TractionRoll RC

  • Xpress Pixel Z1 – First Impressions

    My Pixel Z1 showed up late last week and, after spending the weekend building it, I was finally able to get it on the track. Out of the box, the car drove better than I expected. With its narrow front and carbon chassis, I envisioned lots of traction rolling but the car was actually quite stable and easy to drive.

    Is the Pixel Z1 on par with some of the racer oriented cars from companies like Atomic, Xbility or Reflex? Absolutely not. At the end of the day it is still a $99 car that is 95% plastic. For the casual club racer, this is fine but, to make the Pixel Z1 competitive, its going to take some considerable effort to get it up to the same level as a pro-level car.

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  • Sabrent Voltik Charging Station – USB Power For All Your Devices

    I’m lucky to have a permanent pit space at our track and over the years, I’ve accumulated all sorts of electronic devices. Everything from battery and phone chargers to pit lights are plugged into multiple power strips and USB chargers. Needless to say, its quite the mess.

    With more and more chargers supporting the USB-C Power Delivery (PD) protocol, I’ve been thinking of adopting this technology. This would not only help clean up my pit space, but simplify things at big races as I would only need to bring one power supply.

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  • Xpress Pixel Z1 Requires Brass Chassis For 24mm Batteries

    Well, we all knew that Xpress had a bunch of upgrades for the Pixel Z1 on the way. What we didn’t know is what they looked liked on the car or, that if you wanted to use 24mm batteries, you will need the brass chassis.

    The reason for this is that you can’t mount the aluminum chassis stiffener (and the floating battery mount plate) nor the aluminum graphite battery mount to the graphite chassis. There are no mounting holes on the chassis for these upgrades.

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  • Marka v15 Front Tires – First Impressions

    Racing has been a bit slow (both literally and figuratively) at Madison Mini RC lately, so I’ve been taking the time to try out some new tire combos. I recently picked up a few sets of Marka’s new v15 front tires from Silverhorse. Aside from a report from my buddy Clint, there’s been very little info on these. Even Marka themselves have not said how the v15 tires compare to their other compounds.

    I read on Facebook that the V15F15 was the sweet spot with these so I picked up a couple sets of those as well as some F10s and F20s.

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  • Xpress Pixel Z1 – The Perfect Entry-Level Spec Racer?

    Xpress surprised many last week when they unveiled their first 1/28 scale racer, the Pixel Z1. While not exactly a household name in the U.S., the company’s touring cars have a massive following across Asia.

    To be honest, Xpress really isn’t breaking any new ground with the Pixel Z1. In fact, if I asked ChatGPT to design a 1/28 pan car, it would probably look something like what you see above.

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  • First Look At Atomic MFX F1 Car

    Kim Kim, the Atomic man himself, posted a picture of the new F1 car he’s been working on this morning. It’s a shot from the side showing how low the CG is on the car. Aside from the rear wing, the highest point on the chassis is the spur gear.

    One thing you may notice is that the F1 uses some sort of cantilevered suspension instead of traditional side springs. Other than that, the car brings over many design cues from the MRX Ultra such as a linkless pod, inline battery and a cutout for the servo.

    Update: The car will be called the MFX!

    Update 2: The MFX is expected to ship around September 20th and costs $329.99. You can pre-order one here or here.

    No word yet on when Atomic’s new F1 car will be available. As we find out more, we’ll let you know.

  • Hyper Tough 12V Cordless Blower Review

    Whether you’re racing or bashing, keeping your RC car clean can feel like an endless task. On RCP tracks, cars suck up dirt, debris and pieces of foam that end up in every nook and cranny. The easiest way to give your car a quick clean is to blow the debris out using an air compressor or a handheld blower.

    I’ve been in the market for a handheld blower for some time. There are some great ones on the market, but, as a dad on a budget, I have a hard time spending $80-$100 for one. When one of the car guys I follow on Facebook mentioned that you could get the Hyper Tough 12V 180-MPH Cordless Blower at Walmart for a mere $35, I ran out and picked one up.

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  • Team Associated TC28 A Flop?

    This afternoon, I’m scrolling through Facebook and I see a post declaring that Team Associated’s new 1/28 AWD car, the TC28, is already a flop in terms of customer support. I keep reading and I learn that the car only works with Team Associated wheels. I found this hard to believe because wheels at this scale work pretty much with all cars unless it has something to do with offsets or something like that. But no, that’s not the case with the TC28 as its CVD axle is a unique size.

    Photo credit goes to Zack Baker

    As you can see, the rectangular hole in the white, TC28 wheel is quite a bit larger than the yellow, standard AWD wheel. Now, you could enlarge the hole a bit and jam it on the TC28 axle but you run the risk of having a wheel that is out of balance.

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  • Atomic BZ Master Dust Guard Pulley Fix

    A few months ago, I wrote an article about the dust guard pulley for the Atomic BZ Master. At first glance, the new pulley looked great. It was a new design that held 10 balls versus 8 and was slightly wider. There was one major problem though: the metal dust guards rubbed on the chassis.

    Jersey Micro Racer has now posted a fix for this issue on their FaceBook page. The fix uses 6x10x2.5mm bearings from the SZ2 and a pack of 6x8x0.1 shims to shift the diff over about 0.5mm so that the dust guards no longer rub.

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  • Silver Horse RC Dead Grip Wheel Review

    While grip on the track is important, it plays just as big a roll when controlling your car with your transmitter. For me, two things are key when it comes to transmitter wheels: size and texture. My hands aren’t big enough to palm a basketball but over the years I’ve found that a bigger wheel is more comfortable and gives me better control of a car. Having some sort of texture is also a must, especially when you’re six minutes into an eight minute main and your hand is covered in sweat.

    For the last few years, I’ve been using a wheel that one of my fellow racers (thanks Nate!) made for me. It was 3D printed out of TPU and has a diamond tread on it. I was going to move it over to the new Noble NB4+ that I had purchased but came across Silver Horse’s new Dead Grip wheel and figured I’d give it a try since it ticked all the boxes with its large size, anti-slip design and thumb drive for greater precision.

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