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July 16, 2014, 10:08 p.m.
7/17/2013
By Aaron Waldron
LiveRC.com
Whether it's wheel nuts, wings, tools, tracks, trinkets and/or anything in between, the LiveRC staff gives their testimonial and mini-review of each every Thursday morning!
Four-wheel drive short course racing is alive and well at my local track. In fact, it’s not uncommon for Pro 4 to be one of the most popular classes on a club night at SDRC Raceway, which until recently was located in the back of the building that also housed Tekno RC’s offices until the growing kit manufacturer needed to upgrade - that may have had something to do with the class blowing up.
It was while scanning the drivers’ stand for last night’s Pro 4 A Main event that I chose the next guest interviewee for Thursday Testimonials. Peter Pirano, a service advisor for a local-area Chevrolet dealership, has been racing the class for months and is reaching that crossroads where he’s quite a bit faster than the rest of the sportsman-level racers at club races and starting to keep up with the faster drivers that regularly top the A-Main.
I surprised him by walking over to his pit area with my camera, pointing at items in his pit area, and asking him what he thought about them.
FTW Diamondback short course truck body
#FTW00035, $30
I’ve always found FTW’s short and squatty off-road racing pickup shell to be oddly proportioned - I’m a bit of a snobby SC purist - but with Peter’s paint job it didn’t seem quite as extreme. “I bought it because it was something different, and I didn’t want to run the same stuff as everyone else,” said Peter, who appreciated the included window masks but chose to paint in his grill and headlights rather than use the included stickers.
FTW RC pulls the body from .040 Lexan, but Peter’s looked a bit beat up. When I noted how much damage the body showed, Peter said, “it did crack up a bit, but it has held up through me learning to drive so it did its job.”
Pros:
Interesting appearance sticks out from the crowd
Comes with overspray film, window masks, and stickers
Plenty of surfaced that can be vented, drives and jumps well
Cons:
Interesting appearance sticks out from the crowd
A bit thin in areas tortured most by heavy 4WD trucks, especially when trimmed out
Conclusion:
Heavy 4WD short course trucks are tough on bodies, but the Diamondback wins hands down in terms of looking different than the rest of the grid - for better or worse.
Beacon rating: 4/5
Turnigy nano-tech Ultimate 6000mAh Hardcase LiPo
#NC6000.2S2P.9, $52
I’ve never tried any of the ultra-budget gear from any of the overseas brands, but I know plenty of people that swear by them - so I wasn’t surprised to spy a handful of Turnigy’s LiPo packs in Peter’s pit area. However, the 5mm bullet plug did catch me off guard, and Peter informed me that the sparkling bricks were from Turnigy’s new Ultimate line.
“They’re great. I haven’t had any swelling problems, even after longer main events,” said Peter. He noted the 5mm plugs as well, and how it’s a trend across all brands now. Though he did comment on hesitating to purchase from a brand that’s not really involved in the American racing scene, Peter couldn’t knock their performance. “I’ve been running them for a month in my 4WD short course truck and haven’t had an issue. They feel good, like a top-dollar battery. I’ll be buying them again.”
Pros:
Unbeatable price
Solid performance
Cons:
Not much support in the racing world
Conclusion:
Turnigy has opened a U.S. office, and I drive a Toyota. I can’t really judge.
If the batteries work, they work. Peter has had great luck with them, so
Beacon rating: 5/5
ProTek R/C Universal Radio Case
#PTK-8160, $50 (requires insert)
ProTek R/C Universal Radio Case Insert, Airtronics M12
#PTK-8174, $15
A sturdy aluminum shell with reinforced edges and corners, locked shut by a key, may seem like overkill - until you realize that the $50 box is holding a $400+ piece of delicate electronics. The case itself is lined with foam, and accepts inserts of made high-density foam that are cut to hold snug nearly all of today’s most popular radios.
“When you’ve got a $500 radio it’s just nice to have peace of mind,” said Peter. When asked to describe the box, Peter said, “it’s fantastic. Bulletproof, as safe as can be, easy to get, and relatively inexpensive. It even comes with a key.”
Pros:
Protects an expensive investment
Secure and comfortable to transport
Cons:
None
Conclusion:
If you’re going to spend hundreds of dollars on a transmitter that uses 2.4 GHz transmission and an internal CPU in order to drive your RC cars, buy a radio case. If you’re going to buy a different radio every once in a while, buy this radio case.
Beacon rating: 5/5
THURSDAY TESTIMONIALS - RANDOM ITEM OF THE WEEK:
Each week outside of the R/C world we test out and use a variety of items in our daily routines that have absolutely nothing to do with R/C, and THIS is what we think of them!
Dental work
$429
Ever broke a tooth? How about one of the molars in the very back of your mouth? I don’t recommend it, especially if the piece of tooth is going to get stuck in your gum. I’m not sure what’s worse: the pain, asking a significant other “honey, would you mind looking at my tooth? It hurts,” or remembering one’s pompous assumption that he’d be just fine during the downtime when switching dental insurance providers. Did I mention it was a Saturday?
Editor's note: don't remind my girlfriend that the camera on my phone (second photo) is better than hers (this one)
Luckily, the dentist down the street whom I’ve visited once had an opening first thing Monday afternoon. I showed up on time, got taken right back to the chair, and the doc got to work. I was in and out in no time, driving down the road with a slightly swollen face, drool on my shirt, and lacking the ability to speak clearly for an hour or so - forcing me to contain with myself my monologue about the evils of novocaine versus the pain of having my tooth drilled and my gum trimmed and cauterized. A few Advil over the next several hours was all it took to start feeling better.
Pros:
A healthy mouth is a happy mouth
Pain relief outweighs that caused during the appointment
Fixes any unsavory vocabulary, if only temporarily
Cons:
Uh, it hurts?
Costs money, often more than you can imagine.
Feel the guilt of skipping flossing that one time a couple of weeks ago
Makes fish tacos a not-very-smart lunch decision for a day or two
Conclusion:
All things considered, I pretty much scored on this one - quick emergency appointment, great service, good results, and the sting it left in my wallet dissipated about the time that awful novocaine did. Still, going to the dentist sucks.
Beacon rating: 3.5/5 (extra half point for having the cartoon Tom and Jerry playing in the waiting room)
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