dmzamora

Time will tell. Most people don't think that wisely, they just look at the price tag.

Otherwise, I would sell a kidney to have a real 1/5 Savage, but it seems that HPI will stick with Bajas for many years to come. And no, I don't consider that aberration called Savage 5T an 1/5.

cumquat

i guess i've thought about expensive things enough to realize their long term cost ultimately outweighs the initial cost.

Foxy

Pfff. When it comes out it will be lackluster. Call me cynical, and I'm prepared to be wrong, but I have a feeling this will be a total anticlimax, and I bet that's why it's not out yet.

CC for CC, nitromethane makes a LOT more power than pump gas. I just don't see how a usable amount of power can be made from a single cylinder petrol engine. If it were a twin or something, I could see it, but the torque on one cylinder isn't going to be much better than nitromethane and the top end nowhere even close since gas explosions are many many times slower than nitromethane explosions. So...I think I'll stick with 6S.

HPI, here's a tip. If it isn't going to work and you know it, just stop already, another failure in the current generation could damage your rep for years at a time when you really need to pull a rabbit out of the hat to regain some respect in my eyes.

I just don't understand why they don't produce a racing truggy and buggy, a PROPER one, for $500 for the roller with all the mod cons, spring steel, aircraft alloy, carbon fiber and carbon FRP instead of that Trophy crap made of stuff fished out of Hot Bodies spare parts bin. Or a proper competition short course. Or a 4wd gasser. Or, or, or...in fact, lets face it, what is wrong with HPI lately?

cumquat

arent the engines in the 5th scalers single cylinder? they seem to have plenty of power.

something that i dont think has been figured out is if this is 2- or 4-stroke. as i understand it, 4-strokes make a bit more power for the cc and dont have the annoyance of mixing gas and oil. also consider, we have no info on the trans. it could be a flipping 5 speed! if it was a 5 speed 4-stroke, would that redeem HPI in your eyes?

Foxy

They are indeed single cylinder, but they have 7 times the displacement! Nitromethane is the same (basically) as top fuel (for drag racing). If you built a 30cc nitromethane engine that had the tolerances to run to 30k rpm, you'd have one hell of a lot of top end power. Would be capable of 150mph or more in a 5th scaler. Basically it would make the gas engines look rather silly.

The thing to consider is that displacement for displacement, nitromethane is simply much, much more violent an explosion in the cylinder.

I have no doubt that this little gas engine will make decent torque, but in order to make any speed, you'll need to gear high which will sap that torque.

Like I say I'm prepared to be wrong, I don't know exactly how these things will be engineered, but my cynicism is being compounded by the lack of release or even any further info from HPI. I'm starting to think this project is either stalled due to performance issues or has been quietly scrapped by HPI, hoping people will simply soon forget. I'd love to be proved wrong though, this is just educated guesswork with a little bit of spite thrown in on account of HPI's poor record lately.

WyldOne

Only time will tell. What makes the Baja's engines different to this engine. Am I better of buying a Baja?

djyjrlz

hot bodies is their racing branch, if you want a car designed by the same team, that is actually competative buy a HB D8t, its a truly brilliant bit of kit hpi is their cheaper rtr outlet that has had some major success with the savage and baja line. im sure at some point in the future HB will produce a racing 1/5 rolling competition chassis, and it will be pretty awesome.
but im happy where hpi is at the moment. lots of cool releases, and some out of the box thinking.

i also think the new limited edition savage is a sign that they are coming to the end of it all. a new design should come along 2014 sometime maybe...

WyldOne

Wish they would hurry up and shed some more light on this engine. I'm hanging to buy my first off-road.

indianrc

I don't think that hpi's gonna release until early 2013 cuz they recon that the 1/8 gasser will steal the limelight from the 5B flux and the super flux 5 sc

cumquat

if they were wise, they'd release it sometime in the first 2 weeks of November, so people can snag them on Black Friday and stores will be able to keep them in stock for Christmas.

378

My Feedback: (4)

Have they even released more info on them? Pictures? Dyno tests? Mojave-based torture tests? A video of one idling on a test bench?

indianrc

Well I got that from Wikipedia ........................ohh n I would love to see the Mojavi torture test

378

My Feedback: (4)

Same test they did to the 5B, but to a Savage XL sporting this motor, would be pretty damn nice I think.

BChiz

Does anyone know if this is even going to happen?

steed2-inactive

Irecently emailed them about it, asking when they would be releasing it and this was the response I got.

Hello Scott, this is Scott from HPI.
They say they believe they’ll still finish it this year. That’s all we have to go off of right now.Thank you,


Scott Mac
Customer Service & Technical Support

E: [email protected]
www.hpiracing.com

www.hotbodiesonline.com

Support Hours: M-Th 7:30AM-5:00PM, F 7:30AM-4:00PM PST

dmzamora

I've heard exactly the same last year... [8D]

dmzamora

Well, it looks like I was wrong.

If this ever get to the streets, it will be a beast:

378

My Feedback: (4)

Oh my. I like what I'm seeing. Three speed, all-metal drivetrain, 15cc engine...should perform admirably and run forever on a tank. Definitely my next monster truck, the main reasons I never got into the fifth scalers was the size and cost.


Of course this thing is likely going to launch for 9 bajillion dollars as well, but it will come down to a reasonable 450-550 soon enough.

t9dragon

My Feedback: (11)

dmzamora

To begin with the speculations, I think it will be hard to add a reverse module to it, 'cause it seems to be no place to mount the servo.

Ok, I know, almost everyone thinks reverse is useless, but some of us like it

378

My Feedback: (4)

I believe it will bolt right in. It looks to me that the casing for the engine is roughly the same size as a high-displacement big block glow engine, and those fit into the Savage XL alongside reverse as well.


Given that this thing has the three speed factory I wouldn't be surprised if they also tossed reverse in for us. If not, I know I'm installing it on mine.

Borneoben

All we need now are the conversion kits for existing Savage XL's!!

dmzamora

I don't think it will be that easy. The radio box was moved to where used to be the fuel tank, and the reverse module lever exists from the front of the gearbox, so the servo must be installed somewhere next to the new fuel tank.

Also, I would really like a pre-installed reverse, but highly doubt it. The module is way to weak to handle the massive torque of a gasoline engine, even the K5.9 can easily destroy it. It will be really useful to get out of tricky situations, but will not tolerate any kind of abuse, like reverse donuts or full acceleration. If factory installed, there will be lots of warranty claims, so it's not a wise move.

dmzamora

It would be nice, but there are a lot of mods on this truck. The cost of a conversion kit would probably be way too high.

378

My Feedback: (4)

That's fine by me. All I want reverse for is to back out of parking spots and near-headons. I don't really intend on doing any reverse donut shenanigans.