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R/C eXpo 2004
HPI USA
The award for largest nitro monster truck at the show goes to HPI by a margin of about 12 feet. The scale of this vehicle is estimated to be approximately (precisely) 1:1.
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Alright, on the R/C side of things, the two new products for the show are a 2004 Subaru WRX body with onroad body kit (replicating the real car they're sponsoring in Japan ) and a concept Cadillac Escalade body that's made work on touring cars with Super Nitro (2.2") wheels for effect. Who arrived at this general idea first, HPI or Pro-Line? Noone will ever know. At any rate, the Escalade has been released in Japan , but there's still a bit of re-R&D going on for the American wing of the company. The rear body posts are unwieldly tall and may need more support.
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Schumacher
The delightfully warn & cordial Robin Schumacher showed off his company's hottest-selling product, the Menace 21 4WD stadium truck. The Menace is geared towards the "lesiure" market, satiating the needs of R/C'ers who just want to go faster. Indeed, there's no better vehicle on the market for this purpose, as the 3-speed, 70+ MPH Menace is in a class of its own for pure velocity in a small offroad package. On Saturday I got to see the Menace in action on the dirt track and was quite surprised at the level of composure & control it showed. Durability exceeded my expectations as well, as the driver was not afraid to hit the 6' kicker ramps and go sky high. I saw one particular landing that went all wrong, but the truck ended up on its wheels by luck and then drove along as if nothing had happened. The last thing that surprised me was the low-speed throttle control. This of course has to be partially attributed to the driver, but I seriously worried that a vehicle with a top speed higher than the posted limit on the nearby interstate would seem overgeared & sluggish on a small track. Not so. The 3-speed tranny seems to cover quite a wide range of ratios.
The $54 question I had for Mr. Schumacher was, why did a well-respected, hardcore racing company get into the "lesiure" market in the first place? The answer was straightforward and not unexpected, "Of course, to grow the business." It seems they've done quite well for themselves, as the Menace and other ultra high-speed RTR offerings from Schumacher not only sell well, but thoroughly own a very unique market niche.
Power Racing Products
The hard-working, always-travelling Benson of Happytime Hobby was on hand to man his company's booth and show off their wide range of very inexpensive vehicles and hop-up parts, ranging from the fairly new Swift RTR 1/8th scale buggy to a selection of monster truck threaded aluminum shock sets. Also on display was a wall of CAD concept renderings of the new "Concept X" nitro touring sedan (final name TBD) currently in the works at the design center in China . It was pointed out that a number of the major-manufacturer team drivers at the show had stopped by and commented on the uniqueness of the Concept X's layout. "With the (Swift) buggy, people can always say, 'well, it looks like a Mugen' or 'it looks like a Kyosho,' but the Concept X, it's not like anything else."
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Team Novak
I only visited the Novak booth for a brief moment, to ask about the status of their "competition" 540-class brushless motor. Unfortunately, this is a case where no news is not good news, at least for brushless motor fans. Work on the XRS Reversible brushed motor ESC as well as the new Smart Tray Digital Equalizing Discharger has taken development & testing resources away from the BL program. With these products now in production, though, priorities will once again be re-aligned to where we all want them to be (well alright, maybe I shouldn't try to speak for everyone, but I can speak very loudly for myself, right?). The Novak rep I spoke to noted that the competition BL system is presently still being tested in sedan applications, and it continues to show performance on par with a major-brand 7-turn brushed motor.