TORCH Mid South 4wd Regional

If you thought TORCH was already a good place to go 1/10 buggy racing then you would be correct. Not a club to rest on its laurels however the Hampshire massive have been busy over the last few weeks moving things on to another level.

Plenty of good work has gone into improving the parking and pitting areas and money has been spent upgrading the timing system. This all adds to the professional feeling of the venue but, not to do things by halves, there has also been a complete revamp of the track.

(Click on any pic for gallery view) 

Schumacher Big Bore Vented Shock Caps.

Ok, so in my ongoing, and thus far fruitless, quest to be a  little less rubbish I've thrown yet more money at my Cougar SV2.

This time my hard earned cash has been wasted invested in the latest hop up from the Northampton massive, a set of vented bleeder shock caps for my big bore shocks.

Here they are.
Nicely machined little beauties aren't they.

These shock caps come with a set of bladders and a set of o-rings, thus enabling the user to build the shocks bladder free.

Team Xtreme Vega RB5 . . . Don't mind if I do.

Well I couldn't resit it.
It's a Team Xtreme Kyosho RB5 based Vega.

I have lusted after one of these for some time and when this little beauty cropped up for sale recently my heart got the better of my head, not to mention my wallet.

For those that don't know, the Vega is a  kit, comprising a number of tasty carbon and machined alloy parts to convert the rear motored Kyosho RB5 into a mid motored weapon capable, in the right hands, of running right at the sharp end.

Hobao Hyper H2 . . A morning at TORCH

Upon awakening I was initially frightened by the huge fireball in the sky, I quickly realised however that it was my long lost friend the sun.

Without further ado I packed up the Hobao along with the rest of my kit and set off for TORCH.

It was a low key morning club meeting so not likely to be overly busy, the perfect opportunity to give the H2 a shakedown.
 The upside of these meetings is that there is plenty of track time, usually 5 heats and a final, the downside is that there is very little time to make changes to the car, in fact there is barely time to charge cells.

I was going to enjoy myself nevertheless.

I had kind of guessed at a set up and knew I would have no opportunity to make drastic changes.

It turned out I wasn't a million miles away as the car felt pretty good from the off.

Hobao Hyper H2 . . Electrics Install

For the electrics in the H2 I resorted to some familiar components.

The Hobbywing V2 speedo is a great favourite of mine, HW have been really good at updating the software for this unit so it remains competitive and is easy peasy to programme track-side via the digital program box.

Sweet!

I am using a full size 2s pack in the H2 so there is no choice in mounting location, it goes on the hinged battery plate. I was a little worried that with the fan fitted it might foul the body shell. I needn't have as there is plenty of room.

Depending on the brand stubby users may be able to squeeze in the esc on the chassis behind the servo. 

I used some snazzy blue wire to hook this up to an LRP X12 8.5t motor which, with modern software, should suffice for most tracks. It's a clear run so was quite straightforward.

Hobao Hyper H2 Build . . Part 2

So I am back in the shed to complete the build. it's bloomin' freezing so my little fan heater is working overtime!

The H2 comes with all the parts to build the car in mid or rear motor formats, I have chosen to build my car as mid motor as I will be racing primarily on astro. 

(If you decide on the rear motor configuration some of the following will still apply but keep an eye on the manual.)

At this point the H2 offers something a little different from the norm in the shape of a hinged battery retaining system. 

Tip: It is possible to use either full size or stubby type cells in the car, the small L shaped retaining piece can be fitted to the forward or rearward pair of holes in the top plate depending on your choice.

The hinged top plate also acts as the mounting plate for the electrics, this can be seen in the electrics install blog post.

I assembled mine to accept a full size 2s pack.

From this point onwards a little 'interpretation' of the manual is required, hopefully the following will help with  your build decisions.

Hobao Hyper H2 Build . . Part 1

I am often heard to exclaim "How (expletive deleted) much?" when being shown or told about the latest hot new kit on the market, and this time was no exception.

However, the reason for my surprise at the new Hobao Hyper H2 Pro was not how high the price is but how low.

This kit, with a little shopping around, can be delivered to your door for just 135 English pounds!

So it's off to the man cave for a bit of wrench time to establish if this kit is the bargain it appears to be.

Hobao Hyper H2 Pro . . Thanks postie!

Whilst most of us lust after a DB1, a Vega, or even an RB6,  many of us have to be more modest in our aspirations.

With this in mind the postie paid me a visit this week.

Under his arm he was carrying a Hyper H2 Pro, the latest offering from the Taiwanese 1/8 rally cross experts Hobao.

This kit, distributed in the UK by CML, has an RRP a sniff below £150 but a little scout around the net can see it winging it's way to you for only £135.

My initial un-boxing suggests my money has been well spent. There are lots of sturdy looking parts and a beautifully machined and engraved alloy chassis, reminiscent of a Losi 22 and not massively dissimilar to an RB6.

There is even a full set of wheels/tyres and inserts.



Over the next few days I shall be retiring to the man cave to wield the wrenches in the direction of this box of goodies.

 I plan to find out if  it's the bargain it appears to be.

I'll take some pics and make a few notes so I can write up a build report so be sure to check back.