This setup has been pretty much my go to rig for racing from early 2017. Built after a few months of frustration trying to find the right setup, I put these pieces together and it found this killer rig which has hardly changed throughout the year since I built it. Some videos attatched at the bottom!

The TSX200 is a UK frame, designed by Tom Stanton of Stantonframes.co.uk, its 200mm motor to motor size, true X, pure racer. With an integrated PDB rated up to 6S (provided you remove the 12v and 5v regs as they arent rated to 6S, they run on 4S just fine). As well as an interlocking arm design, held together by the toughest stainless steel screws. It also has extra 3D printable parts avaliable to make this amazing frame even better.

Onto the components:

The motors I started with were the original F40 Pro V1 2400kv, I loved these motors straight away, incredible flight performance, whilst maintaining good efficiency for those longer tracks (UK Long tracks... Not the US ones lol). I flew with these motors from late March until mid October when Vivan and TMotor, offered to send me some of the first F40II prototypes, which I have been flying since...

The early prototype was literally just the V1 F40, with a naked bottom and 16x16 mounting patterns. This meant that all my favourite characteristics of the F40 V1, were carried on, but just lighter which meant the overall performance was amazing!
I have also been testing some other motors on these setups, for example the DemonRC Inferno 2207.5 2550kv, these are just DemonRC branded BrotherHobby R3's which are already amazing motors. So given that these are 2207.5 motors compared with the 2306 F40, it meant the feel of the quad was slightly altered, probably catered towatds carrying a GoPro with less struggle. However one thing I did notice, is that the way I measure my camera angle with the props in view, changed between 2207 and 2306 motors for obvious reasons. But other than that the DemonRC motor was another great motor which I still fly on these setups!

Props! I started using the HQ5043V1S when they had just come out in April 2017, these were pretty good I cannot lie, however they did lack in grip and top end over higher pitch props. I was pretty suprised I managed to win the Danish Nationals 2017 with these vs others on 5050 props etc! However when HQ released the 5050 I had to try them, and for about 4 months I have been using them. It changed my style of racing I think, made everything so much easier and faster! I cannot wait to develop some more HQ props tailored for racing, especially the 5151x3V1S!

Moving on we have the TBS 25amp ESC, now when I built my original first 2017 setups I used this same ESC - just with different motors and FC combos etc. However this ESC is simply incredible, amazing performance, low idle speed, durability and price! I have used these on 4S, 5S and 6S with no problems and this made them an obvious choice for my setups. I first saw Luke flying the prototypes back in the summer of 2016 when I was still using the DYS XM20a. Other than crash damage and some random failures in over a year of flying, these escs are definitely one to choose if you are still running external ESCs going into the 2018 season - although I know most are going to the 4 in 1's, including me!

Then onto the FC, I used the RaceFlight Revolt, mainly to be able to switch between firmware, RaceFlight (now FlightOne) and Betaflight, to try and see what is best. The Revolt has been solid, I've practically snapped 1/8th of the board off in a crash at iSeries 2017 and its still flying in a current setup today! Amazing FC, whether its the old V2 or V3, its a really great, well thought out piece of kit which I will still be using in the months to come!

FPV Gear: Originally I started with the classic HS1177 and the original 2.1 lens. I have always loved the 2.1 lens and have been using it since early 2016, the wide FOV is completely natural to me and I fly with the "fish eye" look just fine, however with the new runcam lenses I feel that this effect isnt as bad, yet keeping the same wide FOV. I used the HS1177 with the BanniUK presets on, up until April/May of 2017, when I switched to the Runcam Swift 2 and 2.1 lens combo, this worked amazing, much clearer than the HS1177, with an easy way of changing setups, which is important given we fly such a variety of environments in the UK (iSeries to Outdoor etc). Most people are now moving onto the micro cams and they are pretty much the same in terms of performance, but since the TSX200 was designed for the full size cam, I have stuck with the Swift 2 for all of 2017. Time for the VTX and antenna, since mid 2016 I have been using the TBS Unify Pro HV Race vtx, its literally the only VTX I use until something that has better capability is avaliable. Pitmode, Smart Audio, easy mounting, tough connector and great form factor are just some of the many features of this VTX. However I cannot stress enough about how important it is to mount correctly. I see tonnes of posts moaning about breaking the UFL off, in my experience of using the Unify's I have had one SMA pigtail pop off the vtx (no damage, literally just pop it back on and go) and that was in a quad explosion. I will continue to use this amazing piece of gear in the months to come with my 2018 rigs, there is no beating it imho! Finally, the triumph, I think its one of the best performing VTX antennas on the market, as well as its super tough design and awesome look. Again, mounted correctly, this thing is bomb proof, I don't think I have changed one in 9 months!

Crossfire! Originally starting with the old FrSky X4R-SB in these quads I switched fully to crossfire after the Immortal T antenna release in late summer 2017, the CRSF protocol, dropping latency way below the usual SBUS rate, and increased control link confidence as well as the easy smart audio integration with the Unify VTX meant only the obvious choice to switch fully. Its been completely solid the whole time and has boosted my confidence in flying some tough locations!

Alright so the build, its pretty simple but there are a couple of little pieces I like to do every build:

Main thing you probably see is the way I have my ESCs mounted, I use sticky foam tape from the hardware store underneath the esc, topped with a custom printed TBS esc protector, just basically a TPU green square which stops the prop striking and causing component damage. Then topped with Gorilla tape (aka HypeTape™) this can then be cut and blasted with a heatgun to shrink around the esc and stop dirt and alot of water reaching the ESC. I'm also using V2 camera mounts for the FPV cam, these wrap around the front standoffs and stop the cameras from ejecting which they used to on the V1 camera mounts. VTX mounting I have the UFL pointing towards the rear of the quad, the UFL is blasted with heat, then curcled in a C shape, to have no stress on the UFL connector, but have room for my triumph to half stick in on the top plate and be securely zip tied in place. Immortal T is just zip tied on the arm with foam tape to hold it in place as well.

Hopefully you enjoyed that pretty long write up, this was my 2017 setup, however its now become my 4S setup as the racing scene moves to low motor KV and 6S lipos, which I honestly cannot wait for, the performance benefits look amazing! This setup is still highly competitive and I will be using it moving forward this year until every global event is 6S allowed!

Cheers for reading :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3o2PTcpONOc&t=5s