Yokomo YZ-2

[neallewis]

KF is £500+ for a team spec car, one that does seem to work on low traction tracks.
I have the high traction regular kit only, which is useless on low traction. I refused to spend £250+ making it work as a compromised low traction car when I have both a bmax2 mid and rear cars which work great on those tracks.

UK price for YZ-2 of £319 seems a little higher than a regular 2wd car, but it comes with lots of nice pieces and will work out the box. Mine is pre-ordered anyway, i'll be sure to try it on low traction when I get it in the new year. I've not written it off (on low traction), but I'd be surprised if its better than the existing cars on the low traction tracks (like York/Batley indoor), given its design brief.

Going back to price, a-main have the yz-2 for $349, making it considerably cheaper than EU and UK price. ￥46,200 JPY price equals roughly £250/$389.
Sure import duty, vat and a bit of channel profit add a bit to final UK price, but it does show we pay more in EU/UK for our imported goods. Then again, look at xray/schumacher prices for stuff produced in EU/UK (Schumacher do produce a lot of their kit parts in UK, and some bits do go out to China).
Paying for the best is never going to be cheap ;-)

[neallewis]

Originally Posted by NeilRalph77

I'm just interested to see how it compares against a B5M with the 3 gear box?

I'm expecting it to be miles better.
By most accounts, the centro is still the better car over the B5m, and the 3 gears I've seen weren't on pace.

[Ashlandchris]

Every part of me is trying to tell my head "I don't need this car as I can't drive my BMax2 fast yet". And then my heart sticks it's oar in.

Looks good doesn't it?

Let me just check what change I can find down the back of the sofa...

[mekios]

And now the big question...

Will they discontinue B-Max2? That is my concern.
In their press release they state that tracks have gone "high traction". Do they mean that there is no turning back, or lets just have two cars to suit your needs, with parts support for both of them?

[smokes]

Overall nice design for high grip tracks

What is with the carbon shock towers? Are they trying to save investment cost on not paying out on tooling for a plastic injection mold.

I know the carbon towers on the bmax-4 III break very easily and take out the gear box mounts. Where as the plastic towers are indestructible.

The shocks look like a huge upgrade over the v.3 design have the reversed engineered the Kyosho units and the coating and put X rings inside?

Are they using a sliding rack mechanism like the losi 22 and the tc3? If so i hope the have got it to work.

[discothesnake]

Carbon shock towers on 4wd are spot on. Done a full season with car and I've only broken 2 front wishbones so I think the shock towers will be fine.

It doesn't have a sliding mechanism for the steering. Theres a picture of it earlier in the post.

[skyaflake]

Nothing wrong with carbon towers, i use both a front and rear on my b-max2 and none broke. Carbon is strong (enough) and light. It's not weird that some towers snap on the B-Max4 (knocks on wood), the tower is much easier to hit and thus brake. I still run the 3MM since i haven't broken it. I know people who run the 4MM and they haven't broken anything.

I don't think that the B-Max2 will be discontinued soon, it's a different platform. But I think that the B-Max2 had some serious development the last year (and a half) and the car is 'done' (at least for a while now). So parts will still be available (some parts with the YZ2 are interchangeable), that's no problem. Lots of tracks in EU/JP are indeed high traction, in the US it's still a lot of... well, very low grip tracks.

I'm also curious about the shocks, I like the current (with the new shock bottoms) shocks very much though.

[RogerM]

Originally Posted by Chris Elworthy

Am I missing something? What about this design is supposed to give the advantage over forward motor?



Chris

Chris, having the motor transverse and the very low CofG are the key to the KF's ability to run "better than it should" in lower grip conditions.

The transverse motor will produce a torque reaction fore-aft rather than side to side meaning that the car is less likely to rotate as you jump on the throttle.
On very high grip it's not very noticeable but as the grip goes it becomes much more so.

I think this is the first of many cars designed with the 2015 worlds in mind.
Looks good to me, can't wait to see what Kyosho / Losi / AE etc. do to compare with it, sure at least one of them will.

[Chris Elworthy]

Thanks Roger,

To me this car looks like more of an all rounder, similar to the RB6 than a designated high grip car. People are wondering whether this car will be suited to lower grip surfaces and going off the pictures I would say it would for sure. The car has the motor, while a little further forward than most conventional mid motor's is still at the rear to all extents and purposes with the cells through the middle.
That's what puzzles me? This car from the pictures at least just looks like a very modern conventional mid motor so how is this car being marketed as a "high grip car"? The current crop of designated high grip cars are proper forward motor's, with no geared transmissions to play with giving direct power which is a benefit when the grip is up. Associated have tried to make their B5m more suited to high grip by releasing a 3-gear transmission where this Yokomo continues along the regular path of 4-gear.

This is why I asked, I just can't work out which design feature of this car is supposed to allow this car to be able to lap as quickly and consistently as the likes of the Tm2v2 and KF? If this car can rival these chassis in average hands you may have the perfect all round package but I'm still struggling to see it from the pics and blurb.


Chris

[J77MYF]

The new YZ-2 looks awesome and the old school name alone sells it to me.

I doubt I'll be racing out to get one on release date. I did that with the B5M and it never worked for me. I'll have a go with Neal's first

[mes]

I bet the YZ-2 will work very well in all conditions not requiring a gear cover so to speak, i. e. everthing except very dusty dirt tracks, and even there it might work with a shorty battery to the rear, the ESC mounted on the battery strap to increase chassis roll, and some brass rear suspension mounts. I don't know if weight distribution is so much different to the KF and the converted 4WDs when running with saddles, the centre of the car is crammed with stuff up to the servo in the front in all three designs. At least the Yokomo does away with a belt and eliminates torque steer, that is why I fell in love with this new YZ incarnation right from the start.
With my Thunder Power saddle packs, I don't see any issues regarding the battery strap. Their connectors are way more outside than those of the Yokomo packs.
The 3-gear B5M is not tailored to high-grip surfaces but rather to stock racing. Don't forget that 17.5 turn blinky racing is huge in the US, and 'stock' racers want/need to shave off every single gram of (rotating) mass to be competitive, hence the lightweight MIP puck drives, aluminum topshafts, slipper eliminators etc.

[corkyjohnson75]

Hi people . I switched over from AE to yokomo bout 4 months now and I've only ran the B MAX 2 indoor . The YZ-2 looks very tempting tho with all of the alloy and carbon bits on , which I spent about £180 on my B MAX 2 and they brought the version 3 out with every think I bought on . Think I will see how you guys go with them before I buy . Loving the yokomo tho , best thing I done

[jph]

I like the look of this but no mention of whether it comes with a ball diff or gear diff.

Would I be right in thinking it's most like to come with a gear diff seeing as it's a 'high-grip' car?

[discothesnake]

I thought that too as I'd saw nothing about it. I would think it would be a geared diff.

Hopefully it'll be the same diff as current car that way the ball diff would fit.

[CARB]

There is a lot more to the low or high grip than the motor position, high corner speeds on a high grip surface is also to do with the roll centre.
Having all of the components being as low to the axel centres is what gives the car it's high corner speed with out rolling over (grip roll).

The more mass above the axel centre creates chassis roll which loads the out side wheel which then increases the grip to the outside wheel untill either the cars rolls over or breaks away in a slide.

The Mass that is transferred to the rear in acceleration is where forward motor or battery position is critica, if all the mass is around the front of the car then less is transferred to the rear and the wheels spin up once the grip of the tyres becomes less than the mass that is being moved forwards.

So if a car has the right mass to give the optimal grip for forward traction and has the laterial weight below the axel centres will in theory work in any surface

I am not a designer so may have put a simplistic view on this so anyone one that is a designer please correct me.

[cmgreen]

Originally Posted by Chris Elworthy

Then let's look at the KF, I think the best price for the kit I've seen is around £255. Then to get the car to team spec (which they all run regardless of low/high grip) you need the low grip conversion which uses shorty packs at another 70 quid plus you may need new batteries if you only have saddles too. Not to mention the alloy gearbox mount you need if you wish to run the shocks on the rear and alloy caster blocks and hubs for strength you are struggling for change from £500


Chris

Think u hit the nail with this, with any schumacher kit you can buy what the team are running. You defo can't say that for AE, schumacher team run a proto part, it works, you can buy it. I don't think when the kf was born they thought it would replace the sv2 and the kr, I think testing happened and the result is what we have now, you can buy a team car, with in weeks of them testing the new parts. I say well done schumacher!

[fmo]

Nice kit for sure. It reminds me of this in certain areas: http://www.redrc.net/2014/04/motogo-...a-c-prototype/

[xfactor]

Oh dear me. Thats threw a spanner right in the works..............

[njc11]

Must admit it looks like a nice piece of kit!

Judging by the colours of the shell (lee martins) in the pics I can only assume Lee, Naoto and Shin have all been putting there input to the car and testing!

I'm sure this car won't disappoint! Given the pedigree of those involved!

With the worlds being held in Japan on Astro at Yatabe arena it will be interesting to see if the other RC manufactures come out with something similar!

[brooksy]

With the worlds being held in Japan on Astro at Yatabe arena it will be interesting to see if the other RC manufactures come out with something similar!

Nick,I thought the worlds and euro's had to be run on a natural surface. Or is it just part astro?.

Phill