nativepaul

Hi peeps,
Within the next couple of months I will be in the market for an 1/8 4wd buggy. I will use it mostly for bashing. I have done a little research and the, Hot Bodies Lightning 2 Pro looks to be the best for my budget, but maybe it just looks good on paper. Can anyone that has a lightniong 2 pro give me some info.

What aspect of the lightning 2 pro lets the side down?

Do you seem to break it more than your friends break there buggys?

Any poor fit or quality controll issues?

Any handling or brakeing defects?

Any weak-links, what am I likley to break? (I heard the diffs and the rear wing & mount where the weakpoints on the first version, 2 uses hardened diff gears, did they improve the wing and mount too?)

What would you like them to improve in the lightning 3?

If theres something that your especialy happy with it for, can you tell me that too.

Thanks.
Paul































Grammar nazis not welcome.

sh0wtime

there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the Lightning 2 Pro
i reviewed one of the first ones for a mag i wrote for at the time & was pleasantly surprised at how capable it was
its not the most adjustable buggy out there but the stock geometry isn't far off & they handle the bumps really well!
a buddy of mine raced one for 2 years (he's an ex UK Champ) & he pu it into a fair few National A finals
he changed to HongNor for this year but that was more about the deal he got rather than the car
he reckoned it was only about a second a lap off the very latest more expensive designs & for 99% of racers that wouldn't be an issue! he was racing the top guys at the top level & he just couldn't quite stick with them, although saying that his Nosram was holding him back too as it wasn't a very fast engine compared to the others!
they were taking about 10-12 feet out of him along the straight at most tracks!
the Lightning 2Pro is good value for money & would be my pick of the cheaper cars on the market

nativepaul

Are there any upgrades that I should look at getting as soon as I get the buggy?

I think the Pro 1 only has CV joints at the front, does the pro 2 have them at the rear as well? should i order a spare set of fronts (for the back) when I order the kit?

sh0wtime

you could add another pair of CVD's to the rear but its not essential
i'm not sure how many hopup parts there actually are for this car but its pretty good straight out of the box, i'd get some spares instead like rear wings, shock sharts etc

nativepaul

So theres still trouble with the wings,can you clarify, is it the wing itself or thte mount that is the weak point? Will anyone elses wing/mount fit (eg kyosho)?

For the Pro 2 they beefed up the shock shafts from 3mm to 3.5mm, if I will still be bending shafts, are they a soft material? should I be looking at puting different shocks on, or will I bend shafts no matter what buggy and shocks I have?

The lightning 2 pro appeals to me for its price, but if I have to put a new wing on every time I roll and new shock shafts every few runs, it wont be that long till a Mugen or Inferno is the better deal. If i can put a sturdyer mugen wing on it when it goes, and either can upgrade the shockshafts or shocks at a reasonable cost or all buggys bend shafts sometimes, then it still looks the bargain.

Da Smak

Very few buggies on the market are able to take the beating that the Lightning2 will and keep going, but this said the ONLY guy to own one at the Swindon track raced it hard, made a habbit of slamming the boards all the way round the track and then would come bashing with me on the mini practice jump. The only 2 problems he ever had with it in 2 years was the rear wing falling off (the mount snapped) and the rear gearbox wearingout around the bearings for the pinion (input), this chewd up the pinion gear and the rear diff crown. The problem came when looking for spares, this is the bit where they fell down.

For 2 years I would call that good, but those cars are like Alfa Romeos, you'd buy one but you'd never recommend them.

Adam, you still got anything to do with spazzing?

Danno

For fun and semi-serious racing , Hotbodies Lightning pro 2 is a fantastic buggy !!!! It handles really well , takes an unbeleivable beating , and if You do break something , parts are REALLY cheap . I ran a pro 1 for 3 years and loved it , as my driving got better I got a kanai 3 , then a 777 , simply because they offer a few more tuning options and they turn in just a little better .
You will not be disappointed with a pro2 .

Danno

A-main hobbies carries all the parts You need .

http://www.amainhobbies.com/index.ph...adb5e6c088f184

nativepaul

Theres some prety serious endorsements there so it looks like the lightniing will be the one.

Do kyosho spur gears fit in the centre diff?

Da Smak

No. Very few parts from other buggies will fit the LP2. But if you want a seriuos buggy with good support in the UK then it has to be the Xray XB8TQ or the upcoming XB8EC. The LP2 never took off and as such is limited in the UK to a few stores none of which hold many parts at all. Like I said the LP2 is like an Alfa, I'd get one but couldn't recommend it.

sh0wtime

as far as i know there is no regular problem with shock shafts i just said those as whenever i get a new buggy i always like to carry a core amount of spares for tht car ie a set of wishbones, some shock shafts,shock ends, C-Hubs, a rear wing & mount (never broken a Mugen or XRAY one tho!) just a few of the parts that are likely to break on any buggy

wing mounts you'll need the HB ones but wings from most cars would fit, just make sure you don't get a pre drilled one like Mugen or XRAY!
i'd use the Proline wings available cheaply in UK from [link=http://www.topoptions.com]Top-Options[/link]

Da Smak

Looks to me like Top Options is on the way out of the RC buisness, Russ is really leting that site slip, almost every link leads to nowhere.

sh0wtime

yeah the site hasn't been updated in a LONG time

i think its because he does nearly all of his business over the phone to existing customers

ask for Russ 01243 536758

nativepaul

Well the X-Ray at top options is nerly twice the price of the lightning, I could get a hellava lota parts for the extra £178, my motor and ESC should be under £150, so I should be able to set up the whole lightning pro, rtr, for the price of the X-Ray kit.

jonnymac

ESC and motor???? Your going to do an electric conversion?
Weird!

Da Smak

Whoa there, Motor, ESC? So are you doing an electric conversion or dont you realise that these are NITRO buggies? and if you go that route, why not buy a Hyper 8 RTR and sell the engine to fund your project? I just think the LP2 will be too heavy and you'd benefit from the lighter Hyper 8 chassis.

sh0wtime

i quoted TopOptions as the cheapest supplier of Proline wings in the UK, not the cheapest supplier of everything as now he does more business selling mini-motos & paintball guns!

Proline wing for £5 not £15 last time i was in there

nativepaul

Yes I will be converting it to electric, I havent considered the hyper8, as the engineless pro version is £100 more than the lightning pro, but I see the rtr version is the same price as the pro.

What is a secondhand unused engine worth? If I can get £100 for it it looks more atractive, but it is a hassle for me to spend £100 more to get an engine I dont need, then I have the worry of how long it will take to sell privately or if I will get more than £5 for it if I put it on E-Bay, especialy as the engine in the hyper8 isnt a .21

How much heavyer is the Lightning? Its things like the 4mm shock towers and 3.5 mm shock shafts that atracted me to the lightning compared to the other budget buggys, I want a sturdy Buggy, that I'm not gonna need a lot of parts for so it keeps its budget over time. I am willing to pay for that with a little extra weight, theres varying degrees of ot tho, a few ounces of strategic reinforcement would be perfect, I'd settle for a pound of all round beef, I think a a kilo of extra bulk would be excessive.

It also depends if theve put the extra meat where it is needed or not, if they put 2 strong points on either side of a week point then its just wasted weight and i dont want a gram of that.

Da Smak

well the hyper 8 is over a pound lighter and if you put the engine on ebay it should go for £100 easy with the pipe. The hyper 8 also has 3.5mm shock shafts and there are 4mm CNC shock towers available for it, even carbon fibre ones if you want to lose some more weight.

Danno

The lightning is probably one of THE toughest buggies out there . AND PARTS ARE CHEAP !!!!!
Run a lightning and a Hyper 8 into each other head on and see what happens .

Da Smak

Yep, you'll brake 'em both that way. Thing is though you'll be waiting longer to get the parts for the LP2.

nativepaul

what does a lightnig 2 pro weigh? Preferably with no radio, engine, pipe, fuel tank and brakes, but an all up weight, and guestimates for what the nitro stuff weiighs would be cool too.

Coopz

Not sure, google its specs.
At my local club in the pullstart buggy class the Lightning Pros are alwasy in the top group. Their stock engine certainly has some poke.

nativepaul

It's good to hear that they can do well on the track.

I found a weight for the lightning 2 sport but not the pro, the sport is 7.3lbs (3335g) I guess the pro will be a bit heavyer with the extra alloy, anyone know how much?

On to the 3335 g nitro rr weight I have to add 820g batterys, 372g motor and 71g speed controller, thats 1263g, or a total weight of 4598g with both .26 ic engine and electric setups.

I can remove the throttle servo 55g, enginethe ofna .26 is 350g, ofna Tuned Pipe,One Piece,Shiney:.21 157g, I cant find the weight of the air filter,fuel tank clutch or brake assembly, anyone know what that stuff weights? I guess 60g brakes, 100g fuel tank & filter, 30g air filter, 50g clutch, does that sound reasonable? ive never had any of these items in my hand to even estimate from. That would make my electric weight about 3796g or 8.47 lb

Anyone know what shock oil and springs I should run at that weight?

laydback

I've never heard of a pull start buggy class, interesting. I never knew starting procedure had any thing to do with skill class.