Team Associated B44 .vs Kyosho Lazer ZX-5 SP

[Richard Lowe]

Originally Posted by Mike Hudson

the bj4...doesnt have an ajustable slipper where the b44 does

It does, it's just a finer adjustment to get right

[ashleyb4]

Originally Posted by DanW

So what make a durga better than a zx5-sp then? Certainly not its plastic shocks and diff outputs!

With the price diffrence between the kyosho and the durga you could get losi, AE or tamiya shocks for it a slipper clutch front one way carbon fibre shock towers and a tidy brushless system.

A

[RogerM]

Ash ... ok mate we get it ...... you don't like the ZX5-SP .... a car that I am fairly sure you will never have driven!!!

I really dislike the XX4, to me it's just about the worse suited car for my driving style I have ever driven ...... do I keep banging on about it .... NO!

Please consider this a polite request to stop bashing a good car you have no experience of .......

[jim76]

Ash
Durga = £135
Lazer = £235

Difference = £100. How the hell are you going to get a tidy brushless system for that money let alone all the other stuff you mentioned?

As Roger said, you haven't driven one (or a B44 either probably) so stay out of the arguement. The lazer is a more than capable car, it won the F3/4/5 a couple of years back with me in A4 behind it with a second lazer.

And the availablility and price of spares are far better than the XX4!!

[Col]

There are several RTR's on fleabay for £150.

But these are NOT SP's even if they say they are

edit: think prehaps it's time to change my pic from the xx4 to the zx5?
Only been running it for 5 months now...

[B44&501xRacerEX]

Originally Posted by Ev1er

So, how do the B44 compare to your tamiya buggy?

-Ev1er

You cannot compare them.
One runs alot smoother than the other, that's about it.
The 501x WCE is more of a tank to the B44.

The B44 is still tough though, you would have to own both cars to fully understand. And since I do, well lets just say I've put more associated
parts on the 501x, B44 battery tray....etc..

I have not officially raced the tamiya 501x yet.
But having 2 cars that basically use the same parts is awesome in my book.
Like the A-arms are pretty much the same etc..

[Lee]

you never quite get your point accross do you

[ashleyb4]

Originally Posted by jim76

Ash
Durga = £135
Lazer = £235

Difference = £100. How the hell are you going to get a tidy brushless system for that money let alone all the other stuff you mentioned?

As Roger said, you haven't driven one (or a B44 either probably) so stay out of the arguement. The lazer is a more than capable car, it won the F3/4/5 a couple of years back with me in A4 behind it with a second lazer.

And the availablility and price of spares are far better than the XX4!!

when did i mension the xx4?

wow a fews ago what dominated the f3's f4's f5's last year a xx4. the reason i didnt recomend the xx4 was for that reason (only special people can have them ) and the kits are getting rare. IMO the b44 is a hard car to drive and the zx5 isnt worth the money. The durga its a good strong car with cheap parts. I was over reacting a little with the brushless system but it is a hell of alot cheaper to get a durga and IMO he would be getting abeter car.

A

[jim76]

so the durga needs the following to make it competive;
shocks - £50
slipper - no idea, probably £20+
one way - again £20 +

All of which come in the ZX5 kit, meaning they will work out the same price. Again Ash, you are talking rubbish.
Spares price of the lazer bits will certainly be in line with the tamiya and the car is just as strong if not stronger.

[ashleyb4]

Yea but the durga is still a better car and who is the judge of who is talking rubbish your the one who is talking rubbish.


Mid life crissis? buy a kyosho

A

[Ev1er]

Originally Posted by B44&501xRacerEX

You cannot compare them.
One runs alot smoother than the other, that's about it.
The 501x WCE is more of a tank to the B44.

The B44 is still tough though, you would have to own both cars to fully understand. And since I do, well lets just say I've put more associated
parts on the 501x, B44 battery tray....etc..

I have not officially raced the tamiya 501x yet.
But having 2 cars that basically use the same parts is awesome in my book.
Like the A-arms are pretty much the same etc..

If I get you right, you mean that the B44 is the best?

-Even

[Scouser]

All I can gather from his post is that the B44 battery tray is stronger!
I know that the Tamiya wishbones are about the toughest out there. A while back there was a thread detailing the modifications needed to fit them to a BJ4. As for the bulkheads, well the AE ones are plastic and the Tamiya ones are aluminum. The rear arm braces are plastic on the B44 and aluminum on the Tamiya. The AE top plates are about the weakest of any 4wd car I have seen. Not stacking up too well so far for the AE! If the Tamiya is a tank, why would you put the AE parts on it?
As for the Durga vs Lazer SP question, I think it is fair to say that the Kyosho is good to race straight away (with the addition of electrics!) but the Durga requires someone who is a Tamiya enthusiast to put in the required effort to get it to race spec. Out of the box, the car is going to get eaten alive by a similarly talented driver with a Kyosho or an AE. I think Ashley might be trying to wind Roger up!

[RogerM]

Scouser ........ He'll prove he's a stupid little boy a long time before he gets a rise out of me on a public forum!!! I have been racing RC cars since before Ashley had even been thought of.

I have driven all the cars listed in this thread, even rebuilt a Durga for a young chap at my club rather than race my own car one night as it was such a mess so I've built them all too now!

The BJ4 / B44 chassis will suit certain people, they are marmite cars IMHO, love or hate. If you get on with them they are quick, no question. If you don't you'll be nowhere.

The 501X drives similarly to to the Yok BX (not much of a suprise there) but has if anything a little less responsive nose. I imagine that many people would find it's predictable nature appealing but ultimately with the weight that far back it's not got the sort of front end response I like to have. (The Yokomo BX can have the cells on the motor side moved forward a-la Gaz Stanton's car and becomes much nicer to drive, I like his car a lot!!)

The Durga is a nice little car and I can see why it's so popular at club level. I think it is more responsive than the 501X, mainly due to the centre of mass being a little further forward and the tub being super stiff. I'm not nocking the Durga at all and with all the bells and whistles it can certainly perform well (anybody who saw Jimmy's first run at Kiddy couldn't help but be impressed by the car). You do need to spend a fair chunk on it to make it competative above club level IMHO and for those that enjoy that sort of thing (and why not) hop-ing up a car can be great fun too.

The Lazer ZX5-SP is a super easy car to drive out of the box and certainly quick on all counts. The changes (of which there are few) I have made to the kit build / set-up is just to make the car a little more agressive as that is what I like. Anybody could go racing with a kit ZX5-SP (except maybe the springs but whoopy doo there) and have a result, it's just such a neutral car. If you push it too hard it reacts gently and makes you want to back off .... not some random over/understeer moment. It also reacts to set-up changes at least as well, if not better, than any other car I have run. That makes it really tunable and you can get it to handle however you want with the minimum of fuss.

The XX4 is still the car I have disliked the most out of everything I have driven. I will now admit that the last time I owned one was before the "magic" set-up that most run now can about but I worked really hard with the car, many many nights at Brandon's track with Rich Savage back in the day, to get what I wanted from that car but with no success. Again I'll say the XX4 is a marmite car, love or hate. If you like it's handling you'll go quickly with it, if not you'll never get anywhere.

I could go on and on and on as I've owned or driven most 4wd cars since the CAT XLS and Optma Mid era (no X factory, Areo or Acadamey cars but I think all others that have been marketed in the UK).
Until recently I'd have said the Pred was my fav, not any more.


Is that an acceptably balanced post to explain the point I was trying to make?

[Lee]

I think i missed the point roger could you repeat it

[RogerM]

Lee any time you want mate...... my message is don't slate a car that you know nothing about ....... It would be like me saying that the Areo is a pile of poop because the bodyshell has very few curves on it and I can't afford one!!!

A little harsh with the final comment Lee ..... although I did a little.

[markwilliamson2001]

I agree with you on the marmite thing about cars....
I LOVED the XX4 because it was soooo easy to drive once i had hit on a magic setup that I didn't change or tweaked very slightly. I also didn't like the one-way on a lot of tracks, but it worked well on marston's grass track, but I didn't like it on carpet or when I used it at Kiddy, the car was a handful there with it in!

I do believe that a lot of people have hang ups about the 'old' lazer zx-5. I have seen both, and the improvements made in the SP version do make the car much better. The shocks are also something else, very easy to build and bleed and super smooth. They are almost as good as Traxxas shocks on the TRX-1... maybe better!

ASH - stop bigging up the XX4, it has some major flaws, which is why I sold mine, mostly the lack of a servo saver and crap steering pivot post which strips at the slightest hint of a barrier. There was also the 'least' amount of space to put electric kit in then I have ever seen. Changing a belt was a complete nightmare (although I never broke one in 3 years of racing a XX4). However it was a dream on bumps, floated around the track and was so easy to drive. With some improvements Losi could have had a superb car, they just never developed it anymore which was a shame.

[ashleyb4]

Perosnally i have only ever had my steering ball crank jump a spline twice in the same meeting the first time i ran it never had a problem since snapped a few belts never broken a front tower and only broken 3 front wishbones. Just takes a good pit bitch to solve them. I dont big up the xx4 anymore as the lack of avaliable kits. The less people with xx4's the better as the more spares about.

A

[markwilliamson2001]

So your point is...

[Rich D]

When i left the hobby for the last time, it was the xx4 that everyone was using.
Can i assume that Losi are no longer developing new 1/10th buggies from the way you are talking ?

[Rich D]

Originally Posted by RogerM

I could go on and on and on as I've owned or driven most 4wd cars since the CAT XLS and Optma Mid era (no X factory, Areo or Acadamey cars but I think all others that have been marketed in the UK).
Until recently I'd have said the Pred was my fav, not any more

I had the XLS Cat back in `87 too Roger - ex Jamie Booth