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1/8 Buggy - full setup for racing


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Hey guys,

 

I used to race buggies a few years ago (Electric at the time) and stopped due to various reasons.  Since then I've got into model helicopters (Another story!) and am now finding myself having a hankering to get back into racing.

 

I'm thinking of doing 1/8 scale nitro buggies and have narrowed down a few chassis.  I'm fine to deal with engines as I have had several nitro helicopters; Although I haven't got quite as far as engine and servo choice for the car yet, but have a few questions.

 

The Chassis I'm looking at (With price after them, for my benefit more than yours!)

 

Team durango DNX8 509
Team Associated RC8.2 444
HPI D812 355
Kyosho Inferno MP9 TK13 579
Xray XB8 510
Losi 8ight 400

 

I remember the losi's, kyoshos and associated's from my days racing (I used to race a TTech predator back when they were current!) but the rest are all new to me.  However, looking around, they do seem to be quite well regarded?

 

I actually REALLY like the team durango's - having looked at all the fetaures of the models etc there are a few touches on the DNX8 that i gravitate towards.  However, looking at forums it seems that they can be a bit of a pain to get parts for? At the moment it seems the DNX408V2 is discontinued (But did very well in its heyday) and the DNX8 is not available yet?  This makes me a little concerned, so any input is appreciated! I don't want to buy something thats going to have poor after sales support.

 

I guess my questions are:

 

-Team Durango - are they a decent chassis, and can you get parts for them or should i steer clear?

 

-Xray XB8 - Couldn't believe the amount of adjustability in this chassis.  However it does lead me to worry that they might be too fiddly to set up right. Anyone have input? They seem to be one of the quickest cars going from looking around?

 

-Xray XB9 - whats the deal? I saw it mentioned in another thread and there is info at http://www.teamxray.com/xb9/ but there is no link from their home page to that page. Is it out yet?

 

-Team Associated / Losi - Occur to me as "run of the mill" but reliable fairly quick cars. Good spares support, not much bad can be said about them, but not innovative either?

 

-Kyosho - Expensive because its japanese, otherwise similar to TLR/Associated?

 

-HPI - I havent put much thought into this model but may be missing a trick. Didnt one win the worlds last year?

 

-Are there any models I should be looking at that I've missed?

 

 

If you own any of the above cars and have anything at all to say about them I'd be interested in your input :)  Also if you have any engine/servo suggestions I'd appreciate those too.  Eventually I want to put a top of the line engine in (I know the driver is 99% but I need all the help I can get haha!) but I also heard that sometimes the chassis themselves take a while to "break in" and become less twitchy, so I thought about going for a fairly run of the mill engine to begin with until I get used to the car.

 

What is the scene like for 1/8's as well? are there many race meets? As mentioned, I do want to get into competitive racing (as well as more casual stuff) with it rather than driving it around a field somewhere.  I'm in North London; but don't mind driving around here there and everywhere.  Are there any hertfordshire nitro compatible tracks with regular meets?

 

Thanks!

Edited by Delarado
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Rather suprised SWorkz aren't mentioned above.

http://www.bmmracing.co.uk/sworkz-s350-2014-nitro-buggy-p-5348.html I believe the one in the link is their latest offering, but the older versions still hold their own.

I don't yet own a 1/8 nitro racer but after driving the various Sworkz cars at my local track with different setups, I'm impressed with how easy they are to drive. The price undercuts most of it's competition, but the overall quality is right up there with the more expensive rigs.

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Just been looking at the JQ, I quite like the look of it and the blurb but havent been able to find that much info on the spec, nor do i see it in any of the high level competition. I'll keep researching it.

 

I used to have a hyper 7 just as a basher a few years back; but the entire brand struck me as a lower entry level type outfit, with most of the models coming RTR which isnt what im looking for, although the 8.5 does seem to be a bit different in that regard...

 

Havent seen much of the SWorkz cars either; but the price point seems a bit cheap and honestly puts me off a bit. Probably the wrong way to look at it but i cant help it haha...

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys, keep them coming! Also keen to hear opinions from people who own the models, no matter what you have to say.

Edited by Delarado
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Where do you plan on racing visit the track first oh and make sure it's a race day the opinions of most will be biased to cars they have on here like I'm known for singing team c praises but by your selection you know what your looking for. My list of potentials for you are five of the ones you listed minus the xray and maybe minus the durango that depends on if they sort supply problems out but some to add are s-workz, serpent, team c,and the agama 215 think it was an agama that won at ndor this weakend.

And the only reason I've added team c is if they release the new tm8 any time soon

Just my 2p for you to think about

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from the losi blurb:

 

"The Team Losi Racing 8ight 3.0 is the car that won the European Championships in 2012 at the hands of Darren Bloomfield"

 

Thats interesting, I used to race with him back in the day :) I knew he was still at it, good on him.

 

If the losi uses imperial fixings im not interested. Ive built up all the tooling i'll need through my helicopters im not going to buy new sets of everything because of yank fixings :)

 

Im leaning more towards the Xray.  The HPI seems a good car with consistently good performance competitively in the hands of top drivers, but for some reason I just dont like it, I don't know why.  I liked the durango but worried about parts and general after sales.  I thought about the associated but along with losi its a bit too "run of the mill" for me (I like to fuss over something special haha)  The Kyosho to me is just expensive because its imported.

 

That leaves the Xray and the JQ.  I like the small time ness of the JQ Coupled with the fact it already seems to be doing well in competition.

 

Why dont you like the Xray Neil? Just not your thing or have you had bad experiences? Any news on TM8 release? itll probably be a month till im buying.

Edited by Delarado
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Off your list I can answer one question that I can't see anyone else has (yet) the xb8 is the newest chassis from xray the xb9 is an older model (weird I know but it's down to front end changes. The 8 is pbs the 9 is C hub) I currently run an XB9E that has the same adjustment as the xb8 and to be honest it was a bit daunting at first, even coming from another 8th scale buggy to it. I used the stock setup for a while which worked really well with only changing tyres to help grip ect. Now that I've started to experiment with the settings things are getting better and better. Only downfall about Xray is the price of certain parts (carbon fibre to be specific) but you won't buy many as they just seem to be built like sherman tanks and just keep going.

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Thanks for the input Davie.  What is a PBS? I think I know what a C Hub is.  That is weird how they are stepping down the numbers though!

 

Its a real toss up for me now the more im thinking about it.  I like the price of the losi, especially as its on offer. I could get an engine and a chassis for the price of the Xray; However I've always written to losi off due to its "run of the mill" ness.... but now find myself considering it due to price.

 

I don't know what to do to be honest! I'll see how much money I fancy dropping on the credit card in a couple of weeks after some thought (And after i've looked at engine/TX/Servo options) and then make a decision I think.

 

Do you race yours Dave?

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