These days seems like the hot ticket for BL racing is a softer chassis. Guys are going dremel happy on their graphite. Why would softer be better for BL?

I believe it is the fact that you don't get that "natural brake" effect when you lift to transfer the wieght to make the car turn. The BL motors have the ability to run drag brake to simulate the brushed "feel" but most of us have been able to use the extra torque and momentum to go faster with a softer chassis. Some of us don't lift all the way on entry...only if the car is setup for it though. IMO

I've actually been talking to quite a few people about this lately. Now I will post a disclaimer and admit that I am not a good chassis man and haven't played with flex too much. So the majority of this info is second hand from a few different companies.

From what a few different companies have told me the flex(y) chassis is usually just used as a crutch. When your chassis flexes you don't have to have as precise of a suspension setup as you would with a stiff chassis.

Now most compaines choose to produce a chassis that is in between. But you still then have your extremely hacked out chassis and your chassis that are more a solid sheet of graphite.

Regardless, either chassis will work. It just depends on what you're comfortable with and what youre hobbyshop carries parts for.

I'll place a plug in here for KSG. The new gen 3 car has been working really well and will be released here in the next few months. It is one of those medium flex type chassis. Though it make look very hacked out in the rear for the t-bar, the metal braces stiffen it up quite a bit.

-Adam Liehr

I Have Found There Just Is No Substitute For A Good Chassis Setup.running The Right Oil And Springs,t-plate,and Keeping It Clean And Polished Like The Kingpins,shocks,bearings Etc.

Chassis flex may indeed be seen by some as a "crutch". I see it more as a tuning tool. Where I race, we have two outdoor tracks that have one race a month. There is no practice other than a few packs the morning of race days. Being outdoors, the track conditions can change with a slight breeze or temperature change. I can dial in a car pretty decent, but I am far from being an expert chassis tuner. I needed a car that I could put a fairly decent setup on and have it stay relatively consistent throughout the race day. That's how I came to design the Stryker. It's a great weekend warrior car that uses flex and component layout to stay consistent and in doing so makes the race day so much more enjoyable. It can be a competitive car without having the perfect setup on it racing on our ever changing track conditions.

I admire people like Josh Cyrul who can take a 3mm solid car with zero flex and dial it in. I don't have anywhere near that kind of talent and just want my car to work great on the few race days a month I get to run it.

I agree with Adam cutting up a chassis is a crutch or a band aid for a poor set up

I have built many diffrent versions of my Chassis, I don't like the word "crutch" but i agree with the point, It will make the chassis to set up, In no way is it faster, just a little easier to make fast.

I made 2 identical cars, one was "hacked" up, and the other was normal (my chassis are super Stiff) I ended up faster with the Stiff one, but it took my over a month to make it as fast as I wa with the "hacked chassis" the first week out with it.....