the walls more than a professional F1 driver

[mugler]

Originally Posted by SuperFly

I've never driven a Mini-Z scale F1, so wondering if someone can answer this:

What happens when you make contact with the wall? Are you perfect drivers, or constantly replacing front knuckles? Just considering the front knuckle breakage I see with too-wide-for-the-body offset wheels, I can't imagine surviving very long in an open-wheel car.

That's one of the biggest distinctions between Kyosho F1 & GLF, the entire steering system particularly the use of traditional 10th scale tie rod and knuckle with ball joint on GLF vs Kyosho's slip on tie rods.
On impact Kyosho F1's would either break (if plastic) or bend ( if alloy) the stem of the knuckle..the part that slips into the eyelet of the toe bar...that would in turn bind up the up and down suspension movement making the car no good at that point.
Enter GLF with its traditional 10th scale F1 proven steering system. I've been running 10th scale F1s continuously since 2008-09 and have had all kinds of violent crashes involving the front end including direct front wheel contact with boards , to this point I have not broken even one knuckle...I always use the best servo saver around which is a big part of it and will be on GLF too i suspect... on 10th scale cars the brittle carbon arms are the first to go, on this smaller scale I think arms are safe in general given the material & low weight of the chassis ( 10th scale F1 is 1050g, GLF probably around 170 outta box).
Front wing of GLF is also pretty wide and I'm sure after a while will see some aftermarket Tamiya Mini4wd spinner options like we saw for Kyosho's to further enhance protection.
GLR (RWD) which has been around for a while now also uses the same steering system as GLF and a lot of people use lexan bodies which is not as protective of knuckles as ASC's and there hasn't been overwhelming reports of breakage that I'm aware of, but still I'll be ready for a few broken servo savers here and there. I suspect the knuckles themselves will be safe specially if switching to the beefy aluminum ones which come in different camber angles.

[EMU]

Before the mantis bumper was made for the kyosho car, it was common to have the knuckles bend. I would actually stock up on plastic knuckles and replace whenever they broke, because my theory is that a bent aluminum knuckle was worse than needing to replace a plastic knuckle every few races.

After the mantis bumper came out, it beefed up the front end considerably, and broken/bent knuckles became much more rare. I switched to the alloy knuckle at this point, and think I bent only one while using this bumper.

The plastic arms of the GLF should be resilient enough to retain their geometry, but soft enough to flex under a hit without breaking.

[mugler]

post #11 =

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Manual coming soon !

[cowboysir]

The more I look at this chassis....

1.A big fan of the shorter wheelbase....114mm vs 130mm(+/-) for other models I have.
2. Interesting tri damper (reminds me a bit of Mantis)
3. Very cool front suspension (although the angled shocks make me wonder of shock rates ramping as the compression angle increases)

Do classic F1 rims fit or are you beholden to Marka and the GLF proprietary shape?

[EMU]

Originally Posted by cowboysir

The more I look at this chassis....

2. Interesting tri damper (reminds me a bit of Mantis)

Do classic F1 rims fit or are you beholden to Marka and the GLF proprietary shape?

The marka tire is 11mm front and 14 rear. I am not sure on the diameter. It doesn't look compatible with standard kyosho wheels, but i would assume that the MC3 F1 0mm offsets could fit rather than the -3mm offset of the kyosho.

We will know more next week when they arrive.

[mugler]

double post.