Xray T2

[Diver6127]

Honestly, I couldn't give an opinion on the FT TC4 since I never owned one. Only AE touring car I owned is a FT NTC3.

The T2 has a bunch of "stigma's" accompanying it but to tell you the truth, I have yet to see a big problem. Chassis tweak is a main complaint along with weak rear shock towers. If you saw some of the hits I took at a trophy race you would be surprised that the chassis isn't twisted like a pretzel. All I did, after every qualifiyer, was loosen the screws (top and bottom) twisted flexed the chassis back and forth and let the car rest as the CF ame to rest. I can throw it back onto a tweak station and it will be fine and zeroed out to perfect balance along with being flat. This is something that should be done to any chassis, especially one made of CF.

I like the T2 because of the ease of working on it as well as the smoothness of the drive train. This is also being compared to the T1FK05 and the Losi XXX-S Graphite plus. It's simplicity at it's best. The only other car I would buy to run outdoors on asphalt is the Corally RDX.

 

[CorradoPsi]

dont waste your money plaid. while the tc4 can be fast, its just not competetive with a lot of the other cars that are out there. I'm actually picking up a FK05 in 2 weeks. ill keep the TC4 for running asphalt as i got it to work pretty good there, and the car is just too pretty to sell, especially for what ill get for it. the FK05 will be my carpet racing car. if i were buying an asphalt car again, i would buy either the T2 or a Cyclone. i dont like the corallys because of thier durability issues. they can be beefed up, but it will cost you some serious coin. i dont consider that acceptable for a kit that costs so much up front.

 

[Plaidfish]

well we don't have any carpet racing here, so it's all asphalt for me.....a few of the guys run TC4s and they are dominating the guys still running last years Xray.....is the T2 that much mo betta?? and cyclone..who makes it?.....a few of the pro stock guys are talking abuot getting tamiya cars....are they really worth looking at?? and yes they are serious.....I don't need a $1k elec car but I want something that is fairly competitive but easy to maintain....on the T2 what do/would you do after each race day? other than clean the grit off I mean.....I see these guys do full tear downs (diffs / Shocks too) on the stuff and it seemed fine to me before they tore it down....is the wear on these that much faster than off road nitro or am I just looking at anal retentive people......

 

[Diver6127]

You're just looking at anal retentive people ... myself included

What I do after a day of racing (which will be the same for outdoor electric) is clean her off and blast out the bearings. Speaking of which, I will need to do it soon. IF you use the diff grease that comes with the T2, you will need to open her up and regrease every week since the grease gets thrown out of there pretty fast. It's not that thick. I will be using the niftec diff lube next time. It's thicker and not prone to being flung out the diffs.

Depending on how dusty your track conditions are, you may want to at least open up the diff and relube. Being a ball diff, grit and other junk can get in there quite easily. Another reason is because after a few hits during the course of a day, the diffs will loosen up. Shocks ... nah, I don't rebuild those every week. Maybe once a month if I remember. I try to do it at leat once every 2 weeks since I race almost every weekend but it winds up being a once a month deal. It also helps that I am using 960 shocks. I don't have bladders to worry about. All I have to do is check the bottom of the shock to check for leaks.

The total cost of a T2 with motor and esc (minus batteries) will be about $600. The price on that will only differ with servo choice (i suggest the futaba 9550 since it's low profile) and if you you're running a PT.

The Tamiya car that I see alot of use with is the Tamiya 415. It looks as if Xray took this car and made their own version out of it. Corrado is correct about the Corally RDX.

The breakage on these cars is mainly because they use all aluminum parts for the uprights, steering knuckles and c-hubs but they continue to use the 75% hardness arms. New arms are in the process of manufacturing but they will require seperate front and rear arms. As it stands now, the same arm can be used at all 4 corners.

Running the Corally RDX outdoors is wonderful. It carries so much speed in the turns because of it's free wheeling drivetrain. It's one of the smoothest I've seen ... steps above the T2. It's just that it takes a smooth driver to get it to keep from breaking. If your name was Jeff Kuffs, then that wouldn't be a problem .. lol.

As far as the T2 being better than the 05, I think that has a lot to do with the driver but the car does help. It is a bit more nimble and responsive to adjustments. sl0eg1n (my brother) ran with an 05 for a lot longer than I have been running my T2 and is still struggling to break 20 laps with his car. On the same layout last week, I hit 21/5:01 without even breaking a sweat AND a not so clean run. If I kept it clean, my times would be lower and consistanly in the mid-high 14 sec range instead of the low 15's. Mind you, this is on a fairly large track (100' plus by 40' approx). And that is with a tuned monster stock motor.

Granted I'm not one of the fastest guys. They run 23 laps @ 5:08 on avg but I'm getting up there. I started with a new car and new radio that I wasn't familiar with (Futaba 3Pk) and only ran 17 laps when I first started after the T2 first came out. The car has potential as long as the driver is willing to learn and adjust with the car.

 

[CorradoPsi]

the cyclone is made by hot bodies, and is seriously fast on asphalt (never seen it driven on carpet so i wont comment). the tamiya 415 is good on HIGH grip asphalt, but on low bite (like outdoor courses) it can be hard to gain steering with it. if local guys are fast with TC4's its because they are very good drivers. one of our local top 2 regular finishers ran a FT TC4 for a while. he was still fast, but also comments after selling the car, that it was very hard to drive that fast. his JRX-S and Cyclone were much easier to drive fast consistantly. he was turning about .2-.4 sec per lap faster times with the belt cars, and he said he could relax more while driving them. which equates to more consistant back to back laps.

 

[Plaidfish]

Hmmmm...you guys suck...I can get an almost new FT TC4 (Built and run on carpet for 2 battery packs) w/ Quantum (??) ESC and motor (brand??) for 300.....now I'm thinking twice