Rudebits DB1 - Toy envy for racers

After nearly a week of tinkering with my new Rudebits DB1 buggy, and also one trip to a local club meeting to run the car on carpet, I am really happy to announce that as far as being pleased with the new buggy.....well that may be a slight understatement!

I can't remember what my first ever toy was as a child, but I can remember many of the treasured items that I clung to night and day some 30 years ago when I was a knee-high 'rugrat'. I recall spending hours of my childhood sitting playing with Matchbox cars and building racing tracks out of Lego bricks. I also remember the feeling of wonderment when I first laid eyes on the Tamiya Boomerang buggy that my father built for me when we shared our first RC experiences all those years ago. As children, we all find a truly enigmatic pleasure in the simple toys, the hours of playful distraction, and the imagination that is prompted by these early learning objects. We can also relate to the times we saw other children playing, and they had that toy that you always wanted...the one toy that would make your world...or so we thought at the age of 6. We will call it 'Toy Envy'

The day I clapped eyes on the Rudebits DB1 I was consumed with 'Toy Envy'. It really was that 'Gotta have it' feeling that as grown adults we are all so familiar with being around RC as a sport. I think anybody who loves the smaller scale of motor sport would agree when I say that shiny new toys, especially ones that look as cool as the Rudebits DB1 become not just a coveted object of desire, but a real method of time travel back to our childhood years. The DB1 is futuristic compared to the play things of the 1980's, but it conjures up a level of exclusive desire that can only be likened to that one thing we all experience at some stage in our lives....TOY ENVY!

OK, misty reminiscence aside...I mean this is an article about an off-road buggy not my philosophical ramblings about childhood folks! ;)  I was really keen to take my lovingly built DB1 and try it out on carpet, as my only experience of driving the car so far was on astro-turf at Silverstone Winter Series last weekend. I packed my full size car and headed over to see my old friends at Telford Hot Trax in the West Midlands. The club has recently relocated to a rather nice new venue and I was yet to race in the realms of this fresh new location. On arrival I was met with the usual smiles and banter from my club mates, including a few sharp jokes about if I had got 'The Rolls Royce' with me! I thought it would be a fitting way to 'break the car into' its first carpet meeting by spending some time with the guys at Hot Trax, as without the support they have all shown me over the last few years, I just would never have had the confidence to do what I do. Good start then.

I had spent the first part of this week adding a few little shiny bits to my new weapon!, and not just for aesthetic purposes...honest. I had taken my lead from David 'DB' Burton by adding a lovely DMS Partz rear carbon Lazer ZX shock tower. This upgraded tower is 4mm thick and beautifully created to sit perfectly where the stock plastic version is taken off. This causes no change in geometry as the DMS version benefits from all the same mounting positions and structural lines as the stock part. I had also added some new aluminium 3 Racing rear camber link plates that once again do away with the plastic versions that sit at the base of the rear shock tower mount. I had already pulled a ball stud out of both a rear hub carrier and the rear camber link mount at Silverstone, so this upgrade was not just for the 'bling of it' as they say.

Other than these few upgrades and a quick turn down on my motor timing, the buggy hit the Hot Trax carpet track exactly as it had left Silverstone the weekend prior. Straight away I could tell that my 6.5T motor combined with the unbelievable direct prop shaft driven system in my DB1 would prove to be a real animal in such a small environment. If I had planned better for this mid-week meeting I would have switched to my 7.5T motor and even geared the buggy down a little. It literally tried to eat the carpet for supper!! The DB1 is not a car that struggles with finding forwards traction at the best of times, and some careful throttle feathering was required to tease the potent motor and gearing combination around the small twisting track. But HOLD ON A MINUTE!!!! That is not exactly the whole truth.....as I ran my first few laps of my qualifying round I was suddenly struck with how much the DB1 was actually doing for me. Although my motor was a little lively for such a tight track, the DB1 just drove as if it was attached to rails!. After about 5 laps I found that I could put the buggy into corners tighter than anything else I have driven without fear of grip roll, or worse still...the dreaded under steer syndrome. I just pointed the buggy at the apex and around it went! Now to put this in perspective, our track at Telford Hot Trax is always tight and winding. It always makes for challenging driving even for the lads who run micro scale cars. The DB1 just giggled at the difficult lefts and rights. It exited corners with a little puff of rear tyre dust and as soon as I needed opposite lock....it surrendered in a calm and easy to handle fashion. It liked the carpet a lot.

Although I did experience some trouble with a faulty sensor cable, the DB1 just soaked up the twisting high grip track as if it was shouting "Go on...gimme some!!", and that is what is so strangely addictive about the DB1 as a product. When you drive the car and forget all the hype about science and price tag and national A final drivers, and Kyosho donor cars etc etc....when you just focus on just driving the buggy....you are slapped clean in the face with the realisation that in the hands of us mere mortals, it just seems like nothing can faze it. It often feels like the car is taunting you to push it even harder as it gracefully navigates around the apex of the bend. Then it sometimes feels like it is blowing a little raspberry at you as it glides past the rostrum mid-air as it did at Silverstone. It is cheeky, resolute, mature, and even a little sexy at times. Just when you think that you can't exit the corner as you intended, the DB1 brings you through it like a bottle of Night Nurse during the cold winter months! and as it went around the club track on Wednesday night, I realised that David Burton, Tony Evdoka, and Kevin Lee have worked together to give the DB1 something that is hard to achieve in today's world....a personality. The DB1 has stacks of grip, heaps of front end steering, really clean poise over bumpy sections, and is as fast as hell in the straights. Even in the hands of a very shaky racer such as me...it just feels safe. But the really wonderful thing that the DB1 does every single lap is that it makes you smile :), and why do we race folks? to have fun and smile. If the DB1 achieves nothing more than that, then I think the people who have created it can be very proud.

'Toy Envy' is what I felt before I owned and drove the Rudebits DB1, and now, after a few hours behind the sticks? well now I realise that if the guys responsible for this really exciting car had one thing on their mind when they began creating the concept...it was to make racing better for all those who come into contact with the car. The DB1 is fun, it definitely is fast, but most of all it is a buggy that seems to wink at you when you turn around and catch a glimpse of it like a cheeky child who has just been caught with his hand in the biscuit tin. Rudebits have certainly offered something to off-road RC racing that is difficult to find...a product that does live up to the hype...and then some.

To get your hands on your very own Rudebits DB1 visit: www.rudebits.co.uk
For a full list of DB1 spares and many other cool off-road items visit: www.insidelineracing.co.uk
To learn even more about the Rudebits DB1 visit oOple's Kyosho section here www.oople.com