Quote:
Originally Posted by MattyBox
USA Intech team driver Gene Hickerson built the 2 buggy's together and said it is 50 - 60% different. He also took TQ and the win first time out, not sure how big the event was but its obviously got the pace.
Here is a snippet of his build
the buggy is much more different then I originally thought. The front end is the same geometry but with some differences like the steering arms can be set in 5 places (inline or trailing), but the rear end is completely different.
It is a whole new rear geometry. The CVD's are 72mm long - way longer then the DEX210. The rear hubs are non offset and can be moved forward or back 7mm rather then 4mm. The camber link location is totally different and the roll center is different. The rear susp blocks are wider. The rear chassis brace and body mount is different. The side chassis guards are way smaller. The chassis is different and about 4mm longer then the stock 210. The gear box is different
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I saw this post on rctech and if it wasnt for the fact the mods there were getting edit-happy with people dissing this car then i wouldve added my 2 cents worth too, which i'll happily do here
To claim that the car is 50-60% different is a joke. Lets not mince words here, it's not so much the actual parts which have been cloned, it's more so the design. Changing the shape of the battery locators, cutting down a tiny part of the sidepods etc, whilst making the parts technically different, doesn't stop them from clearly still being a copy.
Ironically most of the real changes have been made do to avoid any legal complications of cloning the patented gearbox. As soon as they had to put their own gearbox on it, it's rather unsurprising that new suspension mounts were needed to accommodate it, which then requires new arms, which then requires new hubs, driveshafts etc, and on it goes.
I'd be surprised if any of the rear end changes were made due to testing or technical analysis, but more simply "doing what needed to be done" to get the car to work once their 3-gear gearbox was on there. The rear hubs are quite funny when you think about it... make them a little narrower, shave off some more material.. and bingo! more shims used, therefore bigger wheelbase adjustment. Lets hope other manufacturers don't all decide to start shaving off bits of components in an effort to get another few mm of adjustment in for the sake of marketing.
Honestly, I don't have an issue with the car being almost cloned - it's logical to assume that except for the gearbox, Durango don't own the design rights to the car, so there's no reason to stop the owner (Kingstar if its the case) making this car OEM for another company. It happens already in the RC industry. My issue, and i guess it's the same for others, is how Intech representatives on forums try their hardest to refute what is so damn obvious
