Two new engines are about to hit the market: Team Orion's Wasp Rev (http://www.teamorion.com/faq/wasp_rev.asp) and GRP's Ninja http://www.ninja-engine.com/content/intro.php. While the Ninja makes some evolutionary improvements to an existing design, the Wasp Rev introduces some revolutionary design changes that designer Fabrice Ramella claims will have more power, better fuel consumption and longer life "...than the best engine currently on the market" (R/C Car Action, April 2006).

Some are skeptical that the "marketing hype" behind the Wasp Rev will prove itself on the track and are more willing to hedge their bets on the Ninja. While others like myself, believe the Wasp Rev will be the engine to beat until the competition catches up.

Based on product information and marketing hype alone, Which engine would you choose?

I'm a sucker for good engineering and marketing hype. Because of the patent pending changes, the competition will have to be much more creative in trying to match or beat Ramella's design changes. It will be interesting to see how the Wasp Rev compares to the other engines that are car currently on the market. I can hardly wait for the results!

WASP Rev.
According to Orion themselfs the Wasp is incredible, they also claim that it is possible to keep the engine full throttle in the air for 30 seconds, without failure (Nurnberg toyfair, where they had a stand).
The revolutionary part is only seen on the internet, I've never seen one of these engines run on the track......

Ninja by GRP.
evolutionary improvements?.....
What are they then, beside a nice story on internet, are there any pictures of the internal parts?......
Again, I've never seen any of these engines run on the track, and the season is starting......

I thought you can buy the ninja already???

I think orion might have some trouble patenting some of there designs this maybe why the engine isnt on shelves already.

I think i will wait and see how either engine went before i rushed out and bought one on 'their' claims.

You can pre-order it, but do you want to pre-order an engine you've never seen running?.......
well, getting a patent granted might take a while, so a manufacturer doesn't have to wait for that to hit the market with there product, that's why they invented "patent pending"......
If other manufacturers copy the invention, and the original manufacturer gets his patent, they can sue them if they want, or claim royalties......

I talked to four guys at my local track today about the Wasp Rev. Two also had a "wait and see" attitude (i.e. Let's look over the shoulder of the first guy that buys it), the third was waiting for test reviews and the forth cancelled his special order at the last minute. Hmmmmm... Very interesting.

Yes, i understand a little about patents and royalties and all that garbage. I'm just wondering on a personal note if the components were not changed enough to warrant a patent or incringe on someone elses patented 2stroke ideas... hard to say, and i'm sure this is not the issue why the motor is not on the market yet.

I think it will definately be a look over the shoulder and see how it goes as rmdhawaii said.

Ninja, its pretty much a novarossi

My LHS just gotten a Promokit .21 on-road and buggy Ninja engine. Will test it out over the coming weekend. Will update on the performance.

Just be shure to run more than a gallon through it, to check it's consistancy.....

chris west - I seriously doubt GRP/Rossi has anything to do with Novarossi.

For my $0.02 on the original subject.

I really don't care what hype either manf. puts behind their engines, they need to prove it out on the track.

Orion - they don't have a good reputation at our track. The Wasp .12 were hard to tune (at least at our altitude) and didn't seem to be able to keep up with the novarossi based motors. Will the new engine be the same way? Possibly/Possibly not. From everything I've read, they'll be hard to find the proper gearing/pipe/tune because of all the extra tuning options.

GRP/Rossi - New company period. Only with a top notch engine designer. Really tough to tell how these engines will be to tune. Probably slightly easier than the Orion engine, but who knows. The biggest thing going for the Ninja engine is that it is backed by Mugen Seikii, and I don't think they would've dropped JP for Ninja if the Ninja didn't show any promise.

Both have some good price tags on them (thank goodness for that).

If I was told to choose one or the other at this moment, I would probably choose the Ninja at this moment. But thankfully I don't have that problem.

He probably means that former chief designer Mario Rossi is responsible for the Ninja engines.....

NINJA!


WASP is well...... CRAP!

My Choise :

OS 12 Tz Speed Division !!!!

Kenji Osaka has already won the 2006 Japan Off Road Car Cup (J.O.C.C.) in SS Hobby Circuit with a Ninja engine on his MBX-5.

The teamorion video looks very impressive of the wasp rev engine. I know that all wasp motors are made and manufactured in Japan by Toki engines ( makers of helicopter and cars nitro powered motors ). Toki engines are basically high production motors. Team Orion, Peak racing ( Fantom line of motors ), RD Logics ( Team infinity motors ), and other well know r/c car companies have used this motor for high production purposes. I guess we'll have to wait and see how well these motors hold up to the consumer.