Inside HB's new Pro 5 touring car

0 Oct. 12, 2014, 6:06 a.m.

10/12/2014
By Aaron Waldron

LiveRC.com

Just before the IFMAR ISTC World Championships began in Florida, HB/HPI Racing announced that a new Pro 5 touring car was on the horizon, but didn't let out much more information than that. They didn't need to say much to create a buzz - after all, HPI's original RS4 was at least partially responsible for helping to create the twenty years ago, and the brand has stayed at the forefront of touring car racing technology - including the ISTC title in 2006. To create the create the next step in HB's winning legacy on asphalt, famed designer Toshihiko "Hara-tune" Hara and Andy Moore set out to use what the team had learned about touring car racing, along with input from HB's drivers, to create the Pro 5.

Former World Champion Andy Moore talked us about the finer points of the car.

Team driver JJ Wang, who joined HB in time to provide additional driver feedback on the Pro 5 during its development phase, turned over his personal car during the ISTC World Championships to give us a closer look at the new platform.

The result of this design project is a car that is nearly 100% new, sharing only the rear hubs and double-joint front driveshafts with the previous TCXX model.

Larger pulleys at the front and rear change the car's internal gearing, requiring a different pinion/spur combination to provide the same overall rollout. The result is a car that accelerates more smoothly, making the Pro 5 feel like it has more traction on lower grip tracks.

A redesigned motor mount and top deck offer different flex points by adding or removing screws, making the chassis tunable to different track conditions.

Two-piece steering knuckles offer Ackerman adjustment by replacing the carbon fiber plates with optional pieces that change the mounting position of the steering link.

The rear suspension mounts are pinned to the chassis, which prevents them from getting tweaked in the event of a hard collision

The upper camber link mounts on the front and rear are bolted horizontally the bulkheads, offering nearly limitless adjustment of both width and height by simply adding or removing shims.

Big bore shocks are used on all four corners, which give greater consistency from run to run, longer time between rebuilds, and a higher resolution of tuning options.

This year's Worlds proved to be the first time the Pro 5 hit the track in a competitive atmosphere, and while team drivers Andy Moore and JJ Wang only barely missed the A-Main given their relative lack of testing time compared to the larger teams the car showed plenty of potential. The Pro 5 looks poised to add to HB's history of capturing touring car championships around the world.

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