MOMENT WITH MIKE: A close up look at the unknown

0 July 3, 2017, 8:13 a.m.

Main Photo: MOMENT WITH MIKE: A close up look at the unknown

By Mike Garrison
LiveRC.com

This past weekend my wife and I hosted the 2nd Annual Summer Off-Road Riot race at Fastlane Raceway in Blue Springs, Missouri (stay tuned full race report coming soon). The event saw a wide range of drivers from around the Midwest, a list of new racers, and for me several “new” cars in which I had never seen before. As I laid eyes on these new cars, I was quite impressed with their performances on the track, their overall build, and their unique features. This has all led to this edition of A Moment with Mike known as “A Close Up Look at the Unknown”.

Unknown #1 - Team C Racing T8 V3 1/8 Buggy
Driver: Dustin Hamilton

I have seen a fair amount of Team C Racing 1/10-scale vehicles over the years, however, to be completely honest I didn’t have a clue that the Team C brand even offered an 1/8 scale buggy. Their current 1/8 scale platform is by no means new to the market – released in 2013, however, it completely new to me and many others prior to this past weekend. Team C is far more popular in Europe and Asia than it is in America, however, Team C USA is working to change that. Region team manager Dustin Hamilton was in attendance this weekend with his Team C T8 V3 1/8 nitro buggy, and was more than happy to let us take an up-close look at the first “unknown”.

Team C Racing USA just announced Jeremy Moser as their new 1/8-scale team manager, and a little birdie has informed me that new cars in the works. In the meantime, the team is running the V3 buggy which features a 4mm aluminum chassis, aluminum shock towers, big bore shocks, fully adjustable rear toe block, carbon fiber top plate and center diff plates, vented clutch bell, roomy radio box, and lightweight outdrives.

When I asked Dustin his personal favorite part of the buggy his reply was, “The diffs are very nice, it drives amazing, the rear D block is trick, and the shocks are awesome.”

To my understanding, the Team C buggy T8 is also the platform chosen by Team Shepherd for the Bull X8 buggy with only minor changes.

Currently the buggy is only available to team drivers, with a few select hobby shops and dealers offering it to the public. Team C USA encourages interested racers to apply for a spot on their growing team. While the buggy may be nearly four years old, the design is solid and appeared to work well for Dustin. With Team C Racing USA making such a strong effort in 2017, I am anxious to see what is next in line.

Available to Team C Racing USA team drivers – contact your area team manager or visit Team C USA on Facebook:

Michael Cook- Northeast Region
Dustin Hamilton - Southeast Region
Chris Chmielewski - Western Region
Nick Williams - Iowa
Jeremy Moser - 1/8 Team Manager
Jason Deadman - Canada

Unknown #2 - SOAR Seiki 998 TD1 2017 1/8 Buggy
Driver: Chris Marrant

Prior to the brands push in America with the SOAR Seiki USA team, I had never heard of the SOAR Seiki brand, let alone see one of their products. Gene Hickerson’s Dialed-RC Hobbies is the US importer for the brand, and was recently represented at the recent ROAR Fuel Nats in the hands of Chris Marrant. It just so happens that Chris was also in attendance of this weekend’s Summer Off-Road Riot, and put together quite a stunning performance. After some terrible luck in qualifying, Marrant would bump from the C-Main, to the B-Main, to the A-Main of Pro Nitro Buggy for a 3rd place overall finish. As race director, I will argue that Marrant’s buggy appeared to be one of the best handling cars on the track this weekend. I had still never seen up close a SOAR Seiki buggy, however, just before the start of the mains, Chris was kind enough to give us an up-close look at the second “unknown” of the weekend.

The first SOAR Seiki was released in 2014, however, has seen multiple updates and new versions over the past few years. The latest is the 998 TD1 2017 edition buggy. At first glance, the buggy has variety of proven design features from various cars all packed into one. Perhaps the most unique design is the SOAR Gen2 Direct Ball Steering system, which features a traditional horizontal lower arm pivot ball, a vertical upper arm pivot ball, and carbon fiber adjustment plates. Marrant’s buggy included a list of option parts sold separately from the kit, and my personal favorite was the lightweight screw kit. I could care less how much weight it saved, they provide a look I’ve never seen before and are downright sexy.

Marrant’s buggy also features new aluminum shock caps in which modified to work as emulsion caps, as opposed to bladder style caps. Other notable mentions on the buggy is the 6mik flexible body mounts which feature rubber o-rings on top and bottom which allow the aluminum post to flex on impact. This prevents body damage, and wear from body clips. The shock towers feature the SOAR Seiki shield design cutout of the center, whether that was intentional or not, it adds a bit of uniqueness to the buggy. The throttle servo sits parallel with the brake linkage, the shocks are held to the a-arms using a pin/set screw instead of a screw to back or strip out, adjustable wing mount, suspension block adjustment using different inserts, big bore shocks, and so on and so forth.

I was asked by a racer passing by as I was shooting some photos of the car, “So who did this company copy and call it their own?”

The answer is that the SOAR Seiki 998 TD1 2017 isn’t a copy of anything. It’s a conglomeration of the designs – some similar to other cars on the market, some not so similar, and some completely unique to SOAR.

Chris Marrant is a good driver, and in the past, has run mainstream brand vehicles. Most often when a driver chooses a brand relatively new to the market or unknown to most people, their performance drops off, the results plummet, and they spend more time fixing, modifying, and pulling their hair out over the car. I will be the first to say I believe that since the switch to SOAR, Chris has improved his performance, his results are just as good if not better, and it certainly opened my eyes a bit to see how well the car actually works on the race track.

SSRS9981601 - SOAR Seiki Racing 998 TD1 1/8 Pro Buggy Kit
Available at www.dialedhobbies.com.

Unknown #3 – Tekno MT410 Monster Truck / Truggy Hybrid
Driver: Ron Wall

Perhaps the most unique unknown vehicle of the weekend was that of good friend Ron Wall. Ron, a Tekno RC driver, is from a small town in southern Missouri and attends a variety of events. Many of them still include a monster truck class. Ron, who we call “The Professor”, is always tinkering and trying new things. His latest idea and creation is a Tekno RC MT410 Monster Truck / Truggy hybrid vehicle. In an effort to create a vehicle in which he could race in a local monster truck class, while also being able to race the local truggy class he went to work mixing and matching parts to create the all-in-one electric truck.

The MT410 monster truck uses the SCT410 chassis, which provides a very short wheelbase. With the addition of the ET48 truggy shock towers, body mounts, wing mount, and modified body – Ron achieved the all-in-one truck he was hoping for. The wheelbase of the MT410 is 323mm (12.7”), which meets the ROAR wheelbase 12” minimum for 1/8-scale electric truck. The standard ET48 truggy has a wheelbase of 416mm (16.3”), meaning Ron’s creation is a truggy with a nearly 4” shorter wheelbase.

The combination of it all results in a monster truck/truggy with insane amounts of steering, the ability to run multiple classes, a nostalgic look from the early monster truck racing days, and well…one pretty cool creation.

Ron powers all of his vehicles with the latest from Castle Creations, and the new Castle Monster Mamba X ESC/motor combo had the truck literally dragging the wing in a wheelie off the start of every A-Main.

This weekend was the maiden voyage for his creation, and Ron was all smiles on the drivers stand racing. As a racer who was heavily involved in the original monster truck racing scene with E-Revos, Savages, etc., the truggy performance with a more monster truck feel was exactly what Ron had hoped for.

So why is this unknown truck so cool to me? Ron has bridged the gap between bashing and racing by taking the MT410 (designed for bashing), and with a few additional parts created a racer that fits into whatever your local truck class may be. Not to mention, “The Professor” is perhaps one of the most sincere, friendly, helpful, and caring racer at the track. Ron spends more time than anyone I know making sure he works his hardest to do his part so his friends are having fun, his son is having fun, and everyone in general is having fun. The smile on Ron’s face this weekend driving his unique creation was pure joy lap after lap, and THAT is what R/C is all about.

TKR5603 – MT410 1/10th Electric 4×4 Pro Monster Truck Kit
TKR5429 – Shock Tower (rear, 7075 CNC, gun metal anodized, ET48, NT48)
TKR5428 – Shock Tower (front, 7075 CNC, gun metal anodized, ET48, NT48)
TKR5401 – Body Mount Set (ET48, NT48)
TKR5181 – Low Profile Wing Mount & Body Mounts (SL/EB/NB/ET/NT)