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The Slasher: Traxxas Slash 2WD Short Course Racer
By Justin Banner
About 12 years ago, my family bought me something I would quickly become addicted to. They knew how much of a gearhead I was and how much I loved racing, but also always knew that buying me a full sized race car was out of reach for all of us. So on my birthday, they gave me my first RC Truck; a 1/10th scale HPI RS4 MT. It was a monster truck style racer that was based off of the RS4 chassis. For its time, the RS4 MT was fairly advanced with shaft driven 4WD as opposed to using belts. This made the RS4 tougher and easier to maintain as there were no belts to tension or break. Racing the truck was an awesome experience and my Uncle helped me with tuning it as he had RC racing experience.
Being a 2 Stroke Nitro truck, it didn't take long until the engine finally bit the dust. Cheap fuel didn't help much either. So, I got enough money together and installed a .12 cubic inch engine that made 1 horsepower, nearly doubling the original engine's power level. That engine was what is still considered to be a racing sized engine today. I didn't really think about it too much until the throttle stuck and the truck cleared my two lane road, twice. It was at that moment I knew this was going to be fun.
Fast forward 3 years and I buy my next chassis, another HPI, but this time the RS4 Rally. It was an electric rally car that used two belts to power the wheels. For a while, I used the Ford Focus rally body until I got a Nissan 350Z body to use. I also decided it was time to try my hand at racing on the pavement. I bought the tires and suspension to transform the rally car into a road racing car and gave it a go. Naturally, I sucked. However, even though I knew my driving skills weren't up to par, my car should have been faster than what it was. Sure enough, by the time I got to my heat the brushes in my motor had failed and I couldn't run.
Eventually, I sold that car as I didn't have much time to run it as I was going to school for my Computer and Electronics degree. A few more years have passed now and my birthday has come up again. I went out to some hobby shops just looking around until I spoted something that was bright orange, with a number 7 on it, something that looked familiar.
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| Sure enough, it is a Robby Gordon Edition of the Traxxas Slash 2WD truck. Being a fan of Gordon's, I was nearly sold on it. However, I really didn't want to spend a fortune on it. That's when it's a great time to have your birthday fall on a holiday. President's Day to be exact. The truck was on sale and I picked it up for just $270.00, tax included. If I had bought it normally, I was looking at around $300.00 or more. Swipe goes the card and the box goes in the car. |
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| If you are familiar with old RC off road trucks, you'll notice something different right away with this truck. Typically, RC off road trucks have tires of cartoonish proportions and bodies not much wider than the chassis. This truck on the other hand showcases a new trend in the RC off road world; Short Course Trucks. That means the wheels, tires, and bodies are more closely related to their real world Short Course Truck counterparts. This truck was modeled after Robby Gordon's Traxxas TORC (The Off Road Championships) Truck that is sponsored by Speed Energy, Polaris, and Toyo Tires. I think I have some people to call. |
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| If you have been paying attention to the off road world in real life, you'll know that Robby is starting up a new Stadium Truck series and Traxxas has also become a sponsor of the series. Those trucks actually resemble this little truck here, even the headlight and grill decals match. |
