Welcome to day four of DuraTrax Evader DT week here at the Squid.  Today I’m taking out the stock electronics and dropping in some mad power and control.  The stock Sprint 2 ESC, a fine system for beginners, gets the boot in favor of a Castle Creations Sidewinder ESC.  The Photon 2 brushed motor is taken out and put aside in favor of a Castle 4600kv motor.  The Tactic 27Mhz radio is shown the door and replaced with a Futaba R603FF 2.4GHz FASST 3-channel receiver that is compatible with the Futaba 4PK uber transmitter.  Just wait until you see what this combo does for the Evader DT, my initial testing regimen puts the overall speed rating at just above STUPID FAST.  That’s scientific people.  But you’ll have to wait for another video to actually see it in action.  For now, let’s get on with the show.

If you haven’t already done so go read our review of the Evader DT.  As a quick recap, on day one I installed a full set of DuraTrax’s hard anodized shocks, day two saw me installing a few chassis mods with some aluminum parts and the graphite chassis, and on day three I put a full set of ball bearings in the truck and an aluminum idler gear in the transmission. To follow this feature week just bookmark this link.  For a full list of optional accessories that are available for the DuraTrax Evader DT be sure to check out the DuraTrax web site.

Wow, what a great system! We got our hands on the new Team Tekin RS Pro / Redline Brushless system, and it hauls! If you are in the market for a new system, you are going to want to head over to the RC Reviews section or click here to read the full Team Tekin RS Pro Redline Brushless Review!

Novak has just released their new Kinetic Racing Brushed/Brushless ESC and it’s available as a system with one of their 10 Ballistic Brushless motors (from 3.T to 21.5T).

This new ESC offers a ton of options, easily programmed using Novak’s NovaLink PC Interface, including Dynamic Motor Timing and digital current control. The Ballistic Brushless motors boast an easy to adjust timing assembly along with interchangeable wound stator construction.

Visit Novak’s site for all the details.

Dynamite has burst onto the brushless scene with a complete set of motors and ESC’s for 1/18 and 1/10 vehicles. The 1/18 motors range from 7000kv up to a whopping 9700kv, and the 1/10 scale motors come in a 3300kv wind (perfect for all you short course truck fans) though 6800kv. ESC’s and motors are available seperately, and an external programming card is available and works with either system.

Click here to view individual specs and prices

It looks like Kyosho wants in on the 1/8 electric scene and they are going to enter with guns and brushless motors ablaze. The Inferno VE Readyset is outfitted with Team Orion’s Vortex brushless system and the chassis has been redesigned from the ground up to be a RTR brushless beast. Not to mention, props go to Kyosho for including a body that actually looks good!!

Look for the Inferno VE Readyset to be available in October.

News from Futaba is that they have a few new products coming soon. The first is the MC950CR – Brushless ESC. It has an aluminum case and heat sink with removable fan, large solder posts, and is fully adjustable through your transmitter!

Next up are the Futaba Brushless Servo’s! The have been proven to outlast brushed servo’s 5 to 1, deliver 30% faster response time, and they have 16 different types that cover just about every aspect of RC! Flying to Driving!

HPI has come out with a super charged brushless motor for their Savage Flux truck.  Get more RPM and more top speed with the Flux Tork 2650. The Flux Tork 2650 features massive machined cooling fins to help keep it cool when you’re driving all-out.  With a 5mm motor shaft it can fit the upcoming optional pinion gears so you can get even more top speed for those insane runs, or gear it down a bit for increased acceleration on the track.

Just got word that Caster Racing USA is jumping into the 1/18th scale brushless market with two new vehicles. One buggy, and one truck. They are 4wd, brushless, and RTR!
We’ll post up any more details as they arrive.

My name is Nick and I have been involved in R/C cars for 20 years now. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago. I’m a die-hard electric off-road fan. From 1989-1999 I raced 1/10 electric off-road with the occasional nitro. From 1999-2003 I attended college and didn’t have time for r/c cars so I could concentrate on school. As soon as I graduated, I was back into racing. I’m not much of a basher. I am more of a racer. My background in engineering drives me to make unique and interesting designs. I designed my “X2” speed run car completely on CAD and then built it using an RC10L4 as the backbone. For the past 3 years have been working on speed run cars. I have 4 cars that I am currently working on to try and hit some insane speeds. The 1/8 brushless off-road class is also something I will be getting into. The brushless revolution has finally come to R/C cars and it’s a welcome change that our community needed. I’ll be posting here at Big Squid bringing you news on the latest r/c products and news from the world of rc speed run cars.

New from New from Schumacher USA is the Speed Passion 1/8th Scale Brushless Racing System. It’s designed for 8th scale buggies and truggies! The “Hybrid Drive” technology allows for a smooth start from a dead stop. The full system comes with a backlit handheld programming box! (That I like!) It can handle up to 4s, and the prices are right! Retail is only $249 for the whole system. The kits are shipping now.

New from Team Associated is the LRP Vector X-12 brushless motor. Their new design has the entire motor only needed 4 screws. This allows access to replace the rotor if needed while leaving the motor in the vehicle!
Fully adjustable and replaceable, the Vector X-12’s PreciSensor systems allows precision sensor positioning for more power, torque, throttle response and efficiency. In other words, this is a hard core racer engine. That’s some serious fine tuning there. If comes in everything from 3.0 turn to 8.5.

We just got word from Schumacher USA that Marc Rheinard won the IFMAR A-Mains with a Speed Passion Competition 2 Series 4t motor. That’s a pretty big win for those guys! Congrats!

Final Overall results
1. Marc Rheinard Speed Passion
2. Ronald Volker
3. Masami Hirosaka
4. Atsushi Hara
5. Elliott Harper
6. Viktor Wilck Speed Passion
7. Andy Moore
8. Hayato Matsuzaki
9. Meen Vejrak
10. Jilles Groskamp Speed Passion

Team Novak has just issued a press release about the new Brushless in a Box HV Pro 6.5 conversion kits. The kit comes with the HV 6.5 brushless motor, steel pintion gear, motor heat sink, two battery boxes, ESC cooling fan, motor cooling fan, antenna mount, hardware kit and instructions.

They now have a ton of kits available, and I’m guessing there will be one for the now popular Hot Bodies D8. We’ll have to wait and see, but till then, here is the current list!

#3100 HV Pro 6.5 System / Conversion Kit Combo: Associated RC8
#3101 HV Pro 6.5 System / Conversion Kit Combo: CEN Matrix
#3102 HV Pro 6.5 System / Conversion Kit Combo: Hot Bodies Lightning2 Evo
#3103 HV Pro 6.5 System / Conversion Kit Combo: Kyosho Inferno
#3104 HV Pro 6.5 System / Conversion Kit Combo: Mugen MBX5
#3105 HV Pro 6.5 System / Conversion Kit Combo: OFNA 9.5 Ultra
#3106 HV Pro 6.5 System / Conversion Kit Combo: OFNA Hyper 8
#3107 HV Pro 6.5 System / Conversion Kit Combo: OFNA Hyper 7
#3108 HV Pro 6.5 System / Conversion Kit Combo: X-RAY XB8
#3109 HV Pro 6.5 System / Conversion Kit Combo: Losi 8ight.

Make sure to check out the NEW Product Forum for the full press release and details!

Stop the presses! Looks like all those Worlds Fastest RC Car speed records and RC Drag Racing times are going to be broken in the near future!

Castle Creations has just posted a page talking about their new 9000 kv Mamba Max Motor! You read that correctly, 9000 kv! The other kicker? It’s $99! Wow. I can’t wait to get one of these in the King Squid RC Dragster! Heck.. imagine this puppy in a Traxxas Slash!

Check out the official Castle Creations page Right Here!

We will do our best to get our hands on one of these things and start testing, so stay tuned!

Reedy has just released their Micro Brushless System, perfect for 1:18 scale vehicles.
This system will be sensor-less and come with a few different size KV Motors…..This will surly help in the Micro Industry putting yet another quality brushless system out there to compete with the other big hitters with micro systems.

Until Next Time,
MICROMAN