Serpent has finally released the new Viper 989: its latest development on the 1/8 gas market.
This brand has been the driving force for decades in the 1/8 racing scene and the Viper 989 is their latest interpretation of a high performance race car based on that experience, combined with the latest insights on weight, weight distribution and flex.
As the creator of the Centax clutch, the 2-speed gearbox and many other things that are now industry standard, Serpent also integrated some new solutions on the suspension.
Another major point of development was to reduce weight, reduction of vibrations and ease of set-up and maintenance.
Ultra-narrow chassis with improved flex characteristics. The chassis is milled down in less load-stressed areas to make it as light as possible and still remain stiff in areas where needed. Serpent kept the possibility to have a weight in the very bottom which is easily adjustable in it’s position.
The 5mm aluminium chassis has perfect symmetrical shape for even flex and weight distribution. The ultra-narrow chassis is very light, while it still remains strong in critical places. The Viper 989 logo is laser engraved.
The newly developed front bumper is a very light and easy to use design.
The strong aluminium front body posts are eccentric, to allow movement of the body a few mm forward and backwards to optimize steering and downforce.
The steering blocks, which are equal left and right, offer a system to change the axle position to a “trailing” or “leading” position, and the ability to change the kingpin-inclination and offset. This allows multiple options to fine tune steering balance in all phases of the corner. The steering block features an aluminium plate to connect the spring steel track-rods. They have 2 Ackermann options.
Optional carbon fibre disks can be mounted on the side of the steering blocks and uprights for aerodynamic adjustments.
The single most important new feature are probably the shock-absorbers. A lot of attention has been payed to minimize friction and jamming.
Testing has also shown that a slightly smaller bore works better.
On the rear of the car we also increased the total length for extra stroke and better progressivity
At the same time the designers improved the way it is it mounted to reduce vibrations by using a carbon weight bridge which is mounted in anti-vibration rubbers. They also added 2 more locations for another weight, one underneath the engine and another one underneath the servo saver. The central weight bridge allows the use of max 3 weights and all weights are mounted as low as possible to improve the center of gravitiy.
The one-piece plastic radiomount is replaced by a 2-piece aluminium construction. It is lighter than the plastic one, and at the same time it improves the flex characteristics and the accuracy of mounting the radioplate.
Source: Serpent