el loco Cubo Reporto versiono 4.27.08

Let’s get right on down to the nitty gritty here.

For you crawler fans, XTM looks to be the second manufacture with a full on competition chassis right out of the box, the XTM X-Crawler. It seems every week the crawling segment gets more support, and the new XTM “super class” crawler is just more evidence to support the case. How much longer till every LHS and track decides to incorporate a “crawling course” into their normal tracks? Who knows, but several rc marketing experts I’ve talked with already expected the crawling segment to be dying out by now. Obviously it’s not, and in fact, it looks like it’s barely starting to take off. Much different than when AE and Losi pushed “rally” conversions about 5 yrs ago. (anybody else remember those? Hehehe)

Also in crawler news, the original Big T, Trinity, has released a series of crawler specific brushed motors. They come in 45, 55, and a real stump pulling 65 turn. Suggested price is around $45 smackers, and don’t forget to buy plenty of extra brushes and dust off your comm lathe.

Are the guys at Traxxas marketing geniuses or what? If you are a hard-core rc hobbyist, you might even be po’ed that Traxxas spends huge bucks on full size racing, while they spend virtually nothing on an actual rc race team. Everyone has seen the full size Traxxas monster truck, and this week, Traxxas announced their support of 3 full size wfo CORR (championship off road racing) trucks. Well that’s where the genius is, everyone has seen the full size Traxxas monster truck, and I’m sure the story will nearly be the same with their support of the CORR series. RC racing is confined to back lots, under-used parks, and inside old warehouses, where it’s nearly impossible for someone from outside the sport to even see the cars run. Traxxas is smart enough to know this, hence the reason they are spending some crazy coin on full size racing to bring the noobies in. Also, being a new sponsor in the CORR series, they will get truckloads of free advertising, not only on television (where CORR has a good deal with Speed Tv, which just recent aired the first live coverage of a CORR event), but also in the full size off road rags and internet sites. So this weeks kudos go out to Traxxas- for actively seeking to take our hobby/sport to the mainstream.

Now, on to the brushless front. Not only does the HPI Flux system come in their rtr’s, but they are also going to be sold separately. These controllers can do 70 amps continuous, or up to 380 burst, and are a great set-up for your 10th scale touring car or off road truck. Perhaps the best feature will be a very user friendly price tag. 🙂

The guys in green (or perhaps black and gold?) at Castle released more information on their much anticipated Monster Max system this week. Indeed, they will initially be releasing just the speed controller w/o motor, which will have an intended LHS price of $199. Information directly from CC states that the continuous power handling is “more than you can handle”, so I guess that means I can run my Toyota hybrid off of it, and your 8th scale conversion shouldn’t be much of a problem. CC has released the exact date that manufacturing will start for the Monster, which is stated to be May 12th. And shockingly, they are discounting roughly 15% off the normal price if you pre-order one right now through their web-site. So get in line fast and get your pre-order in before you are forced to support your LHS and pay the normal $199. Savvy buyers will be scooping up a half dozen on the pre-order so they can E-bay them the day after for a “buy now” price of $300 (or more) to the lame suckers that didn’t pre-order or wanted to support their LHS’s.

And of course, it wouldn’t be a week in rc without Novak releasing some new motors. This week, they add to the motor banzais with new HV series motors (the big 550 guys intended for use in monster trucks and 8th scale conversions) with 5mm shafts. It hasn’t been more obvious that the rc world is begging for an out of the box Associated, Losi, Mugen, Ofna, or Kyosho 8th scale electric truggy to fit these big boyz in. Will one of the major chassis manufactures just give in and give the public what they want?

Well that was the week in rc. Remember to support your LHS’s, support your local tracks, and if some noob asks you how much your rc car costs, don’t be a dillrod and say “thousands!!!”, tell’em the price of a new rtr at your local shop.

Cub Reporter