ZX-5 or B4 RTR

[mikeyscott]

Got a friend of mine who is getting into RC racing and he is looking at the two above kits, which is the general recommendation?

[RogerM]

Both are really good as they come out of the box so depends on what his actual intentions are!

I'd say if he is planning on racing then the B4 RTR is probably the best base of the two as it's much more able to deal directly with motor upgrades etc. in the future with no upgrades to the car. 2wd will also teach him car control faster than a 4wd.

The ZX5 RTR is a cracking car though and you won't get a 4WD on track cheaper! If your planning on racing with modified motors then you will need to upgrade the driveshafts sooner or later. If he is going for a ZX5-RTR pay the extra few quid and get the brushless version, will be cheaper in the long run!
There are plenty of ZX5-RTRs racing at club level though, especially indoor clubs.

At the end of the day you pays your money and takes your choice, won't regret either.

[mikeyscott]

I think he's just going to be doing club racing and not getting massively into it for the moment due to other things going on.

Interesting about having to upgrade the ZX-5 in order for it to handle modified motors. Are these expensive upgrades etc?

[RogerM]

The only thing that you will probably consider necessary is replacing the driveshafts with the ones from the normal car. The RTR ones are fine to something like a 17 turn motor (9.5/8.5 brushless) but will suffer a little if used with more power.
That said that should be enough for club racing!

The problems only come when people go power crazy and thrown in 4.5 brushless systems 10 turn brushed motors and expect the RTR to cope.

I know several ZX5-RTRs that run at clubs with the stock motors and 19T spec motors, sucessfully too.