Now that Lipo is getting more popular are 4wd buggies going to change?
 

The Bj4 Worlds Edition,B44,D4 etc where designed with Nimh batteries in mind. Useing a saddle pack and a mid-mounted motor created better balance than a stick pack on one side and a rear mounted on the other. That was with Nimh batteries. Now that lipo batteries are becoming more popular and lighter is the Stick pack layout more favorable as far as balance and handling goes? Do you think the next generation of 4wd buggies will be designed around the stick pack?

Thanks Ethan

Yes and No.

I think the entry level are going to be stick oriented just like the HPI buggy but the higher performance ones are only going to be saddle pack.

Stick pack makes a lot of sense for entry level because it keeps the cost down.

just my two cents :)

I think most of the current saddle cars could easily become stick cars again. Take the B44 for instance. The drive line could easily be angled like many 1/8th scale cars and good balance could be maintained by doing so. The BJ4 started similar to this and then the worlds car went to saddle for better rough track handling. The two belt cars that are out there can use stick packs already (Losi & Schumacher) so that don't have anything that they have to change. Even the old XX-4 can use a stick pack and work fairly well.

I think that Academy got it right up front with the SBV2. You can configure the battery layout any way you want from saddle pack to stick pack on either side of the car.

Others like associated will probably stick with saddle. Since you can get LiPo in hard cased saddle pack, why retool to start over.

Your budget 4wd will probably always stay stick pack orientation to allow for the cheaper cell configurations.

If the industry decides that LiPo is the cell of the future then I hope they start to design the cars around a standard sized stick.

Unlike NiMH, a saddle pack LiPo is always at a disadvantage to an equally dimensioned stick, since multiple smaller cells are needed, and these can't perform as well.

Yoko has a new 4wd buggy that comes in either lipo or saddle pack configeration.

As far as balance and performance goes with lipo are the buggies more balanced with a stick lipo or saddle lipo? Does the saddle pack config hold any advantages with a lipo?

I ask all this becuase I am still designing and working on my 1/10th 4wd Stadium Truck project. I'm pretty sure I will be making it capable with both a stick pack and saddle. But I'm just trying to figue out if I should buy a saddle or a stick pack.

I would think a saddle pack would provide better balance and performance. Basically every 4wd is like that now and I'm sure it's not just for looks!

Really? News to me - and I own the new Yokomo!

http://www.rctech.net/forum/electric...ion-buggy.html

See the saddle version and the stick version wiht a lipo in it?

Yzracer: The thing is that all of them where designed to accomidate heavier Nimh batteries. They where designed to be balanced and handle with Nimh batteries. With lipos being lighter and people adding weight so that there cars will feel like they have Nimh's in them I'm wondering if a configuaration like the original BJ4 would be more balanced and handle better with lipo

Chris__RC You said yokomo in your first post and then provided a link for the new schumacher. I think you confused him.

Opps...I got confused. :eek:

B44 upgrade/downgrade kit,Big bore shocks,Derlin machined front arms,gear diffs,steel ring and pinnion.:ha::ha:
But whatever

The weight distribution issue with a side-stick chassis in buggies is that there is less weight over the rear wheels, and switching to LiPo will only serve to take even more weight off the rear end.

The forward weight distribution is fine on high-grip, smooth tracks but not so confident on bumpier, slippier tracks.

If I was engineering a LiPo-only 4wd buggy I would be running the stick width-ways across the car and as far back as I could manage, and the same for the motor and electronics package.

I think the last 4wd car to win a world championship with stick packs was the Cat XL in '87 - back then the cells were similar weight to LiPo are now, so maybe this is the design of the future...

http://www.racing-cars.com/images/worldscat_500.jpg

And you have to watch the racing from 87 to get an idea of what these cars were like then - totally different world!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=9cJLvSa9CcA