Monster Mustang
An simple drifter car. Features steering and AWD with different gear ratios for the front and rear axles.
Datasheet:
Completion date: 26/01/2022
Power: electric (BuWizz 3.0)
Remote control: BuWizz 3.0
Dimensions: length 55 studs / width 22 studs / height 16 studs
Weight: 1.185 kg
Suspension: none
Propulsion: 2 x BuWizz motor geared 1.4:1 for front axle and 1:1 for rear axle
Motors: 2 x BuWizz motor, 1 x C+ L motor
An experimental model born from studying professional-grade RC drift cars. Having noticed that they are far more effective at drifting than LEGO cars, I’ve spent some time studying how they’re built and then tried to copy some solutions onto a LEGO drift car. The car was fitted with LEGO 68.8 solid plastic wheels, with large negative camber angle on all wheels and with an AWD system that featured just a single differential (in the front axle) and a different gear ratio for each axle, causing the rear axle to drive faster than the rear one.
I have built a few simple LEGO RWD drift cars before and this one has performed considerably better – it was easy to make it start spinning (but hard to make it stop) and I could feel that the front of the car is pulling sideways when I turn, instead of just being pushed. On the downside, making the front wheels driven has limited their turn radius because LEGO CV joints can only bend so far.
The car ended up heavier than expected, and the weight has taken its toll on the drivetrain. I had frequent cases of driveshaft sections sliding out of axle joiners, and the main 12-tooth drive gear on the driveshaft has over time started drilling into a 5×7 frame holding it in place. It was definitely not a good-looking model, as I was initially inspired by Ford Mustang drift car but sort of gave up along the way. I’ve kept the correct dimensions and proportions of the model, but decided to ignore the paintjob because I didn’t want to end up with yet another model covered up entirely in stickers. I have also simplified parts of the body, especially the front end, because I wanted to make the model indestructible by limiting the amount of non-Technic pieces that could fall off in case of collision.
The model performed pretty well, but was evidently bogged down by the weight of the body. I wish I could have built it at a smaller scale and save some weight this way, but the size of the unique LEGO wheels has determined the scale of the entire model.
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