The folks over at Traxxas have really been on a roll with the sponsor money lately! From Supercross to Core trucks and now Snowmobiles at the winter X-Games!! They are sponsoring Paul Thacker’s sled in Best Trick, Freestyle, and other events! Paul is also the current long jump record holder for snowmobiles at 301 feet! Congrats to Paul, and Good Job Traxxas for doing everything in their power this year to get the word out about RC!
For more info on Traxxas click HERE.
Wowza, O.S. Engines has a new O.S. .21 VZ-B V-spec Limited Edition engine coming out. How limited? There will be only 300 numbered engines! The 300 will have a specially modified cooling head with 16 machined holes for lighter weight and anodized in gold! The top features graphics to signify all four IFMAR World Championships won with the VZ-B engine. So not only do you get a top of the line engine, but you get some serious points for the bling factor!
Head over to the O.S. Engines site for more details.
Ask Cub Reporter, A Weekly Advice Column- 01.27.2010
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Hello Brian and the Big Squid Team,
My name is Douglas and I have been a long time RC fan and Big Squid reader. I really love what you have done with this site and love seeing it gain in popularity. I remember seeing a while back that you were looking for writers for site content and I thought I would email you and see if you still are looking. I would really love to write reviews or do product tests/editorials and am just inquiring to see if there is any openings. blah.. blah blah…
-Doug
Hey Doug, what’s up? Glad you like the site. Funny how BigSquid has recently blown up. Absolutely bizarre to hear that it’s actually “cool” to read BigSquid now days (or a must if you are part of certain legal teams). We must be doing something really right, or really wrong, I don’t care either way as long as hits are up and my check isn’t late.
Perhaps Brian (our editor in chief) has already sent you a reply, but I thought I would go ahead and answer the question here on the front page since we get this one a lot. YES, we are always looking for talented people who want to write/work for Big Squid RC. Our problem is- everyone who wants to be a part of Big Squid RC wants the fame and fortune, without actually doing any F’n writing. My suggestion to you is, the next three items you buy, do write ups and submit them to BigSquid. If we dig’em, they’ll get posted and you’ll have your foot in the door. Otherwise, don’t be like the other wanna be posers who want all the uber swag but are too lazy to write anything.
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Dear Brain,
I know you did a review of the Pro-Line Powerstrokes Scaler Shocks back in July of 2009 as well as the Pro-Line Powerstrokes Monster truck shocks back in 2005. But what about the new Proline Powerstrokes Shocks for the Traxxas Slash? By the way I noticed them at www.HorizonHobby.com for $39.99 (PRO6063-00) for the fronts & $39.99 (PRO6063-01) for the rears, which is alot better than the 59.95 price from Proline! My question is how do they stack up against the Traxxas Big Bore Shocks or any other aftermarket shocks & and could you justify spending the extra money? And could you guys even throw up a video on YouTube about the reveiw?
Thank you,
John P. M.
Hey ya John P, thanks for the email. I see you addressed it to the “Brain”, so I figured I better answer this one. 
So you are looking for replacement shocks for your Slash. The stock Slash shocks actually work fairly well. Both their damping characteristics and spring rates are well suited for traction on loose surfaces, rough tracks and just general bashing. Their biggest downside is the caps like to pop off and the shafts like to bend.
The Traxxas Big Bores totally solve the shock cap problem, and are built to withstand more abuse.
The new Pro-Line Power Stroke Shocks are very trick. Very beefy design, big 3.5mm shafts, and a true dual stage spring design.
ST Racing Concepts also makes some uber shock bodies and caps for use with the Slash. BigSquid has tested them, and when used in conjunction with tougher shafts, are rock solid.
All the above brands are good solid upgrades, the difference will come in how you tune them. But, if I had to use just one set on my Slash, it would be the Power Strokes. They are very high quality and work just as well out jumping curbs as on the track.
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Submit your questions to cubby at BigSquidRC dot com. Till next week, go fast, have fun!
YOUR Cub Reporter
Schumacher Racing just posted up a few more pictures of their new Cougar SV 2wd buggy. They don’t say much more except that it’s a mid-motor buggy. Guess we’ll have to wait for more info.
Check the official Schumacher Racing site for more details.
New from Team Associated is another version of the RC18. This time it’s the RC18 Late Model RTR. A 1:18 scale Late Model race car. Oval Racers rejoice.
Check out Team Associated for more information.
Ok, sign me up! We recently talked about concept RC vehicles, well here’s one! It’s from a company called Takara Tomy and they are using the new Sony Bio-Battery technology to create the ENE Pocket RC vehicle! It’s a ‘green’ rc vehicle that runs on liquids! The higher in sugar content, the more power it has! Basically, you use a dropper to put a sugary liquid in the top, and it converts that energy to run the vehicle! It’s still in the early protype stages, but it’s pretty cool! My guess is your gonna need some serious super Red Bull to run a monster truck! LOL. Here’s a video of it in action!
I want one! Someone hurry up and get these into production!
For all the Traxxas Slash and SC10 Short Course drivers, Outerwears now has a cover for you. The new Short Course Shrouds use their Terra-Flo material keeping out dirt, debris and water while allowing airflow to keep things cool. They come in Black, Blue, Red, Orange, Purple, Yellow and Green!
Visit the Outerwears Performance Products site for more info on their products!
If you are running a Hot Bodies D8, your probably in the need of some new air filters. The folks at VP-Pro have you covered with their new high performance filters.
For all those Serpent fans out there, it looks like you’ll have a new 1/8 scale buggy to start saving your money for real soon! The Serpent 811 Cobra! There is a bunch of info and pictures up on the official Serpent.com web site, and it sounds like Billy Easton had a big part in this one. Some highlights are anti-roll sway bars, captured transmission to keep everything together, floating clunk fuel tank design to keep you running during rollovers, all linkages and camber links are captured, so no popping of ball cups, and all sorts of other nice finishing touches.
Well, for all those looking for a little extra boost, it sounds like Team Checkpoint has the power you need. They are gearing their latest 14.8v 5400mAH 4S packs towards the buggy/truggy folks. The 35C matched packs are shipping in February.
Check out the Team Checkpoint web site for more info!
For those of you that might not know, our Editor In Chief around this joint is Brian. Well, Brian is having a sort of “bromance” now days with Travis Pastrana and the Nitro Circus crew. Sorry to inform you Brian, but Travis broke his collarbone today while riding in Florida. Normally a broken collarbone is not a “huge” deal, but in this case, not only does Travis have a big rally race coming up this weekend, but the collarbone he broke was already plated. He’s scheduled for surgery on Monday, hopefully he recovers quickly and fully. Goodness knows he’s had more than his fair share of bumps and bruises.
Rockstar/Canidae/Suzuki (and Losi!) Supercross Lites rider Ryan Morias suffered a scary moment Saturday night racing in Anaheim. Ryan was landed on by another rider and ended up flying off his RM-Z250 and landing hard on his back. The crash was very serious, but luckily Ryan walked away with just some very sore insides. Hopefully we get to see him back on the track very soon. Click HERE to see the burly crash.
So… my rc convo of the week was with an old rc racing buddy of mine over the phone. The press release had just come out about Traxxas putting some marketing cash into the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki team, and well, all I could talk about was how that was yet another step towards rc hitting the mainstream. Can you imagine a world where you can buy Associated trucks in Wally World? Can you imagine your LHS actually making a profit, then expanding in floorspace and also stocking a lot more inventory? Can you imagine a world where only a hundred racers show up on a slow weekend for a local club race, instead of the normal 20-50 to we get now days? Can the mags imagine the manufactures making record profits and then having record sized marketing budgets? Can you, the typical basher imagine driving down an average street and seeing several hobby grade trucks running around in yards and empty lots?
I always knew it was possible that hobby grade rc’s “could” be mainstream, I just never thought I’d see it in my lifetime. LOL. Right now here in good ole’ 2010, we are perhaps closer than we’ve ever been, and it’s hard for that to sink in to me. Yes, it will take some time for all the current marketing to kick in. And yes, we’ll have to work our way up to marketing in even more mainstream circles. And yes, it will take a lot of work (and luck) to get Associated/Losi/Traxxas trucks sitting on Wally World shelves. But, for the first time in my life, I can actually envision a world where hobby grade rc’s aren’t some obscure sub-culture, but actually a well known (and respected) hobby that mainstream America embraces.
There are a lot of LHSs, manufactures and tracks that are having a rough time keeping afloat right now. But the future is bright, perhaps brighter than it’s ever been. Huge props to Traxxas, Associated, and Losi for advertising outside our core industry to tap into the mainstream.
That’s it for this week, as always, support your LHS’s, local tracks, and if you get a chance, give a thanks for those in the industry striving to pull us out of obscurity.
YOUR Cub Reporter
Need a little more power on your nitro? The new Reedy 2035 and 2039 mufflers should be able to help. They have a hard anodized finish, and are compatible with .21 and .28 competition engines.
Normally I would send you to the ReedyPower.com page for more information, but apparently they don’t own it anymore, LOL. Maybe forgot to pay the bill. Oops!
Our friends from LargeScaleRC.com have just sent over our invitation to their upcoming Power Jam event on June 4th and 5th of 2010 in Monon Indiana! They are going to have a TON of different types of races for all sorts of 1/5th scale rc vehicles! Sounds like a real good bash time! So if you have a HPI Baja or MCD or FG, this is going to be the place to be!
For more information, head over to the LargeScaleRC.com site and check it out!
We would like to welcome Byron Fuels to the Big Squid RC family of site sponsors! These guys have really been making a name for themselves this year, and with their new RC Drag Racing Fuel, I’m pretty sure you are going to be hearing a lot more about them around here.
You can visit the Byron Fuels Website for more info, or click their banners on the page. Make sure to tell them Big Squid RC sent ya!
HPI Blitz
Tactic 2.4Ghz Radio
HPI Savage Flux
Novak HP Pro Brushless Conversion
Tekin RS Pro Redline
Team Overdose Car Stand
RC Lights - LED Combo
Traxxas Slash 4x4
Team Associated - SC18
All Other Reviews HERE!
May 28-30th, 2010
NO LIMIT RC!
June 4-6, 2010
LargeScaleRC.com POWER JAM 2010
Your Event Here!
Midwest RC Drag Racing
