I fancy a Firebolt DM but have heard storys about the bulkhead! No way wud I pay that for a basic yoke kit and currently run a Bmax 2 vr3.

Yes, the price tag is a bit on the steep side, but I want that piece of kit nonetheless. :)
As for the Firebolt, I did not suffer any of the breakages others suffered so far, but I do not have enough track time to compare its durability with my B-Max of old. However, it did not flinch when I hit some concrete track elements, but the brass bulkhead left its mark in the plastic front plate. I guess the aluminum front plate and the less brittle front end plastic compound scheduled for late December will remain any of those problems. VBC Racing really cares. :thumbsup:

Back to the YZ-2, though. I guess they went back to the old-school name because they won almost all their off-road IFMAR worlds titles with YZ-named cars. I really hope that Lee, Naoto, or another driver will bring them a buggy title, their last one was Masami's '97 title with the MX-4.

Not so sure on the low gearbox thing in my opinion! A bit Losi 22 like and they never seemed to be quite as good as some of the other cars out there.

Think I shall treat myself to a Firebolt for Xmas. Alex at Moss Models says they drive spot on.
How long you been running yours for.
As for yokomo the last one I had before my Bmax2 was the YR4 touring car! Always liked the Dogfighter. Bad name though

Don't want to go off topic and bash on my B-Max2 even for a great car like the Firebolt. PM sent in a minute!

I think the YZ-2 will provide everything I missed on the B-Max2 on carpet/high-grip astro, the announced release really made my day! :drool:

I race on carpet and this would be ideal as the KFs piss on the bmax2. In high grip the bmax2 lacks front end on power because it goes light even with the brass bulkhead and then oversteer off power. If you push really hard which you do to keep up with the front motor cars it lacks consistency.

This car would be ideal.

I disagree. We race on mixed traction (Gym floors with strips of carpet, or cork running tracks) tracks that the mid motor clearly is faster than the rear car, but this new car will struggle with.
I ran my KF (high traction kit) and it was next to useless on these surfaces, but is unbeatable on high traction. I'm assuming that this will drive more like the KF on the high traction, so will be comparably bad on the low.

On low traction, it depends on your driving style whether you are faster with MM or RM. As I don't like the point and shoot driving style required for RM cars, I prefer MM also on dirt. Feel free to check out my Firebolt DM review, in which I tested the car on dirt and liked it better than my RM B-Max2. Maybe I should have tried the Yoke in MM on dirt, too. ;)

Looks really nice! I never got on with my bmax 2 unfortunately... This is a little pricey though! Just on a side note, +1 for the Firebolt :thumbsup:

Having been a DIE-HARD AE fan since starting ( I've owned other stuff, but my race cars have always been AE.

I scored a Bmax2MR for cheap and have been slowly making it my Mod car. The 2 local tracks- 1 indoor clay- lSpace and the dirt have a ong history, but new management is useless, and no hobby shop to support the track) and the new track is Carpet Offroad, running both onroad, oval and offroad with Ozite carpet base.

I am planning on dumping my Centro 4.2/ B4.2 cars and switching to Yoke. I'll keep my current MR for dirt, and order the new one for carpet. Cant wait.



MOmo

I don't understand why some folk are rendering this car useless on looser surfaces already. The car isn't even out yet!

Yeah the motor is in a slightly more forward position and the geometry seems to be slightly different but that doesn't mean it ain't gonna work.

I've seen plenty of KF's working on looser surfaces.

Let's just wait and see.

The battery strap looks a bit dodgy, especially with saddles. Positive and negative within a mm or so of the (conductive) carbon fibre battery strap..........

I agree with Disco,

My TM2v2 is probably the best wet car I've ever ran despite being a proper forward motor design, I certainly find it more predictable in the wet than my previous RB6 even using a geared diff.

I'm more interested to know how this design is supposed to be more effective in high grip compared with the proper forward motor's such as TM2v2's and KF? To me this this just looks like an updated mid motor car similar in layout to the 22 2.0.

Am I missing something? What about this design is supposed to give the advantage over forward motor?



Chris

I also agree with Chris and Disco as per my earlier post. The motor is way further forward on a KF for a start and it's also about driving style.

I used the B5m at rhr dirt which should have been useless and James used his KF for a while too.

I think this new car will be great on both surfaces.

I'm just interested to see how it compares against a B5M with the 3 gear box?

People are saying the car is pricey ... Where have you seen a price?



Chris

It's about 380 euro's.

With respect guys I don't think £319 for that spec of car is pricey at all. The RB6 was £370 when first released then you would spend another 50 quid on the ally adjustable rear hangers to really help with tunability.

Then let's look at the KF, I think the best price for the kit I've seen is around £255. Then to get the car to team spec (which they all run regardless of low/high grip) you need the low grip conversion which uses shorty packs at another 70 quid plus you may need new batteries if you only have saddles too. Not to mention the alloy gearbox mount you need if you wish to run the shocks on the rear and alloy caster blocks and hubs for strength you are struggling for change from £500!!

Then there are the conversions such as the new Associated 3 gear B5m, XFactory X6S and Rudebits DB2. These cars require donor cars to complete making them a very expensive way to go. The X-Factory for example, if all parts required to build were brand new would stand you at over £600 when completed! That's astronomical!

This Yokomo kit seems to offer all the obvious tuning possibilities in the box and for a fair price imo.

The only designated high grip car that works out cheaper is the Team C TM2v2 at £265 which is a superb car to drive even In medium to low grip conditions and has a similar spec to the Yokomo making it excellent value for money.



Chris

Completely agree. This car comes with all the hop ups you usually have to pay for as extra and would probably end up paying more.