RTR REVIEW TRAXXAS RTR 1/16TH 4WD VXL 302 BOSS MUSTANG WORDS: PETER GRAY IMAGES: PETER GRAY/SPEEDY STEVE SHOWING THE TARMAC WHO’S BOSS... ’ve always been a big fan of Muscle cars, and being born in the late ‘60s and growing up in the ‘70s (fl ares, big collars and all), I was bombarded by images of them in almost every fi lm I saw, and to think of it, in many of the TV shows of that era that I deemed Iat the time to be ‘cool’. The in its various guises has probably had more fi lm cameras pointed at it than any other , from ‘Goldfi nger’ in 1964 to ‘Diamonds are Forever’ in 1971, and the classic Steve McQueen fi lm ‘Bullitt’ in 1968 (the year I was born!). It’s always had its rivals, and probably the biggest has always been the Camaro, but the Ford Mustang legacy continues to this day with the latest shape 302 paying homage to the cars that went before it, both in looks and more importantly at the rear wheels where you expect a Muscle car to really pack a punch. The 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302 takes a standard 2011 Ford Mustang GT’s 5.0-litre V8 and adds an upgraded intake system and revised producing 444 naturally aspirated horsepower, that’s a 32 horsepower jump over the standard GT’s 412. This is achieved by utilising CNC ported heads, revised and the high fl ow intake taken from the Ford 302R racecar. Producing 380 lb-ft of torque the Boss 302 comes with an upgraded six-speed ‘manual’ . A 3.73 rear axle uses carbon fi bre plates in its limited slip differential. One really cool feature is that the intake system has also been reengineered to provide a ‘growl’ under hard acceleration, while the quad exhaust system is made up of two standard Mustang GT outlets and two side pipes that exit on either side of the rear crossover. The side pipes send the exhaust through a set of metal discs to create this extra ‘growling’ exhaust sound. The Boss 302 takes the Mustang GT’s suspension and adds higher-rate coil springs, stiffer bushings, and a larger diameter rear stabilizer bar. The body is lowered 11 mm up front and just 1 mm in the rear to give it a more raked stance and more closely resemble the original. The shocks are even adjustable at the shock tower by using a fl at head screwdriver. The standard Mustang traction and stability control programs have been altered with a new intermediate sport mode designed to allow for more fl exibility on and off the track. Recently, Ford invited a bunch of motoring journalists to test out the all-new 2012 Boss 302 Mustang at a press launch event… Among some of the impressive statistics recorded at this was a 0-60 time of 4 seconds fl at and a 12.3 second quarter mile run. Cars costing in excess of twice that of the Ford would have trouble matching that! At the legendary Laguna Seca track, a professional racing driver took the Boss 302 around with a best lap time of 1 minute and 40.2 seconds. That time beat a 2010 Audi R8 and even Ford’s own Shelby GT500 (by over 4 seconds, despite a 100 horsepower defi cit in favour of the Shelby!) What’s more, this was just a regular 302 Boss, not even the much anticipated ‘Laguna Seca Edition’. Ford insists that the Laguna Seca Edition 302 will be able to complete a lap in under 1 minute 40 seconds, for a car that costs less than $50,000 on the street in the US, that’s an amazing statement of intent… If I get my lottery win in 2012 then this is my fi rst ‘new toy’ on the ‘to buy list’… but until then, there’s a more affordable alternative for UK Muscle car fans from another of our favourite US brands...

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QUICK SPEC Manufacturer Traxxas Type 4WD 1/16th Muscle Car Price £324.99 www.logicrc.com

Scale 1/16th SHOWING THE TARMAC Power 4WD Brushless Electric Length 373 mm Front Track 185 mm Rear Track 185 mm Weight 964 g Height 120 mm WHO’S BOSS... Wheelbase 206 mm

“What better way to start the New Year’s reviewing roster than with something that’s designed purely with performance and fun in mind”

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equates to 44,400 rpm on 3S and will take the 302 to 50 mph+ in the right environment. Obviously this was something I would need to verify, just for the sake of scientific investigation you understand… but first let’s have a closer look at the ‘Stang itself… siMiLaR Yes, BuT again veRY DiFFeRenT… Once the shell is removed you can see a very familiar 1/16th Traxxas platform emerge. Apart from a few cosmetic changes it’s virtually identical to the Ken Block VXL car we reviewed last year. Granted that may not have

MY LiTTLe PonY! What better way to start the New Year’s reviewing roster than with something that’s designed purely with performance and fun in mind. Traxxas have never been a company to sit on their laurels and wait for the rest of the R/C world to develop around them. With releases like the X0-1 100+ mph Supercar they above: sometimes actually change the rest of the industry’s perceptions simple lines make of what’s commercially viable, and sometimes even the best looking car possible! They also start trends in R/C like SC, with the now designs legendary Slash line of racing trucks. What sat before me on my desk at RRCi HQ (or Traplet Towers if you prefer) was a perfect 1/16th version of this new shape 2012 Boss appealed to everyone out in R/C land, but it was one of the best- 302 Mustang… A quick look on the box confirmed it had the Traxxas selling R/C vehicles of 2011 and had a following that included anyone VXL 3M brushless combo fitted meaning an 8 turn (4000 kV) 380 can who’s into the Block Brand, X-Games, Skateboarders, BMXer’s, sensorless motor and ESC capable of handling 6 to 12 cells NiMH or Snowboarders, Rally Fans, DC clothing nuts and good old Monster 2S or 3S LiPo and 326 A of peak current if the mood took me. That Energy addicts like me! The Boss will appeal to a very different crowd, and I am sure a wider audience and possibly even age range. Let’s face it, I look at a Muscle car and it always screams at me to drive it! The 302 is no exception, let’s delve a little deeper… The first thing I scrutinised were the wheels and tyres. This will never drive like a true Muscle car, with chassis twisting, wheelie-popping drive as it’s based on a 4WD system. But that aside it will offer you handling and grip in equal measure, and that’s not excluding the bonkers acceleration and top speed. To this end Traxxas have fitted a racing slick tyre in a fairly soft compound rubber. All four wheels are the same design and size due to the 4WD system, and Traxxas have been clever in that the rubber compound used is not soft enough to be destroyed in a just a few runs no, it’s hard enough to resist being damaged running on tarmac or even at speed, but still soft enough to generate more than ample traction when you want to really feed the power in. When new, they can act a bit like drift tyres for a while until they ‘scrub up’ and you break into the fresh rubber hidden below the initial skin, but this was a fun way to start the review and the grip gradually came up as I ran the car. aLL The BesT BiTs The Boss 302 carries over the same revolutionary F1 inspired ‘Rocker Actuated’ suspension design that’s been a familiar sight on many scales of Traxxas vehicle over the last decade. It keeps the centre of gravity of the chassis and its components nice and low, and ensures that other than the ‘nominal’ weight of the shell, weight transfer and grip roll is kept to a minimum. The power from the VXL motor is passed through a slipper above: note the Mustang emblem on the rear… the symbol of the breed since the assembly fitted to the main spur gear and then is passed longitudinally ‘60s via telescopic propshafts to the front and rear diffs.

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traxxas mustang_RRCMAR12.indd 82 17/1/12 11:42:13 RTR Review “i look at a Muscle car and it always screams at me to drive it! The 302 is no exception”

I’ve had great experiences with these all-metal planetary diffs, and as long as you maintain them they will reward you with hours of fault free run-times. What I mean by this is that they need filling with good quality silicon oil or as I’ve done in the past, packed them with viscous Marine grease that literally sticks itself to the gears and keeps them lubricated no matter what. This is never going to be a top flight touring car, so a little extra drag in the driveline to ensure longevity of the diff internals is a trade of I’m willing to make.

TOP TiP Also as the diffs ‘bed in’ and wear in you may need to keep an eye on the tension. The assembly is built to use shims inside the outdrives if necessary to take up any slack.

Badly maintained diffs is the number one cause of diff failure, as when you accelerate hard or turn on the power, the diff can Above: Mean and moody from the front… the Mustang looks fast at standstill momentarily become un-meshed under torsional load and the result is you usually say goodbye to a few of its planetary gears teeth… Of course with off road cars, landing on the power can be just as bad for a diff if the slipper clutch isn’t set properly… but that’s another review entirely! Back to the 302… Once power exits the diffs it’s again fed by telescopic driveshafts to each wheel and a standard sized 12 mm 1/10th plastic hex. This move by Traxxas allows the owner to fit anything from hard Nylon drift wheels to foams if the mood took them. Of course the design of the included wheels compliments the Boss shell perfectly and offers a modern take on Muscle car alloys. Now don’t be put off in any way by the use of telescopic driveshafts around the car. They are surprisingly light so have less rotational mass, and spinning on rubber shielded bearings throughout the Boss they make for a pretty efficient driveline, that actually gets better after a few hours of use. ONe LUMP OR TwO? Included with the Mustang is a single 6-cell NiMH pack and a slow wall charger. This can be fitted into either of the two available cell holders that run along each side of the chassis. What this also Above: i would know that rear end anywhere… and get used to it, it’s all you will ever see of this review car! means is that you can, as I’ve decided to do, run two cells at once and by using the appropriate ‘Y’ cable from Traxxas either have them connected in Right: with 44,400 parallel or series. The former keeps the voltage at 7.2 V (in the case of rpm of brushless NiMH’s) and simply doubles the duration of the car to an impressive power on tap the 25-30 minutes. In series the voltage is doubled in one go and you’re 302 was never suddenly in 50 mph territory… There’s even an actual advantage to going to be slow using just NiMH cells in the Boss, the extra weight, sitting so low aids now was it! stability and handling. Now that may seem an odd thing to say but it’s 100% true, the 302 just handles better with a pair of NiMH cells fitted. It’s a bit like all the 1/10th Buggy drivers out there that have switched to LiPo and found their existing set-up feels wrong and handling goes right out of the window. They end up putting lead or brass weights back into the Buggy to get it driving the way they like… Of course the use of LiPo cells is also an option, with 2S (7.4 V) or 3S (11.1 V) recommended by Traxxas. I’ve tested both and to be honest found 2S more than adequate for normal use, 3S is good for bragging-rites and impressing people with speed runs only. In normal use 3S will just spin away the excess power, doing nothing more than literally burning rubber away from the tyres and making the Boss a real handful to drive. If you do intend to go the LiPo route then go 2S and link two cells in parallel to create one big pack… you know it makes sense!

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traxxas mustang_RRCMAR12.indd 83 17/1/12 11:42:39 RTR Review TRaxxas RTR 1/16Th 4wD vxL 302 Boss MusTang

above: note the water resistant radio box above: The space allocated will easily accommodate 2 or sitting above the battery 3s LiPo cells enclosure

TQ 2.4 anD TRaxxas LinK Fitted to the Boss is the latest Traxxas TQ 2.4 GHz computerized High Output radio system equipped with Direct Sequence Spread-Spectrum (DSSS) technology. At first glance this may seem the simplest handset on the market today only having two rotary trim dials on the side a trigger, the steering wheel and not much else other than two very small buttons used to access its vast array of hidden programmable features. From end point adjustment to steering-rate, and servo reversing can be set in a matter of seconds. The menu system does take a bit of getting used to initially, but is no more complicated than any of the current breed of ESC’s on the market. If you are a big Traxxas fan and own more than one vehicle in the range, then you will love the way that once bound to each Traxxas above: The steering servo is a waterproof high torque item and felt perfectly 2.4 GHz Link enabled car the transmitter then uses automatic suited to the job in hand model recognition software to make sure that you can just use that transmitter to control your whole fleet without even having to alter a setting or find the correct model memory… It just knows the car and throttle response along with precise, smooth control over any straight away and is set-up just the way you last ran it. If you mess up vehicle in the range. in a big way any of the settings there’s also factory pre-sets stored for almost the whole range! MusCLe PoweR So not only can you forget about crystals and frequency conflicts, After giving the car a good once over and charging a selection the 13ms frame rate and near zero latency results in instant steering of cells to test with, I decided to take the 302 along to the biggest expanse of tarmac I could find locally, and ended up in one of the huge Below: six-spoke alloy replicas hotel car parks that surrounds the NEC. Now this is one of our usual shod with soft compound drifting haunts and as long as we don’t cause any inconvenience to rubber slicks, need the guests, and stay in the furthest part of the car park away from the scrubbing in first hotel, so far we have never had any issues. then the grip In fact the one time I thought security were going to give us a ticking level rises off, they actually came over to see the cars, ask questions and tell us they had been watching us in action on the CCTV for an hour already!

above: F1 Style ‘Rocker Actuated’ suspension is a Traxxas design feature first seen on the Revo many moons ago

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Right: with the components Right: The diffs out and removed the main chassis design ready to be stripped, stands out for the work note the rubber of art it really is shielded bearings used throughout

“it’s pretty rapid, and the LiPo’s ability to deliver power consistently without dropping away like a NiMH really makes

a lot of difference in the speed run and Above: Telescopic propshafts have less rotational mass so spin up faster in use

duration stakes” acceleration. By feeding it in slowly this allowed the speed to build up gradually and no energy was lost in the process, with the end result a Luckily this was a very quiet midweek in late winter and the car park true and straight run… and faster terminal velocity. (and hotel by the look of it) was nearly empty. This meant I could start It wasn’t all straight line speed runs either; before going to the my run up a little further away than I at first had anticipated. bigger pinion I used the bays as corner markers and weaved the little On NiMH’s the Boss in no slouch, and by making a flyby over a Muscle car at speed between them with an imaginary chase sequence measured distance calculated that on stock gearing she was doing a being acted out in my head! The Mustang just encourages this kind good 30 mph in vanilla 7.2 V mode. The stock gearing is 8.10 and this of behaviour in anyone, and after all isn’t this what the true joy of our uses a 28t pinion married to a 45t spur. When two packs were linked in hobby is? Being able to run the type of car we could never afford in real series the extra voltage translated into a step up in performance and life! around the 45 mph mark. Included in with the spares package is a bigger optional 31t ‘high LiKe BULLiTT FROM A GUN… speed’ pinion taking the final ratio to 7.32. With this fitted the car Now that’s not just a late ‘90s dance track (come to think of it wasn’t finally passed the 50 mph mark and although it does affect low speed that ‘Bullet In A Gun’?) It’s also the best way I can honestly describe use, (causing overheating if run repeatedly at lower rpm’s) the taller the 302 when you go into LiPo mode… with a pair of Storm 7.4 V 2S gearing makes the 302 a sight to behold when you do hit full chat! cells linked together in parallel, the Mustang gets to about 35-38 mph One of the limiting factors was the tyres spinning if you applied the in less time than it takes for me to Google the title of that dance track throttle too abruptly, with the resulting loss of traction, control and to solve an argument (Paul Oakenfold, Year 2000, Bullet In A Gun!).

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above: note the ‘o’ ring ensuring that an effective seal is maintained even under the harshest use

Right: Ready for testing… now where’s that Mustang shell gone?

above: a 50+ mph 1/16th and a RTR to boot, Traxxas as ever pushing the envelope

It’s pretty rapid, and the LiPo’s ability to deliver power consistently without dropping away like a NiMH really makes a lot of difference in the speed run and duration stakes. Once thing to remember though is to ensure that LiPo mode is activated on the ESC, it’s set for NiMH out of the box (red LED active) and needs to be set for LiPo low voltage detection. You simply press and hold the E-Z set button on the ESC until an ascending tone is heard, and the light should turn from red to green… I always remember it as ‘Green For GO’. If you don’t do this correctly for each cell type then performance when running NiMH’s will be stifled, and you risk taking your LiPo’s beyond the stage where they will ever take a charge again… you were warned! 3s = MusCLe MaYheM For the final part of my testing I decided to fit a pair of Storm 11.1 V 3S cells, light the blue touch-paper and run away… OK, so I pulled the trigger on the TQ transmitter, and it didn’t run away, but the results were just as explosive! The Boss 302 went from fast to bonkers in one go, I was actually quite astonished the difference that running 11.1 V

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TeChniCal speC 3S had over running 14.4 V NiMH cells. OK, the voltage ReQUiReD TO COMpleTe is slightly lower that’s a 4x aa batteries for transmitter granted, but the way LiPo’s work in harmony with brushless technology is DisliKes something else. no parallel or series leads included The power delivery remains Only a single niMh pack included far more constant and just keeps the motor and ESC fed with enough amps to liKes maintain what seems like Traxxas legendary build quality and speed an ever-growing rpm. Top 2.4 Ghz TQ radio with ‘link’ technology speed is eventually reached 2012 Boss 302 Mustang Muscle shell and the 302 rocketed down 6 to 12-cell niMh compatible esC the car park and past my two timing markers and the 2 & 3s lipo compatible and ready! speed calculated using my Go Fast, Faster or Bonkers Fast trusty iPad at approximately waterproof as standard 54 mph! I have seen videos on YouTube boasting 70 COnTaCT mph+ out of similar vehicles, if true I dread to think what www.logicrc.com gearing they were running, or how long the ESC lasted! My recommendation is to stick to the stock gearing and enjoy the best of both worlds on 2S LiPo (or run two NiMH cells in parallel). At least this way you get close to the magic 50 mph top speed, good acceleration and you won’t just be driving up and down in straight lines, cornering is very much encouraged too! So why should you buy one yourself? Well that’s easy: it’s fast, tough, waterproof and the perfect form of escapism for anyone into Muscle “it’s fast, tough, waterproof and the cars or . I’ve had great fun with the Boss 302, and as ever it’s a fun RTR from the company that continues to innovate, perfect form of escapism for anyone into excite and inspire. I can’t wait to see the new X0-1 in the flesh, I can feel a certain drag strip in Warwickshire calling me to test out its 100 Muscle cars or automotive design” mph speed claims… keep an eye out in RRCi very soon for more on that! RRCi

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