LG John

My g/f has decided she's going to get me an nitro r/c car for my birthday but doesn't have a clue about them and wants me to basically pick one. I have a little more of a clue and I'm quick to pick up new hobbies but I don't know the market at all and what would really suit my needs. I do have some areas of vast smooth tarmac around where I live and lots of interesting 'off-road' areas too. I guess I'm leaning towards something that has some degree of off-road ability as I might get bored nailing it around in an empty car park. I'd love something I could break traction in and drift cool.gif

Budget is around £225-50 allin which means I'll need the car, glowplugs, trasmitter, etc. I'd appreciate some recommendations on what to buy from those in the know. As I see it there are cars which are probably only suitable to tarmac, buggies/trucks that can go on pretty much anything and rally replica's (impreza/cossie, etc) that seem to be in the middle ground and can perhaps handle some form or rough terrain? confused.gif What should I get?

GOLDMAN 555

To be perfectly honest you would be best buying from eBay lots of people by remote-control cars then don't use them enough and put them onto eBay. I would probably go for something like a second-hand Rex-xthis has off-road capability and can be modified to fit a Subaru body when you're bored of off-road(you're more likely to the board of on-road first however).



Do not go for and on road version as although they are fun the novelty soon wears off.


If budget allows try and go for a monster truck they are really good fun!!

MTR

Ho Bao Hyper 7 RTR (Ready to Race) TQ Sport.
1/8 scale off road buggy.
Tarmac only cars are very limited where you can use them, and yes you wil very quickly get bored blasting around a car park.

http://www.modelsport.co.uk/?CallFun...n&ItemID=20870

http://www.modelsport.co.uk/?CallFun...r_picture=true

Cheers
MTR

Stiver3

Get an electric start one, DONT get a pullstart one as they are a b*stard to start, and break!

Also get an off road, because finding a sport to use an on road is almost impossible, and they damage too easily.

My mate use to have a schumacher 70mph buggy, god knows what the people must have thought when a Rc car came roaring past them at 50!

P1Fanatic

I bought a HPI Savage (monster truck) about a month ago. Nitro is a lot more fun but the high power wears parts out quickly, they are inherently more difficult to get running smoothly, they cost a lot in fuel (2.5l of nitro is about £15) and they are noisy. If you live in a built up area Id make sure you have somewhere relatively far away from peoples houses so you didnt **** the residents off.

I went for a monster truck as I fancy trying some jumps. However in stock form it handles like a bag of crap on tarmac. Some better tires and stiffer shocks should sort that out. Great fun in the dirt though

If your going for something on tarmac and offroad Id go for a buggy or a normal size truck. Worth spending a bit more cash on something thats sturdy and wont break all the time. Something like the HPI Mt2 RTR (Ready to run):

http://www.apexmodels.co.uk/product-...cat=kits&id=70

Comes ready built with radio kit. You will need a starter kit inc fuel, glow starter + charger, battery for rotostarter + charger. Oh and a fuel bottle for transferring nitro from the can to the fuel tank is a must.

Mine has a rotostart - stick the glow heater in, press the button and she roars into life. Piece of ****.

If you get one make sure you follow the run in process to the book - you could kill the engine if you dont or seriously shorten its life.

Essential purchases:

-Failsafe. Stops you car racing off if you lose radio contact or the batteies die. £20 expenditure is a lot cheaper that a rebuild
-Hump pack. Rechargeable battery pack for your receiver. Costs about £20 and you will need a dedicated charger (£20-£40) but will mean you dont have to keep buying AA's and its also more powerful = better throttle and steering response.

Visit the HPI forum - very informative:

http://boards.hpieurope.com/?lang=en

Also this is a very good online shop. Im 5 miles down the road from them and they are will helpful and friendly blokes:

http://www.apexmodels.co.uk/

Cheers,
Simon.

LG John

That Hyper looks pretty smart MTR - is that model good value for money? What sort of speed would it likely achieve? Could it take on a few small jumps, etc without breaking?

P1Fanatic

Saxo, look here for some mint vids. Will give you an idea about what you can do with each type of car/truck etc.

http://www.hpi-europe.com/videos.php?lang=en&cat=action

Simon.

LG John

Been doing a little more research and I like the look of the HPI Mt2 RTR. Seen a video of it and it looks like good fun. Is the upgraded version the 18ss (or something like that) worth the extra money??

SiPie

Feckin knew it........... You don't even have it yet and you've started thinking of ways to mod it

LG John

LOL, I can't help it, I really, really can't!! I'm already up-to-speed with most of the affordable nitro range!!

SiPie

There isn't even the slightest hint of surprise at this end

LG John

Ok I'm now torn between a HPI Nitro MT-2 RTR and a Ho-Bao Hyper 7 TQ Sport RTR.

The HPI is smaller at 1/10th scale with a smaller engine and the Hyper is larger at 1/8th scale but with a bigger engine. Which would likely be the best overall vehicle for a whole mix of terrains. Which would likely be quicker both in terms of accelertion and top end. You know I like a drag race so which woud be faster over the 1/4 of a 1/4er mile sprint

EddScott

Seriously, go for the Hyper 7!

The Hyper will do everything the HPI truck will do and more. I'm biased as I race 1/8 rallycross and to me they are the best buzz.

Although the truck has big wheels as you say its only 1/10. The 7 will go faster, and higher and come down in one piece whereas the truck probably won't.

LG John

Like what for example? Assume I bought both models, what is it about the Hyper 7 that would make me more likely to use it - what can it do better, etc. I'm not massively interested in top speed but I'd like an rc that would accelerate quite quickly.

EddScott

Not sure what the engine spec is on the model mentioned but I it should take the truck with ease on acceleration.

This is all personal opinion but I just don't like 1/10 nitro powered cars. I don't believe they can take the same impacts that a 1/8 buggy can take.

However, at the club the main 1/10 weapon of choice is the Jato - think thats HPI too but not sure.

The .21 sound much meatier than the .15 lumps for a start and with a race of about 8 or more you just can't hear a blooming thing!!

The Hyper will almost certainly handle better and its just more satisfying to drive a 1/8 rallycross buggy.

WHICHEVER you buy make sure you take some time to run the engine in. i.e. one or two tanks off the ground on very light throttle, another couple of tanks just tickling round the garden or wherever and maybe one more with the occasional boot. More time spent doing this will ensure a long life engine. Also get some after-run oil as the fuel attracts water and can sieze the engine.

PS - make sure you run the buggy away from other as if your not a BRCA member your not insured if you hit anyone. TBH its debatable if you are insured away from a designated track - and yes they bloody hurt!

LG John

Cheers ed Any other opinions?

falkster

I thought you wanted it for smooth tarmac?? So why get the Hyper 7? Pointless having an off road car on road.

You want to get yourself a Schumacher Fusion......bit bigger than a 1/10 but have 4WD and a .21 engine. Go like stink very reliable and loads of fun. Ive got the Menace GTR which is the same car but bigger (true 1/8) and round our local track it keeps up with the nerds that spend 800 quid on a Serpant (although my drving is not quite as good).....it has 3 speed which can be adjusted to get speeds of upto 90mph.

All the claims of cars doing upto 70mph are rubbish unless they are proven, most nitro RC cars will do around 40/50 mph and will need some serious mods/gears do achieve more.

As suggested before try ebay, you will get more for your money and if you are lucky you could get a really good bargain.

If you fancy something a bit different I have an FG Ecoline Astra DTM (1/5 scale) in mint condition ,that I havent used for ages but works a treat......brand new tyres, engine just been serviced and had new air filter and spark plug. All ready to go but a bit over your budget at £300.

Chip Sengravy

Falkster is correct....Fusions are evil, some of the guys I used to meet up with clocked one at 86mph with a handheld radar gun..be wary of the tyres though, at top speed they centrifuge off the rims, this makes them very skittish. This is easily cured by fitting medial pro's, there are a solid tyre, pre glued to the rims, about £30 a set.

You might also want to consider his offer of the FG, £300 is a good buy if its in mint condition. I have one and i fitted a big bore kit to take it up to 25cc, certainly makes a difference. 2 strokes are far easier to maintain than nitros, and because of thier size they drive more like real cars IMO. Far less fiddly to start, with much longer run times.

The best ever RC car I had was a 1:6th .21 scale protech....not the fastest thing you can get, but the handling on the right surface was unbelieveable, you can do some amazing slides with ease

LG John

All I said is that there are areas of tarmac I could use around my house but there is also a massive grass areas in front of my house that I could use too. I have decided I defo won't go for a tarmac only vehicle and I'm leaning heavily towards the Hyper 7 unless I can be convinced the 1/10 HPI would be better.

Chip Sengravy

http://www.racing-cars.com/products.asp?recnumber=675

LG John

Just not impressed by the Schuey - its 2wd, looks crap and I get the feeling its designed with achieving that 'headline' grabbing top speed in mind. I feel you can get a better all round car for the money and I'm also led to believe a 2WD would be pretty unstable at 70-odd mph.

MTR

Saxo Boy,
My Hyper 7 TQ sport is slightly quicker in a straight drag race against my two friends HPI Savage 4.6's Monster trucks, which have one of the bigger engines fitted out of most of the R/C cars.
Although theres not much in it.
The HPI's cost almost £400 without radio gear, charger, glow start, or servos.
So ended up costing nearer £500.
The HPI's pull brilliant wheelies (with wheelie bars fitted) but they roll over easily on corners, and flip end over end when braking!!! Stoppies are hard to control.
I believe they can be improved as mentioned by someone else by altering the dampers and springs (more cost), but the laws of physics will always dictate that all other things being equal a vehicle with a higher centre of gravity will be more unstable.
I chose the Hyper because I am pretty poor at controling the things. They are quick at about 45mph ish but don't tip over on tarmac, but can do on grass.

With road tyres and off road tyres you can race the things on either terrain.
The serious r/c blokes race the Hyper 7 Pro with carbon fibre bits and bods and a more powerful engine.

The other plus is that spare parts seem to be readily available country wide, as they are for the HPI stuff.

I would reinforce a previous comment about fitting a failsafe, which puts the brakes on the car if your radio handset loses its signal, or the car gets out of range. They really are neccessary.

Some of the crazy American web site videos have them jumping 1/8 scale buggies (not sure which make) over their houses!!!
They seem to withstand incredible punishment, but I wouldn't be too keen to try myself.
They are usually lighter than the trucks so less inertia hitting the floor, but also less suspension travel.

You pays your money and takes your choice.


Cheers
MTR