Offroad car based on RC model

[Drusky]

I read about this in our local CAR mag. They had a pic of what looked like and SC8 as their inspiration, apparently it is doing very well:





Here's an online article that doesn't mention the RC car inspiration.

[justinspeed79]

I saw a tv show about trophy trucks one time that said they looked at RC's as part of the research and design phase.

From the pics, that truck looks like a standard trophy truck, or am I missing something?

[Drusky]

South African Off Road racing scene, special vehicles category, class A

So what is revolutionary about the Revo? Simple, it is the first serious attempt at four-wheel drive Class A Special Vehicle. Power comes from an American built 500hp 6-litre engine and is delivered to all four BF Goodrich tyres via a 6-speed gearbox. Despite a serious air restrictor fitted to keep it in line with the other Class A entries it pulls strongly.

With so much torque on hand, ratios can be kept short but top speed is slightly limited when compared to some of the past competitors. A top speed of just over 180km/h is calculated, which might appear slow but trust me when you doing that off road and approaching a metre deep rut it is insanely fast.

Obviously the suspension is key in making the Revo so fast over harsh conditions. Each and every bump is soaked up with minimal fuss or jolting. While the engine is located behind the cockpit the Revo tendency is to drop the nose over bumps. This ensures that very little hang-time is had and the driven front wheels can keep pulling the monster forward.

I watched from the outside as the Motorite car scrambled across a half metre deep washboard – the body stayed level while the front and rear wheels moved up and down with contours. I was expecting the engine revs to fluctuate with the bumps but impressively, little acoustic change was heard.

Although the Motorite car is locally designed, built and maintained it carries some serious technology that we are only really used to seeing in some high-end German saloons. Bergmann can plug in his lap top pull out information like throttle position, engine temperature, max speed, max revs and, and and...
But to the laymen the most notable and seemingly most useful development on the car besides the 4WD is the paddle shift gear shifter.

Carbon-fibre paddles that look like they were whipped off an Audi or Beemer sit behind the Sabelt suede steering wheel. Pull the right paddle and in 0.002 you have the next cog in the box. Approach a tight bend pull the left paddle and it comes back down the box equally fast. While doing this the software automatically blips the loud pedal and finds the correct revs for a smooth change. The benefits are numerous.

By synchronising the revs and changes there is less mechanical strain on the box, clutch and driveshafts and there is the advantage that you don’t need to take your hand off the steering wheel. If you are in the wrong gear mid-corner you can quickly and safely swap a cog whereas before most drivers would keep in the incorrect gear and chug around the turn. A manual lever has been put in place in case of a computer gremlin faulting the paddles.

The cabin is not German saloon specification however. Once you’ve climbed the jungle-gym and got into the car from the top you are hugged by some Sabelt buckets. A 6-point Sabelt harness holds you in place and your helmet keeps the bugs from blinding you. Air is pumped into your lid via a Hoover-styled pipe and communication with the driver comes via a microphone and earpiece mounted inside the helmet. There’s a dash mounted GPS, odo, a herd of toggle switches and that’s about it.

Not a very technical article I'm afraid but nonetheless quite interesting.

[Mr. ED]

those headlights are just decals , not?

I dig the shortened bed