Originally Posted by Bob Barry
Well First off spell my name right. I aint no fruit
Ok now the basis for MY OPINION.
I have run the FT car. I have run the BMI car. I have had a former teammate who was very successful with the Penguin version for the TC3, I apologize for not knowing your line up, anyway he told me that he felt the newwer version (which I guess is the one you are referring to now) was lacking. He said that he didn't know if it was a product of a bad conversion kit or just a car that didn't work as well. If you check around, alot of TC3 guys bailed on the TC4 so that could have been his motivation. I don't know. I just know what he told me. He was not happy with that car. I respected his opinion and I stored it away.
wow, I remember when I used to get ripped in here because I said the BMI car was more consistant for me than the tub car...before the FT even came out. now I stop by to say hi and I offer an opinion to a friend and I have people ready to kill me again. Tough crowd.
Jason, sorry if I riled everyone up again.
Sorry about that on the name.. The P5500tc4 is essensially the tc3 with the newer suspension. We actually have seen on most tracks an improvement of around .5 sec per lap on moderately sized tracks with the TC4 version. The stock TC4 is actually not ans good of a car as the stock TC3 due to layout issues, this is why we chose to do an evolution rather than a redesign as the drivetrain is the same from TC3 to TC4. The TC4 version did add several features that add adjustment to the car.
Granted many people are just bailing on the TC4 all together as the drivetrain is not the best for the newest crop of motors and tracks.. everything is cyclical and currently belt drives are more suited to the current power delivery and are showing to be much, much faster.So in that respect any TC4 would be a disapointment.
My response initial response was basically concern for accuracy as in practice the P5500tc4 is a very fast and adjustible car. In local and regional races we have found it to be faster than most other manufacturers, but granted this is not always the case as the peformance of the car does have much to do with the driver.
There have been no direct challenge races of the BMI and Penguin chassis as protc3 has stated or even with the FT but every race is technically a competition between brands and cars. People do buy what wins, unfortunately the TC4 in general actually hasn't really won much at all and is being overshadowed by many other cars.
Brion Sohn
President
Penguin r/c