vnmsgt

Caster Racing Fusion EX-1 1/8 Scale electric buggy is going to be released real soon!! I should have one in a couple weeks! Here are 2 links.

http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t...nPromoPark.flv

[link]http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t284/teamfusionracing/?action=view&current=Fusiononeminutepromo.flv[/link]

{GBI}Harryball

Have they done any work on the braking bias?

razzor

some pics to wet the appetite

Furadi

I think it's lame that caster decided to give the buggy a 'wide' look just because.

Snaut Rocket

so its just the motor
no esc or battery[&o]

vnmsgt

What do you mean wide look. It is the same as any other buggy except for the 808 and 8ight.

I do not know for sure but will find out probably tomorrow.

Furadi

[quote]ORIGINAL: vnmsgt


What do you mean wide look. It is the same as any other buggy except for the 808 and 8ight.




Exactly, Conventional buggys are wide because they have to be. But with the 8ight and 808 and Hyper 9, they made everything centralized so the overall look is narrower. In this case the caster SHOULD be narrow but its just not. Weird..

I think you can agree, the trend is leaning towards 'narrow'. I don't understand why Caster would deviate from that. Maybe they can offer a narrow conversion with smaller rock guards and a thinner body?

gbasile77

I would have thought a real 'pure' electric 1/8 buggy would take more from a 1/10 4wd electric buggy than a nitro 1/8 buggy?
To me that just looks like a nitro buggy with electric running gear.

Furadi

I'm thinking there trying to stay very close to nitro design as to attract the nitro crowd.

musclecar64

Exactly, if it wasn't like a traditional 1/8 buggy in structure, it just wouldn't be a 1/8 buggy. People wouldn't want to race it.

Furadi

Not true, I think traditional buggys look portly, I prefer the look of a modern, 'narrow' buggy.

Safety Hawk

My Feedback: (6)

I think it looks like it does because they are trying to make good use of their spare parts bin. Less R&D required, and more available spare parts for when it hits the market. I guess they don't want to sink a ton of money into designing a product that will essentially be testing the waters of the 1/8th scale electric market. Once companies have an idea of what the demand will be for electric 1/8th scales, I'm sure more original ideas will start showing themselves. Give it time to evolve.

Furadi

It wouldn't take much to shave the sides of the rock guards and slim the body down....

Furadi

Here is a perfect example of a company trying to 'modernize' there buggy...



Notice that while they didn't change much in the CAD design there at least trying to slim it down.

Seriously, who wants a buggy thats wide for NO reason.

razzor

Furadi yes thats true that they could have gone narrower but with that layout with batteries on iether side space is a premium.
The benefit though with the electric layout is that there is a much lower centre of gravity which is a big plus.
In future i believe there will a conversion that will cater for the battery on one side only but not sure when it will be available.
This electric 1/8 scale class has grown a lot over the last 8-12 months and is going to be a major class in teh future especially with nitro fuel prices going teh way they are.
Another great thing about this class of vehicle is there is common parts between teh gas and electric kits so better parts support with less part numbers.
A conversion kit for the nitro buggy will be available also and will include a chassis and all necessary parts too so a car can be changed relatively easy from nitro to electric and vice versa.

Here is a vid with teh prototype running against nitro buggies http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=mjqCS_VyNsM

Promo vids
http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t...nPromoPark.flv
http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t...inutepromo.flv

vnmsgt

Also this is what you need to get the buggy up and running out of the box I found out. You only need to add a motor, esc, battery, radio gear, it comes with a 13t pinion. For the braking bias I do not think they did anything but as you can see from the video and speaking to the designer myself the buggy is just fine and can run with nitro all day long. In the race in one of those videos he was not just racing against everyday club racers, I think the top 5 or 6 in the race do race in PRO level races and do very well so the buggy will run up there.

PS. furadi, Kyosho did NOT go with the narrower chassis in the new MP9. Maybe they know something none of us do as to why they did not change. Narrower might not be better for some reason we have yet to find out.

gbasile77

that photo above comparing the two buggies above......ummmmm they are both EXACTLY the same as far as narrowness goes. One just has narrower splash guards, that's all.

Hang on while I remove the splash guards on my old MP 7.5.... vuola!! A revolutionary package!

Seriously thought, I like the caster layout - It's pure B44!

Furadi

Yes.... That was my point exactly.

gbasile77

Sorry Furadi, a little slow here I guess.

The more I look at the Caster pics, the more I want to build a 1/8 electric myself. Mmmmm, now I just gotta find a decent roller.

hakmazter

1.) Those are old pics that vnmsgt posted of the preproduction sample. The finished product is much nicer. I will post some pics.

2.) The sport kit that is coming out in a week and will be released before Aug 15 will be a roller chassis made from 6061 aluminum. You will need a motor, esc, and electronics. This is for the junior racer and/or basher that wants to get into electric 1/8 scale for a minumum price. This is also for the person who is tired of their conversion or is sick of their Nitro....easy swap.

3.) There will be a pro roller kit available soon that is made from 7075 aluminum. This is 100% race quality and for the serious racer. It has all the high performance parts right out of the box. It is in production now.

4.) There will be 2 rtr versions also. This will be the perfect storm as one will fit one consumer, the other will be the extreme the other way. That is all I am saying now.

5.) There will be truggy versions for all 4 options also. We can't leave those guys out.....

6.) There are 2 reasons why Kyosho did what they did. 1.) with a narrower midsection, the odds of being taken out in a race increase significantly in a rubbing/bumping situation. 2.) the less airspace you have in the body, the harder it is to control temps...overheating of motor and electronics...

7.) We kept the same platform for production costs of course and since we aren't changing our nitro line, we are not trying to eliminate parts, but the main reason is that a lot of tracks are accepting electric vs nitro on their tracks and it appears that electric has a significant advantage anyways, so why make something radically different for other racers to complain about? When there are classes of their own, we will be there with som radical changes. Now is not the time.

Furadi

I don't hear anyone 'complaining' about 8ights, 808's and Hyper 9's being radically different. Which... they are. Either way it doesn't matter I just prefer the look of sleekness, not wide and portly.

phattracker

My Feedback: (1)

Plus the aftermarket is already there for the conversions. Less waiting, just get a popular brand to convert.

gbasile77

i think the caster layout makes the most sense. It looks like they spun the centre diff around to enable them to put the motor in that forward position.
2 battery packs on the rear nice and close together.
rx on the laid down servo.
nice, most electric conversions looked crammed and not using the space as well.
Where is the ESC on the caster supposed to go?

razzor

the esc will mount on the tray behond the centre diff inbetween the batteries.
Esc is mounted as low as possible in this position.

hakmazter

We have engineers and racers on our staff.....makes a difference.... and everything sold here now has been designed, engineered, tested, and approved by us for the US market. Some manufacturers cannot say that...