ftx street racer spec - CML Distribution

THRASH TEST
WHAT: FTX STREET RACER SPEC: NITRO POWERED ALLOY CHASSIS CLASS: NITRO TC FUN COST: £289.99
Fast and
STEVE BROOKE BUILDS THE FIRST KIT FROM FTX IN THE FORM OF THE STREET
*
This wonderful hobby
of ours appears to
be going in two
distinct directions at
the moment. The smaller scales,
1:18, and 1:24 have in recent
years, shown a marked increase
in interest. However, the larger
scales, 1:8, 1:6 and 1:5 have been
hit by a veritable tsunami (that’s
a very large tidal wave to you
and me!) of cars and buggies.
On road, off road, competition,
masher, basher and plaything,
they are all in there. Obviously the
larger the scale the more power
required to shift it so it’s no great
surprise that nitro engines are
predominant amongst the larger
scales. There’s also been a move
towards even larger
capacity big block engines
in the race for greater power.
So what you see here falls very
squarely into most of those trends.
The FTX Street Racer Nitro GT car
is a 1:8 scale, on road nitro car that
comes complete with an over-sized
.25 Force pull-start engine. The car
made available to us for review was
a ninety percent pre-assembled kit
complete with pre-installed engine
and pre-sprayed bodyshell but
without the required two channel
radio equipment. The Street Racer
GTP is very closely based on a 4WD
off road rallycross platform but
with permanent 4WD, there is no
centre differential only front and
rear.
ALLOY, ALLOY
The platform for the
Street Racer GTP is a flat blue
anodised aluminium chassis.
Though the FTX comes with
a pull-start engine the chassis
is machined to accept either a
hand held starter or a starter
box should the owner want to
change to a non-pull start engine.
The chassis configuration is very
much as you would expect to
find on a 1:8 off road buggy.
Modular designs with front and
rear gearbox and suspension units,
centre gear and brake assembly,
blue anodised alloy
radio tray and engine. The chassis
is stiffened and braced at both the
front and rear with further pieces
of machined blue anodised alloy.
COMMON GEAR
The rallycross background continues
to be evident in the design and
layout of the gearboxes. Both front
and rear use very familiar rallycross
based bevel-geared differentials
with four small and two large
internal gears. The diffs are packed
82 - RADIO CONTROL CAR RACER / AUGUST 2004

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PAGES: 82-85
●
Furious Fun
RACER - A NITRO MODEL AIMED AT THOSE WANTING SOMETHING FUN TO BURN AROUND
with grease and are
completely re-buildable whether
for routine maintenance of if the
driver wants to tune their car for
particular track conditions. The
centre gear assembly does not have
a differential; it is a solid drive,
permanent 4WD for the Street
Racer GTP. Just a simple spur gear
mounted on to a centre shaft.
The centre gear assembly is also
the mounting point for the single,
ventilated braking system. All
three gearboxes, indeed the entire
drivetrain
including both
front and rear hubs are fully
ball raced. Power is transferred
from the gearboxes to the wheels
via what many consider to be the
ideal combination of drive shafts.
Constant velocity axles are used
on the front where they have to
multi-task, provide drive, react
with the suspension and move
with the steering arms. The rear
drive shafts, which only have to
provide drive and work with the
suspension are the simpler and
possibly lighter, dog-bone style
drive shafts.
SUPER SUSPENSION
It is very much the entry
level/novice driver who
initially wants some
large-scale fun either in
an empty car park or
similar wide-open
space. Thinking
about the sector
of the market
that the FTX
Street Racer GTP
is aimed at, we think
that the suspension
is quite advanced for the
category of car. The front uses a
state of the art pivot ball knuckle
arm assembly which would be
more widely expected on top
of the range one-eighth scale
competition cars both on-road
and off!
STANDARD REAR
The rear suspension set up
is a much more conventional
wishbone, hub and turnbuckle
arrangement. Both front and rear
suspension units use thick blue
anodised alloy shock towers.
Unusually for this type of car FTX
include anti-roll bars for both
the front and rear suspension.
Continuing with the theme, the
Street Racer GTP, comes with
blue anodised aluminium shock
absorbers, pre-assembled, filled
and mounted onto the chassis.
With this standard of suspension
all settings are adjustable, camber,
both front and rear, toe-in, both
front and rear, the front width can
be adjusted using the pivot ball
system and the rear toe-in can be
altered using the clever adjustable
cam system in the rear in-board
pivot support. Front caster is
variable by means of spacers on
the front top link. Ride height is
adjusted by means of grub screws
through the wishbones whilst
the shock absorbers come with a
comprehensive selection of spring
tension spacers.
The steering set-up on the
FTX Street Racer GTP is very
much a standard two steering
arms and drag link arrangement
with the servo saver built into the
right hand side of the steering.
Not surprisingly bearings are
not included in this layout, the
plastic parts running directly on
brass posts. Proper turnbuckles
link the steering arms to the
outer hubs, so toe-in or out are
easily adjustable. The steering
assembly is secured position
by yet another piece of blue
anodised alloy plate.
U
AUGUST 2004 / RADIO CONTROL CAR RACER - 83

THRASH TEST
WHAT: FTX STREET RACER SPEC: NITRO POWERED ALLOY CHASSIS CLASS: NITRO TC FUN COST: £289.99
ON TEST
So straight away, it was clear that
the power of the .25 size engine is
put to good use in the Street Racer.
Most 1:8 scale cars are powered
by a .21 so the additional engine
capacity clearly raised the power
stakes. Fortunately, the FTX machine
comes with a 4WD set up and all that
power can be put down. It is easy
to power slide the Street Racer
as it has an abundance of power
and the locked centre diff ensures
maximum power is not wasted by
a third (centre) differential. The
Force engine is a popular choice for
many and it has reliability to match
its power. It never missed a beat
throughout all our testing and.
Our Porsche GT3 shell was ideal for
playing around with although we feel
that by choosing one of the other
bodyshell designs, a little better
performance could be attained by
better aerodynamics. We would like
to see how the likes of the McLaren
M-GTR compares and the Mercedes
CLK for that matter. For those of
you not really worried about the
effect of a shell, then the Porsche
is probably the most realistic of the
range as the rally cars look a little
like the caricature artwork you see
of cars with over-emphasised wheels
and minimal ride height!
■* The blue
finished
oil filled
shocks
compliment
the rest of
the chassis
WHAT WE USED
■ Futaba S3003 steering servo
■ Futaba S3003 throttle/brake
■ Futaba R103 40mHz mini receiver
■ four AA batteries
■* Force power! A
potent 25 unit
provides plenty
of punch in the
Street Racer
RACER TIPS
don’t rush sticker job
oil air filter before running
V
■* Chrome finished rims are held in place by
bright blue nuts
IMPACT STRENGTH
FTX, the manufacturers, have
obviously thought that the
environment that the Street Racer
may be used in may require some
help to prolong the cars longevity.
Nylon side-impact, stone guards
are attached to both sides of
the chassis, again much like a
rallycross car. A massive plastic
and foam protect the front of the
car bumper, this should surely
allow the Street Racer to take
some knocks. With this being a
larger scale chassis with obviously
a large scale bodyshell, a set of
substantial body mounts are used,
84 - RADIO CONTROL CAR RACER / AUGUST 2004
■* The clutch mates to a solid centre diff
arrangement
these are one of the few parts
that have to be fitted to the preassembled
car.
FORCE FIELD
As we said right at the beginning,
the Street Racer comes with a preinstalled
engine. FTX have used a
Force .25 pull start unit. That’s just
over four cubic centimetres in new
money, just that little bit extra! This
extra power is transferred to the
14-tooth clutch bell through a threeshoe
clutch. The engine comes with
a pre-installed foam air filter, the
only thing that needs doing is to oil
the foam element, without the oil
■* These UJ driveshafts are installed in the
front of the FTX chassis
the filter will not work properly and
the engine may be damaged very
quickly. Fuel is supplied from what
looks to be a standard 125cc fuel
tank. Exhaust gases are expelled
through a two-piece alloy manifold
and racing muffler, joined together
with a cable tied silicone tube.
ELEMENTARY ELECTRONICS
Radio installation is very simple on
the large-scale chassis’, especially
as the blue anodised alloy radio
plate can be removed to improve
access, in fact it’s a critical part of
the operation. We attempted to
fit a proper battery receiver pack
into the receiver box but found a
simple standard four AA battery
box an easier fit. FTX include all
the linkages with the car, including
the servo horns and that is where
we did encounter a small problem.
The steering servo horn fouled the
front steering plate, a minor amount
of trimming solved the problem,
and other than this all the other
linkages went together as per the
instructions.
FINISHING TOUCHES
The FTX Street Racer GTP is
available with several bodyshell
designs, Mercedes DTM, Toyota

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PAGES: 82-85
●
OPTION PARTS
■ FTX1475 Two-Speed Gearbox
■ FTX1490 Blade Type Anti-Roll Bar
■ FTX1493 Torsion Front or Rear Diff
■ FTX1494 Torsion Centre Diff
■ FTX1500 Rear Pivot Ball Suspension Kit
■ FTX1508 Rear CVA Driveshafts
■ FTX1511 Carbon Brake Disc
■ FTX1512 Aluminium Centre Diff Mount
■ FTX1513 Aluminium Arm Holder
■ FTX1514 Aluminium Engine Mount
■ FTX1515 Aluminium Servo Saver Arm
■ FAST900 Purple Heavy Aluminium Clutch Shoes
■ FAST901 Blue Heavy Aluminium Clutch Shoes
■ FAST750 Polished 1:8 Pipe Set
■* The FTX Street Racer is
based around a proven
chassis layout
■* The treaded
tyres are glued
into place for
you
Celica WRC, Mercedes CLK, McLaren
M-GTR, Dodge Viper GTS, Peugeot
206 WRC and the very obvious one
we have here the Porsche 911 GT3.
The bodyshell and wing come presprayed
though un-cut, so they have
to be cut to fit and then stickered
up to complete. There is a very
comprehensive selection of decals
supplied with the Street Racer, no
less than five different sticker sets,
the main ones giving the details to
the bodyshell and the racing logo
sponsor stickers. Chrome multispoke
wheels, inserts and low
profile treaded tyres are included
■* Foam bumper
offers chassis
protection and
body support
in the box, the tyres are pre-glued
to the rims, one less thing to worry
about, especially if you haven’t glued
tyres on wheels before! Alternative
colour wheels and slick tyres are
readily available as after market
extras. B
Contact:
CML Distribution Ltd
Saxon House
Saxon Business Park
Hanbury Road
Bromsgrove
Worcestershire
B60 4AD
Tel: 01527 575349
Fax: 01527 570536
E-mail: cml@dial.pipex.co.uk
✔
specification
● 1:8 scale IC powered road racer ● ball raced
● heavy-duty blue anodised aluminium chassis
● pull start .25 Force engine ● blue anodised parts
● aluminium manifold and racing exhaust pipe
● permanent 4WD transmission ● removable radio tray
● pre-painted lexan bodyshell
● pre-glued low profile tyres with foam inserts
● chrome finish multi spoke rims
technical data
length
width
height
wheelbase
front track
rear track
weight
likes & dislikes
■
■
large scale, on-road presence
easy to get up and running
✗
servo horn fouls top plate
complex sticker job for novices
racer rating
KIT SPEC 89%
RACEABILITY 85%
OVERALL 91%
610mm
315mm
175mm
322mm
314mm
308mm
3880g
summary
The FTX Street Racer GTP is definitely a lot
of car for the money with its high specifications
and many features that you would
only expect to see on cars in a much higher
class and price range. It has an extensive
selection of optional parts though a far as
being a racecar you’d probably struggle to
find a class to put it in. However if you’re
just looking for a car to thrash around
the local car park or play ground and your
looking for something that little bit different
and large this could just be it!
Website: www.cmldistribution.co.uk FTX HITS THE STREET
AUGUST 2004 / RADIO CONTROL CAR RACER - 85