Schumacher’s latest evolution of the CAT (Competition All Terrain ) 4wd buggy is the K1, you’d have to know that if you are a regular reader of this blog.

I recently put one together and it went together better than any car I have built recently, the quality of parts and the fit and finish were superb. Although racing is in recess for the Christmas holidays I have been able to get on a track a couple of times for brief stints – reports elsewhere.

I decided to check out the buggy for maintenance issues and check out some of the claims being made.

Bearings – these are the red sealed ones that Schuie have been using in recent Off-road models, they are fantastically well sealed – I haven’t cleaned my SX3 ones in a year of running. The friction that often goes with good sealing is not evident with these slippery little suckers – that’s a tick.

Access – I decided to remove the front diff, not that I needed too just wanted to test the claim that it would come out with 4 screws – absolutely true in and out and a few seconds, really easy no drama at all, 4 screws that’s it. That’s 2 ticks

Next up I chose to change the spur, not just to see how hard it was but to actually change the spur as I wanted to run a stock motor see what it was like. 8 screws – take the top deck off that’s 6 and 2 from under the right hand spur bulkhead, 1 nut that holds the spur and pop 2 ballcups and that’s it, the reverse is a simple process. I can live with that. That’s 3 ticks

This morning I decided I might as well finish testing by removing the rear diff. Looking at it I thought that 4 screws was a possibility, I decided to go with 6 screws and remove the wing, shock mount etc out of the way. Again it was so easy I really struggled to believe it. The thing is an absolute delight to work on, Schumacher have really excelled themselves this time. That’s 4 ticks

The diffs. These ball diffs are fantastic, very similar to what is on the Mi4 and was on the SX3 etc and well capable of putting the power to the off-road surface with no stress. On my SX3 the diffs lasted 12 months without a rebuild running stock and the occasional 10.5 and a few races with 7.5. I suppose with constant running of mod they might need a rebuild more frequently but they are certainly the goods. There will be a gear diff available but I doubt you will see one in my car although it will be good to have the option. These diffs are a big tick I reckon

The shocks. I have been using the small bores with vented caps on my SVR for a few weeks and they gave me a better lap time round the Gold COast. The ones on the K1 don’t come with vented caps but they are available as an option. The shock are easy to build and easy to adjust for rebound as you fill them even without the vented caps. I had a ballcup come off the bottom of one and filled the thread with super glue and it hasn’t come off again so not sure if it’s an issue. None of the other 3 shocks have had any problems. Use a mild loctite on the bottom seal caps as they will come undone otherwise. They come with the new red seals and so far no leakage is evident. The shocks also get a tick from me. (Big Bores are available as an option if you want to go that way- maybe if you are on a big open track they could be worthwhile)

Options

These are on my list to run at some stage.

Alloy shock tower mounts FR and RR

Alloy blocks for the front suspension mount

Titanium turnbuckles

CORE progressive springs

Maybe a new shirt!