R/C Tech Forums - Hot Bodies TCXX

HB just announced this today...

Next-Level Performance from the HB Team
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Aug. 15, 2012 Press Release: #68299 HB TCXX KIT
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The HB TCXX is the latest evolution in touring car technology from the World Championship-winning HB racing team. Champions never tire and never slow down, and the TCXX has been in development since the release of the last HB touring car. Now, with the will and spirit of World Champions behind it, we present to you the HB TCXX.

Balance
Taking the ultimate balance concept of the TCX, the TCXX features a battery position that is set inboard as much as possible, with the motor mount further to the left to help compensate for the light weight of today’s servos, receiver and speed controllers. The TCXX can also fit the TCX motor mount if you prefer to have the motor further inward.

Control
Huge number of option pieces from the TCX and TC-FD allow you to precisely control such parameters as roll center, front and rear arm toe, camber, caster and more. The TCXX allows you to fine-tune the grip with front and rear sway bars, a front spool and an all-new gear differential that lets you forget about the complex and repetitive tuning necessary with traditional ball differentials.

Chassis
The TCXX 2.5mm chassis is extra-narrow to prevent rubbing in tight corners. The 2.5mm woven graphite is of the highest possible quality. New carbon battery holders are included to hold the battery pack securely in place.

The inner pivot blocks are a new split design to allow the chassis to flex much more than is possible with single-piece designs, giving you more grip and confidence in the corners and while under power. You’ll experience a new level of control as you hold the racing line while racing door-to-door with your fellow racers!

The one-piece top deck ensures completely equal flex over the entire car. This gives you a more balanced drive and equal handling, with a much lower chance of tweaking the car after a crash. The fully symmetrical top deck features 4 mounting holes at the front and 8 holes at the rear bulkheads, allowing you to tune the flex for different traction levels. You also have a central hole to allow for the mounting of TC-style single bellcrank steering – the option is yours! The 2.5mm thick woven graphite is of the same quality as the main chassis, meaning it's the absolute best we could find. Finally, the top deck also holds a belt tensioner, which keeps the front belt in place during hard braking.

Bulkheads
The bulkheads carry on the TCX fully symmetrical design, and are the same front and rear, and also left to right. Featuring an extra-compact design, they allow you to run extra-long top links for increased suspension action, and the belts are also able to run as close to the centerline of the car as possible. Our eccentric cam belt tensioner is used to tighten up the belts as they break in.

Servo Mounting
The new aluminum servo mounts for the TCXX hold the servo in place more securely across the chassis for extra confidence and better driving feel. The TCXX is designed for a ‘shorty’ type servo but can fit standard-size servos if you mount the receiver on top of the servo.

Suspension
The TCXX uses many of the same suspension parts that the TC kit uses, with reversible lower arms for extra shock positions, droop screws, steel turnbuckles, plus easily adjustable parameters such as wheelbase, track width, anti-squat, toe-in and roll centre for complete adjustability. The super-narrow bulkheads are taken advantage of with longer top links, which make the car easier to drive faster through the turns as the allow the suspension arms more movement.

Fine Pitch Shock Towers
The front and rear shock towers are made from the highest-quality woven carbon fiber available. At 3.65mm thick, they easily support all the load from the shocks and wheels! These are extra tough, extra stiff units, with 7 front shock positions and 8 rear positions in a linked hole style, for extra-fine track adjustments.

Upgraded Shocks
The shocks fitted on the TCXX are an evolution of the units that came on the TC and TCX - meaning they are even better than our World Champion-winning shocks! The upper and lower ends of the shock body feature extra fine-pitch threads for the shock caps, and the bottom end uses a single o-ring design for minimal 'stiction' - that initial grab that an old and tired o-ring can give the shock shaft. An all-new aluminum spring retainer and spring adjuster are used for extra ease of tuning and a sweet new look. Inside the shock is a new PTFE 3-hole shock piston with 1.1mm holes, plus a PTFE shock spacer for extra-smooth movement. The shocks perfectly fit the full range of HB High Quality Matched Springs, #66961-#66965.

Twin-Crank Steering
New for the TCXX is a longer twin-crank steering design, which makes the most of your control inputs and gives you more steering throw as well as fantastic driving feel on the track. The aluminum bellcrank arms float on metal-shielded ball bearings for maximium efficiency and extremely smooth response. A woven graphite steering tower bar braces the steering posts for the best steering feel you’ll find from any of today’s top-level touring cars. The steering Ackerman angle is also easily adjustable with shims under the rack ball studs. Our drivers say this steering design gives them more corner speed over the older TC-style central steering system, but if you prefer the TC steering, it is possible to fit the center steering system directly onto the TCXX.

Full Set of Sway Bars
Infinitely adjustable ball stud sway bar mounts are included to let you instantly de-tweak the car so it's quickly ready to go for your next race. In the TCXX kit you will get a full set of front and rear sway bars to fine-tune the suspension at each end of the car. The kit includes 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4mm sway bars for the full range of HB options.

Centralized Low-Profile Motor Mount
The new motor mount sits completely under the top deck, and features two sets of mounting holes to let you choose how the motor mounts into the car. The motor mount is further to the left than on the TCX, to help compensate for the light weight of today’s servos, receiver and speed controllers, however it can also fit the TCX motor mount if you prefer to have the motor further inward, allowing you to tune the balance of the car without having to resort to lead weights.

Central Belt Layout
The drive belts front and rear have been arranged so the rear belt is on the left side of the car, with the front belt on the right side. This allows the servo and electronics gear such as receiver, speedo and transponder to sit closer to the centerline of the car, improving the balance over older touring car designs.

Quick-Change Layshaft and Pulleys
The TCXX uses one-piece pulleys fit on the layshaft with a simple pin fastening, eliminating the grub screw of earlier designs. The layshaft is narrower, owing to the more compact drivetrain design, and also uses a simple one-piece spur gear mount. With 20T center and 39T pulleys front and rear, the TCXX is more efficient at getting the power to the tires than older car designs. The TCXX can also use the center gears from the TC-FD for even more control in the gearing between the front and rear wheels.

Extra-Lightweight Front Spool
Every racing electric touring car these days is fitted with a front spool to eliminate diff action, greatly enhancing braking and increasing traction, plus the spool fitted in the TCXX is an extra-strong lightweight 3-piece design. The central part of the spool is machined from lightweight aluminium, then anodized bright purple. The outdrives are machined from steel to be extra-strong yet still light in weight.

All-New Rear Gear Differential
One of the developments in touring car racing where Team HB has led the way is the use of a gear differential at the rear of the car. This allows motors as powerful as 3.5 brushless motors to be used time and time again, without having to worry about the diff changing it's settings – truly a ‘set and forget’ part of the car! Let the gear diff on the TCXX revolutionize your maintenance routine!

Aluminium Universal Drive Shafts
The TCXX features new 44mm aluminum driveshafts at the front and lightweight, thin, steel driveshafts at the rear for the optimum combination of durability and light weight. Lightweight steel cup axles are used for durability and strength, with a thick 2mm pin for extra durability. The constant velocity design eliminates wasted power, ensuring that when you want the power to hit the ground, it will.

IFMAR World Champion TQ and 2nd Place!
At the world debut of the TCXX, Team HB (featuring 2 drivers with 3 World Championships between them) rocked the field with a dominating Top Qualifier position for Atsushi Hara, who then went on to drive brilliantly in the 3 A Final races. Hara missed out on snatching his third World Championship by thousands of a second, but proved that the TCXX has everthing that’s needed to be a winner straight out of the box!