It comes stock with some pretty nice features. A full ball bearings set, low profile receiver/battery box, and lay down
steering servo configuration. (All the rage these days to keep a low center of gravity) It also comes with one of the coolest
fuel line setup’s I have ever seen out of the box! Other awesome goodies are the standard .26 Hot Bodies engine, and the
Jump-Start system. I’m really getting spoiled by the jump starts! One of the only noticeable options missing is threaded
shocks. For the type of abuse we do to our vehicles, the suspension was a little soft, and was pretty easy for us to bottom out.
I guess with 30 foot drops, most vehicles will. The suspension is definitely better suited for racing, but can be adjusted without much trouble
The break-in went pretty smooth, and the buggy fired right up the first try. It puts a grin on my face when things start
off easy. There was only 1 time when I had trouble getting it started, and of course the plug was the last thing I checked!
Besides there being a few typos in the manual that caused me to re-read a few paragraphs and figure out what they really meant,
I didn’t really have any problems over the break-in period. Once I was able to get the buggy of the stand, and driving around
the parking lot, it was tough for me to keep off the throttle. I could feel the power of the engine, and I was really aching to open
it up.
The day after break-in, we were off to the Berwyn Bash with the Chicago Style RC guys. It’s an amazing bash site,
with huge jumps, open fields, and a nice parking lot for tuning and testing. Our only problem here, was that it hadn’t rained
in about 3 weeks, so there was some extreme dust happening. Even though the radio box seems pretty sealed, I ended up
with a very large amount of dirt in it. Dirt, battery packs, and receivers don’t mix well, so I recommend either getting
some type of sponge filter to put on top of everything before you close the box, or if possible, the old 'balloon everything' trick.
Anyway, we ran for several hours, and had some gret fun. I tried doing some back flips by running up a tree
with little success. I landed bad enough to cause me to cringe several times, but the buggy was un-effected.
We then pulled out our portable/adjustable ramp (check our projects section for details) and I launched it a few times,
when suddenly the buggy just took off! ACK! Chasing it into the forest, it was mowing down bushes like an angry weed
whacker! It turns out, all that dust I got in the battery box earlier, seemed to work it’s way in between the contacts enough
to cause me to loose signal/power. (Remember kids, if your going to pay several hundred dollars for a vehicle, pay the extra $30
for a fail safe!) I was amazed at all the abuse the buggy took that day, and nothing broke!
The following weekend, was Monster Jam 2004 II! There was a shortage of buggies at the event this time, so I was only
able to race once. (Which I won btw) Then we pulled out the big ramp! This is definitely a highlight of the event, since
just about everyone gets maybe 1 or 2 jumps in before they break something, and they are done. The basic motto is
‘Go Big, then Go Home!’ This is where the buggy really showed us who the boss was! My farthest jump (with a landed
back flip mind you) was 56 feet! It was the second longest jump of the whole day! I was only doing 33mph when I hit the
ramp. Far short of the buggy's top speed, so I know I could of won if I had a few more chances to get the tune right.
The run up to the ramp is a bit on the short side, so it wasn’t easy to get top speed. I would tune the engine a little, and jump,
tune and jump. I landed 3 consecutive back flips to cheers of the crowd. Now after 3 jumps, most people counted themselves
lucky if they were still running, and packed it up. I kept jumping! I told the guy running the event that I was still testing the
vehicle, and I was going to jump it till I broke something if he didn’t mind. Figuring my luck would run out soon, he let
me jump it for a total of 10 times! Each jump around 50 feet long, and probably 30+ feet high! I never broke a thing! At
least 3 of the landings were HARD landings! I’m talking straight down on one wheel, on it’s tail, or on the fin. Didn’t break
a thing! More then a few people were impressed, and asked me more details about the buggy after the event.
Hot Bodies is really starting to impress us with their newer vehicles! The Lightning Street was an amazing car
(check out our review) and the Lightning 2 RR has been the toughest vehicle we have seen to date. Believe me, I was trying
to go home with something to fix! If your looking to get into 1/8 scale buggies, and you don’t have the $1000 laying around
to get the top of the line, I strongly suggest you look at the Lightning 2 RR! If you’re a basher, looking to get big air, and abuse
your vehicle, this is the vehicle for you!
Summary
|
Time to Bash |
9/10 Add Fuel, Stickers, break-in and GO! Break-in was about
4 tanks of gas. Approx. 1 hour. |
|
Workability |
9/10 Everything looks easy to get to. I can't seem to break anything to get a chance to fix it!
|
|
Car Show Rating |
8/10 Lots of purple aluminum, with yellow highlights, but nothing amazing. There are a good amount of hop-ups available though. |
|
Bash-A-Bility |
10/10 Several events worth of abuse. 56 foot jumps 30 feet high, and we didn’t break a thing!
|
|
Big Squid Rating |
9.7/10 Tentacles. . There wasn’t much we could complain about, and for us, it’s the ultimate basher buggy!
|
