Patents and Moldings
 

Hello,

Has anyone confirmed that the previous ”owner” of the TTech name, has sold the patents/rights etc and molds?

I find it quite odd that with the demise of the company, they would take all intellectual property relating to this legendary brand/car.

Has this occured or does someone own the rights now?

There is a woman on Facebook can't remember here name that was selling all the stock before the website disappeared. Peaky will know her name. Did check for you but couldn't find it. Looked like a pro when I looked a while back :D

The woman who was selling the parts on Facebook was Yanina, wife of owner of Team Xtreme.

Hello Ron, nice to see you still around :)

On everything asked.... loooooooooong story there :lol:

I went into it In detail, as did a few others. It’s all a moot point now though tbh.

As a few people know, I re-tooled all the x11 plastic/composite parts years ago ( all updated over the originals ) bar the chassis, did a lot of testing, some with Northy ( my new parts were/are much improved in numerous areas ) and was going to offer them for sale - then the Pred values went through the roof, people stopped running them and they have almost turned into pension investments lol... So I never bothered. I had also managed to find another ball diff to fit the car, and on Northys insistence I was just starting to manufacture a better prop shaft & slipper, and adapt a another manufacturers gear diff into it when I stopped.

Plan was to offer my new parts to keep people’s Preds running, then move onto the X13 & 14 which I had designed on paper but never got further with.

I made two new x11 Evo prototypes, I have the only fully-modded one, Northy has another which is a part-modded one. Easily noticeable, they are mostly all-white Preds.

I’ve spoken with numerous people over the years - some still active on oople - about either buying TX and/or re-launching the Pred which is possible of course, but you would need a fair amount of dosh to do so successfully. You could cobble something together on a limited budget, but if your going to do it, do it right.

There is a ‘new’ laydown suspension buggy being launched soon-ish apparently, and sounds brilliant if it works as well as it sounds. And it has some similar sounding features that I wanted to put into later Pred versions as well. Great minds think alike ! Hopefully it will be a cracker and work well from the box. Here’s hoping.

explain this new parts, i use again my x11, i mod all transmission, for use the diff of team c. but if you have other project i'm interest.

Wow dyna interesting stuff sounds like you spent a lot of time and money on it

What's this new laydown car called?

Hi Dyna!

Yes still around at times, not too much happens these days as I live in Sweden and well.... the weather ;)

Extremely interesting and thanks for the information. I find it unbelievable that the name has been left the way it has. I wonder what RW thinks of it all.

Be that as it may, the issue is the naming and the patents/intellectual property right? It cant be a Predator and it cant carry Tenth Technology. To me thats a big deal.

Where to go from here I dont know.. Absolutely it can be done with the right strategy (and a good deal of funds to get molds made, manufacturers found etc etc) but the last thing anyone wants is to ”do a JQ” for example or infact, the whole Team Xtreme disaster.. I mean come on, Team Xtreme? Worst, absolute worst name and company ever. They were never going to be long term.

Anyway, always keen on details with this and with the right time and as I said, being blento keep the name, it can be successful no doubt. The world of RC 1/10th is now made for this car, with TC astro tracks...

Wonder what she did with all the parts that were still available on the website before it vanished. There were thousands of them.

they ran it into the ground unfortunately.

I feel a kickstarter campaign coming for a new pred!!!

I dont think any kind of kickstarter will help of they wont release the patents and rights to ise the name..in my opinion of course :)

Who actually owns them?

Ron, there are no active Patents on the Pred design, and no current active design rights anymore.

On the 'other' laydown suspension car being developed atm, go on facebook and search for 'MRO racing' and the 'Inspire 4' buggy for more info.

No i don't have any connection to him - don't even know him tbh - but ive heard hes a damn good driver and has done some popular Durango conversions in the past. I'm sure loads of people reading this will know him though. And it looks as though he will also do a Kickstarter to fund it.

Hopefully though he will have studied and learnt from the mistakes of TTech & most importantly Team Xtreme - i.e. don't design or take on a cracking, unique car, then add to it by making some cracking conversions ( the Vega's which were awesome ) then Right Royaly f*ck it completely up with piss-poor communication & after sales service.

I can see how it happened though. People interested in doing things like this generally get the design/engineering/tooling/part cost sorted easily enough, but then seem to almost forget to factor in the packaging/printing/shipping/distribution/spares stock/storage costs, and most importantly the manpower to do it all, often for years after you've released the product. The profit you make on the car has to pay for EVERYTHING, including your time to send out kits, spares, plan & design upgrades, problem solve, advertise & promote what you are doing, answer hundreds of e-mails & phone calls - sometimes daily - and generally sort sh*t out sometimes for YEARS afterwards.

TTech & TX were perfect examples. Both companies had brilliant designers & engineers in them without a shadow of a doubt, but there wasn't enough dedicated manpower ( and/or money ? ) to sort out the after sales. That gets you the bad reputation, people then get wary so less sales. Less sales means less profit, and it spirals downwards from there.

So Mr MRO Racing, if you read this, please don't even think to release what looks to be a brilliant buggy without ALL your future costs, labour & commitment worked out as far as humanly possible for at least 3 years, to the last penny & minute - no-one here wants you to become TTech/TX Part Trois... if you do, Ron will be on your case in 0.00001 of a second :lol:

Oh and if you want to see what happens when people f*ck up a exciting, publicly backed, hugely anticipated product - the Sinclair Vega+ ( no relation to TX Vega's ! ) - just google it. No, ill help you there :

http://retro-computers.co.uk/

Its a long, sad story that one !

Hmmm good info mate 👍👍👍

I know who you mean and yes a quality driver who has been around the top end of Nationals in the UK for a long time. Will be interesting to see how it goes

Oh and an ex Predator driver as well so should know a thing or two about them.

If anyone wants to know more about the following pictures just ask...


The X11 with Mark Headlings old Pred shell on is my main X11 prototype, Northy's is the other one in his old colours. I cant remember where i picked Mark's old shell up from, i just remember i thought it would look good with the prototype parts on :D

mmmm, that's nice!!:wub

Wow! Do you used 3d printer?

No, not 3D printed... Everyone who’s seen them says that to be fair though... :D

As I’ve said before, all these parts are cast items from tooling, with a mind for full production if it ever came to it. They are just made in white to make sure they didn’t get confused with production parts. It’s common practice to do that. Took about 2 years prototyping and testing to get the parts right, in both performance and material.

Yes Griff, I’ll drag it out of storage for you to look at if we race together somewhere this year, and I might just let you drive it for the day if I’m in a good mood... ;)

Funnily enough I thought the last picture would create more questions, maybe the size of the scalpel doesn’t give the scale of that totally unique Predator buggy away enough... :woot: :D

that is one massive scalpel:o

Love that dyna. Piece of history

Very cool read! Awesome to see so much enthusiasm for the Pred that you kept developing on your own Dyna and Northy! :thumbsup: So may I ask, were the parts vacuum cast then if they're not printed?

The Inspire 4 buggy sounds awesome... would be nice to see something truly creative on the market. Don't get me wrong, there are a couple of nice 4WD buggies out there, but mostly it seems like XB4 clones and spin-offs for the last 3 years.

can you explain what improvement in drive make this parts? on astro and carpet i have too much steering with x11 standard.

Ugh Facebook. Anyone fancy posting the MRO features text please? For the inboard suspension, its going to be a challenge to get an acceptable level of rising rate with the amount of wheel travel buggies have, and package it. Matching a current 4wd like XB4 would be a good start. Is it possible, not sure..... Who is it then? Not getting it from MRO name.

There is little detail on there

Great to see my old shell is being used and love the work dyna

+++ INSPIRE4 spec list +++

*Quick diff height adjustment, just loosen 3 screws on the chassis and slide a shim under the gearbox also easy to remove the whole diff case with the same 3 screws without affecting any of the suspension .
*Quick diff change without the need to remove the whole diff case or affecting any of the suspension.
*Low diffs front and rear.
*Left-right, front-rear wishbone are the same complainants.
*Front and rear bulkheads are the same
*The buggy has the lowest CG of any other rc buggy on the market.
*Adjustable front kick up and caster.
*Adjustable anti-squat plus the option to run pro-squat.
*Inboard suspension design with the dampers mounted as low as possible.
*Easy adjustable rocker ratio.
*Unique to the “INSPIRE4” a cross over quad rocker rear suspension system.
*Suspension geometry designed from scratch.
*Quick release spur gear.
*Chassis layout to achieve a 50/50 weight distribution (depending on electronics).
*Adjustable chassis flex
*Large angled side pods to increase ground clearance when the chassis rolls through the corners and decrease the chances of chassis rub.
*Flat chassis design
*No shock towers to disturb the air flow to the wings and body shell.
*CFD software used when designing the car.
*Minimal weight passed the front and rear axles.
*Wings mount perfectly over the centre line of the axles.

"LIKE","SHARE" and be apart of the INSPIRE4 project.
#mroracing #inspire4 #innovations #kickstarter #crowdfunding

Thanks, sounds interesting.

It’s a National A finalist designing it, made the A final with a 2wd car he designed a few years back.

Wow Dyna awesome work
it's upsetting that the pred was killed off with no fault of its own.

Maybe he could help you with your car :lol::thumbsup:

are we going to get some teaser shots mr "O"

Yes I would like to get everyone involved so as to make the perfect racing car for racers.
No more spy shot at the moment as I've got technical issues with my computer but soon as that back up and running the next photo will be realised.

I want one and I haven’t even seen it :drool:

Well done for trying something different. The XB4 alikes were getting pretty dull. Without invitation, here are some thoughts just on the picture. I cant see the front wing, so it must be reasonably small. Why not make it much bigger? Not as if drag is a problem, just up motor. Same with the rear wing, go big! Cab forward shells came about to add downforce at the front. With a larger front wing this is not needed. Why not lengthen and significantly lower the cab? This will give a cleaner airflow to the rear wing. Also moving the rear wing backwards will probably give more downforce again due to cleaner airflow. Also might make the car more stable at speed due to torque reaction. Ref: inboard suspension geometry, are you using a MBS CAE tool for this like ADAMS / SIMPACK? Anyway, just some ideas (ducks!).

Would be amazing to get a car in a wind tunnel to see what it's really like. Bit does it really make a difference at 1 10th

Thanks that is how the name inspire4 comes from as I hope to inspire manufactures and racers.

The front wing it's double the size of a standard front wing.
The rear wing is still a work in progress.
The idea of the placement of the wings is so the downforce is directly over the axles.
The cab is that far forward to cover up what's under it also to get better airflow to the rear wing.
The suspension was all worked long hand then worked out in soildworks to see it fits.

Thanks for your input it's very welcome

The original Predator aero was tested and developed in the Greenwich University moving ground plane wind tunnel. I remember a test happening at Eden Park where the aero section wing undertrays were tested on and off and even this made a difference to.the laptimes. Nothing released since has come even remotely close to the original Pred aerodynamically...yet.. Times have changed though, now there is power and energy to burn. Drag is not an issue. Imagine if you gave Adrain Newey a 1/10th offroad car without shock towers and told him to get as much downforce as possible and not to worry too much about drag. The result would make Formula Student car aero look tame! Of course the aero would need to durable and not weigh too much as well...this is the challenge.

No problem, it was meant constructively rather than critically. Looking forward to seeing some more of it.

Sorry if it come out in that way but definitely all ideas are welcome.

I appreciate this could be a million miles away, but have you thought about a 2WD also? I keep toying with the idea of cobbling one together but working out the geometry is beyond me so would just be trial and error!