ROAR NATS: Inside the defending champions' vehicles

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By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

Winning any RC race takes a mix of talent, practice, and preparation, but winning a race as competitive as the ROAR Nationals requires elite levels of each - combined with a little bit of luck. In the case of the winning drivers in both of last year’s incredible finals, Dakotah Phend and Ty Tessmann understand the importance of showing up to the track prepared - and making their own luck. Here are the vehicles they’ll be driving this weekend as they look to defend their titles.

Inside Dakotah Phend’s 1/8-Scale Nitro Truck

Chassis: Team Losi Racing 8IGHT-T 3.0
Engine: Team Orion CRF 21-7 Ports Factory Tuned (Truggy Edition)
Pipe: Team Orion 2013
Fuel: Nitrotane 30%
Radio: Spektrum DX4R Pro
Servos: Hitec 9380TH
Tires: Pro-Line Holeshots, X2 compound
Body: TLR 8IGHT-T 3.0 (stock)
Wing: TLR (stock)
Notes: Dakotah’s car is basically stock, fitted with just a few option parts: the aluminum front top brace, aluminum servo saver top, and Lunsford aluminum turnbuckles.

Inside Ty Tessmann’s 1/8-Scale Nitro Buggy

Chassis: HB D815 Tessmann Worlds Edition
Engine: O.S. Speed B2101 Ty Tessmann Edition
Pipe: O.S. Speed T-2090SC
Fuel: VP Racing Powermaster 25%
Radio: Airtronics M12 (provided by AMain.com)
Servos: Savöx SB-2274/SB-2274
Tires: Pro-Line Suppressors, X2 compound
Body: Pro-Line Type-R
Wing: Pro-Line Trifecta Lexan wing with optional center fin piece and large wicker bill
Notes: Like Dakotah, Ty is also running a very production-like chassis with very few additional items on his D815. He’s got the carbon fiber arm stiffeners bolted in place, AVID wing buttons, a carbon fiber throttle servo arm, Lunsford titanium turnbuckles, and various titanium hardware. In addition, many of the steel screws on the bottom of the car were replaced with fasteners machined by Andy Chen, who works at HB’s Taiwan production facility.

The screw heads were carved into a four-point star, and the shaft of the screw was hollowed out to reduce weight.

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