XRAY 9/17/04 10:35 AM Page 46

RACE CAR CLINIC INTRORACE CAR CLINIC Now For The Good Bit... ur first patient is without doubt a VIP, this very spe- 46 Ocial car has set a new standard for design and quality, and has the standard Xray No Compromises!! Next we cross the pond, and travel south for a look at another Revo-lution, we race and pass judgement on the new Traxxas REVO. 54 Now we lose two wheels, and try one-wheel drive. The Thunder Tiger Ducatti 999 is a real Devil, a Red one! Back to the USA again, and Off Road once more, but this time with a Ready To Race, almost ready to run Rallycross car, it was Mayhem! And yes another American, this 62 time from California, and he brought a friend too!! The Hot Bodies RR Lightning is ready built and ready for fun, with a big block motor, it’s Instant Lightning. Finally, we take a quick peak at the RR’s much bigger brother, The Stadium PRO. This extra long ‘’ is ideal for racing, but just as good for fun, and it too has a big block motor. 70 76

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TEXT: Chris Deakin PICTURES: desawadigital.co.uk COMING NEXT MONTH

Hopefully we will have a wide selection of cars, trucks etc. One guaranteed entrant is the brand new Losi LST, a Monster truck No that will set a brand new standard. We check it out and take it racing.... Compromises! Team Xray XB8/OS VZ-B On Test When Team Xray duced high quality Electric pow- announced on the ered cars so far, the man who WInternet some months developed and styled the XB8, ago that they were going to pro- Dipl. Eng. Hudy Juraj has built and duce a brand new and secret raced several 1:8th circuit cars in Nitro powered racing car, the his home in Slovakia with some whole R/C world took a deep degree of success, which of breath and hoped it would not course began the relationship enter the sector of the market with Serpent Racing Cars, and the they were in. They knew if Team formation of Hudy Performance Xray were going to make some- Parts. What was a surprise how- thing new it was going to be very, ever, was that Xray’s new secret very good. car was in fact going to be the Although Team Xray have pro- ultimate Rallycross car!! 46 RRCi 11/04 XRAY 9/16/04 12:12 PM Page 47

‘X ra ca y’ g r w s n ul oi a e ti ng s i w s ma t n e te o b f cr R a et c a e t ct ar ll h ’ yc e ro ss

A No Compromise Racecar

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RACE CAR CLINIC

All the parts come in correct build order, quite a refreshing change

Xray even supply this excellent tool kit from HUDY

NO EXTRAS purchase a single option part, REQUIRED they all come in the very big box. From the outset it was clear that Team Xray had as usual CONVENTIONAL packed all their legendary engi- As regular readers you will no neering skills and quality into the doubt know there is a pretty XB8. From the very first pictures standard set of design that came from them, and the parameters for a successful technical details, this car had Rallycross car; it has to have been designed and detailed to 4WD, shaft drive, three differen- give the driver one of the tials, a strong chassis, good strongest and most tuneable shock absorbers and disc brakes. cars on the market today. The XB8 has all that, and then All the best materials have some. By sticking to this very been used be they Carbon Fibre, conventional route Xray have hi-tech Swiss aerospace T6 been able to include a myriad of Ready to crush the opposition 7075 aluminium, and of course special features without adding you can’t forget the legendary to the price. The finished rolling chassis, just Hudy Spring Steel® which is missing the top for the radio box used throughout the drivetrain. SPEC CHECK By cleverly using various inserts XB8 Specs: you can change, caster, roll cen- Dimensions tres, toe angles and the wheel- Length: 482 mm base, without the need to Width: 306 mm

The shock piston on the left has a tapered hole, by altering its direction you can vary the bump and rebound characteristics

48 RRCi 11/04 XRAY 9/16/04 12:44 PM Page 49

POWERPLANT “this is where As the XB8 doesn’t come with an engine you will have to buy one, obviously! Attending the recent World Championship I was more than impressed with the performance of the new O.S. VZ-B V-Spec- the XB8 really T (P), which was to be found in many of the Kyosho MP777 racing cars, including most of the American Team. O.S have refined this all-new .21 quite a lot, they have made use of, according to their press details, a high-silicon steel piston, which does score big was a surprise as aluminium is the more accepted material for a pis- ton. This does mean there is a totally different rate of thermal expansion and thus an expected better gas seal. Because of this a numbers” new-hardened ABC liner has to be used for added wear resistance. A totally new crankshaft design that’s considerably slimmer, reduces the rotating mass quite a lot for an improved pick up, but is stronger Height: 180 mm than any O.S. crankshaft ever made. And for the very first time it Wheelbase: 321~327 mm utilises a turbo or conical glow plug, something, which was only Weight: 3350 g thought to work in on-road engines. Available Adjustments: Matched to a brand new long, tuned pipe (which we didn’t have) it Camber, Caster, Toe-in, Front would be interesting to see how it performed, after all O.S. have won Inboard Toe-out, Wheelbase, more Rallycross World Championships than any other engine Front Anti-dive, Rear Anti- builder. For more details contact Irvine engines here in the UK. squat, Front and Rear Roll- centre, Ackermann When parts are this well Gearing: made, they are almost art. A Pinion/Spur: 13/40 DIY Primary Ratio: 3.33:1 Internal Ratio: 3.54:1 Final Gear Ratio: 11.79:1 CHASSIS The 3 mm thick silver anodised Swiss 7075 T6 chassis is machined strategically in low stress areas to be as light, and as strong as possible. Excess material below the engine, fuel tank, and diffs has been removed to allow for the lowest possible Centre of Gravity, and the obvious improvement in handling. Two very strong aluminium chassis braces make for an ultra stiff chassis platform. Machined from extra stiff 5 mm 7075 T6, this dogleg shaped brace is keyed on to the rear shock tower and guarantees total chassis stiffness. The radio tray, front upper deck and disk brake deck are all machined from high quality black graphite, and feature countersunk holes for perfect Fill the shocks to this level and alignment. The radio plate con- you won’t be far off tinues the low C of G theme by having a lay-down There is a bleed hole in the servo. Adding even more rigidi- shock caps so it’s easy to get ty are the front and rear tionary and innovative I.S.S. Xray’s very stylish black with perfect dampers each and moulded diff housings, which all (Integrated Suspension silver edging, front and rear every time the suspension parts mount SettingsTM) design. All adjust- shock towers are again CNC too. Easy access to both front ment parameters are complete- machined from high-grade Swiss and rear differentials makes ly integrated via offset inserts T6 aluminium, but 4 mm thick maintenance amazingly easy. that allows total set up changes this time. Both shock towers are without swapping or replacing strategically lightened to reduce SUSPENSION any parts – no need for optional weight without compromising The XB8 features a revolu- caster or toe-in blocks. their strength. Multiple shock positions allow for numerous BUILD TIPS suspension settings. The front 1) Don’t over tighten the screws holding gears to the diff hous- shock tower also benefits from ings, the plastic is quite hard and it does take a lot of effort, but go the same type I.S.S., with com- too much and they will strip!! posite eccentric bushings that 2) Fit the bearings to the diff cases first, they won’t fit over the enable quick and easy adjust- output cups. ment of front upper arm angle to 3) Add threadlock to all the grub screws in the driveshaft U/Js. compensate for lower arm anti- 4) Make sure the anti-roll bars move freely after you set the dive settings. adjustment screws, it is very easy to pinch them up. All the suspension mountings 5) Take care when shimming the end float for the bell housing blocks are CNC-machined from don’t set it to the absolute minimum, if it is too tight you will get more high-grade 7075 Swiss T6 bearing failure; as they overheat. aluminium, but 5 mm thick for extra strength. Each block again

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RACE CAR CLINIC

All three diff assemblies have the same high quality internals, just look at the tooth pattern on the planet wheels, stunning!!

The installed power plant with matching exhaust, you may have to trim the mounting wire, ours was around 4 mm too long, but that will depend on the pipe

provide a responsive feel, yet in the steel threaded bushing soft enough to survive extra while the end of the screw is long finals. self-locked in composite to pre- vent the screws from loosening C-HUBS ARE BEST during racing. The steering The XB8 features a unique, blocks are moulded from the and revolutionary C-hub sus- lightweight yet very strong and pension with Integrated durable special composite. Xray supply a receiver battery, which is neat, the battery and Adjustable Caster® (Xray Fully adjustable turnbuckles for radio receiver have more than enough room so you can do a very patent) that enables you to camber and toe adjustments are neat installation adjust the kit supplied C-block made from premium Hudy through the entire caster angle Spring Steel®, a handy turn- features I.S.S composite bush- hinge pins and are completely range. No optional caster blocks buckle wrench is included in the ings that allow anti-dive, anti- captured, so they shouldn’t fall needed! The C-block features an kit for adjusting them. squat, and toe adjustments. out as you bounce around the inclined kingpin design for The front ‘C’ hub suspension track. This neat feature does increased steering and stability. DAMPERS blocks enable declension sus- mean there are no C-clips any- Super lightweight composite These feature CNC-machined pension settings for progressive where on the car. steering blocks are a genuine hard-anodised shock bodies damping. All the wishbone The long suspension arms innovation in design and func- with aluminium caps, and have mounts feature hardened 4 mm themselves are rigid enough to tionality. Each block features an soft volume control diaphragms. inset steel bushing that is Rubber boots prevent dirt moulded-in into the steering ingression to the twin seals. You block. This concept enables the even have two different spring king pin screws to be firmly held hardnesses to choose from! The

The finished car, very early one morning, the paint is by Mall Roberts, who has replaced Wes Miles as RRCi ‘paint man’

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Two covers go over the receiver and the battery box should be close to watertight

shape of ‘O’ rings, which act as friction dampers. All the driver shafts have what you may say are chunky U/J style joints instead of CVD types, Xray say they will last longer without needing replacement, and are smoother, but they would would- n’t they!! And of course you do get a full set of blue seal Teflon sealed bearings just like the on- road cars, these are incredibly Xray supply these no-cost velvety, and add no stiction to options to tune the chassis of the drivetrain at all. the XB8

ENGINE FITTINGS job at the best of times, well-done Xray supply a very high-grade Xray!! The front-to-rear brake CNC-machined engine mount set, bias can easily be adjusted via black anodised and then milled to brake linkage, which has two create the stylish Xray luxury knurled nuts locked on to the look, which circumvents the whole pushrods. car and helps to dissipate engine The fuel tank includes an inte- heat. The flywheel is also CNC- grated stone filter and splash- machined from high-quality alu- guard to protect the brakes from minium, and as you would expect fuel. The tank is mounted using is hard anodised for increased life. rubber grommets to absorb vibra- The clutch features 3 lightweight tions. A large capacity aluminium aluminium shoes and two sets of fuel filter is included as standard; springs to choose from to set the the fuel filter is different from oth- A three shoe alloy clutch does give amazing bite, Xray include ideal clutch engagement (0.9 mm ers as it is captured in a holder two sets of springs to tune the bite point and 1.0 mm). and will not turn as the result of vibration. Small composite hold- piston set includes three (1.3, 1.4 drivetrain, and who can doubt BRAKES/ ers secure thick 5.5 mm silicone and 1.5 mm, parallel hole) pis- them!! This guarantees reduced MISCELLANEOUS fuel tubing, which is another very tons, which are installed on rotating weight and increased The ventilated brake disks are neat idea. heavy duty 3.5 mm piston rods performance. All the drivetrain laser cut, heat treated and The smooth flowing, very effec- made from Hudy steel. Also Xray parts (driveshafts, diffs, and ground on both sides to guaran- tive air filter is made in two parts, supply pistons with conical holes brake outdrives) are strategically tee a vibration free operation. and can be cleaned very easily. so you can vary the pack, bump weight-reduced and finished in The brake pads feature high qual- Air filter oil is included as stan- and rebound of the dampers, the well know Hudy bronze ity Ferodo friction material, and in dard. The universal rubber allows which is a first. This does mean colour. Wheel axles and wheel the case of our sample kit were it to fit any standard 1:8th you should be able to attain per- nuts are made from aircraft light bonded to the steel pads, a messy motor. fect damping at every track, no aluminium, and hard anodised compromises!! for increased life and low wear. The dampers are mounted on Rubber sealed composite dif- heavy-duty shock towers front ferential housings are manually and rear, by using the mounting precision ground after the holes in the lower wishbones, moulding process to guarantee multiple shock angles are possi- a perfect fit with no vibration. ble, these have been thoroughly Three quad gear sun and planet tested and developed in both wheel differentials motivate the virtual reality, as well on the XB8. Differential gears are made racetrack. This guarantees suffi- from pressed steel, heat treated, cient suspension travel and the and machined for ultra-preci- best set up for either flat sion and smooth operation. Main European tracks or large bumpy gears use Hudy steel (Spur, US tracks. Pinion, Crown gear and Clutch bell) and are machined individu- DRIVETRAIN ally using a precision gear By exclusive use of Hudy Spring machine. Steel® Team Xray claim to have The front and middle diff have the world’s lightest 1:8 off-road added tuning options in the

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RACE CAR CLINIC

ner, just about anybody who can wield a screwdriver can build this car and very well. It just slips together like a glove, most of the greases, oils you need to build the car are included, but not any threadlock. Also I found that there This dog leg brace is amazingly were several areas that did strong, there is now way this require threadlock but wasn’t chassis will flex, so the highlighted by the instructions!! suspension can do its job!! This car is a real pleasure to build. One thing you will have decide early in the build, is the set up. Now Xray do provide a baseline setting which does look pretty middle of the road. I knew I would Fully assembled rear suspension, note the relief on all the alloy be racing the car at the Slough parts, gives the car a look of class. Note the I.I.S.® bushes in the BRCA National, so I increased the lower suspension mount caster and ant-squat, but kept the stock shock oil and diff greas- STEERING to withstand long mains and es. Centre diff mounted to the This is a conventional system abuse. car, you can see it is mounted using two vertical bellcranks; The large moulded radio box THE DRIVE as low as is physically possible these are ballraced for smooth features a clean design and lay- Now with this class of car, the operation. The right-hand bell- out that places the weight in key set up does indeed make quite a crank has an integral adjustable areas for a balanced car. Xray difference, well a huge difference servo saver, and to ease the even includes a FREE XRAY 1200 in fact. Our nominated test track assembly this came pre-built. An NiMH 5-cell 6.0V receiver battery as many of you will know is the alloy steering cross plate is preci- pack and receiver harness. For Bagginton facility next to sion machined from 7075 Swiss racers not using a radio switch, a Coventry airport. This is an all T6 aluminium with black finish and handy moulded cover is included weather track, i.e. astro turf, and stylish XRAY silver edging. The to guarantee a leak free radio is very bumpy, and the tyre which steering plate features 3 different box! works well here is the HoBao Ackermann settings for precision The tight antenna holder will Angle Spike. These tyres come steering setting, but oddly is not make sure the antenna tube stays pre-mounted to HoBao wheels, ballraced, which is a strange attached even if the car is flipped. which gave us a problem, when Note the insert in the lower omission on a car of this undoubt- tightening the wheel nuts we wishbone; this is what adjusts ed quality!! BONUS PARTS found the internal stiffener of the the caster angle The XB8 kit includes a smart set HoBao wheel fouled the upright, BODY/WHEELS of Hudy profiTOOLS for easy and as did several wheels we tried, so By fitting the Xray supplied cone The aerodynamic rear wing is comfortable assembly and servic- be aware. shape shock pistons downhill you moulded from a very flexible and ing of the car. The set includes 1.5 In the end we had to use a worn restrict the oil flow on bump, but virtually unbreakable composite mm, 2.0 mm, and 2.5 mm hex set of Medial PRO Whoops tyres not on rebound, so the brakes still mixture; well that’s what the press wrenches, and a Philips screw- to do the testing. work well. This did improve the release said!! At critical areas, all driver. The kit also includes a uni- Now the O.S. engine was very ‘landing’ quite a lot, just check out edges are reinforced to prevent versal tool that will fit on all nuts tight and proved to be a challenge some of the photos!! breaking. The rear wing holders and turnbuckles, and a separate to start, which did mean it had to The level of forward traction was feature aluminium braces and the 17 mm wrench for the wheel nuts. be run in very well…eer not!! Sorry quite a surprise too, as you accel- wing holders are mounted firmly Irvine, but it didn’t seem to harm erate gravity does take-over, and to the substantial rear shock BUILD it, but this is not recommended we weight is transferred to the rear tower. The holder offers many dif- Now this is where the XB8 really were under pressure to get the wheels and the front lifts, often ferent wing-mounting positions to does score big numbers, Team review done, that’s my excuse. resulting in front wheelspin, and a guarantee the optimum setting Xray do produce the absolute loss of power. The XB8 never dis- for different tracks. best in build manuals. The CAD BALLPARK played this trait once, it just A Proline Crowd Pleaser created illustrations leaves you in Having tested several Rallycross leaped forward like a striking lion!! bodyshell is included with the car, no doubt of the build order, parts cars at Bagginton I had a baseline The side bite was a little too which does like the Kyosho pat- you need, and in most cases the performance to work from, or so I much, and the car did grip roll a tern one which was designed by orientation of the part. Also all the thought!! The first thing that couple of times, moving the lower Mark Pavidis. Stylish Xray parts are bagged in the correct grabs you is the response from shock mount out on both front Starburst wheels are moulded build order, so you are not left the steering, the car turned hard and rear lower wishbones, soft- from light but very durable mate- hunting part xyz from bag F3 or and fast, with a high caster setting ened the initial roll a little. I didn’t rial. No tyres are supplied, which is F4. Which does make a major it should not have done. It went want to disconnect the anti-roll a good thing, as it is unlikely that change. into the corner on fire, had a little bars as the change of direction somebody buying this car is not Although this car is not really mid corner understeer, and then was pretty stunning, and fast. going to race it, and each track in designed for the absolute begin- simply powered out to the next Although the XB8 only has two the UK has very different needs to bend. disc brakes it did stop very well, I say a dirt track in the USA. ‘C’ hubs, long arms, stiff alloy The XB8 does drive like no other made several minor, but quick parts, a recipe for success rallycross car I, and ‘our’ lens man adjustments, until I got the ELECTRONIC Dez Chand had driven before, in desired front to rear balance, INSTALLATION fact it felt more like an on road which means the rear just helped The well made carbon fibre radio car, off course it is an Xray!! Over ‘steer’, without the front wheel tray features a laydown steering the rougher parts of the track the locking and causing understeer. servo and upright throttle/brake long silky suspension travel servo arrangement; both servos soaked up the bumps very are placed on the chassis centre- well, but it did slap down The line. Clever Xray laydown servo hard after most jumps, diff mounts can be mounted in which did suggest we housing three different positions to needed more pack are actually accommodate differ- (more initial damp- ground ent make servos. ing), which was for a Heavy-duty steering very easy to perfect horns are included achieve. fit and seal 52 RRCi 11/04 XRAY 9/17/04 11:29 AM Page 53

QUICK SPEC

CLASS: 1:8 Scale Rallycross TYPE: Self-assembly Kit MANUFACTURER: XRAY Model Racing Cars, P.O. Box 103, 91150 Trencin, Slovakia, Europe PRICE: £549.99 srp WHAT YOU GET Full Rolling Chassis Kit. 4WD. Shaft Driven. Triple Differentials. Fully Ballraced. Swiss T6 7075 Alloy Chassis. Twin Disc Brakes. Three Piece Alloy Clutch Shoe Set. Hudy Spring Steel® Drivetrain Components. Carbon Fibre Radio Plate. Carbon Fibre Steering Brace. C Hub Front Suspension With I.S.S.®. Double Wishbone Front Suspension. Lower Wishbone/Top Link Rear Suspension With I.S.S.®. Heavy Duty Alloy Shock Towers. Moulded Radio Crate. Supplied NiHM Receiver Battery. Hard Anodised Oil Filled Coil Over Dampers. Spare Shock Pistons (Symmetrical/Asymmetrical Damping). Twin Bellcrank Steering. Moulded Wing Mount. Moulded Wing. Front & Rear Anti-Roll Bars. Spare Coil Springs. Spare Clutch Springs. Hudy Profi-Tools Supplied. WHAT YOU NEED WHAT WE USED ■ 2 Channel radio ■ KO Vantage Esprit R ■ Steering servo ■ Sanwa ERG-VX ■ Throttle servo ■ Sanwa 991 ■ Engine ■ O.S. VZ-B V-Spec-T (highly recommended) ■ Exhaust ■ O.S. ■ Glow Fuel ■ Tornado Race 25 ■ Tyres ■ Proline Crime Fighters/Media Pro Whoops/HoBao Angle Spikes ■ Paint ■ Pactra ■ Starter box ■ Hot Bodies ■ Glow heater ■ Fastrax 4500 ■ Superglue ■ Proline LIKES ✓ Incredible build quality ✓ Very high specification ✓ High quality materials ✓ Excellent design ✓ Tuneability DISLIKES ✗ The car’s faster than me!! CONTACT DETAILS Mirage RCE, Units 1-3 Queens Drive, Swadlincote, Derbyshire, DE11 0EG Tel: 01283 226570 www.teamxray.net www.mirageracing.com

Speed wise the lightweight and testing I really could not find transmission could indeed be fault with any area of the XB8, felt, running on a 13T bell hous- and I did try! ing the XB8 had predigest RRCi acceleration, far more than another car we had running, which has very similar gearing. The alloy VERDICT product clutch was set up et a new e ver we g oing to b using the hardest Whene now it’s g here ou just k d cars. T clutch springs, m Xray y make ba lence fro ly don’t ng excel hey simp ngineeri and with the good, t lity and e s of qua ldwide. race- obvious bot- tandard own wor l’ luxury s is kn ed a ‘rea d has tom per- ve creat trong, an they ha redibly s hout formance of the XB8 ll, is inc gree wit With dibly we e nth de fers the O.S. ilds incre ed to th ector of car. It bu n be tun r in the s gave a very hich ca ther ca a NO chassis w art; no o s simply a single p e!! This i quality good chasing a formanc tally new pur el of per set a to impression this lev and has rs. racecar, cross ca of an Exocet promise for Rally 04 Com tandard YEAR 20 e missile. In s OF THE of Mirag CI CAR reg Hill fact after RR thank G nd also ld like to eview, a several hours Ci wou th this r anging RR help wi for arr for his Engines of running the RCE f Irvine notice. Wood o ry short car for pictures Mark ine at ve the eng