The Thunderbolt II is a 4WD 1/5th scale gasoline powered racing buggy. It is supplied fully assembled and RTR (Ready-to-Run). In order to complete and start the car, you will need transmitter batteries (8xAA type) and fuel (mixed with the appropriate amount of two-stroke oil, 25 parts fuel to 1 part oil, or 40ml of oil per liter of fuel), and a further 4 AA batteries for the receiver and servos. If you decide to go for a proper 6v receiver pack, you will also need some means of charging it.

The TB2 is well packed and held down with the usual bewildering arrangement of cardboard partitions. When the main model is removed from the box, the (painted) body and (glued) tires are already fitted. All that remains, is to fit the wing (just 2 body clips), either populate the 4xAA battery holder with 4 of the standard 1.5v alkaline non-rechargeable type batteries (rechargeable AAs unfortunately are 1.2v, and 4.8v total simply isn't enough to power the servos in such a large model), or fit a suitable rechargeable sub-C battery pack (must be purchased separately), and extend the receiver antenna using the supplied tube.

The radio equipment is surprisingly good. The 2.4Ghz radio is a functional and good looking item. Rarely we see RTR radios with independent EPA for throttle and steering, let alone a 2.4Ghz transmission method. The steering servo is a fairly standard quarter scale affair, and seems adequately specified to do the job. While not lightning quick, it's pretty strong at 18kg-cm of torque (250oz-in) and has a solid plastic horn. The throttle servo is the standard small scale type, but also has a fairly impressive spec, and is enough for throttle and braking requirements.

There's no getting away from the lack of a supplied receiver battery though, it is essential to get a rechargeable sub-C receiver pack as a matter of urgency. 4 AA batteries are just not capable of supplying the required juice to correctly and safely operate large scale servos, not to mention they would be consumed probably before the first tank of fuel.

Also included in the box is the aforementioned manual (great inclusion Nutech), any leftover decals (stickers) and a spark plug tool, with a driver end compatible with most of the philips head screws. Again though, Nutech have not seen fit to include at least a small sample of silicone oils, which is disappointing but expected. This brings me to the honourable mention of the thing that will hit you the hardest when you take it out of the box. The shocks are awesome, very large, with thick springs and shafts and nicely anodised black caps (alloy caps top and bottom) and natural aluminum bodies.

The shocks are fitted with conical pistons so that they bound faster than they rebound (in other words, they compress easily and return slowly), this increases stability over the rough stuff. The shock action seems just right, I have no plans to change the oil for now. The manual suggests that the shocks should have 1000wt in them, and that seems about right as an initial setup.

There is also a surprising amount of suspension travel for a buggy, more even than my FG monster truck, and the geometry of the suspension can be adjusted radically, with many mounting options (holes) included on the shock towers and arms for tuning to your specific surface or track. The stock ground clearance is a staggering 6cm plus, depending on shock spacer fitment.

The included engine is a genuine CY (Chung Yang) clone of the classic Zenoah Komatsu units. These have become industry standard as a good medium ground between the higher quality Zenoah units, and the cheap low quality copies. Displacement is 26cc, a welcome step up from the usually supplied 23cc engines in RTRs. It is mated to a regular CY clutch, and a 'can' style exhaust, which keeps noise down to a relatively manageable level, but strangles the engine a bit. The power from this engine, is more than acceptable for a stock RTR.

Most people will upgrade the pipe of any RTR as a matter of course, due to the huge power gains you can make with this simple modification, but I find that the can style pipes often give a good balance of performance/noise. Some people couldn't care less how much noise their RCs make, to those people I recommend the most powerful pipe they can find, as any extra power will be welcome in a 4wd platform. Personally living in one of the most densely populated cities in the world, I like to keep my noise down.

In going for a CY engine, Nutech have ensured that their model is compatible with most of the power upgrades available. A simple headkit replacement gives the option, rather than replacing the entire engine, to replace only the top half and piston, which is much cheaper than buying a complete engine, and yields the exact same performance increase (eg if you buy a 30cc headkit and fit it on your 26cc engine, there is no difference than buying a 30cc engine straight off the bat, except a headkit is often less than half the price of a new engine. This is one of the advantages of gas engines over nitro. The TB2 also features a 700ml tank which should give around 40mins+ of runtime.

A fairly average air filter design has been employed on the TB2, favouring an open fronted type, over the closed type previously seen on Nutech/Smartech cars. It is a dual element, however, in my model, neither element was oiled. I applied air filter oil to the inner element, leaving the outer element dry, and I would highly recommend placing an outerwear cover over the whole filter assembly, just for additional protection.

The drivetrain is one of the shining acheivements of the car. It features all metal gears from the clutch all the way to the wheels, a nice and rare feature on an RTR. The power is transferred from the clutch through the clutch bell to a pair of hardened steel gears (pinion and spur), then via a shaft to a helical cut pinion driving the center diff ring gear. In turn, the diff drives the front and rear driveshafts, which turn the front and rear diffs (via helical ring and pinion gears again, front and back), transferring power to the wheels. Sadly, there are a lot of right angles inherent in the design, which sap power before it gets to the wheels, but this is unavoidable for all shaft designs.

One of the complaints I had heard from others (though I didn't have this issue myself) concerning the TB1 (and the truck on which it is based, the Titan), is that the diff bulkheads were too weak, and when putting more powerful engine and pipe combinations, the diffs would try to burst out of their cases, in some cases succeeding. This has been addressed by making the diff bulkheads a touch smaller, and while that may seem like the wrong way to go, it actually increases stiffness of the plastic. To be honest, this is not so much of a worry in the buggy models, due to their smaller diameter wheels putting less strain on the ring and pinion gears of the diffs, but it's good that they have tried to address this. Only long term testing will reveal how effective this change has been.

The real bonus of the drivetrain changes, as I briefly mentioned in the intro, is the fact that all the differentials are now sealed and will hold silicone oil. After the tires, this is the single most effective handling (tuning) option available to the off road basher/racer. This will make a huge difference to the way the car handles, straight out of the box. The diffs already have some sort of locking grease in them, though it is impossible to say what strengths are employed, so I'll just describe the out of the box setup: The center is predictably very stiff, the front slightly less stiff, and the rear fairly loose. I will definitely be playing with different oils in these until I am happy I have found a combination that compliments my driving style.

The main gears are covered by a plastic cover to prevent rocks and debris from getting in between them, and warnings about moving parts are stuck to the outside of the cover, to avoid unexpected loss of wandering fingers. The characteristic 'jingle' is still apparent in the drivetrain of this model, as it is in all the cars based on this design. To put it simply, when you are running the car, it's like there is a GI Joe inside the cockpit, ringing a little bell constantly. It might irritate you at first, but you'll quickly get used to it.

It's caused by the meshing of the two flat cut hardened steel gears under the aforementioned plastic gear cover. When removed and dinged together, they produce a very clean musical note, like a bell or a tuning fork. I have become used to the noise they make, and it does not bother me at all, in fact, I find it kind of friendly and would miss it if it was not there. In any case, the important thing to note here, is that it is normal, nothing is loose, and it does not affect performance. Dogbones are still fat and very heavy duty. so far they haven't made any effort to pop out of their equally heavy duty drive cups either.

The brakes are intact from the 1/8th scale buggy type design, large fiber discs fore and aft of the center diff, to allow some tunability in terms of brake bias, though I find there is little value in setting the bias to anything much other than 50/50 or at most 55/45 (front bias), as the center diff should be very stiff to get best performance (using silicone oils), and any braking on one disc will also slightly brake the other side as well. I'm leaving mine at 50-50. I like the dramatic look of a car locking up all four wheels at the same time and skidding to a stop. We'll talk more about this in the 'Out for a Bash' section later on.

Finally, the stylish rims have a reassuring feeling of solidity about them and the design is appropriately meaty for the car on which they sit. The tires are a surprisingly good multi-purpose dirt and gravel tire, and are very well glued to the rims (far too perfect to be done by hand, must be a machine). All four corners wear the exact same size rims and tires, as one would expect for a 4x4. I have found the grip AND durability of these tires to be hundreds of percent above my expectations, they really are excellent on dust and gravel. I haven't done any rocky running, so I can't comment on their durability under extreme duress, some may still find they rip on sharp rocks as do all but the most durable large scale tires. It's hard to avoid when putting 4hp plus to the ground, we'll have to wait and see.

The best part of the Titan based models is thankfully largely unchanged on the TB2... The awesome shocks. The changes which have been made are definitely in the positive category. As mentioned above, this time around the oils in the shocks are correctly specified, and the conical pistons make the shock action very realistic (soft bound, quick rebound). I think back to when I first unboxed my FG MT, considered one of the best large scale models available, and how unbelievably poor the shocks were. No such problem here, these shocks are as functional as they are massive and beautiful.

The shock shafts are like tree trunks, there's no possibility of bending them, the shocks themselves are noticably bigger than any other I've seen on a 1/5th scale model, and suspend the car very nicely indeed. They are fitted with double o-rings at the alloy bottom caps, and a diafragm under the top caps, both of these do their job of preventing leaks admirably.

The shock bodies are not threaded for adjustment, and those of you who know me well, will know also that I am an advocate of this on off road cars, especially large scale where the thread on the shock is bigger than on smaller scales, dust gets into the threads, and destroys the o-rings on the adjusting ring after only a few adjustments. When this happens the rings get loose, and 'creep' up the shock during use.

Instead, the tried and true 'spacer' method is used to obtain the desired ride height. A few more spacers in the box would have been nice, but the car rides pretty high, even without any preload spacers installed. Even with the reduced number and thickness of the spacers, this car still sits over 6cm from chassis bottom to level ground, it has the ground clearance of a monster truck.

Steering is handled via the usual bellcrank system, as found on pretty much all RC models, just beefed up a lot. Also supplied is a big fat servo saver which does its job well, and can be adjusted from very slack to very stiff without the use of tools or any disassembly. On my sample it was much too tight, and I recomend slackening it off a lot, then slowly tightening as needs dictate. This will help avoid stripped servo horns when landing awkwardly or hitting rocks.

The configuration of the suspension arms is exactly what you would expect at the front with upper and lower A-arms on hingepins. There are spacers on the upper hingepins on each side of the upper arms, to allow for a small amount of caster adjustment at the front. The steering arms have also true reverse threaded turnbuckles (with tool points) for toe adjustment. As previously mentioned, the turnbuckles themselves have been beefed up considerably, and are now a lot thicker than even aftermarket turnbuckles I have seen. If one of these breaks or bends, I will be truly astonished. I particularly appreciate this, as I have broken two steering arms on my FG from very insignificant accidents. There is no way this will happen here.

The rear upper arms are still nothing more than a turnbuckle, and while I'd prefer to see a real a-arm, so far it seems fine. It's not a part that comes under particular strain anyway, so no major concerns.

The polished stainless lower hingepins, front and rear, are fully captured in the nice alloy hingepin holders (or lower arm braces as they have become known recently), so no c-clips or nuts, another feature which is not common on any RTR car, let alone on a supposedly low cost Chinese vehicle. The front upper arms only, still use c-clips.

The car is not supplied with swaybars or anti-roll bars, but it is patently obvious from the shape of the plastic diff covers and bulkheads, that the car has been designed with them in mind. No doubt they will be available as an option at some point. There is a big fat groove in the front and rear bulkheads, where one would expect an anti-roll bar to sit. In fact, due to the obviousness of this arrangement, the anti-roll bar is conspicuous in its absence.

Finally (I've saved the best for last) on the steering side, are the alloy CNC front steering hubs (steering blocks). Yep, that's right, CNC steering blocks!!! Not only does this mean more durability, but more importantly, better seating for the wheel bearings, and less flex. This a first, as far as I know, for any RTR gas car, and is certainly unheard of at this price point. The CNC steering knuckles for FG cars are a $60 plus upgrade.

The main chassis is what we have come to expect from most RC cars. A solid piece of thick aluminum, curled up slightly at the edges for rigidity. The chassis anodising (as all of the anodising on the car, except the steering knuckles, front arm brace, shock bodies and chassis braces, which are left natural metal for contrast) is a cool looking black. The chassis is 4mm thick and seems rigid enough, certainly for off road use.

The silver philips head screws do much to accentuate the detail against the black anodising and give the car a nice sporty look, even with the body off. Unfortunately, that's the only good thing they do, nobody really wants philips head screws, but we'll get into that again in a minute...

Wherever those screws pass through a piece of alloy, the alloy has been countersunk to avoid screw heads sticking out and catching on things. This goes for all the alloy parts and not just the chassis underside.

Another nice feature are the huge CNC alloy chassis braces. These are an obvious throwback to the 1/8th buggy inspired design, as these parts are also found on all 1/8th buggies and truggies, and look almost identical in implementation. These two very solid pieces of alloy are very apparent, dominating the front and rear of the chassis. They are not anodised, instead they have been left a natural silver, which further serves to draw the eye to their imposing presence against the black chassis and plastics. These braces should ensure that the front chassis kick-up doesn't get bent, except in the most extreme of head on collisions, and give some stiffness to the rear.

Other alloy parts of note on the car are the hingepin holders (lower arm braces), the steering knuckles, the center diff coverplate, the shock towers, the front top plate and the entire shock assemblies. Not many models are supplied with all those parts in alloy. Kinda makes you wonder what the hop up options are going to be, since it doesn't seem to need any!?

In actual fact, I know that the following hop ups will be available soon, if not by the time this review is posted...

• Front and rear sway bars
• Alloy center diff carriers
• Alloy gearbox covers (F/R)
• Alloy servo mounts
• Alloy gas cap
• Vented steel clutch bell
• Alloy clutch carrier
• Alloy engine mounts (2 separate pieces sold as 1 item)
• A 3-shoe lauterbacher type racing clutch
• Alloy diff housings
• Alloy C-hubs
• Alloy rear hub carriers
• CVD driveshafts

I've ranted in the forums in the past about philips screws and fasteners and I'm going to again here. Why oh why can't these cars be supplied with hex hardware? I can't believe that the cost difference between hex and philips hardware, is so great at the volumes these companies are buying/making, that it affects the profit margin on a car like this, and personally, I think there's no excuse for it. HPI showed us that it can be done with an RTR at roughly the same price point, so why can't others follow suit?

This was a big issue for me last year with the last large scale car I tested, and if anything, it's an even bigger issue now, as the market is even more competitive and this car is so much better, it doesn't deserve to be let down by this detail. Come on Nutech, everybody wants HEX. At least make a set of hex screws available, so I can add it the list of options above.

FG style wheel squares are employed on each corner, giving near endless options for wheel and tire combinations. This is a really nice feature and shows consideration for the hobbyist. Too many hobby companies are using proprietary wheels and/or wheel mountings, reducing customer choice to OEM products which may or may not be up to par with more standardised parts (I'm talking to you, HPI and MCD ;)

The rollcage is standard plastic solid tubing, nothing of note there, except that the design incorporates the rear wing mount and 'bumper' if you can call it that. Basically, it's an extension of the rollcage hanging out the back of the car, ala HPI Baja 5B, and not only adds to the look of the car, but also serves as a reasonable wheely bar and rear bumper. Future rear exhaust options will probably take advantage of the added protection offered by this looped extension of the rollcage. As with all the plastics throughout the car, the material of the rollcage is of good quality, strong yet flexible.

The fuel tank leaks from the cap. It's a shame really cos it's a minor spoiler, but considering the cost of an aftermarket alloy cap, it's not the biggest deal in the world. Just make sure you line your car's trunk with something on the way to the bash spot, if there is fuel in the tank, and especially if you like to corner hard (I do and I have a nice smell of petrol in my trunk now). The tank could also do with some extra venting as it suffers slightly from the classic half tank lean condition, but again, it's not a serious issue. If you bring it to your feet, let it idle for 20 seconds, the pressure normalises and you're off again. I'll be installing a vent pipe myself in the near future. Note: Nutech has addressed both of these issues in production models, this should no longer be an issue.

Overall, a round of applause on material choices and design aspects.

I had a number of people ask me what the word 'Aesthetics' means after my last review, so... Aesthetics is how something looks. Great aesthetics means it's good looking, bad aesthetics means it looks like a dog's dinner. Moving on...

I didn't like the way Smartech's original Thunderbolt looked and in my independent review of that car (don't searc RCU magazine for it, it's not there!), I had ranted about it for a couple of paragraphs. I still feel the same way, it was an ugly car and it never grew on me. Now I have to find a way to ramble on about how much I LOVE the look of the new car in order to fill the same amount of space! I don't think it's going to be difficult though, I really like the aesthetics of the new car.

OK, so lets start with the new body, since that's the most obvious aesthetic piece. As you can see from the pics, it's a stunner. In my opinion, it looks good from every angle, and is sure to turn a lot of heads at your local bash spot. Not only is it highly sexy, but it also fits properly!! Who'dathunkit?

No, seriously, none of the issues that plagued the fitment (and overall design) of the TB1 body, are present in the new car. No effort has been made to make the fuel tank accessible without body removal (good, no huge great holes in the side of the body), and instead of 5 clips (4 of them small and awkwardly placed), the TB2 needs only 3, and they are all big and easily accessible. I have only one complaint... The exhaust stinger faces side, and to compensate for this, a simple 90 degree bent rubber pipe directs gasses toward the ground. On the very first run of the car, this little pipe went missing. Nutech has now redesigned this so that it stays in place.

Another notable issue with the body, is the fact that it retains heat due to its quite close fitting design. I run in places where it regularly hits 95*F and heat soak is a problem. I will be cutting the windows and windshield out to compensate for this, as I had noticed that running without a body increased engine performance quite a bit. You'll notice in the video that the engine is breathing noticably better when the body is off.

The rear wing mounting which I have already mentioned several times, is a fantastic addition, really strengthens and stiffens up the rear end and the wing itself, which is essentially the same in design, but has some extra ribbing on the plastic for additional strength. All in all, the body and rear end looks like it has been properly thought out, rather than a fleeting afterthought.

As I mentioned, the rims are great, and the rich yellow colour compliments the flame design of the body and contrasts nicely with the deep blue. One small issue however, was that during transit, my car had been sitting on it's wheels (in the box), slightly misshaping the foams in the tire. This gave the tires an unbalanced feel on the first couple of runs, but slowly worked itself out. I strongly recommend to Nutech that they do not fit the wheels to the car for transport, to avoid this. When storing the car, the wheels should be off the ground to prevent exactly this situation from happening.

The optional 'carbon look' body pictured above can be supplied on the stock car, for an additional $50 on the asking price. In addition to the body, there are several other black items included with this package, such as a black fuel tank and black rims. The part number for the blacked out version is the same as given in the specifications above, with an F on the end, ie 057900F. It is also supplied with a carbon look wing as well, to complete the image.

The combination of black and natural alloy used throughout is also very easy on the eye, and indeed the overall package is commensurate with the suggestion that someone actually thought about how to make the car look good as well as work well. Bravo to that person, it worked.

Already I've run out of ways to say 'Isn't it pretty?', so lets move on.

This is going to be a short section, there's only so much you can say about RTR radios, even one as well specced as this...

As I mentioned above, it's a 2.4Ghz transmitter and receiver. This is a great thing for so many reasons, but mainly the fact that the usual 27mhz AM and FM units operate on a frequency which receives interference from the magneto unit in the engine (the part that generates the spark in the spark plug). No such trouble here. Of course it's crystal free, and gives the hobbyist a great confidence, especially if running where there are other models.

The inclusion of independent EPA for throttle and steering is really important, especially on large scale models, where inappropriately configured end points can cause serious battery drain and in the worst cases burn up very expensive servos. Setting this up properly not only resolves these issues but also reduces strain on the throttle arm of the engine, and also allows for very precise brake adjustments on the fly without needing a screwdriver. Great job on that Nutech.

In the pictures you can see a small scale steering servo. This is no longer the standard equipment on the car, and my model has been updated since these pictures. Nutech now supply a large scale servo on steering, which is both strong and fast. I have experienced no problems with them, except the stripping of one steering servo horn, which I put down to the servo saver being too tight from the factory (mentioned above). The servo mounts themselves have been conceived to accept either a regular small scale servo or a large scale servo. Another good feature giving the hobbyist additional options over many cars.

The only real disappointment in the electrics area, is the lack of a rechargeable receiver pack. Expecting people to put 4 AA alkaline batteries into the supplied holder and use that as a battery, is just not feasible in a $900+ model, let alone the fact that they simply don't have the juice to steer a 4wd large scale car.

The failsafe is for signal loss only, which these days is a little inadequate for gassers, but it's still commendable that they put it in there. I strongly recommend a proper aftermarket kill switch failsafe, that will cut in AND kill the engine, in case of signal loss, battery depletion, battery disconnection, and almost any other kind of radio failure you can imagine. Even if something goes wrong with the radio that does not trip the kill switch, all you have to do is turn off your transmitter, and the engine will die. Consider these type of failsafes essential equipment to be ordered with the car, along with a receiver battery and outerwears.

The radio box is fairly large and I had no problem fitting a 4500mAh battery, with tamiya style charging jack, the reciever and all the cabling into it comfortably.

Genuine congratulations on the radio gear are in order. Too often RTRs are supplied with poor electronics necessitating immediate upgrades at no small cost. This equipment should see the beginner and casual hobbyist into the foreseeable future, only a receiver battery and a steering servo upgrade should ever be needed. We should also note however, that the car CAN be supplied from the factory with either AM, FM or 2.4Ghz radios. I already know that the US and Canada will see the 2.4Ghz units, and I hope other regions will see the benefit of this, as it is up to the distributors what radio they order their cars with. My fingers are crossed for the European market, as I have seen the AM radio, and it is not special at all.

So a quick recap... The diffs now hold oil, the engine is decent and the car is beautiful. Electronics are well above expectations too, except for the lack of an rx pack, understandable really considering the improvements, a little had to be cut from somewhere, and this is where I would have probably cut costs myself if I were in charge at Nutech.

All in all, and as I really expected, this is one truly awesome package for the price. When you consider all the features that are stock equipment, it's actually quite mind-blowing. In terms of features and alloy parts, it exceeds most of my current models, some of which have had thousands of dollars more spent on them. As an out of the box feature set, it surpasses any other large scale RTR on the market. Yes, you heard correctly; best features of any RTR gasser on the market, and better than a lot of cars sold as racing rollers too! It's been a struggle to find something significant to complain about through this entire review. A warning to the other manufacturers... Nutech is changing the rules of the game.

With Nutech putting so much effort into aftermarket and parts support, there's nothing to stop them taking a fair market share as a quality product mentioned in the same breath as FG or MCD, forever separating themselves from the cheapness associated with other Chinese models. The car is already more than competitive with similar Western and European products in terms of features, so with the right hop ups and parts availability, selecting a Nutech model for your next gasser should be a no-brainer.

Still, the proof is in the pudding as they say, so lets get it down in the dirt!

This section is written with about 6 tanks through the car, and many hours seat-time. Also, I should qualify that I am using a Spektrum radio (DX3), as my sample was supplied with the AM radio, which is not going to be used in production models. Rather than wait to have the new stock unit sent to me, I decided I could achieve the same effect by installing a Spektrum receiver and just getting on with it.

The needles on the carb of the supplied CY 26cc engine were set at an appropriate setting to allow the car to start and idle straight away, no fiddling required. I mentioned earlier that I had to oil the inner element of the filter, DON'T FORGET TO DO THIS, especially if you run in a dusty area, as I do.

After pootling around for a half hour, I decided that was enough break in for a CY engine, and I started tuning. As with all gas engines, tuning is very easy and the effects of what you are doing are immediately apparent. This one was no different, and after literally 5 minutes, I had a tune I was reasonably happy with. The car idled very stably, and while lacking massive grunt due to the 4wd drivetrain and the restrictive can style pipe, it took off fairly aggressively as well, spraying the gravel far and wide from all 4 corners of the car. After a few tanks, it'll have opened up somewhat and want to be leaned out a touch more.

Here we go with the superlatives then... This car drives like no other RTR I've ever run, straight out of the box. The handling is nothing short of incredible. It just goes where you point it, no questions asked. The stock suspension setup is very good, not racing sharp, but it makes the car very easy to drive well. It grips like a lizard in even the loosest of surfaces (see the vids). This handling is in no small part, also down to those outstanding tires. Sure, I'm lucky, it happens that I run on the surface these tires must be absolutely designed for, but hey, I'm not complaining! They also screech like a 1:1 car on asphalt under braking, and are great on all the types of off road surface I have tried, from hard pack to loose gravel and everything in between. The only surfaces I haven't tried, are extreme bumpiness, and grass.

The 4wd system kicks up great rooster tails from front and rear, due to the good and thick grease supplied in the center diff. I was really surprised at the quality of the setup, it's clear some thought has gone into it in order to make the car usable by all skill levels right out of the box. The suspension geometry, the shock oils, and even the diffs are remarkably close to the setups I would want if I configured them with my own oils. It's also a really nice thing to have 4wd donuts made possible, more accurately described as pirouettes. Stamp on the gas with the wheels turned and you are soon in a tornado of spinning wheels and flying dust while the car whirls around on the spot like a tasmanian devil. Similarly, with just a little opening of the steering, you can easily encourage it to maintain a perfect drift going round in an open circle.

The front diff is medium to stiff (and remember, this is just with a factory blocking grease, not even silicone oil), while the center is quite stiff, and the rear quite loose. A standard configuration reminiscent of the classic 5-7-1 setup commonly used in 1/8th buggies. Anyway, this setup gives exactly the right amount of torque transferrence to keep the car under control without losing performance. You can see in some of the action photos how much the inside front tire was swelling, which is always satisfying to see, and especially at this scale. Remember these tires are almost the same diameter as the spread of an adult hand (to be precise, they are 170mm, the same as the FG Baja and HPI Baja tire diameter).

This tire swelling is due to the fact that some of the torque was being sent to the lightest corner by the diffs, this is good as it keeps the car under control. Of course if you want full drift behaviour, you always have the option of filling the center with something like 50,000 silicone or installing an aftermarket diff locker (such a product is expected from Vertigo Performance in the near future). I'll probably go with the locker myself when its available, as I consider myself a fairly advanced dirt slinger, however, the bonus of the out of the box setup is how easy it is to drive. Anyone can look like a master and even a child or a first time hobbyist will get on well with its easy handling.

After four tanks, the tires still look like new. I can't stress how good these tires are, I'm even considering buying a few extra sets to put on my other cars, as they are tremendous for the surfaces I run on. Check out some of the action shots, you can see it lifting the front wheels on occasion, very surprising for a 4wd.

As expected, it jumps like a 1/8th buggy. Very flat and very easy. This is obviously a virtue of the similarity of the designs and the almost 50-50 balance of the car when the fuel tank is full. This centre of gravity will shift toward the rear as the tank empties though, due to it's forward location on the chassis. It won't get much further back than 55-45 though, and since the airborne attitude of the chassis is easily corrected with throttle and brake application, it's easy to compensate. In the videos, I had been jumping over a dirt mound, and as you can see, there were plenty of crashes (more about the durability in a minute), but this is due to the shape of that natural obstacle, rather any fault of mine, or the balance of the car, it was just an awful shape for trying to do jumps. Off a ramp or a properly shaped jump on a track, you can expect much better results.

As it turned out, these crashes worked out well as a means of showing off the durability of the car which so far has been outstanding. I haven't lost a dogbone or suffered any major failure, apart from that stripping of the steering servo horn I mentioned. This was due to a terrible landing from a jump and an overly tight servo saver. Once again, I must reiterate the need to slacken it off more, or replace the servo horn with an alloy aftermarket one.

As you can see from the video, the car takes a beating and comes back for more. No worries on the durability front.

What's left to say... looks great, excellent spec, drives awesome. Very rewarding and genuinely surprising how well it goes. No complaints at all... Oh wait... one thing... it could use a bit more steering lock. Not much of a problem, since you can whip it round by applying gas, but it does have a surprisigly wide turning circle. I'll be looking into some kind of DIY steering mod to get it turn in a bit more sharply. Nutech are also working on this, and may produce an update pack for the car in the future incorporating such a modification.

Enjoy the action shots and video below. One small note about the action shots... Apparent in a few of the shots is a fair quantity of silicone oil on the right lower arms. This had come out of the right front shock absorber due to a failure of the plastic cap. This was reported to Nutech during testing, and the design has been altered to incorporate alloy bottom caps for all the shocks, eliminating this problem. All models are now supplied with alloy bottom shock caps. Further evidence of Nutech's commitment to producing a quality product, this was not the only design update that was performed based on my (and others) testing, as there had also been a problem with the radio box which is now resolved. Nutech obviously care a great deal about this release and kudos to them for making a number of important alterations, and not upping the price even though these must have increased their cost fractionally.

Enjoy the action shots below.

Action Shots:

Download and Watch in Windows Media Player here!

So, as you can surely tell, I really like this car. I like the forward thinking attitude of the company that makes it, and I think they are set to have a big impact on the large scale market if not the entire hobby (as they are also slowly coming out with smaller scale electric and nitro models as well).

Also planned for the future are a truggy and trophy truck based on this Thunderbolt platform, and a monster truck as well, which will have some significant suspension geometry and gearing changes. I bet that'll be an absolute riot to drive.

If Nutech maintain RTR specifications similar to this, and continue to produce eye-catching designs, I see them installing themselves firmly in the middle market as a car of choice. With a few choice alloy upgrades (engine mounts, diff mounts, clutch carrier), I see this being a highly effective racing platform as well.

I highly recommend this model to beginners and advanced hobbyists alike. Everyone will find something to love about this car, and little that disappoints.

Look out for distributor and reseller information in the forums and on Nutech's site soon.

Thanks for reading, and making it all the way to the bottom of this long review.

Foxy out.