brsilva

A co-worker gave me an OLD rustler, aparentlly made around 1992, it even still had a stinger motor and the original MSC. I brought it up to date, brushless esc and motor, ugraded to the VXL ball bearing carriers etc. That aside this old and heavier truck is still more than capeable of keeping up at the track with the lighter newer trucks. What is your opinion? What do you race?

jasonwipf

My opinion is that it can't keep up, thats why nobody races it. At my track they are obstacles we try to avoid or hit and break. They are good for making hobby shops money when we brake them with our 1/8th scales or when they sell guys like you bunch of junk to soup it up only for it to be alone and not raced. Sorry.

TWRC

iTrader: (14)

People who buy traxxas typically dont race because thats not the audience trashxxas (oops, typo ) aims at. Even if you could do perfectly fine with the rustler, there are other trucks that you can get much better lap times with.

nmdesertracer

iTrader: (59)

if you go to your track with a slower truck but make no mistakes while racing you will be faster then a guy with a newer
faster truck making alot of mistakes. But you will never be able to go faster because your platform your racing on is outdated. You would be better of getting a new truck..

Mac The Knife

iTrader: (33)

Back in the day, Traxxas had performance products. Blue Eagle, Blue Eagle LS, and the TRX1 buggy. But then they decided that there was more money to be made by offering Ready to Runs to the backyard bashers. Since that time, Losi sold out to horizon, and AE sold out to Thundertiger, and Traxxas is owned by two of the sons of one of the founders of Traxxas.

The Blue Eagle LS was a TANK!!

jk racing

iTrader: (20)

the suspension components and chassis arent as rigid as more "mainstream" racing trucks, so they handling isnt as precise (drive a slash then an sc10/blitz/xxxsct/etc). with some care and properly outfitted (current electronics &batteries, correct race oriented & appropriate tires) there is no reason to not put it on the track

can it be made competitive, absolutely (hate on traxxas all you want, we would have short course as we know it without them)

I recently tried racing my TRX3 buggy with modern electronics/lipo in it, I easily placed into the A main (over 20 drivers) with it, blue groove outdoor track. I dont race it anymore because I cannot find parts (it is over 15 years old) and couldnt risk not finishing the race day due to that fact.

carcrusher46

iTrader: (17)

If it weren't for the Rustler, I would have never gotten into R/C as deep as I am now. I owe a lot to that old truck, and it's one of the 2 vehicles I have that I will never get rid of.

A Rustler can be raced on a club level, but realistically, the vehicle needs so many mods to make it competitive that it is cheaper to buy a race kit. Over the course of 2 years I made mine worth racing (mostly on carpet in a v-tread tire class) but once I graduated to better vehicles, it has gotten less and less use. I must say though that the truck works very well on extremely loose and dusty tracks because it's heavy and flexible, which keeps it planted.

If you're looking to go to a track with the Rustler, here are the must-have upgrades:

- Metal idler gear of some sort (preferrably steel - it's cheaper and more durable).
- Aluminum shock caps - the new TRX red/blue ones work great, and though they weren't available when I was racing mine, I wish they had been.
- Part #3740 kingpins - these use e-clips and while they bend easier in a crash, they don't pop out of the caster block in a hard crash which will get you to the end of the race.
- Graphite or fiberglass front shock tower - this greatly stabilizes the front end of the vehicle and makes landings (especially landing at an angle) more predictable.
-Dished rear wheels - this widens the rear end of the truck a bit, and they really stabilize the truck on loose off-road surfaces without going too wide.
- Springs: the original spring sets for TRX shocks are very hard to come by, but losi springs work pretty well. The TRX red 2.5lb red springs always worked well for me on the rear, and 2.6lb orange Losi springs on the front.
- 5x11 bearings for the hubs, and the 5x11 hub carriers for older models - a must-have.

I would generally advise against RPM parts on a race vehicle, but some things like a RPM gear cover and the lower spring retainers are a good call since they aren't in a stress-application, and they do perform their function better than the stock parts.


If you already have good electronics equipment to put in it for racing, it may be worth the effort to give it a shot. And remember - never let anyone tell you that you can't do it, because with the right amount of money, anything is possible

brsilva

Mostly good thoughts and views. I mostly have brought the truck up to date, no real upgrades except with the suspention, Springs and aluminum shocks. I do agree to the point that having good controll on this truck I wont be as fast as good controll on a lighter one. Last year i started novice, Honestly i didn't really have to work on the setup too much, the competition wasn't there. This year i have had to go into greater detail to hadle as well as my competition. I am winning my stock class at this time but honestly the competition isn't there either. Time will tell as i start to race the more experianced guys in the mod class if what every one says is really true " can't be as competitive without mods." If i had the $ i might switch to a diffrent truck but for now I feel that this little truck is over looked for it's potential.

D-Rek07

iTrader: (1)

If you are doing good, then keep at it. Who knows, the Rustler might be the next world champion.

RcRacer27mx

Traxxas is more of a bashing brand, but if you can keep up stay at it!

racer1812

iTrader: (31)

If the truck works for you great.


side note~ The joy of the internet, one guy can say he's the fastest guy at his track, means nothing really. He might drive just a couple hours and find out that he sucks.

IMPACTPLAYR

iTrader: (7)

Keep racing with your rusty and work on tuning it, and once you step up to a more "race bred" truck you will be a far better driver which means you will be faster yet!!

Oreellyfool

iTrader: (17)

Brsilva, Take you rustler out to your local track up there in Burlington. I bet you will see a few of them running around. I know I have seen quite a few of them running at J&S in Marysville and even more of them in the ST class at Tacoma RC raceway. I even know I have ran my buddies Rustler in a race at TRCR when my B4 was out of commision.

I think you will be suprised if you just go hang out, you will see a few of them.

morgoth

They don't perform as well as other cars.
Race a Slash 4wd against a AE 4x4 or Durango desc410r.
Race the revo against a 1/8 truggy
Race a bandit against a 1/10 2wd buggy
Traxxas will always lose if both are driven by the same driver. I know someone who won a clubrace with a bandit and brushless set, but I guess that's because no one with skills showed up or they wrecked their cars

brsilva

I started recing at the track in Burlington last year. Again as of yet competition is not there. Our last 2 races there weren't enough trucks to run the Stock or Mod class so we were thrown in together and had our finishing points separated by class, if that makes sencse. Since the other guy that was in my class was too slow I tried tuneing to keep up with the mod guys... almost there. By the end of the day in the main I had it to the point I was batteling with the last place guy in Mod . I don't completely agree with your statement that the "same guy with 2 diffrent trucks the traxxas will loose." Perhaps straight out of the box yes but i believe the is more to it, Bieing familiar with the truck and tuneing just to name a few. I don't agree though that it bieing built as a basher doesn't make it a looseing platform for raceing. It is nice to get more than just the local opinion on this.