New CRC CK25 1/12-scale pan car kit

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By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com

New from Calandra Racing Concepts:
www.teamcrc.com

CRC CK25 - 1/12th road racing kit
#3215, $200

Introducing the new 1/12th car from the World Champions at Calandra Racing Concepts.

The Carpet Knife™ Twenty5

"CK25"

The new 1/12th rocket from Team CRC

CRC's new CK25. The new chassis features all the latest tweaks and improvements to the proven Xti-WC platform.

Calandra Racing Concepts introduces the Carpet Knife™ Twenty5. The 2018 version of our World Championship winning line of 1/12th scale road racing cars. We are excited to mark our 25th year in the R/C model car racing industry. Yes, 25 years of making products, meeting people, enjoying this great hobby and of course, racing. We have met many racers and have won countless Regional, National and World Championships in all these years. This new release, the Carpet Knife Twenty5 or “CK25”, marks a great milestone within the organization, 25 years. Our first car released was the original Carpet Knife™ and now with 25 years of company history, we bring you the CK25.

Looking back...we have built the company by going to races large and small, meeting racers all over the world. Getting in the pits, rubbing elbows with hobbyists, racers and our customers. When CRC started, the internet didn't exist. Setups and product information was passed along by magazines and word of mouth at R/C race events across the country. CRC was there then and is there now supporting our customers and enjoying the hobby.

All of us at CRC are devoted to bringing you top performing products at a great price and value.  All CRC staff members take part in the design, building, racing and maintaining of the CRC products we use on a daily basis. Manufacturing and packaging the car is done right here in the U.S.A. We know exactly how the product works and performs in the racing environment as we all enjoy this great hobby just like you.

The CK25 - 2016 International Indoor Championship (IIC) Las Vegas winner in prototype form.

At the 2016 IIC in Las Vegas, Andrew Knapp swept ALL 1/12th classes; Stock 17.5, Super Stock 13.5 and Modified. With all the big race teams from USA, Europe and Asia in the house, the CK25 in prototype form dominated the event in the capable hands of Andrew Knapp. Not only did Knapp win and T.Q., Andrew won EVERY qualifier and led every lap in the 13.5 class with the prototype CK25.

Prototype CK25 dominates the 2016 IIC!

Knapp dominated the 2016 IIC with a prototype CK25. T.Q. and win with the new car from CRC!

3215 Carpet Knife™ Twenty5

Building on the World Championship winning heritage of the CRC Xti-WC, the CK25 takes all the race winning features and adds changes and improvements to adapt to current racing conditions. The new CK25 now features CRC's LCG (low center of gravity) Slider Rear Pod; the only rear axle housing that allows you to make infinite ride height adjustment WITHOUT molded plastic inserts or pucks. No fiddling with inserts. No 1mm "steps" to deal with, pure infinite adjustment. You want to add .3mm of ride height, you can do it with the slider pod. With inserts you are limited to .5mm or 1mm steps. This LCG slider pod allows very small tires and lowers the center of gravity almost 20% over our earlier pod. You want to make ride height on bare rims? You can with the CK25, this car makes the 3mm ride height minimum with bare rims on the car.

New LCG Slider pods

As shown in the highlighted blue above, the new motor plate on the right is almost 20% lower than the earlier motor plate. Same lower CG for the left side plate.

No ride height worries with the CK25!

The CK25 makes 3mm ride height on bare rims.

EZ motor access and maintenance

Easy "drop-in" motor from the top. EZ to solder, EZ to install. Low, light and fast!

Unlike some other brands that use just the 2 bottom holes to hold the motor (or poorly hold the motor in their case), the CK25 has the 2 motor mount screws spaced properly (outlined above in light blue), so the motor does not move and no stripped spur gears!

Roomy rear pod!

The CK25 has 2 positions available for the side tweak springs; inner mount for more traction and stability, outer position for quicker steering response.

The new CK25 features some changes to the front end to respond to the changes in modern racing, small tweaks to better handle extreme high-grip and also low-grip, bumpy conditions. The front body mounts have been moved to a raised bumper/body mount plate. The bumper/body mount plate protects the chassis. Because it sits on the chassis, it allows for more chassis movement without touching the ground. The chassis has been substantially shortened to limit the front overhang past the tires and reduce the chances of the chassis touching the racing surface during high speed racing.

New raised bumper/body mount plate with foam bumper.

Raised bumper/body mount plate on the CK25

The CK25 comes standard with a new thin foam bumper to protect the body and body mount plate.

Hang that servo or mount it up front with the CK25!

The CK25 also features an easy and convenient way to mount the servo. This hanging servo mount is suspended symmetrically from standoffs on each side of the chassis. With the symmetrical mounting on 2 screws, no chassis tweak is induced on a major impact. This system makes servo mounting and maintenance a breeze by having front-to-back and side-to-side adjustment slots.

Hanging, adjustable servo mount

The new CK25 now features a hanging servo mount which accepts most every mid to mini servo. It can be mounted on the left or right hand side of the car and the side-to-side slots allow you to adjust center position. The front-to-back slots allow you to adjust the ackerman effect and get the proper tie rod angle.

Side slots (below in light blue) allow for centered servo placement of most any mini servo brand.

Only CRC allows you to reverse mount the popular mini servos from Sanwa (SRG-HR). The 2 forward holes on the chassis (denoted in light blue above) are for the small Sanwa servo. Marc Rheinard used this servo with this reverse placement to win the World Championships. The added weight up front yields stability and great steering.

The reverse mounted Sanwa servo removes all the hanging servo mounting parts and makes the lightest 1/12th car in the business even lighter. Plus, with all the added room, the electronics can be mounted right down the center of the car. Again, only with CRC.

Performance from every corner

Even the left rear clamping hub has received attention. Our new double clamping hub is perfectly balanced and the 2 symmetrical clamp screws provide more secure mounting than the single clamp screw used by every other manufacture of 1/12th cars.

The only double clamping, perfectly balanced left hub in 1/12th scale

This design makes the hub 100% balanced for smooth and secure performance.

With a screw on both sides of the hub, the double clamp is more secure than any other in the business. Add perfect balance and its all good!.

Aluminum chassis craze phase

The latest passing phase in pan car racing is the aluminum chassis. After testing in the real world, aluminum works OK, but the reality is that it bends and stays bent. The chassis of a 1/12th racer needs to be flat. In an ideal world, where drivers make zero mistakes, aluminum may have a place as a tuning tool. However, in the real world of crashing, taps on the wall and tangles with other drivers, aluminum bends and stays tweaked. One crash, throw it away and pay the big bucks for another. How many full scale race cars have aluminum chassis? Not many. Carbon fiber is stiff, strong and returns to flat after a crash, the choice of full scale Formula 1 cars.

At the 2016 IIC in Las Vegas, the aluminum chassis epidemic hit a peak with everyone thinking they needed it to be fast. At this race, not including CRC, all the top race teams were running aluminum chassis that they made or an aftermarket chassis that was made for them. The race was on CRC Black Carpet, had hundreds of entries and high grip. CRC's Andrew Knapp won all 3 classes of 1/12th scale with stock carbon fiber on his prototype CK25. No aluminum, no super carbon, just standard kit material from CRC. It you want to spend a lot of money and throw away a lot of chassis, buy aluminum. If you want to win, with less maintenance and more fun, stick with carbon fiber.

Speaking of carbon fiber, CRC's "stock" or standard carbon fiber is of higher strength than most "standard" carbon fiber panels used in radio control. By using higher grade carbon fiber strands, CRC's standard material is a full 32% stronger than other standard grades.

Optional Z-Flex Carbon

When an even stiffer, more rigid chassis is desired, CRC has our optional new Zero-Flex Carbon fiber. Z-Flex is incredibly stiff, strong and rigid. It is made from super strong carbon fiber strands, a full 250% stronger and stiffer than the standard grade materials offered. The benefits of the new Z-Flex material is an incredibly rigid and stiff chassis that will not shatter or break on impact AND a chassis material that will return to flat and true after impact. Z-Flex is a proprietary material to CRC, different from any other stiff carbon in the market place.

CRC's new optional Z-Flex carbon fiber - Ultra strong, incredibly stiff.

Introducing CRC's proprietary material; "Z-Flex" carbon fiber, Zero-flex. Super stiff, strong and rigid, yet durable. An available option chassis and rear pod for the CK25, Xti-WC, WTF-1 FC16 and other brands as well. CRC's standard 3k plain weave finish sets it apart from other stiff grades in the R/C car market with durability issues.

Value

It is approaching the year 2018, and yes, the new CK25 is STILL available for under $200 street price. While all the other brands flirt with the $300 dollar mark, CRC continues to deliver World Championship performance for less than $200. With many championships under its belt in near stock trim; the ROAR Nationals, Cleveland US Indoor Championships, Las Vegas International Indoor Championships and the IFMAR World Championships, you can spend hundreds more on another brand, or get better for less with CRC. Don't overspend on others, the CRC line of World Championship winning products perform straight out of the box for much less. The car is more affordable, the parts are more affordable and the car comes race ready.

Dedication and specialization in pan cars

At CRC, we don't build touring cars and we do not make offroad cars, we don't make nitro cars, we don't make truggies and we don't make buggies.... WE SPECIALIZE IN PAN CARS. We make the cars, we make the carpet they race on, we make the borders they race around and we make the tires they race on. AND we have been doing it for 25 years. We specialize in pan cars and lead the way in design and engineering, right here in the U.S.A.. Most all the current generations of pan cars are revisions or tweaks to what we started on our CAD system and released to the public. When all the others were playing with T-bars, we were racing link cars, and now all the rest are using links as well. When all the rest played with batteries mounted off the centerline, we stayed with a center mounted pack, always with a transverse placement option, now all the others have their battery that way as well. When all the others were running on smaller rims, we made the High Roller wheel to the rules and now all the others are as well. Join the leaders at CRC.

Lighter, leaner, meaner

In this day and age of big batteries with a lot of runtime, the importance of the race-ready weight of the car is sometimes forgotten or dismissed. In stock-spec style racing, lightweight equals fast lap times as it takes energy to both accelerate and turn a heavier car. The CK25 is the lightest competition 1/12th scale available weighing in under the weight minimum with competition electronics. As with all CRC designs, the CK25 will get you at or under the IFMAR/ROAR weight minimums to give the performance advantage needed to win.

25 years of experience

The new CK25 from Calandra Racing Concepts is a razor sharp weapon ready to win at any level. The design is based from CRC's long heritage of championship winning road racing cars. Designed and built by the engineers and racing staff at CRC, the new CK25 is created by experienced racers from the conception of the design right through to production, packaging and support. Like all CRC products, the CK25 is used weekly by local racers at CRC's test track. This insures that the parts have been proven by top professionals, weekly club racers and general hobbyists, covering all facets of the product; performance, ease of use and durability. The Xti platform is a proven winner on the biggest racing stages, winning on EVERY stage; the IFMAR World Championships, the Japanese Nationals, the European Nationals, the ROAR Nationals, the IIC in Vegas, the AOC in Japan, and the Snowbirds in Florida. The product is supported throughout North America with CRC's extensive domestic distribution through Horizon Hobby Distributors, our vast dealer network and direct from the factory. Worldwide, CRC's international distribution and support centers in Europe and Asia insure that parts and support is easy and convenient to obtain.

Value - With a MSRP of $299.99, and a street price of $199.99 for the kit, the CK25 is priced well below many of the competition on the market. Get your own personal championship winning machine and join the team at CRC! First batch shipping around September 6th, 2017.