Hpi Pro 4 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
04-26-2002, 12:09 AM
#16
Tech Addict
actually, having the battery in the center is still the best way to go, but the chassis has to be very stiff like the XXX-S or TC3 chassis. at least it will be a really good high speed car. (this car will be able to carry much more speed through corners than other designs) Stock racing on the other hand, maybe a different story. 
04-26-2002, 12:16 AM
#17
Tech Apprentice
Have you ran the Pro 3 yourself, "jenny"?
The central battery and motor - making almost all of the chassis weight down the center - makes the car very evenly distributed while going from one turn to the other and it feels very smooth. The only problem HPI had with the Pro 3 is that they designed flex into it. That was just plain wrong (according to most racers and myself). And they also have a few problems with their molding tolerances(not a design flaw, but a production flaw), a few parts just have too much slop. Once you take out most of the slop and stiffen the car, it really is a whole new world.
The Pro 3 can still hold it's own, it's winning quite often in Europe. But yes, they are heavily modified Pro 3's. However, when it first came out, it won some events in stock form. If HPI had a large race team like Losi or AE, perhaps we would have seen the Pro 3 in the A-Mains much more often???
Is the car worth keeping? I believe it is. It's a uniquely designed car with a very low CG and very well balanced layout. It gets much quicker once a few things are taken care of. I feel it is worth modifying if you are willing to do it.
The central battery and motor - making almost all of the chassis weight down the center - makes the car very evenly distributed while going from one turn to the other and it feels very smooth. The only problem HPI had with the Pro 3 is that they designed flex into it. That was just plain wrong (according to most racers and myself). And they also have a few problems with their molding tolerances(not a design flaw, but a production flaw), a few parts just have too much slop. Once you take out most of the slop and stiffen the car, it really is a whole new world.
The Pro 3 can still hold it's own, it's winning quite often in Europe. But yes, they are heavily modified Pro 3's. However, when it first came out, it won some events in stock form. If HPI had a large race team like Losi or AE, perhaps we would have seen the Pro 3 in the A-Mains much more often???
Is the car worth keeping? I believe it is. It's a uniquely designed car with a very low CG and very well balanced layout. It gets much quicker once a few things are taken care of. I feel it is worth modifying if you are willing to do it.
04-26-2002, 12:23 AM
#18
Tech Master
Originally posted by STLNLST
IMO Hara runs a hot body pro 3, not a HPI The car he had when he was at speedworld wasn't close to stock and it's changed a little more since then. A new design is greatly needed.
IMO Hara runs a hot body pro 3, not a HPI The car he had when he was at speedworld wasn't close to stock and it's changed a little more since then. A new design is greatly needed.
The cells down the centre design is good from a chassis balence point of view, but IMHO it compromises the transmission greatly.
BTW, blue driveshafts? - Associated transmission grafted straigth in???
04-26-2002, 12:36 AM
#20
how does a schumacher suspension look like?
04-26-2002, 12:40 AM
#21
whats wrong with the Pro 2?
04-26-2002, 12:42 AM
#22
Tech Addict
MattW: have you seen the Kyosho Kx-one? its the smoothest belt drive TC of all!
but again, it does have its flaws.
but again, it does have its flaws.
04-26-2002, 01:37 AM
#23
Tech Initiate
Hi ben. I have driven a pro3. I even have one too. And the extent of modification? Well I'm not interested in discussing. How smooth is smooth? What sort of corners are we talking about?
I have spent more than 30 battery runs on the pro3 and this should entitle me to make a few comments on how smooth it is. The central battery configuration maybe has not worsen the performance of this car. But I cannot see how it is smoother than my other tc3 and mr4tc. Are we suggesting that other non-central battery sedans would choke and hiccough and being not smooth around a corner?
Well at least you confess you find the chassis soft and other areas contained too much slop. My stock pro3 has skipped its belt under heavy cornering because of the softness. That's really not my kind of smooth.
I have spent more than 30 battery runs on the pro3 and this should entitle me to make a few comments on how smooth it is. The central battery configuration maybe has not worsen the performance of this car. But I cannot see how it is smoother than my other tc3 and mr4tc. Are we suggesting that other non-central battery sedans would choke and hiccough and being not smooth around a corner?
Well at least you confess you find the chassis soft and other areas contained too much slop. My stock pro3 has skipped its belt under heavy cornering because of the softness. That's really not my kind of smooth.
04-26-2002, 10:10 AM
#24
Pro3
I like the car out of the box!
But if I look at my Pro3 now its like a different car, hop ups here and there and everywhere!!! After about 2MR4TC-Special and 1 Fact. Team TC3 (equivalent in hOp Ups). I finally like the car! I have spent a lot of money in hop ups thingking it would perform better----NOT! Maybe its driver skills.
I am frustrated, but the moment I started buying hop ups- I was the point of no return!!!!!! hehehehehe
what I am looking for now is aftermarket delrin diferentials because the graphite ones- do not last very long and ti screws!!!
and just about I am about to finish my Pro3 on steroids, along came Pro4!!!!! Hehehehehehe, I have a TBevo and will love to go to the same process all over again as I did with my Pro3!!!!
My only hope is that I hope that the Pro4 do not need a lot of aftermarket parts to be competitive!!!
hara's Pro3 looks so different from the Original---lots of Hop Ups from square, Jet,HB,Tobee and many other.
But if I go back a year ago, I would have contented my self with a TAO4 that is hop upped to the max!!!!!
BUt that was then and now I love HPI! regardless of bad rep of the Pro3 here in my country!
But if I look at my Pro3 now its like a different car, hop ups here and there and everywhere!!! After about 2MR4TC-Special and 1 Fact. Team TC3 (equivalent in hOp Ups). I finally like the car! I have spent a lot of money in hop ups thingking it would perform better----NOT! Maybe its driver skills.
I am frustrated, but the moment I started buying hop ups- I was the point of no return!!!!!! hehehehehe
what I am looking for now is aftermarket delrin diferentials because the graphite ones- do not last very long and ti screws!!!
and just about I am about to finish my Pro3 on steroids, along came Pro4!!!!! Hehehehehehe, I have a TBevo and will love to go to the same process all over again as I did with my Pro3!!!!
My only hope is that I hope that the Pro4 do not need a lot of aftermarket parts to be competitive!!!
hara's Pro3 looks so different from the Original---lots of Hop Ups from square, Jet,HB,Tobee and many other.
But if I go back a year ago, I would have contented my self with a TAO4 that is hop upped to the max!!!!!
BUt that was then and now I love HPI! regardless of bad rep of the Pro3 here in my country!
04-26-2002, 10:51 AM
#25
Tech Apprentice
hey jenny, I think the pro 3 transistions really well between left and right turns. I shouldn't have said "smooth", that was the wrong wording as all top sedans are "smooth" 
ME-student, your right about the KX-One. That's a cool car but the problem is the battery is set fairly high in the chassis so the belt can go underneath and this raises CG a lot more than many other touring cars. A freind of mine ran the Kx-One and it was a pretty cool car. I think he had problems with the oneway going bad and a few other problems though...
ME-student, your right about the KX-One. That's a cool car but the problem is the battery is set fairly high in the chassis so the belt can go underneath and this raises CG a lot more than many other touring cars. A freind of mine ran the Kx-One and it was a pretty cool car. I think he had problems with the oneway going bad and a few other problems though...
04-26-2002, 04:59 PM
#26
Tech Addict
Ben: i am sure the battery can sit even lower than where it is right now on the kx-one.but i think alot of people misuse/understand the word CG, they may think that putting the batteries on the side like Yokomo,Losi and TA has a low CG design because of the batteries is very low, but they don't understand that this is farther out from the cetral axis(center line) of the car compare to a car like the kx-one even when the batteries is just abit higher.
but again, this design has its advantages for high speed racing, low speed wouldn't matter that much anyways, it all about efficiency.
but again, this design has its advantages for high speed racing, low speed wouldn't matter that much anyways, it all about efficiency.
04-26-2002, 05:56 PM
#27
Originally posted by Frank McKinney
I know, I wasn't upset, just wanted to suggest a correction to your post, since you are "the man" on this site
I think the time between the release of the Pro and Pro 2 was just about 2 years, the Pro 3 was released a year ago. The Losi and Associated teams were testing their sedans long before they released them, and with our team of Japanese and European racers we are taking advantage of their heavy race schedule and skills to do some heavy duty testing. We're not the only ones testing a prototype sedan chassis, however right now we are the most visible.
I know, I wasn't upset, just wanted to suggest a correction to your post, since you are "the man" on this site
I think the time between the release of the Pro and Pro 2 was just about 2 years, the Pro 3 was released a year ago. The Losi and Associated teams were testing their sedans long before they released them, and with our team of Japanese and European racers we are taking advantage of their heavy race schedule and skills to do some heavy duty testing. We're not the only ones testing a prototype sedan chassis, however right now we are the most visible.
04-26-2002, 09:12 PM
#28
It is good to see that HPI is develping another car, but it would have been nice for HPI to admit the car had flaws, and in it's box stock form, it was not a "Pro" level car as the name implies. If we were running real cars, I would smell a class action lawsuit...jk I have a Pro 3, and it is ok... Good luck to HPI with the development of the sucessor to the PRO 3... should be a hit.
04-26-2002, 09:58 PM
#29
Hara will run the car with various settings. In Hong Kong, he ran with original graphite chassis from HPI and so is Pre World. In the Pre-World, he ran with Kai Upperdeck and rear shock tower.
04-27-2002, 02:12 AM
#30
My 2c.
I built a Pro 3 with a friend(it needed to be done in a hurry) and was pretty surprised at the poor quality of many parts.
It was one of the first kits so there were many small flaws addressed in the later production runs.
As far as the Development mule we see now....I can't guarantee any of these but it looks like...
The chassis, Shock towers and top deck are most likely HB designed.
The HPI bits tend to give themselves away by virtue of their colour.
The possible GPM gearbox housings allow HPI to hide a fairly distinguishing trait(Composite gearbox housings)and also allow them to mount the shock towers differently to the TC3.
It looks like all the Arms, hub carriers, Hubs and CVD's are still factory Associated parts. Look at the size of the wheel nuts on Atsushi's car(Imperial). The transmission appears Associated Factory stock, other than the removal of the gearbox housings.
I built a Pro 3 with a friend(it needed to be done in a hurry) and was pretty surprised at the poor quality of many parts.
It was one of the first kits so there were many small flaws addressed in the later production runs.
As far as the Development mule we see now....I can't guarantee any of these but it looks like...
The chassis, Shock towers and top deck are most likely HB designed.
The HPI bits tend to give themselves away by virtue of their colour.
The possible GPM gearbox housings allow HPI to hide a fairly distinguishing trait(Composite gearbox housings)and also allow them to mount the shock towers differently to the TC3.
It looks like all the Arms, hub carriers, Hubs and CVD's are still factory Associated parts. Look at the size of the wheel nuts on Atsushi's car(Imperial). The transmission appears Associated Factory stock, other than the removal of the gearbox housings.