B4.2 release
 

Its now been annonced but sadly rear motor :-(

lol what were people expecting

sadly as expected, AE sat down with a blank sheet of paper, spent hours designing, sat back a looked at what they came up with, and thought " Jezz, looks just like the last dang buggy!":lol: would have been a breath of fresh air if they had gone a bit RB6 and braved a possible mid or rear car, we must realise that most of the rest of the world still favour rear motors.

It's as I expected. Upgrades which I have already, apart from the new shock towers, which I will get when the parts filter through.

Make as much money as they can out of the b4 platform before trying anything else!

Cowards.

You need a b4.2 like you need a second arsehole!

What are "team associated" actually associated with these days ?
Its not current, whatever it is.

Can i just LOL at this on the B4.2 webpage.
"Resting on our accomplishments -- NEVER!"

The car was pretty much recognisable as an RC10 when i started looking at cars again after a 20 odd year lay off.

But saying that, its an American company, selling to Americans in an American market. The fact that Europe is extensively* (ok, quite a lot) not racing on dirt is irrelevant to those that make the decisions (and the designs) for Team Associated.

So, being a B4.2, it isn't a 'new' car, just an update. Hex's, slipper and finally got rid of the crap bellcranks, oh, and big bores..... So, what a lot of people already run if they still use a B4 or B4.1....

I'm glad actually. Their biggest market is the US and Japan and they run on clay. They probably reckon there is enough companies making mid-motor conversions for them to bother.

As expected.

Ae wont produce a mid motor for ages. They build cars for american drivers on american tracks.

I don't suppose we'll see so many of these in the UK, the Centro kit just doesn't make financial sense anymore with so many other kits having mid-motor options out of the box. I mean you can have a whole Hobao H2 for the cost of a Centro cnversion, 2.5 H2's for the cost of converting the B4.2! Only the RB6 would still be more expensive, and TBH, if i was paying that much, i'd choose the RB6 for a bit more!

Bit disappointing but not totally unexpected.

Guess our top AE guys still have the centro and will probably win nationals with that but can't see this car causing the normal flurry of paying drivers swapping to the latest model in quite the same way the losi 22, Durango 210, SV2, RB6 etc all did.

Still, just saved me £250:)

different than expected. Even with a Proline body not JC.
I really thought they would go for something bigger because it took so long.
Looks like the logical step to improve the B4 and I am sure its a great kit but on bigger carpet races there are 99% midmotor cars.
On astro its not too bad for average racers to go rear motor and probably will not make a difference in results but I bet there will not be a AE car on the podium anymore.
Buying two different cars doenst make too much sence with all those nice cars out now... yoko, losi, kyo, durango.
Maybe they really go for a single midmotor car.

If it aint broke dont fix it...

If it's not broke, then why fix it? Team Associated dominate most of the 1/10th 2wd meetings in america and european clay races. Like the B44.2 it's just an update of an winning platform with parts to make the car more consistent and user friendly!

I don't see why it's sad they kept it rear motor, the B4 has been the benchmark chassis to beat on low to medium bite from club level way up to the pro's - and I can't think of a chassis that's been copied so many times or used so many times as a donor car for prototypes. It is just that good! The only thing it has going against it (in mainland Europe) is the fact that it's not metric!

Also I recall Yokomo has a tight connection with Associated, right? :eh?: And if I understand it right, the new mid Yokomo (as run on the EOS) is to replace the rear-motor Yokomo entirely... Could it be that Yokomo in the future will be marketed as the mid-motor brand and AE as the rear-motor brand... To keep them from competing each other to death, or perhaps put in better words, to allow for space for Yokomo to gain ground in Europe?

development is the highest cost when producing a product..

obviously there making massive savings in dev as there by not really developing much and then re branding it..

all about profit IMO

I believe that AE and Yokomo are not close anymore, since AE produces 4wd cars and Yokomo 2wd, 1/12th.

Also, the BMax 2 is sold as a rear-motor car.

Like the look and comes with some nice parts. Rear motored might not flavour of the month at the min but still one of these will still be a competitive car.

Sure the B4 is still great but it is by far not the number one car which it was for average racers. Five years back there were 95% Associated cars in european races. Today there is 1%. Some have the vega or centro but certainly not many. I just cant imagine the B4.2 will change that. I really think there will be a mid car soon with a different name. If it is cost wise stupid to release a mid motor car no company would produce a mid motor car... and some have a much smaler market than asso

No. Yokoma has both in one kit rear and mid. And the price is very competitive. Yokomo sells Associated in Japan and the R12 has many asso parts but thats all. They dont share teamdrivers.

Perhaps then there lies the actual problem: The B4 chassis line is absolutely brilliant, but after all those years the majority of it's design doesn't feel special, new, fresh like all those new releases we've had for the last 2 years. It's not because it's bad or ugly, it's just because it's something 95% of the drivers got used to working on over all these years. If all of a sudden all these new cars start showing up, no wonder all those drivers are interested in what these new cars are like.

And indeed, then the B4.2 won't make all those people step back to the brand. I think they're past that point though, no matter what they release: Going from 2 to 6+ 2WD buggy brands with a considerable market share* is something you don't recover from as a brand... unless a B5 would be as big a step ahead of the competition as the B4 was when it was first released. And I'm honest, I don't want a 2WD buggy being released that sweeps all the competitors off the market!

*Globally, I'm not taking dominanty used surface per region into account here for the market share.

Frankly, I don't know what all of you are whining about.
Had they not allowed all those updated parts to slip into the pipeline over the last year, and instead had waited and introduced the big bores, bell cranks, hex's, slipper, and extended chassis all at once every damn one of you would have been slobbering all over yourselves. :woot:
Instead of pitching a fit, perhaps you should be thanking them for not forcing you to buy a complete new car - because you already have it.

And with all the B4-based centro conversions out there already on the market, did you really think AE was going to build a car just for the limited UK-market or one for the rest of the world that doesn't need a mid-motor car?

Exactly what my thoughts are

Yep that's what I think. And I still think it will happen this year, maybe a centro by AE like the BJ4, thats what looks most possible now. It is not the UK market anymore its whole Europe. Only the US has professional dirt tracks which are the whole year in a great shape. Even in Asia there are more and more astro tracks. If RC was 100% US market than there woulnd't be any midmotor cars or a 8ight EU or Mugen EU.

I do agree that mid-motor seems to be the trend currently - even on clay mid-motors can be made to work extremely well actually (X6, and a mid 210 seems to do really well on clay too with a bit of rear weight).

However, I don't see Associated replacing the B4 for mid-motor only, and actually I don't see them making a hybrid that can be mid/rear converted. They have a very strong all-round rear motor, if they do anything at all with a new model 2WD it will be in the direction of making a very strong allround mid-motor... and even that I'm not sure they'll do. B4 mid conversions have been around for ages, which cover all the reasons why you might want a mid-motor (all-round like X6, or as specific for higher bite as a Centro).

People still buy a standard B4 for converting, and another B4-like mid-motor with the only difference that it actually comes from Associated? Nah, not extremely profitable I suppose. However, there is a cheap solution that may make mid B4s very attractive and realistic. They could supply CML with the needed parts to sell complete Centro kits instead of conversion kits and tell them to solve the chassis durability issues. I think that's where it'll end for Associated's mid-motor adventures.

Im getting one of these for sure just because of the Big Bores.:thumbsup:

We're people really expecting a new car? With a name like B4.2 it's clear that it's only going to be an update. Associated will definitely be producing a B5 but at the moment they are clearly just updating what they already have.

If anyone actually purchases this for over £200 then they must be BONKERS. To think you can get a used B4 for around £50 and refine it from there... I don't imagine they're going to get quite so many sales on this one.

I say the opposite actually! Buying a £50 B4 and updating all the parts to .2 spec doesn't make financial sense. Big bore's and a couple of sets of springs are around £100, then add in the stuff on that second hand car that will be tired (diff outdrives and driveshafts) and you're pushing £200 already... And after doing that you still end up with a mostly worn car, with a new kit you get fresh everything for not much more :)

You have a point, yet most of the AE devotees that would buy the .2 are ones that have been buying the updated parts as they've become available in the preceding months - so the only reason they need it is for the RC10B4.2 stickers :woot:

I cant see them selling too much of these in the uk.

Anyone with a b4 knows that upgrading to a c4/vega would be a more useful investment. nore is it going to attract many to buy it as anyone who is not new knows that a mid motor has the edge over a rear motor on Astro and carpet. its just an American car in UK stores thats all

Apologies for my ignorance here (been out of the racing game for a long time) but what makes the Kyosho car over £100 more expensive?

Not being argumentative by the way, just wondered:confused:

The price tag basically. Kyosho has a slightly better fit than most cars. Design is 95% Losi copy. Doesn t put the sprues back in the mashine(because they sell them with the parts :) ) The shocks are stunning. Diff is great too. So its a nice car and because we don t live in communism every company can set the price without asking us. I don t know what price should be right maybe 50 maybe 500.

If you want a B4 now its the best to buy a B4.2 so it is great they have updated it. Buying an old car and upgrade it might be fun but if you have the money for a new car than go for it and in this case it is really nicely priced with great shocks etc.

Origineelreclamebord: I don t think they should or will stop the B4 but I think an additional midmotor car is what they need and I can t imagine associated has a different view. it always was the same everyone pretends it doesnt make sence now but it is 100% sure they dont have a solution for carpet right now. They dont even send the team to any carpet races right now.

Part number 9782 - HTH :lol::p

:thumbsup:

So you're saying you already ordered yours .............

Going back decades, I've never known a Kyosho model that didn't have a higher pricepoint than competitive models.

Now, for whatever reason, they've also never taken advantage of the "distributor networks" that they larger brands have - and as a result they don't move as much product (total sales) which ultimately affects their bottom line. So while most manufacturers base pricing on the basis of planned selling of 100,000 units (or whatever number you want to choose) Kyosho's forced to base their pricing on the basis of selling 10,000 units.

The other thing to consider is that with the Worlds coming up this year (isn't it?) - and, just a wild guess, no plans for the Worlds being run on carpet/astro - that they were in no big hurry and lacked any real reason or motivation to bring out a mid-motor car at this time.

But at the end of the day, there's no telling what the boys at Area 51 are really working on. ;)

LOL, no still running V1 shocks on my B4 so it would take more than just stickers!
However, it's pretty worn now so will be buying a B4.2 as soon as I raise some money.

Robby: Doesnt even have something to do with the sales. When everyone was running the MP7.5 it was still more expensive. For some Kyosho cars the price makes sence for some not so it s just policy. But with the RB6 they certainly made something right though its a nasty copy.

We're not talking about the price of an individual car, company's profit margin are based across their entire line of products and vehicles. ;)