RC Rally Car Shootout – Top Speed
RC Rally Car Shootout – Top Speed
Raw speed is exhilarating and can be one of the biggest factors when looking at buying a new car. We gathered our four competitors and ran them bone stock on their maximum recommended cell count to measure their top speeds. For batteries we used 3S 5000 Traxxas Lipo packs on the HPI, Traxxas and Kyosho, while the Thunder Tiger was capable of 4S so a Thunder Power Lipo was used. Gearing was stock, tires were stock, and we were on a huge slab of pavement that gave us as much room as needed to max out the speeds. Each car made as many passes as needed until we were satisfied that it had reached its maximum speed. We used two measurement devices, a Bushnell radar gun and a SKLZ Sports Radar as a backup.
Results-
| Points | Vehicle | Speed |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | HPI Ken Block (3s) | 51 MPH |
| 2 | Traxxas Rally (3s) | 44 MPH |
| 3 | Thunder Tiger Mini Countryman (4s) | 35 MPH |
| 4 | Kyosho Demon (3s) | 33 MPH |
Notes-
HPI– The HPI flat out ripped during the high speed runs, clearly having more power and speed than its competitors. The HPI was actually difficult to keep from flipping from all the power on 3S. If you are looking for crushing power out of the box,
you’ll want the HPI.
Traxxas– On 3S the Traxxas Rally had good yank while its chassis made it easy to drive fast. 44 mph out of the box on 3S is very respectable.
Thunder Tiger– The Thunder Tiger might have had the advantage of an extra cell (4S) but its low kv motor and conservative gearing limited its top speed to 35.
Kyosho– The Kyosho had decent power but wasn’t that impressive on 3S. A 33 mph top speed isn’t slow by any means, but compared to most brushless systems on 3S it just seemed a bit slow.
Next category up is Pavement Driving, click on over to see how we ranked them.
