bribeguy

Well, I've been toying with adding one of the HPI BAJA 5B cars to my collection of RC's, and low and behold if one of my buddies doesn't run out an pick one up first.

Originally, prices on these were supposed to be $1300+ (Canadian), but luckily the LHS has 'em out for under $1100 (~$975usd). Not to shabby............

So first impressions are of course: HOLY CRAP THIS THING IS HUGE!!! Even in comparison to a Marder, it's just a big long car. Very sleek and well laid out, though.

And heavy. LOL.

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=6/16900570010.jpg&s=f5

Anyways, so we fire the thing up, and take it out in the rain to a big grass field to give it a run. Not as quick off the line as I may have hoped, but hey, it is heavy right? Plus, it still has the stock exaust extension. None the less, it moved quite quickly, and had a good strong power curve to it once underway. Steering was very sensitive, and the car went were it was pointed. Agressive steering manouvers did nothing to upset it. This thing stays planted! Compaired to all the videos of Marders and MT's traction rolling their way across the lawn, it was nice to see a 1/5 scale just carving in and rocketing out. Couple of small jumps showed the typical 2wd tendencie to nose down, and one jumps demonstrated the cars durability as it got smacked around pretty good.

30 or so minutes latter we decided to pack in the Baja, which by this point was covered in wet grass, and wait for a dryer day.

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=6/16900590567.jpg&s=f5

So the sin came up today, and we decided to head over to a local track and have some fun in the dirt.

First Impressions: Much faster!!! Without the resistance of the dirt, the Baja hauled it's heavy self around with much more athourity, and could even hold it's own againt the Savages and T-Maxes on the straight away.

It was a bit more of a handefull to control on the surface (very hard packed clay and dirt with a 1/4" of dusty silt on top), but far more fun! Steering was still very good, and a bit of practice had the car drifting nicely through some of the turns. Jumps were fine as long as they were scale sized, but anything larger got the Baja a bit out of wack.

A quick walk to the BMX track however, did show that the HPI can take some biger jumps as well, as long as everything is lined up right.

A couple hours of bashing and we decided to pack it in. No damage so far, even thought the beast has taken a few good hits and tumbles so far.

I gotta say, I'm impressed. It's no MCD, but for the price, it's a hell of a lot of fun, and handles like a dream.

Here's a video of the cars first couple runs, enjoy!

http://media.putfile.com/Baja-5B

Tigger N. Bennie

Perhaps, next time that guy will get out of the way since it looked like a bad spot to be working on an R/C.

Automan

That is one of the best baja videos so far, nice music and some good driving... and the baja seamed to be able to take a few hit's [sm=thumbup.gif] Stupid kid sitting and working on his toy like that, you should have hit him harder

Great video, like the start and the end stuff, nice touch [sm=thumbup.gif] Keep em coming !!

kengentry5000

My Feedback: (2)

Great video for sure! You have that rear end swinging out perfectly on turns.

Just curious, how many times do you prime the engine? Was there no fuel in the bulb requiring you to prime that much?

On my CY 23cc and Zen G260 if there is fuel in the bulb, once is enough for me. I used to prime more but found one good squirt with a full bulb is sufficient.

BTW - Who is the band in soundtrack of your video? Fun tune.

Ken

bribeguy

Thanx for the kind words guys.

The song in the video is The Scorpion Sleeps from the new Rob Zombie album (Educated Horses).

As for priming the engine, the footage at the begining of the video was the first time my friend had ever fired it up, so it took a few shots to get the fuel flowing to the primer bulb. Now, it's one shot, and maybe two pulls on the pull start. It's a dream.

Buddy boy who got smoked with the car was pretty pissed. The car wasn't moving very fast, but any amount of speed with a 20+lb vehicle is gonna hurt. He had just finished destroying his Team Losi LST 2 off a poor landing, and somehow decided to just work on it right there. We felt bad for smokin' him, but honestly didn't even see him there untill it was too late. Oh well..............

The one clip in the video where the footage of the Baja suddenly turns to footage of the grass was the other mistake of the day. My buddy lost control of the car, and I had to jump out of the way to avoid being hit at 3/4 throttle. I thought the clip was kinda funny, so in it went. lol

All in all it was a couple good runs. Hopefully we can go out again soon and I can get some more footage to do another video.

Timmahh

Looks like fun. maybe next time dude will figure the TRACK isnt the place to fix it, i think they call those areas PITS..lol
Timmahh