I think a belt-drive 1/8 buggy would be cool. As for the flimsy-ness of belts, the solution is to go with a stronger one :yes:. Some day in the future I would totally want to make a belt-drive 1/8 buggy, but it would be custom made so I could play around with different belt widths, pitches, and materials.

Heck I just thought about converting our normal ring gear bevel diffs into suitable belt-driven bevel diffs: just machine an adapter (like that adapter that would allow the old plastic Ofna 51t spur gear to fit on other diffs), and mount a machined pulley to it. Everything else would be cake.

That is why man invented covers. :mdr: ALL of the belts have covers on them. That's my second favorite design aspect- next to the belt drive itself. The 4WS would be third. :tongue: Speaking of which the 4WS could easily be disabled by locking the rear bellcrank in place.

I've already decided I'm going to buy one of these. I've already started saving the $1000+ I'll need for the kit. :oh:

XXX-4 had covers which was pretty pointless

Well the entire point of a cover is to keep things out. So if they didn't work then they were pointless! :lol: I can see now where your disdain for belt driven RC's comes from. Personally, I like the silence. No more "rattling dogbones" with slotted BL motors.....

I've never really like the idea of belts, though I haven't owned a belt driven car to say for sure which is better.
I like the idea of having all the weight in the centre, but it looks like it won't be able to have a centre diff, which means it probably won't be something I'd consider getting.

Well your not missing out on much, just extra maintaince

If that's the case then it's something I don't mind missing out on.

goota give who ever did it credit, they are trying to get out of the normal, it looks to have PERFECT balance, look at how LOW the whole car looks even the wing, it looks like itd be glued to the track................ and if the rear steering was ditched, and a strong enough belt system made with a good sealed housing (not that hard, make it like an atv's) with a slipper clutch.

and as for not having a center diff, 1/10thscale 4wds dont have a center diff and they EASLIY run just as fast on most all tracks as any center diff equiped 1/8thscale buggy can. NOW we obviously wouldnt want the ball diffs and do as someone else already said and have a belt spur made to fit the 1/8th scale diffs all ready out.

i think its an EXCELLENT idea and concept, it just has some obvious things that need simplfied.

One option is to throw a one-way somewhere between the motor and front diff. It wouldn't be as good as a center diff, but close (could install a neat mechanical brake setup on the front and get front/rear braking bias).

BTW, a "belt spur" is called a pulley :lol:

I dont agree with anything you guys say. Your all to attached to gear diffs

I run my cyclone (10th TC) On anything from parking lot bumpy ass rocky tracks, to Speed world race way, a permanent race facility since 99', to carpet indoors

And I have gone as far as a mamba max 5700 with a 3s lipo out font of my house smoking the rubber tires. I NEVER had to buy a new belt once. I raced 10.5, and 13.5, occasionally MOD, all with lipo batts.

The losi belt cars blow nads, but just because one car is junk, doesnt mean they all are, the losi has 1 belt, and that makes using everything on the car hard as hell.

And I have my Mugen MTX4R, the thing has 3 belts, 2 F/R belts, and a side belt, never had a rock stuck in it from out front of my house, to the track, or never had a jacked up drive train. The drive train in the Cyclone, and Mugen is smooth as heck, it will free spin just fine.

I know if the guy designed that buggy right it would work way better then a normal buggy would, its the people like you guys who wont give it a try is the reason the stuff like this isnt coming out

I dont mean to offend anyone, so do take it like that. Just trying to get my say in

Belts could be done as long as they can be protected from the stones and stuff. I mean if they can drive motorcycles and snowmobiles and stuff on them why couldn't it be done well in a 1/8 scale?

It would take some development, to make it robust, but I think its possible. It would need a way to diff the center like the current systems to handle well so thats a challenge.

Not sure about that 4 wheel steering thing.... Whats the point, its not a crawler. Seems silly to me. In real cars that have attempted 4 wheel steering it is pretty much only active at low speeds because at high speeds it creates instability.

I bet it would be real hard to keep it straight going down the straight away.
It would probably be real twitchy.

i had a brain fart the other day :wink:

and i agree with blackedoutrevo, there are plenty of tough belt cars already made, they only need to beef it up a little to handle the extra weight and strain of 1/8th scale offroad racing and itd be fine. plus just think if your battery is sitting in the perefect middle you dont have to worry about how big of a battery you run so much like we do now for balance, i mean you could run a 6s 5000 battery in the buggy with a 1500-1700 kv motor and we could easily run 30 minute mains with NO stops :yes:, also the chassis could be very narrow since everything sits on the center......

plus to help keep dirt out there wouldnt need to be any holes in the bottom of the chassis and the mud guards could wrap all the way around to the diff housing in the rear and use velcro for the body thus helping keep most all of teh dirt out.

I could make one work. The problem I see with this concept this guy have, is that have made it too complex. The most effective set ups out there are the most simple. I'll start cooking up some drawing and if time allows, I'll make one. Might be a waste of time, but if it works it should look cool.