Chazz Sinclair, the owner of X Factory and the business brains behind the development of the X-5 writes a short history on the origins of the X-5.

Chazz:

Paul Sinclair, of Whitehouse, Ohio, a small town west of the tip of Lake Erie, began racing at the age of 12 with his first car a xx-4.  By 2001 Paul took 6th at the ROAR Stock Motor National Championship.  In 2003 Paul finished 3rd at the Stock Nats, this time with a xxx-4, which had only been on the market a short time.  As Paul descended the drivers' stand after A-3, he exclaimed to his father, Chazz Sinclair, "Dad, I've never worked so hard in my life!  I love my old xx-4 and this thing is so hard to drive."

That summer, at the Hot Rod Hobby Shoot-Out, where Paul finished sixth in the A, they tried an experiment.  Paul ran his xxx-4 in H-1 and H-4, his xx-4 in H-2 & 3 with the same motor and gearing.  The result was virtually identical lap times and race times, and the idea was born:  Could they fuse the straight-line acceleration of the xxx-4 with the handling of the xx-4?  And would the result be faster than either?

X Factory R/C Racing Products was really born that day.  X Factory is a very small company (Really it's only one man, Chazz.) which for business reasons is a subsidiary of Mr. Sinclair's long-existing dump truck business, Whitehouse Materials L.L.C.  The X Factory office is in Chazz's basement and the company's inventory and equipment are in a small shop about 2 miles away where the dump truck business used to be.

Chazz and Paul designed the X - 5, utilizing the skills of a designer at Advantage Mold, a tool & die shop in nearby Toledo, Ohio.  Keith Julius produced all the C.A.D. after many hours sitting at his computer with Paul and Chazz.  From this C.A.D. the first prototypes were machined from Delrin;  after testing and racing, Advantage produced the X - 5 molds, and here we are.

All X Factory parts are produced by sub-contractors in or near Toledo.  Josh Cyrul designed the body and makes them in Detroit, about 60 miles away.

The X - 5 debuted when www.4wdrc.com was put up in March of 2004, and sales were steady (But not as brisk as Mrs. Sinclair would like!) until Greg Hodapp joined the X Factory Team in January of 2005 -- instant credibility!  When Hodapp took third at the world's warm-up, then won the ROAR Mod Nats in July 2005, sales really took off.

Greg, Paul, and Chazz have all participated in working with Advantage Mold"s Keith Julius to develop the X - 6, which is the result of another simple question, asked this time by Chazz:  "Won't buggies handle better if the motor's in front of the rear wheels?"

Massive thanks to Chazz Sinclair for all the help with the review.

Chris Long, X Factory team driver, is a 10th scale off road racer from the North West region of the UK and can be regularly seen racing in the North West regionals, North East regionals and BRCA National series, among others. I asked Chris a few questions about the X-5.

Name: Chris Long Age: 26 Years Racing: 16 First Car: Kyosho Lazer ZX Sponsors: X-Factory, Lesro/Infinity, DC Racing, Tekin Favourite Track: I consider my local tracks to be my favourites, they are Bury Metro, Southport and Batley, but the one I look forward to visiting the most has to be Kidderminster. Best Racing Result: 2005 nationals at Bury Metro, 2wd B final 10th on Saturday and the following day I finished 4wd B final 5th.

Hi Chris. You have been racing the X5 longer than anyone I know and went through a lot of 4wd cars before settling on the X5. Can you tell us what cars you tried and what made you try, and then stick with, the XFactory X-5  ?
I had been racing mainly 2wd and after a season of nationals I decided I should be racing 4wd aswell.  I chose the Yokomo MR4BC Special, this car was really fast indoors but wasn't so stable outdoors.  I then changed to the Academy SB Sport and received sponsorship from Nick Isaacs (Evolution racing), I felt more comfortable with this car but one weekend I was in need of parts to be able to race and they didn't arrive in time so Stuart Mahon lent me his XX4.  My initial reaction was "WOW" as it could jump, take bumps and turn in at any speed yet it always felt safe and stable.  Evolution
racing closed, and my SB sport needed parts I could no longer get, so I had to change cars again, so I knew the XX4 was the car to have after driving Stuarts but I was not keen on the 3 belt drive system.  After some browsing
on the internet I found 4wdrc.com and had a chat with Chazz about the X-factory X5 conversion, this was the car I chose due to it having single belt yet geometry of the XX4.

What are your favourite aspects of the X5 ? The main thing I like is the efficient drive system, with the Academy I had to be careful which motors I chose even though it had an efficient shaft drive, but with the X5 I found I could run fast motors such as an 8x2 and still have plenty of duration and the motor would never melt down like it would in an Academy.  I also like the added reliability over the XX4. It is very simple to work on.  One of the other things everyone with an X5 will notice is the excellent support provided by Chazz, every owner of the X5 is valued and made to feel valued.

Do you usually run a fixed drive or One Way in the car, and if so, which One-Way do you use / recommend ?
I usually use the one way diff in my X5, the diff in my car was once the DC racing version designed for the XXX4 and I have modified it to fit.  Lesro models now sells these same units with changes to fit the X5, these are what I recommend to any X5 owner.

Is there anything you'd like to see improved on the car ? The car was designed to do a purpose, and it does it very well.  Some things have been designed with functionality in mind before looks, but I really would not change them. Do you have any personal build / maintenance tips you can share with the rest of us ? Most importantly I'd recommend to anyone to take their time, the instructions are very clear and accurate, there are some jobs to do in modifying XX4 parts to fit, this isn't major or difficult, but do take time to do this well.  Also, have some sandpaper handy, smooth off any rough edges, plastic burs from any parts, and use some small motor shims to minimize the play between parts where hingepins are used.  I also like to use a B3 front brace this tightens up the front bulkhead and gets rid of a lot of play there inherent from the XX4.

Thanks Chris, And good luck in your racing.