MRob

iTrader: (14)

So I figured I'd post up a quick review of the new SC10GT. I got the truck last week, and had my first race weekend with it this weekend. I probably have 1/2 gallon through the motor now, so I think I have enough time on it to give it a good "initial" review.

First impression: The body is absolutely beautiful. I got the blue/black, and it's definitely a looker. As usual with AE RTR's many of the stickers weren't stuck down completely, but that's no big deal. My first impression of the chassis is that it is freaking solid! I never had a GT2, so this is my first experience with this chassis platform. It's well laid out and nice and simple. I ditched the stock radio and servos, and one note here is that the receiver box is on the small side. I could barely fit a Spektrum SR300 in there, but i just mounted it sideways and it fits nice and snug. Again, no big deal but if you're using a bigger receiver there may be an issue. I dropped in a 5 cell hump pack in the battery box, and I was all set and ready to rock. All the screws were nice and snug and it had threadlock in all the right places from the factory. So far very impressed.....

Break in: Super easy. Fired up on about the 3rd pull and went off without a hitch. I just heat cycled it for about 4 tanks and then started leaning her out. Once she started making power, I realized this thing may be hand full. LOTS of power on tap from that .18.

Track day #1: Before I give my track impressions, I have to describe our track. I live in Anchorage, Alaska, and we have a 1/8 outdoor track. The track surface is pretty horrible, as in lots of rocks, holes, and basically hard pack under about an inch of talcum powder. We have everything from technical rhythm sections to big triples. Setups on this track are a challenge to say the least. I left the setup mostly stock, except for red front springs and I dropped the rear shock oil to 25 weight, matching my e-SC10 setup. The first run was pretty rough. The back end was loose everywhere, until I hit the hard pack and got on the throttle, then it would wheelie like crazy. I loosened up the slipper and added 1 ounce of lead to the nose of the truck, and that calmed her down pretty well. I went to a worn in set of subcultures on the front and that gave it better initial turn in, but it still wanted to loop out if you grab even a touch too much throttle exiting the turn. I will say it wasn't as loose as the stock e-SC10 setup, but it was definitely not "locked in" on this track. I moved the rear shocks all the way in on the upper mount which helped a tad, but I'm still chasing the rear end setup that will find that locked in feeling I'm looking for. Run time was pretty sad on the little tank. Granted I still had her running pretty rich, but even with the spacer out of the tank I only got 7 minutes out of it in the main. In an 8 minute main, that didn't work out so well. After the race day I leaned her out a couple of hours on the main needle and I'm pretty sure I could have finished the main with those settings, but since I'm running against the modified e-trucks I'm going to drop in the big fuel tank so I won't have to refuel. I've heard of other guys getting as much as 11 minutes of run time on the small tank, so maybe I was just too rich. A little extra weight in the truck can't hurt though, so I'm definitely going to put in the RC8T tank. Jumping was good, in fact it was real good. I could clear sections that the mod e-trucks were barely able to clear. There is a little bit of a weird tendency to want to drop one side of the truck in the air. Not sure if that's a weight balance issue, something going on with the shocks, or what. I'll have to have some more wheel time to figure that one out.

Issues: The main problem I had was that the starter rope broke the first day. When I was starting it, I only pulled the rope about 6 inches (not yanking it all the way out), and I thought I was being careful with it. It broke (frayed through) about 5 inches below the handle. The only thing I can figure is that I was starting it with the body on before the races, and maybe the starter rope rubbed against the body enough to fray through it. I'm going to put the non-pull start backplate on and use a bump box from now on. The only other issue I found was in removing some of the screws from the bottom of the chassis when I was tearing it down last night, I stripped about 4 of them. 2 were in the engine mount and they were really locked in with thread locker, almost to the point that they wouldn't budge. I ended up having to dremel a slit in the screw heads and get them out with a flat head screwdriver.

Overall impression: Really good. Huge fun factor. I love the sight sound and smell of nitro, and all this in a short course package doubles the awesome factor. I was going to go to the bump box setup anyway, so the rope breaking wasn't that big of a deal to me. Chasing a setup is just to be expected. This truck is definitely fun enough to stick with it and find that right setup. With my e-SC10 i was ready to kick it to the curb until I found that right setup, then once I found it, the truck got REALLY fun to drive. I have no doubt it will be the same way with this one. Seeing this thing rotate around a tight turn with a little tap of the breaks then scream out of the turn pouring smoke out the left side is just too cool. I really hope this class takes off!

Thanks for reading this far - I figured I'd take the time to do this since I was having trouble finding any reviews on the truck before I bought it. If you have any tips on setup or anything else please chime in! I'm always up to learn new things, and I have a lot to learn on this truck............

-Mike

Burnthrudwitchz

Nice review.
I've been window shopping these things for a while now.

Sylvain

You can always convert your GT2 into a SC10GT -> http://www.rcten.com/threads/my-gt2-...oming-soon.206