RE: Truggy vs Buggy?
I raced an 8ight buggy for about 6 months and then went to an xray xt8 truggy..for what it is worth, here are my thoughts:
The trugg is much, much more forgiving on the track. You do not have to be as precise and it will help make up for driver errors. I was always in the a main with the buggy, but I was consistantly 1-2 seconds a lap slower then the fastest guys (they are real fast). I would have 5-6 great laps, and then 2 bad ones (that could be the 8ight though..they need to be driven smoothly). With the truggy, and racing it every weekend the past 2 months, I am in the A main and am faster then I was with my buggy (same tracks). The rougher the track, the better the trugg will perform vs a buggy. I do believe that the very fastest guys out there are a little faster with a buggy, but most people I see that switch, or run both classes are faster with their truggies..
Xray Xt8 - the 8ight went together very well, but it is nothing like putting together an xray. Xray parts and quality are much better. Hudy spring steel is nice as well. The instruction book is the best I have seen also. I can''t say I would never go to another company (as I like to try new things), but what you hear and read about the xray quality and ease of build is 100% correct! Also, the truggy is great...it accelarates like an 8t and jumps like one, but is much more stable imo...it can be driven hard and it will not bite you in rear (like the 8t can do). It likes to be driven hard like the Mugen...It has more steering then you know what to do with. There are 2 weak points on it though - 1) E clips...you can get the tq suspension set (about 95 bucks) and that takes care of it, but there are a LOT more adjustment options with that, and as it is, the truck already has a LOT more adjustments then an 8ight...). I will put the tq parts on it here in a bit for piece of mind, as I am learning about the different adjustments and how they affect the handling (I actually had em, but sent them back) 2) second weakness is the shocks. To me, they are just not as smooth as the Losi shocks...I finally got a good setup (Grey mugen springs with 50wt losi oil with 1.3 drilled pistons front and 1.4 drilled pistons rear) and it works much better then stock, BUT some aftermarket big Bore shocks are gonna be on the way (I have seen some on another truck and they are smooth as butta). Bottom line, the truggy is more fun and faster for me, and the xray is great!