Ansmann Build Quality of Touring cars?

[Tempest501]

Hi Guys,

Just wanted a bit of advice, I am a buggy guys and have a b4.1 which I started to race indoors and hopefully outdoors when weather is nicer. I love it its awesome.

My friend races Touring Cars though and is after a bit of company/fun with us. As Touring Cars arent my fave I was thinking of trying an Ansmann for Club fun. My question is are they any good? or would i be better of with a second hand hpi sprint 2 or tc3 etc?

Thanks in advance for your replys.

[kaylon]

The ARE-2's are a decent club car...if the club are not running Xray's or Mi1's etc :D

Basically the car design is about 3-4 years old. It does still have some good support and spares are pretty easy to get.

Servicing is not the best as the spur gear is hard to get to and the steering system needs a complete strip down to get to the servo saver. It does not have a slipper either...

However all that being said it is a very tough car and stable. It handles very well and even out of the box is quite nippy.

It has hardened steel diff's which means you can upgrade the electronics with less worry.

If you have some funds you could possibly get custom Carbon parts made which would make it quite competitive.

I love Ansmann's and I'm looking forward to finally racing the X4 next year... but I've recently been running the new HPI owned Maverick cars and must say they are very very good.

The New Maverick TC Evo is equivalent to the ARE-2 but with some recent upgrades. Both are about the same price, however the Maverick TC Evo is now a 2.4g system.

Either car can race at club level with some work. The ARE-2 is a proven car and as I've said is hard as nails and has plenty spare support.

I love both my ARE-2 and my TC Evo...both are fun with a 15t motor in :)

K

[Mad-Wolfie]

to be honest the ARE-1 is essentially a plastic copy of an Associated TC3 & the ARE-2 is the TC4 in terms of design... not a 100% copy, but certainly influenced the design.

the car is very heavy, but tough as old boots. I've been running an ARE-1 at a local club for a couple of years & the only thing that tends to break is the rear hubs & once in a while you will rip an axle out of a driveshaft if you bounce off walls a lot. I've run the car at club both on carpet at indoor & outdoors

The outdoor club i race at with mine though don't run on a normal surface like flat carpet or asphalt, it's basically a rally track with a rough concrete surface & plastic facia board used as track barriers so it's very hard on cars & it really sorts out the good quality cars from the bad ones as it's a car killer.. most people who race there tend to use entry level Tamiya's however my ARE-1 has outlasted most of the TT-01's & TL-01's by miles & is still going, it's very scuffed but nothing major has ever been replaced, a couple of parts have needed to be rebuilt, but nothing out of the ordinary has broken.

On the plus side, well a mate of mine got one into a B-final at an event & considering the A-final was won by a bloke named Andy Moore with some of his chums taking up the remainder of the places, it think it's a hell of an achivement for a £60 basher, unlike cheap Tamiya's you don't have to spend an arm & a leg on hop-ups because most of the things you would need to buy for a TT-01 (bearings, CV's, metal prop, alloy motor mount etc etc) all come as standard on the Ansmann & the spare parts are cheap as chips.. a complete set of driveshafts (which are like the old Schumacher ones incorporating UJ's with a split shaft & a centre beam) & the alloy prop come to the same price as Tamiya charge just for the alloy prop hop-up for a TT-01.

On the downside the hop-ups that are available (alloy wishbones, suspension parts, shock towers) are expensive & you are a bit limited on what you can do with regards tuning.. the steering arm takes a bit of fettling to get it to work on full lock in both directions & the gearing options are limited to either a 62 (standard) or a 64 from the Master Smacker & a change of pinion which at max will take a 24. they are the same .6 pitch as Tamiya gearing, so Tamiya gearing parts may fit with some fabrication. the drivetrain is very noisy although this doesn't affect the performance, but it sounds like a vaccuum cleaner that is about to explode when running on full speed.

Another thing i found with the ARE-1 & I'm guessing the same problem will persist with the ARE-2 as the drivetrain looks the same, running rebuildable brushed motors (such as a 19t brushed race motor) is not the best, mainly as the car tends to eat them for breakfast, no idea why, but i know 2 people (besides myself) who have fitted brand new modified type rebuildable motors such as Checkpoints & the like in ARE-1's only for them to be ruined after a couple of runs, usually the com ends up shaped like a banana or chunks get ripped from it & is pretty much junk. This can be overcome by fitting silvercan type motors (such as Saturn or Clash motors) which seem to last forever or of course using a Brushless. For some reason, modified type brushed motors don't last long. I'm running a 9t ezrun in mine & have never had a problem & the drivetrain is machine steel, not plastic (which is probably why it is so noisy) but can happily take the power of a high performance brushless, but keep a couple of pinions/spurs handy if you do go mental & fit anything more potent than a 9t/35a ezrun system.

One thing i would suggest, if you buy the car, the diffs will come pre-built & have moly grease in them which i found OK but not the best quality grease if i'm honest & i had to rebuild the diffs as the e-clips fell off & the diff stopped working, along with the fact the driveshaft came unlatched (the e-clips secure 1 side of the split driveshaft) so the 1st job i'd suggest would be to, strip them down, clean them & rebuild them.. plus i opted to change the grease to Teflon cycle grease when i rebuilt mine which has given trouble free use for a while & those pesky e-clips haven't come off (yet) plus a squirt of oil on the diff ring/bevel gears & lining the outer cases with grease helps no end.

The original shells that come on the cars are like cheese.. 1st impact with anything solid & you will have a nice jigsaw puzzle to play with, so look at getting a new shell when you buy the car (preferably not a pre-painted one) & you will need 200mm shells, not 190mm. If you fit regular TC wheels such as revlite's you need to buy wheels with a wide offset as standard offset rims tend to be too narrow & the wheel axles becomes like the ones on Ben Hurr's charriot because they stick out & cut anything in their way (walls, legs, cats) to ribbons, however the kit tyres are more than suitable for the car, offering loads of grip (even on primafelt carpet) & at about a tenner for a set of 4 pre-glued replacements the price is right.

On paper (& if you see them in the flesh) you would think the Maverick is a lot better car - both cost about the same & the maverick "looks" more like a proper race car, but in terms of quality the Ansmann is the better option. my other half had a Maverick to run at club for a while which for her was OK, i tried the car & it felt totally different, the Ansmann gave me the impression it was really solid, where the Maverick just felt like it was going to fall into bits - granted it didn't because the Maverick is a very good car for the money, but of the 2 i'd be happier with the Ansmann any day of the week, even though in laymans terms it's a bit like saying what's the best a Lada or a Skoda?. the RTR radio gear in the Maverick seems better (rebadged Futaba Megatech Junior), but it's running 27MHz, where the Ansmann comes with a basic rebadged Futaba system that you get in most entry level RTR's, but running on 40MHz, the ESC in the Ansmann is a rebadged M-troniks Viper type unit, where in the Maverick it is your usual run of the mill RTR type ESC, so there are plus points & negative points on both if you dig deep enough.

OK you won't win the BRCA nationals with one in a month of Sundays' but if you want cheap thrills with a car that can take the spills, then go for it.

[Tempest501]

Thanks for the info guys

ill take a look at the maverick as well but maybe the ansmann will work out quite well. I dont think ill be a serious Touring car racer as love my buggy too much just want to join in with friends. If i end up loving it ill get something else maybe later.

[colmo]

Another mention is the Sakura Zero S - it's probably on a par with the Mi1 and TA05R at least, but Muchmore are flogging them for £100. It's a low-budget version of the Zero, which is about on a par with the better TCs, and parts are interchangeable with it.

The main differences from the Ansmann and basic Tamiyas are belt drive and pinions - Sakura ships with a 48dp spur gear, but that's easily changed to 64dp or even metric pitch, depending on what pinions you have/prefer.

Would need a shell and electrics, but true of most TC kits.

[Tempest501]

Another mention is the Sakura Zero S - it's probably on a par with the Mi1 and TA05R at least, but Muchmore are flogging them for £100. It's a low-budget version of the Zero, which is about on a par with the better TCs, and parts are interchangeable with it.

The main differences from the Ansmann and basic Tamiyas are belt drive and pinions - Sakura ships with a 48dp spur gear, but that's easily changed to 64dp or even metric pitch, depending on what pinions you have/prefer.

Would need a shell and electrics, but true of most TC kits.

Where stocks these? I did a google search but could only see one on ebay which i cant look at at moment as at work =C

[kaylon]

3Racing are who you want for Sakura...

http://os.3racing.hk/main.php

J

[sosidge]

Where stocks these? I did a google search but could only see one on ebay which i cant look at at moment as at work =C

The ones on eBay UK are being sold my Much More UK. Completely trustworthy source. They don't have them listed on their normal www.rcracinguk.com website yet.

The Sakura is certainly a lot of car for the money.

Another suggestion if you are just looking for an easy car to get started in touring is a Tamiya TT-01. Sadly the prices of new ones are not as low as they used to be, but it is a completely foolproof chassis to build and with a couple of well selected hop-ups (bearings, oil shocks, alloy prop, turnbuckle steering links) it will lap consistently all day long.

[kaylon]

Much More UK are excellent. They should advertise these cars a bit more if they stock them.

I will add though that if funds are short the Ansmann ARE-2 is still the car I'd choose for some club level fun :D

J