Building and set up of the Bergonzoni Blast

This is the building process of a GS-Racing STORM PRO with all pro's and con's found.

Performance of a car depends on the driver and the track. The things we found and state may differ from track to track and driver to driver. So see these things as a guideline for forming your own opinion about the car.

OK here we go! I had the car up and running for the first time. Just after I had finished the car I took it to a race meeting to track test it directly without any break-inn. All settings taken from the manual except for the rear shock oil. The standard 350 CS is to thick and I used 250 CS. The track I ran that day was hard packed surface with loose sand on top. Only one jump and the track almost flat. As there are no tires in the kit I went for Medial Pro TURBO's (pink). The whole clutch was taken from a Thunder Tiger as the flywheel that comes with the kit is to large in diameter and could cause a premature flame out when hitting the ground as it level with the bottom of the chassis. Further all as it comes in the kit. We run four qualifiers and then semi finals and a final.

First qualifier and I immediately set fastest time of the day. The car was running predictable and clean. Brake bias was set more to the rear as the front what mended that hitting the brake when steering for the turn caused a RALLY slide and the car could be powered through the corner while sliding. When hitting the brakes without steering the car stayed stable and turned very tight into the corner with out fishtailing or what ever.
Everybody was surprised about the performance of the car right out of the box me too!!
Between heats we did not had enough time to change much on the car.
Heat 2, 3 and 4 I could not better the time :-(((. Between heat 2 and 3 I changed the rear spring for Thunder Tiger White and preloaded it whit 10 m/m spacer. This made the car better with out throwing the rear upwards over small bumps and ruts. The black rear kit springs are to long and to hard!

In the semi final I could only make the third spot as the engine flamed out once (to low idling!). The car still performed well without any changing from heat 3. Predictable ride with lots of steer with and without power on.

The main final I was running a steady pace and leading as the engine flamed out once again.
Still the performance was as in all qualifiers and the semi final OK.
Second spot was all I could achieve that day. Still no bad result for and "OUT OF THE BOX" car and a flame out.

I checked the car for problems after the race and did I find one? Yes I found one. To be honest I found six problems. All set screws of the CVD's were not tight anymore and caused the cross pin to come out and block the front wheels. All the other CVD's had the same problem. So the factory thread lock is not sufficient. I found out that thread lock was only placed at one side of the set screw. So take care an refit them with sufficient thread lock before racing.

Before we run the car on the TWF8 test track we had the car up and running with old set up for a demo run. The track was totally flat and not big. I decided to run the original clutch that came with the car including the large flywheel. I can not say anything about the performance of that car concerning the handling. What I found out however was that the standard 13 teeth clutch bell is very soft. It only survived 6 tanks of fuel. I took it off before it damaged the main gear more. It looks like this is not an oil treated hardened clutch bell only coated with some kind of layer. The engine was a R&B S7 and the clutch was engaging to early for this high resistance surface. So one or two 2.5 m/m holes in the clutch shoes would have done the job. Further nothing else to report about the quality or set up.

It is 12-08-2001 and instead of going to our test track we went to Germany to run a MRW race at Daniel Reckwards hometrack. Without any practice I put the car on the track. Used the most inner holes top and the middle at the bottom.
The same for the front. Front still 350 CS and the rear I use 100 CS. Ride height as usual just below or level. In the front the original GS springs in the rear the stock Mugen MBX4 springs. Differentials still as manual suggested. As the MRW competition rules say you may only use Medial Pro Pulsar tyres or GRP Bulldog I opted for the Pulsar's.
The track is hard packed sand with a thin layer of sanddust. It was not flat and bumpy in certain places.

The first qualifier I had to get used to the track. The car ran OK and I achieved a 9 lap result.
The second qualifier we changed the suspension and moved the top position of the shocks absorbers more to the outside to make it stiffer.
Had to come into the pit as the engine ran to rich. So only 8 laps as result. (never change a good running engine!! :-))
The rear left shock had leaked so much that half the shock absorber was empty.
I had a lot of problems to remove the circlip on the shock absorber body to check for the problem of the leaking. You need a special tool if you want to keep the circlips working!! It might be wise if GS uses the same clips as all other manufacturers do as these can be removed with a simple small screwdriver or plyer and do not need a special tool. As I did not had any spares for the car I tried Kyosho parts! Thanks to Jefrey Thomas from Thomas Motorpoint who was willing to lend me the parts from his spare shock. Attention!!!!! Although they look the same when using the GS spacers and the orange Kyosho O-rings I could not fit the shaft through. It seem that the orange Kyosho O-rings are thicker. I managed to get the shock working again by using only one Kyosho O-ring and one white GS one. The rear shocks were filled with 200 CS and the right one was not leaking anymore. This third qualifier the car ran on the more and more worse getting track again 9 laps but with a faster time then the first one. I was placed 4 th in the 1/4 final and still was not used to the track. In this 10 minutes I found the performance of the car I needed but it was to far into the race and finished fourth and did not made the half final.
The car itself ran without any problem except for the leaking shock. The stiffer car ran better as the softer set up (thanks to Gerben en Peter for preparing my car that day). But testing time was zero, so no real comparing could be made. Maybe a next time we will return to this track and make more test in set up and can beat Daniel who by the way did not won the race! Andreas Bartels took victory home!

It is 25-08-2001. The birds are falling from the roof as the temperature is 30 degrees Celsius in Holland and a humidity of around 95%. But we are going to try to test the Storm a little further. I first had to rebuild the other rear shock. This one now was also leaking oil. So I replaced again one silicone o-ring.
With the set up from last race I put it on the TWF8 test track. 350 CS in the front and 200 CS in the rear. Choose the Medial Pro Crystal tires in Green compound this time.
Engine still the CMB SSi with 14 tooth clutch bell. Car is fairly stable around the whole track. Enough steer except for one corner.
Just after the double the car nose dives and bounces on the ground. A sharp turn there to the right is not possible. We move the top position of the shocks more to the inside to get rid of the ground bounce and make so the overall damping a little softer.
Still car lacks the ability to steer directly after the jump. An overshoot in the corner is the result everytime. The EB4's and 7.5 and XR's can make this turn without any problem. It becomes the bottle neck of the day. So we went from hard to soft without any better result. We had to take care not to jump to hard and jump the car exactly at the downslope of the second jump.
Hard to do when you approach at full speed. The brakes where not 100% due to fuel leaking from the tank!!! Cant find the problem where it leaks but it keeps wet around it and the chassis. The black fuelspil collar was removed to check as this was not helping either in this case. No further time to check this and it is too hot to do so.

It is 26-08-2001. The temperature has dropped to 23 degrees. And today again a competition @ TWF8 test track to race the car. Dry track and so we opted for slick tyres.
Car ran first with the soft set up from yesterday. Not bad but still that problem at the exit of the doubles loosing valuable time.
After the second qualifier I changed to the older harder set up. Still car runs reasonably OK but jumping the car is a hell at that same spot after the double jump.
Third and Fourth qualifier I made to many mistakes to get better results.
Second position in half final was the result. Fourth starting position in the final. Two guys were to fast today. They already did 16 in 5.23.00 and 15 in 5.01.00 laps were I measly could run a 14 laps 5.08.32 in qualifying.
The final we started with some light rain so I choose the Hobao Rain .138 tires, but heavy rain does not come and the car was hard to run. The two other guys were to quick again! So this means more testing to get the jumping better and that sharp turn after it.
The car further ran without any mechanical problem or wear. Only the leaking fuel tank is something I have to look for at home. The car looked like a swimming pool after the race but then filled with fuel.
We will test on this track again later! Dont worry we will get it run better!

13/14-09-2001
We had an other weekend @ TWF8 test track to race the car. Tried all kinds of set ups from hard to soft. The double was still a problem no matter the setup. Jumping the car for this special jump corner combination is a hell.
The fuel tank was also still leaking, although holding t upside down and shaking for 3 minutes did not showed any leaking!!.
The race it self I finished second place but that was not the achievement of the car. More the fact others failed to run their car the right way. In the mean time we modified the fuel tank lid by putting more pressure on the spring. Garen Hagobian from GS-racing USA confirmed that they heard about this fueltank problem before, but using a heavier spring or foam as lidclosure was the option to try. Further I found out that the balls in the lower rear shock absorbers were worn out! That is very quick!
On the Saturday the rear diff broke down and I took it apart. Only one of the sun gears was stripped. I do not had any spares for this car yet so asked other drivers for spares. I find out that the MP5-6 diff gears are the same as the GS-racing ones so I could rebuild the diff for the race the next day.

Paco- Very nice review! The entire review is very detailed and exact, with good suggestions and photos. We feel the Storm PRO is one of the best 1/8th Off Road racing buggies available on the market.
Of course it is not perfect, no car ever is. However, we have spent countless hours testing, modifying and improving since the initial prototypes were built. All this effort has been done to produce a car that is on par if not ahead of the competition.
Your comments (in red especially) are beneficial to both the consumer and to us. Anyone who is building a Storm PRO (or any other kit for that matter) can refer to your review(s) for detailed and unbiased suggestions. Perhaps some of your suggestions will find their way into the next version of this car kit..
As with most other "PRO" kits, both on and off road, the Storm PRO does require "work". What I mean is, there are some areas that can use drilling, cutting, shaving, etc. I doubt you will find any top racer, driving any brand of car, who has not "modified" his car. The Storm PRO is no exception.
However, out of the box, the Storm PRO offers many hop ups and top quality pieces such as one piece torque rods (chassis braces), aluminum suspension mounts, Teflon coated chassis, etc. It is priced reasonably, and can be found in hobby shops worldwide.
At this time there are at least 2 well established aftermarket companies producing or planning on producing high-end aftermarket pieces for the Storm PRO. Of course there is a host of original GS aftermarket pieces available for the Storm. We are pleased with its performance so far, look for some big
results soon.
Garen Hagobian/General Silicones Group, Inc.

26-10-2001 Coment by Garen Hagobian from GS-racing U.S.A
Regarding the fuel tank leaking- We have not had a widespread or consistent flow of complaints about the tank, so the problem you are experiencing is likely limited to a few cars out there. Try stiffening the springs or change the seal to a new or different one.
Regarding the clutch bells- These clutch bells are the same ones included on our RTR kits, and are good enough for recreational use. However, GS is taking steps to increase the quality of clutch bells in future kits. Chances are, the owners of Storm PRO kits will likely replace clutch bells (and clutch parts) often with either GS brand or some other brand. So in the big
picture of things, I hope people will look past this issue.

28-10-2001
At the TWF8 test track we tried the reworked fueltank with higher spring tension and a new car set up. Front and rear shocks filled with 250 CS. Rear White Thunder Tiger springs in the front BLUE Thunder Tiger springs. Shock connection points top position in the front lower row middle hole and rear lower row one hole from the outside. Lower connection points front and rear in the middle position. Car jumped OK and corner speed was OK too. The trouble corner was concerning performance just like I could achieve with the Bergozoni Blast from last race. So both problems solved and tested in 20 minutes.

We will test the car further for durability next season 2002 with a novice driver at the transmitter.

02/05/02 comment by Golan Levy

DEAR MR. PHILIPPE LACHAT (GS-Europe).

We think that good work in design is worth appreciation, That is the reason that we decided to send this letter.
My name is Golan Levy I am the team manager and one of the team drivers, I am 33 year old and working as purchasing manager in a communication company. We are racing 1/8 scale buggy since 1990, Here in Israel; our team is very successful.

Since we started, we were among the leaders in this field, Until today we participated in countless national events achieving the first places till now, We also participated in worlds 1996 in U.K. achieving nice results (Sponsored by MUGEN).

The reason for this letter is based on the request from “TISSAN HAIFA”(A large distributor here in Israel) to evaluate and test the GS STORM PRO.
Despite the fact that we are in the middle of a racing season and kit evaluation takes up valuable spare time (that we are short of), we decided to accept the challenge! As we started assembling the kit, we were surprised by the logical order in the bags. Every step in the assembling process was in a separate bag, so we did not spend precious time opening other bags, looking for more parts. We spent no time finding the right parts and assembly was very quick and convenientThe parts quality is good and their fitting is excellent! After finishing the assembly (it took me half the time than XR / Kanai) we went to our local racing club to test the car performance. (For general view of the track surf to "http://www.hdracing.co.il") During our testing day, we received very nice results, achieving very quick lap time, with basic set -up. As the day progressed, we improved the car set - up and handling was way above Our expectations! the car handled the bumps very well and had great amount of steering. in the end of the test, we examined the car and we found no broken parts. Our first impression from the car is good, we listed here some important points that you may find useful in improving your car production in the future.

LIKE:
1.      Easy assembling.
2.      Good Metal parts quality from first impression.
3.      Good Bumps handling.
4.      Active steering.
5.      Equipped with all the optional parts.
6.      Great looking overall.
7.      Clear Manual.
DISLIKE:
1. The original crown & bevel in front & rear diff' where inadequate.
2. Even after receiving the new parts the gap between crown & bevel gear is not prefect, we tried to add 3 shims with no success in reducing the gap to normal.
3. 2 units of Damper Cap were leaking.
4. Clutch bell is not adequate for racing (high wear).

We think that this kind of quality products combined with your very good price promote this sport!

So, keep on the good job!

* A copy of this letter was sent to Paco Raap from TWF8.

Yours sincerely, Golan Levy, Team Manager, MugenRacingTeam, Israel.

	The track for the demo. Real grass surface of the local soccer club. At the end of the day there was not much grass left :-)
	You can clearly see that the clutch bell is at its end and also the main gear is at a level of braking down.
	The clutch bell after six tanks of fuel.
	Clearly no good quality!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
	Oh yeh, I rolled the car after a jump contest (this is what the crowd loves) and snapped both screws from the lower hinge pin holder at the front. I had to use a high speed Dremel and made a small slot to get a screw driver in the thread. I managed to remove them by heating them up as the thread lock prevented this at first. Refitted new screws and went on with the demo.