Guys guys guys. Does anyone realise that 99% of all buggys come out of the same factories in China? I recently bought a Himoto Torpeda Pro off Ebay. It is the same car that is also called a Bazooka & now more recently Redcat Racing Hurricane XP. Mine came with a high quality Team Infinity .27 engine & I picked it up for $265US!!! It should be noted that not all of them come with Infinity engines as some are Vertex. The vertex ones aren;t the same quality engines. I live here in Oz and the price I paid equates to about $350AUS & is roughly 50% cheaper than than the cheapest well known cars like Ofna & Kyosho. The Mp7.5 retails here for about $675, the ofna Hyper TQ about $600 and the Hyper 7 Comp retails for $1000!!!
Lets set the record straight. I took the car into my LHS to see what they reckon & the pro's in there almost fell over at the price I paid, & the fact it came with a infinity .27 race engine as stock! They were amazed & said that its every bit the same quality as a MP7.5 or a PRP Swift(RD Logics SHO).
We examined the Himoto against the MP7.5 & yes it is a clone. Having said that, the front steering is slightly different. The rest of the car you can use Kyosho MP7.5 parts. Even the chassis is exactly the same. Ads say its 98% the same but I'd realisticly say its about 75% compatible to be fare but many parts are direct swaps. Apart from the front suspension, the rest of the car is basically the same except that the parts are slightly different shape, yet they still swap directly. The shell & wing is also exactly the same shape as the MP7.5. There is some parts on the bazooka/himoto that aren't even standard on the MP7.5. The only thing I haven't been able to confirm is if the the shock Towers are a direct swap. i beleive though if you replace the front suspension from the chassis up, its basically the same as a MP7.5
Do not let the fact that you haven't heard of this car or that its a "kyosho clone" lead you to beleive it is crap. I can guarentee you that it is basically the best bang for your buck! Period.
Yes somewhere along the line I beleive the top speed is being confused for MPH instead of KPH. Most ads do state that it goes 80MPH, which is about 130KPH. Only the very highest quality road racers reach those sort of speeds. I have had mine running to about 80KPH, which is quite frankly dam fast.
I have been giving it a real bash and it is definately not the cheap crap that people are claiming. The only people claiming this are the "snobs" who a) have not even had one or used one, and b)they view it as some Chinese cheap rip off. As I said even Kyosho come out of the same factory in China!!
I have had 2 major smashes at high speed into hard wooden pine logs up at the park & on both occasions it just snapped a very small part that is the steering mount. everything else had ZERO damage whatsoever. Very impressive & the LHS was also suitably impressed.
The reason parts are harder to come by is that it is a relatively new brand that not many hobby shops know about. There are however many online sites selling spares & there are some very tasty alloy hopups. I'd suggest you look up Redcat Racing for an excellent source of parts & hopups.
If people think this is bull, just look up the RedCat Racing thread in these forums & you will see hundreds of inputs from very happy users. I have spoken to people who reckon it out performs brands twice as much such as Ofnas.
I really couldn;t recommend these buggies more highly enough. They are simply the best nitro for the money. And boy do they Scream or what!!
Basically the price I paid is virtually the price of a replacement engine. Absolutely amazing performer this buggy is & it should be treated with respect.