This is the TRX-4 Sport kit and if you're like me you want to get
the best performance off-road on the rocks. With this thing, you've got to face
the same dilemma I'm facing, which is: do I cut the pretty body and save a bit of
weight to get that extra bit of performance, or do I leave it like that
so I can enjoy it - because it is gorgeous! Today, we're going to do a little test.
We're going to get this thing on the rocks; we're going to do a few laps with
the stock body as it is, then we're going to take my heavier comp
truck body and throw it around the course as well.
And then I'm going to do a naked course - don't worry, I'll be wearing clothes - it's
just going to be the truck chassis without the body; and then we're going to
do a tip test and see just how much difference weight up top makes.
Stick around.
I've weighed the body already; it's nearly 500 grams. I've got my beat up old
80-series Landcruiser comp body - it's definitely seen better days! This thing
has a full light kit and an interior for the scale points and it's been to
numerous competitions interstate. This thing weighs just over a kilogram. So,
we've got half a kilogram and we've got one kilogram.
I'll do three rounds with each. I've got a nice, big battery in the front today
and what we're going to do is take the best score from each of the three runs
and then that's going to give us some idea of just what weight is worth to a
crawler. I've intentionally kept it unmodified. We're going to do an upgrade
series, but for now all it has is these heavier wheels.
And they add about 120 grams or 110 grams per corner over the stock wheels.
I started the course with the Lexan body, which is nearly half a kilogram.
The worst score was the first one we saw there with a score of -9.
This lap here, the second lap, was the best score with -20 (-30 being
the best possible score) and the third was -12. The average for this
body was -13.6. Now this is the control test with no body.
All three scores here were pretty close: the first was -15, the second, which is
this one, was -11 and the third was -16. So that's an average of -14
compared to -13.6 on the Lexan. So that's close as makes no difference,
honestly. Now, the hard body I had to adapt from my other TRX4; it didn't quite
fit with the Sport, but anyway, first was the worst with -3. Second lap, this
one here, was -11 and the third was -15, which was the best. So that's three very
similar scores: -20, -16 and -15. That's Lexan, no body and styrene.
Okay, I've just had this thing around the course three times. We had it with the
stock body, then naked, and then with this hard body. Now, I had to do a bit of a
tape job. I do actually have a mounting point for my other TRX4, but the
sliders don't quite line up, so my holes didn't line up. So, I just have to tape it
but the effect is the same. So now I'd like to see
how the hard body affects the tip test. Yeah, 39.5 it goes.
Now I'll uninstall my high-tech retention system!
Now that was one kilogram, remember. It was a sticker from the Australian
Nationals. So this is one kilogram now, with the Sport naked, we still have
the battery in it. Logically it'll do better.
So that's 39.5 now, that's the angle that it went on with the hard body,
and so we get to 45, and it's actually balancing now it's on
that point. So we'll call that 45. Now remember the
body is just under half a kilogram, with the idea being that more weight up top
is worse for tip point, of course, center of
gravity. Now remember it went 39.5, it went with the hard body and 45 went
with no body. It's lifting at 41.5, so changing nothing else,
the idea is that the less weight you have up top - and you knew this already -
but how much of a difference did it make? Well, now you know. Now, the lap results
weren't all that different, which I find kind of interesting. The tip
test is more scientific than the driving test
because it's really hard to iron out any inconsistencies: there's my driving,
there's the line I pick, and all the rest of it, which is why i did three laps of
each. But just as an indication at least,
less weight for side-hilling is definitely advantageous,
and as far as driving goes. The scores were kind of similar; it was certainly
quicker with less weight up top and certainly the hard body made it
pretty tough to drive, but the
stock body and the naked body weren't all that different. I'd be inclined,
honestly, just to keep this because I mean, look, the back of it's just so
pretty! Anyway, thank you for joining me for this little
exploration of body weight. Throw me a like if you found this useful and I'll
catch you next time on RC-TNT. [Music]