Turning Venerable into Exceptional: Schumacher Mi1 Build Tips

    In the the realm of "entry-level" touring cars, the Schumacher Mi1 is a unique beast. Unlike other budget cars, the Mi1 derives most all of its features from the original Mission touring car of the early 2000's. The advantage here is a tried and true design, plenty of adjustability, and complete uniqueness, compared to today's "cookie-cutter" racers. As with any car, however, there are a few tips that can be used during the build process that can help get the most out of the Mi1.

    I'll be going through these tricks while performing a simple re-build of my personal. Mi1. These tips will also apply to the Mi1v2. In the above picture we see the car torn down to the chassis. Nothing too special here. With this car, it's the little details that make the biggest difference.

    We'll start up front. The kit comes stock with a front ball diff. While this works fine on tight tracks, I like using a front spool, much for the same reasons we use them in modern cars. The stability on turn-in is great, and on-power steering is more controllable with this setup. 

One thing to consider is that this car was originally designed during a time when spools weren't as prevalent as they are now. One-ways and front diffs ruled up front. Consequently, this car develops a bad case of chatter with a spool. Using double-joint CV's cure this. Schumacher's Double-CV set for the Mi4/Mi5 series of cars are a direct swap, making it easy. 

    The kit setup has the hub carrier ball studs mounted on the inner hole, front and rear. Do yourself a favor and ignore the manual, and mount all four ball studs in the outer hole. This allows the car to free up substantially, and have a much easier feel. The suspension will no longer feel like it's fighting itself. To use the outer hole however, you'll need to grind down the inner hole to clear the ball cup. Skip this step, and it WILL bind, and much like new underwear.... Bindage is not a good thing.

    Speaking of Bindage, on the rear end of the car, the manual says to use red o-rings between the ball studs and cups on the rear toe links..... DON'T. I found this to cause binding. There is minimal play when not using the o-rings, while at the same time, creating a fully free rear end.

    The Mi1 already has an extremely free drivetrain, but that can be improved by using the softer "gray" belts by Schumacher. These are made of a different material than the stock black belts, freeing up the car further.

    Using Schumacher's spur gear adaptor will allow you to use industry-standard gears made by RW, Kimbrough, and others. An essential upgrade, unless you like lugging specialty spur gears to the track, your call.

    You know those sway bars included with your kit? Don't use them. The only thing they accomplish is adding more bind than any real sway management. Tune with springs instead, like those in Team Associated's Touring Car tuning spring set. The shock mounting positions on the Mi1 are much farther inward than on any modern touring car, which therefore require a much stiffer spring than normal to create a proper-feeling car. In the above picture, you can see the Associated copper spring, and Scumacher threaded shock body upgrade. This was more of a convenience than anything. Not needed, by any means.

    To bling, or not to bling? That is the question. I'm not much for serious flash on my cars, but these aluminum parts, such as the diff clamp shown above, make life much easier when adjusting tweak. Instead of threading into super stiff plastic each time, the machined aluminum bits make for a much easier setup, as well as stiffening things up a bit. 

    I'm by no means an almighty expert, but by talking to current and former team drivers, I have a great idea what works on this very capable chassis. I've run this car in various classes, and it holds it's own time and time again. The Mi1 is a blast from the past, and a blast to drive. With these simple tips, you'll be able to extract more from this venerable steed. 

Below is my base carpet setup, which can be found on www.petitrc.com

http://www.petitrc.com/reglages/schum/setups/Mission/MI1_JesseAnderson_BaseCarpetSetup201409/setup.pdf

For questions or ideas to add, feel free to find me on RCTech @cementsurfer86 , or leave a comment below. 

-JRoy