THE Cub Report – Eyes Wide, Throttle Pegged

Hello there and welcome to the wide world of sports, I mean rc. I am Cubby and thanks for making your way over to BigSquidRC. Why not jump right on in???

AMA Monster Energy Supercross is back! Actually, its been back for over a week, with all the races being held at one venue in Utah to finish up the series. Last night (they are racing Wednesdays and Sundays) was a barn burner between Eli Tomac and Cooper Webb, with Tomac finally cementing the win. Feld has been changing the track for each race, but lap times have yet to break the 50 second mark, so the lapped traffic is pretty insane. I’ve never seen an SX main where the winner lapped up to the podium, and lapped some fairly big name riders more than once, ever, in a Supercross before. So ya, the racing has been crazy, and its live, so check it out on NBC Sports Network. It is perfect viewing while wrenching on your rc rig.

Oh ya, so who “won” last week as far as new rc products are concerned? My vote goes to Traxxas for dropping a kit version of the immensely popular 2wd Slash. Traxxas has made their bones on RTRs, but it is very cool to see when they produce a kit for one of their most popular vehicles. Oh and BTW, those kit versions will probably be worth some scratch down the road if you are the collector type. When the Slash dropped over a decade ago it was “the next big thing” after the T-Maxx monster truck trend and went a long ways towards putting some scale realism into bashing, as well as racing.

IMO coming in second last week was Castle Creations and their announcement of the return of their ridiculously powerful 1717 brushless motors. Their 1717 is best known for powering the Traxxas XO-1, but soon you’ll be able to get a new improved version that is sensor equipped. If your regular 15xx sized brushless motor isn’t enough raw wattage for your bashing insanity, one of Castle’s new 1717s should be on your shopping list.

In the rumor mill this week- a big name bashing company getting ready to drop a VERY gnarly RTR no-prep drag car? And it sounds like it will look absolutely incredible (lots of realism), plus it will be packing some insane performance right out of the box. Also, an even bigger name working on an ultra-scale off-road rig, in large scale? Some companies have raked in record cash during the Covid-19 pandemic, and more importantly for you and me, those big sales numbers just might result in some very cool new product releases this fall. Can’t wait, stay tuned!

I also want to talk about the new Exotek Vader no-prep chassis for a moment. Exotek has been producing very esoteric race gear for a long time now. Their Vader no-prep chassis for the Losi 22 looks incredible and shows that the aftermarket is really latching onto the no-prep genre. No doubt a whole bunch of You guys will be out in the heat this summer trying to show all your buddies just who Really is the fastest of the group.

One last thing before I go, if you are as tired of sitting at home as I am, think about making a road trip to hit Axialfest. This year’s Axialfest (July 16-18) is being held in Indiana at the Badlands Off-Road park, a place that the BSRC Bash Crew knows quite well. Badlands is a fantastic venue and all the makers and shakers of the rc world will be there. So, why not text your friends and get that road trip planning started now?

So there ya go ya bunch of lunatics, we are at the end of yet another edition of THE Cub Report. Until next week, support your hobby any way that ya can.

YOUR Cub Reporter