More and more people are releasing hop-up parts for the Traxxas Slash 4×4 which is making me think it’s really starting to catch on! New from Venom are a ton of cool Aluminum Hop-Up parts for the Traxxas Slash 4WD! They also have Steel Universal joint shafts from front and rear! (seen on top)

Here’s a list of what they have available: Front and Rear lower Arm Sets, Front Knuckle Set, Front C Hub set, Rear Hub set, Front and Rear Shock Towers, Motor Plates and Motor Plate Mounts! All in Red or Gun Metal!

Visit Venom-Group.com for details.

This week Bill and I headed to the Traxxas TORC Series race. I’d like to take a moment and thank Peter Vieira and Damron Atkins from Traxxas for helping make this happen. They did an amazing job of helping us out and getting us hooked up with a little VIP action for the event! Hey Traxxas, you’re doing it right!

I you have not heard about this series, head over to the official site HERE. Basically it’s an off-road racing series sponsored by Traxxas where they mix RC cars and trucks with real full scale off-road racing action!

Everywhere you look, something (everything) is covered with the Traxxas logo. From golf carts, and giant TV’s, to inflatable trucks and big rigs! It’s everywhere, and it’s being pounded into people’s heads like mad. This is a good thing! If anyone who attended one of these events goes near a hobby shop, or gets the urge to get into the RC hobby, they are going to look on the shelf, or go online and see ‘Traxxas’ and think, ‘Yea, I have heard of them, I’ll take one of those!’ But it goes beyond that! Traxxas is helping everyone in the RC industry by doing these events. They are exposing millions of people to something they may not of known about, and maybe they will be the next newbies!

Bill and I both participated in the RC race they had at the event. And while we claim we aren’t racers, we finished 2nd and 3rd in the mod Slash class! Not bad for a couple of bashers! I think we were making the other drivers nervous though because Bill and I just couldn’t resist a little bumping and rubbing whenever we were near each other. At one point I yelled down the drivers stand that I’d pay Bill $5 to start driving the wrong way on the track, and when he responded ‘ok’ we heard all sorts of ‘Ahh, what?! Wait!’ from the other drivers! Good times!
The stock Slash class had a bunch of entries, while mod slash and slayer didn’t have as many, it was still a good time. If you plan on going to an event, bring your trucks, it was a blast!

Here are a few shots of the Traxxas NASCAR Camping World Truck. You can read all about it here.

The overall vibe at the event was incredible.
(click through for tons of pics) Read the rest of this entry »

So we just got back from the Traxxas TORC series race. (report coming about that soon with pics) But there was some hubub about this Traxxas NASCAR Camping World Truck. Well, official word is that Traxxas is currently NOT planning on making this vehicle. It was a mock-up done to sort of show off and celebrate their crossover with Kyle Bush and the NASCAR series stuff. Under the body is just a Traxxas 4-TEC without a motor so it fit under the body. They then cut the chassis in half to extend it to get the wheels to line up right.

Traxxas did let us know that if there was enough of a positive reaction and the forums start buzzing and people are writing in, that they would consider maybe making it, but as of right now they have NO PLANS of making this truck.

Sorry to bust any bubbles, but start sending Traxxas emails, and let them know how you feel!

Word from Traxxas is that NASCAR Star Kyle Busch will be racing at the Traxxas Torc Series in the Pro 2WD Class and hist first race will be next week at the Route 66 Raceway in Joliet Il!

This is pretty big news for the Torc Series! Members of Big Squid RC will be on hand checking out all the action, so if you see one of us, make sure to stop and say hi, and pick up some stickers! If you can’t find us, we’ll probably be hanging out with Kyle, giving him some tips, and daring him to go big on the triples!

Read all about it on theTraxxas Website!

It’s Thursday again already? Oh my does time fly around this joint…..
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Cub Reporter
When is Losi going to put out something decent for a change?
Hot D*ck Willy

Cubby- Great question, I think? Ok, everybody knows Losi isn’t really “Losi” anymore. So to properly re-word your question, it would be “When is Horizon going to put out something decent again under Losi badging?”.

Well, the last good “Losi” was the last one designed with input from Gil Jr, everything since has pretty much been crap. Reliability sucks, performance is dismal, and even the looks have been missing the mark. Oh and, all these so called “new” models based on those mini and micro scale Carisma platforms make me want to barf. It still amazes me that Horizon would pay all that money for the Losi name, then do their damnest to ruin it. So when can you expect the next “good” Losi? I wouldn’t go holding your breathe on that one….
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hi guy, I have an traxxas ruster vxl an I have noticed that the motor has been getting really hot. I have been using a Venom 11.1 volt pack an it be brushless.
thanks guy.
rustler dude

Cubby- How old are you, and what school do you go to? I mean seriously, I butcher the English language but at least I’m get’n paid to do so, it appears you butcher it because you slept through the last 3 (12??) years of English class.

Anyways, it’s very difficult to get a 3S Lipo system in a Rustler to run at low temps. Traxxas did their homework and included a fairly low kv motor in their VXL package to help keep temps down on higher cells counts, but even that isn’t enough during a long run on a hot summers day. I know running 3S is a thrill and all, and if it’s your only option, try installing a smaller pinion, otherwise, you can still get good speeds and lower temps by simply using a 2S pack.

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That’s it for this week CubFans, submit your questions (yes, even the crappy ones) to Cubby at BigSquidRC dot com!

So why is this the Van Halen Unchained version of THE Cub Report? Well it’s that way (unchained) every week really, fortunately for me I can talk about whatever I like, something you won’t find on the print mags sites. Well, that and I like planting catchy tunes into peoples brains. Lucky this isn’t the Dexys Midnight Runners- Come On Eileen version eh?

The BigSquidRC Lipo Shootout 3 is getting closer, this time we’ll be testing 4S Lipos intended for 8th scales. You guys have been requesting 4S packs like crazy, so we’ll once again do our best to give the fairest comparison possible. If you are a company who wants in, we need your best 4S (greater than 4000 mah please) Lipo in our hands no later than September 15th. If you are a consumer who wants to see your favorite battery included in the shootout, please shoot an email to that company requesting that they enter. Anyone needing more info on the shootout needs to email Brian at BigSquidRC dot com.

Here’s a reminder that the Traxxas TORC series is coming to the ChicagoLand Raceway on Wednesday Aug 25th and Thursday Aug 26th. If you’ve never seen the full size trucks race, you will be amazed how burly they are. Traxxas will also be holding rc racing at the event. The TORC rc racing includes only Traxxas trucks and is all about having fun, so don’t be shy showing up with your Slash and getting some laps in. BigSquid will be covering the race, yet another reason to show up and hopefully get a picture of your mug (or truck!) on our front page.

Speaking of Traxxas, HUGE props to the Traxxas guys for setting up a demo at the AMA Loretta Lynns Amateur Motocross Championships last week. Traxxas brought out some cool trucks and even Monster Energy Kawasaki factory rider Ryan Villopoto got some Traxxas hot laps in. Cross marketing to a target audience is great for Traxxas, and great for everybody in the hobby.

Speaking of Loretta Lynns, if you aren’t a motocross guy, you probably don’t know how their national championships work. So here’s a brief tutorial. In AMA motocross they hold separate amateur and pro nationals. On the amateur side, area qualifiers are used to let only the fastest amateurs make it to the week long amateur national championship race (traditionally held at Loretta Lynns Dude Ranch in Tennessee). It’s truly an honor to qualify for the amateur national championship race, and for the masses, it’s what they work for all year long. There are tons of different classes at the amateur national, and this year there was over 1400 entries. Yes, that is not a typo, they had over 1400 entries. On the “pro” side of things, once a rider has enough of a resume built up they submit for their AMA pro license. This ensures only the best of the best can race at the pro nationals. The AMA pro motocross nats (there are only 2 classes in the pros, 250cc and 450cc) are a series, with qualifying on Saturday mornings, and two motos on Saturday afternoon to determine the winners (the top pros fly in Friday, and fly out Saturday night or Sunday, they are at the venue about 10 hours). This year there are 12 races on the AMA pro national series schedule. The AMA (American Motorcycle Association) knows that awarding the most coveted titles in their sport should NOT be based on just one race, it has to be earned over an entire series.

So why did I babble about the motocross nationals? Because the most elite titles in the rc world are considered a joke to those racing full size rigs. The full size guys do NOT think racing rcs as a whole are a joke, they think it looks fun, and even they know our top racers put thousands of hours into being the best. But unanimously, they (elite full scale racers) think single races for our (rc’s) most elite titles is just plain bogus, and a slap in the face to our top drivers who work so hard to be the best. Many rc racers think that full scalers consider rc racing a joke, but they don’t, they just think our biggest races are a joke.

On a different note, have you read BigSquids HPI Mini Trophy Truck Review? I had no part in that one, but Brian didn’t hold back on the good or the bad points of the truck. I am still sticking with my initial feeling on this one, it’s a game changer. If you don’t believe me, check back in 5 years and I’ll bet you’ll see lots more scale realism both on the outside, and inside of our new rides……

I was thinking of a new article for BigSquid, one that focuses on customer service. Every company “says” they have the best customer service, what we want from our readers is who YOU think is the best. You guys are the ones that matter, so if a hobby company has treated you well, please shoot us an email and let us know about your experience with them. Shoot it to Brian at BigSquidRC dot com.

That’s it for this week, support your local hobby shops, tracks and bash spots!

YOUR Cub Reporter

ps- Thanks for reading, and thanks for making BigSquidRC the most popular rc news site in America!

Since we were one of the first people to have the Traxxas Slayer Pro news a while back, it seemed like we should bring you a nice candid shot of the Mark Jenkins edition that’s coming soon. Look for these to hit your local hobby shops sometime in August.

It will be interesting to see if the new pro versions catch on a little better. When the original was released next to the Slash, it was just lost in the tidal wave of Slash fans.

Check out the Traxxas Website for more info!

Another “big” race was held last week. I know, I know, there is seemingly a “big” race every week, but the IFMAR world championships for 12th scale and 10th touring car are only held every two years, and they went down last week in Germany. I bring this up for two reasons- one being that I bet you didn’t know they were being held, and that’s kinda like a tree that falls in the forest. If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, did it even happen? And two- in the second 12th scale A final a driver put on the finest display of rc car driving I have ever witnessed. You see, Masami has been grooming a young protege, Naoto Matsukura, and in the second leg of the A he made the most elite racers in the world look like novices. So click HERE to see the BEST driving the Earth has ever seen. (Youtube Video Link)

Btw, while we were enjoying our country’s independence day over here, America got OWNED last week at the worlds in Germany. America might lead the world at many things, but rc racing isn’t one of them.

Let me be one the first to call the new HPI Mini Trophy Truck a game changer. It’s been a long time since a company other than Traxxas has produced the next big thing, but well, HPI has just done it. Sure, the Traxxas Slash (some would argue the AE SC8) started the short course truck revolution, but the new HPI Mini Trophy truck is a huge leap forward, not only in short course truck design, but in scale realism for our hobby. You’ve got people on rc forums saying things like “Hey HPI, here’s my bank account number. Take as much as you want, ’cause I gotta have this.” about their new Mini Trophy. I’ve been preaching for years that realism is good for sales and for the hobby as a whole, and this new HPI truck is the biggest leap in that direction since the original RC10.

Traxxas has not had to follow anyone’s lead for years, for over a decade they’ve pretty much lead the pack via the T-Maxx, Revo, and Slash. How will Traxxas respond to the HPI Mini Trophy, if at all? I bet they aren’t the only company that sits down this week in a board room, invites all the brass in, spreads one large, blank piece of paper in the middle of the table and says “Ok guys, we’ve got some work to do!”. What if you are a company like Thunder Tiger/Associated, who used to own the market, now all they do is react (quite slowly I might add) to the latest trends? What if you are Horizon/Losi (I hate to just call it Losi, because it’s soooo not Losi anymore) and are used to putting out a dozen “different” trucks based on one platform, and now you are faced with coming up with an all new design, and one that’s actually competitive, or even better than the HPI truck? Their last attempt at a short course truck, the Losi Strike, was way off the mark. I know they’ll never do it, but I’d love to see Losi cut a HUGE check and give Sr and Jr a call to see if they’d be willing to lend a hand on a scale Losi short course truck. We all know just how uber a true Losi truck would be. Sadly, it will probably never happen.

On a much different note- BigSquidRC is looking for more models for the iHobby Expo this October. In the past we’ve had readers help us out by suggesting their girlfriends etc, so if you know of a hot chic who is into rc and wants to make some cash, shoot Brian an email.

One more short note for the week, I gotta thank our readers for helping to spread the love about BigSquidRC. Thank you guys for emailing links to your buds, posting links on the message boards etc. Without you all, we’d be just another rinky dink rc site. Slowly but surely we are clawing our way into the rc mainstream, and we sure couldn’t do it without your help.

That’s it for this week, as always, support your local hobby shops, tracks, and bash spots!

YOUR Cub Reporter

Ok check this bad boy from Traxxas out! I haven’t seen this info posted anywhere yet, so thought I’d better share it quick. This is the new Traxxas Slayer Pro 4×4! It’s bigger, and faster than the original Traxxas Slayer! It uses the TRX 3.3 engine with new GTR anodized shocks and BF Goodrich or Kumho tires to reach 50+ mph!
It comes with the TQ 2.4GHz Radio system with Traxxas Link and high-torque waterproof servos.
The chassis is 30mm longer, and the a-arms were extended to widen the truck 26mm! It comes completely RTR! This should be a huge hit with all the nitro short course guys!

I haven’t seen it on the Traxxas Website yet, but I’m sure more info will be there soon!

Traxxas Slayer Pro gallery

We added another video to our Big Squid RC YouTube Channel . This was a fun little shoot. We were at our local hobby shop, when a friend of ours from 3DHobbyShopRocks came by with a couple of planes he was looking to ‘retire’. Of course Bill’s eyes got real wide real quick! We grabbed the 4×4 Traxxas Slash, a couple of ramps, and went to work. It was raining pretty good, and was super windy, so you are looking at some AMAZING flying skill there!

Enjoy! Also note, there is a higher res version on YouTube.

I have another video in the works where Bill and I did a little skatepark invasion. Those are always fun, but we always end up with a lot more parts then when we left.

More power is always better, bigger motors are always better, strong motor mounts to keep those bigger and more powerful motors are always better.  Kershaw Designs has a new motor mount for the Traxxas Revo and Summit that will let you securely bolt on those bigger and more powerful motors.  The Kershaw Designs XXL motor mounts will let you mount Kershaw’s own monstrous XXL motors and various large Castle Creations motors such as the 1518 1Y, 1520 1Y, and 1717.  The mounts raise the motor height slightly to clear the rear shock tower.  These mounts are available directly from Kershaw for $29.00.  Check out the Kershaw Designs web site for more info and ordering.

Own a Traxxas Slash 4×4? Is it covered in RPM hop up parts yet? Well here are some more for you! The new RPM Slash 4×4 Body Mounts have adjustable to give you different heights for your custom body. They start off 1/8″ lower then stock, and can raise up 1/4″ more. They can be mounted on the front or rear of the truck. Two kits will be needed to complete the truck. Using the spacers will require some longer screws.

Visit the RPM RC site for details.

Those guys from Texas are lettin fly with the details about the new Traxxas Titan Deep-V brushless boat (not to be confused with the Traxxas Titan 12-turn motor, obviously).  This 3-foot beast is packed to the gills with power.  Driven by a Velineon 540 XL brushless motor and VXL-6s Marine ESC, Traxxas is boasting of 50+ MPH speeds out of the box when paired with 6S worth of LiPo goodness.  If you prefer a slower cruise speed then you can use the two included 7-Cell NiMH packs to put your out-of-box speed at just about 30 MPH.  Another cool thing about this boat is the removable center tray that holds all the electronics, motor, and stuffing tube, so you can quickly and easily get in there and perform maintenance.  Other features of the new Titan include aluminum running hardware, highly-adjustable battery trays with hook-and-loop straps, and the TQ 2.4 GHz radio system with waterproof electronics.

When the Titan hits your hobby shop shelves at the end of July it’ll be available in manly red or girly blue.  MSRP for this badboy is going to be $680, but the street price is likely to be a bit cheaper.  Hit up the Traxxas web site for more details, pics, and video.  Looks like Aquacraft might have some competition.

Looks like Traxxas has come out with another set of ‘most have’ hop-ups for the Traxxas Slash 4×4! These new progressive-rate Tuning Springs sound pretty cool. The progressive-rate design allows you to take small bumps without compromising the need for strong springs on the big air! They are color coded, 20% softer than stock are orange, 10% softer are green, 20% stiffer are blue, and 10% stiffer are pink. Front springs will run you about $5 and rear are $6.50.

For more info check the Traxxas Website.

As you can guess, we get a LOT of email here at BSRC. Today I open the mail box, and start to sort through the first dozen or so, when I see one that says “Traxxas SPY Video!” That caught my attention real quick! We get our share of spy pics and videos, but rarely do we catch Traxxas in the act. So I open the mail, and it starts off like “My cousins, neighbor’s brother works for Traxxas, and he was testing this outside, and we caught it on video!” You bet I clicked that link! He’s calling it the Traxxas Bandit VXLXL! While I am pretty sure this probably didn’t come out of the Traxxas R&D group, it IS a really impressive build! The beast halls! Man I’d like to get behind the wheel of it! I’ll have to give my buddies a call at Traxxas and see if I can squeeze some more info out of them!

Man, that thing has basher written all over it! After checking out the pics and video, I was surprised it didn’t come from Bill “Firesprink281″ our main mechanic here BSRC HQ! I’ll have to get him on this as his next project!

Thanks Jibberjabbs for sending in the pics and video, awesome build! If anyone else has anything similar they want to show off to fellow bashers, drop us a line, spy shots included!