The New Math is taking its final exams. Testing of the X - 6 began in earnest about two weeks ago as production prototype parts began arriving at Team drivers' houses. Initial prototype parts have been machined out of solid blocks of plastic. Production prototypes are molded. The molds have been made, and small numbers of parts molded to see how they fit and work.

Close-up of work on battery strap in cover side.

Ejector Side of the battery strap, servo hold-down and posts mold. Again, work is is progress.

Testing has revealed several problems with a number of parts that have required changes in the molds. One by one these changes have been made, new production prototype parts produced, and these have been shipped to the drivers.

Two examples: The transmission cases were too tight and the bearing bosses had to be enlarged. Everything fit in the first cases, but when the case halves were tightened together, the bearings tightened up and the trannies would not rotate freely. The Boyz reamed out the holes with hobby knives and sanding drums and the initial trannies worked fine, but now they have new cases and report everything spins correctly.

Work has begun on the battery strap, servo hold-down, and posts mold. Cover side is not finished yet.

Paul Sinclair's X-6

The toe-in bar mold is a tricky one to make, as the angles must be perfect. The mold made them just fine, but when the ejector pins pushed on the still-warm ends of the part to push it out of the mold, the parts would bend slightly so the toe-in angle was off. We added gussets to the part, and added 4 seconds to the cycle time for cooling before ejecting, and now the bars are coming out of the mold perfect.

There have been other issues too, but you get the idea. As the Team's testing reveals a problem we attack it, re-designing portions of either the mold or the part itself or the process until we make good parts. In one case, we've made adjustments several times.

Greg Hodapp's X-6

Chris Long's X-6

We think the Team is now running the final car. Paul ran his at Family Hobbies in Vineland N.J. Saturday July 1, Greg ran his in Las Vegas Sunday July 2, and both Chris & Dan have received the latest batch of parts. Our E-mail server is about to break down from the volume of E-mail flying back and forth with copies to everybody and the news is pretty good.

Dan & Chris are the major success stories with fabulous results at the high traction English tracks. These tracks often cause traction rolling ("Grip roll" in English) on corners, particularly off-camber turns. Dan & Chris blow the conventional cars away in these areas.

Dan Greenwood's X-6

Paul's day at Vineland was particularly instructive. It was only his second time out with a production prototype X - 6. The Family Hobbies track is open just one day/week and allows only one hour of practice prior to racing. On the first Paul had to build an entire new car using the latest parts, and missed all of practice.

Why do we post video of The Crash? We set out to video H-1, but half way through the first lap a car came sideways across the track hitting Paul in the rear. This broke the rear control arm as one might expect, and the car rolled violently, but nothing else broke. The toe-in bar and bottom covers both survived the hit, and the shock tower survived the roll. All this is great news!

Chris and Dan have also experienced a number of serious crashes, and they have yet to break a toe-in bar or bottom cover. No Lunsford Ti hinge pin has broken or bent so far, so we think our unique method of mounting and adjusting the rear suspension is robust and the parts are working as designed. Hoo-Ray!

The Team will test as much as their regular jobs will allow over the next two weeks. Work will begin again the week of July 10 on the battery strap, servo hold-down, and post mold with completion expected around July 20. We'll make a few production prototype straps, hold-downs & posts and ship them to the Boyz ASAP. A session or two for each with those parts -- they'll either fit and work or they won't -- and we should be ready to go.

So this is really the best news we've ever been able to print about The New Math, because the date I'm about to give is closer to now than any date has ever been and most of the uncertainty is gone: Regular production should start the last week in July. We plan to ship Kits the first week in August.

A problem or two still may rear its ugly head, but we really do think most of them are behind us now and the first week in August looks good. Stay tuned and cross your fingers!

All photos of Paul's car taken at Family Hobbies, Vineland N.J.

Photos of Chris Long and Dan Greenwood's car's taken in England by oOple.