Well…
Fenix G12, also know as Reference YT12-A, had a very different genesis compared with our “standard” way.
Late summer 2019, in those lovely Italian still warm summer evening… a bit of chit chat with fellow racers… “You know… you miss a 1/12 in your range…”
By the end of September the raw idea was there.
The idea was to rely on the V-Link, as we found this suspension being so versatile and tuneable, that allow any model to feel at home on any surface, and Mistral one was dimensionally perfectly suited, while the front end can be “borrowed” from G56.
Some parts, peculiar to G12, start to appear and in January 2020 some pics of the prototype were on our FB page.
Early prototypes were using a G56 style front end.
In the meantime, I was drawing a 1/12 sphere diff, as I want to retain all the good points there are in our sphere diff: so 3 ball bearing for radial loads, and a thrust bearing for axial.
Luckily, those pictures, get the attention of Kimihiko Yano and his team, so we took the chance to work together.
Kimihiko Yano, Shizuo Tanaka and their team mates, made a superb job during the development, giving us a very precise feedback on what need to be improved.
Unfortunately, Covid slow a bit the developing process, in springtime the first prototype built as per Yano’s spec, was ready and a silent but very effective job, start.
Meanwhile, Federico Antonazzo, Nicola Zuccheri, Erik Fagnocchi, they take the development job at a serious level, spending hours in their home track.
Roughly by the begin of August, we can summarize both input and have a clear point on what do and a pre-serie was launched.
The first pre-serie reach Kimihiko and his team, so we went public on Redrc, at the begin of November 2020.
Feedback we got are extremely positive, let’s hope to be able to drive more in 2021.