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Front tower: part no. P/N RB5FRT - Rear tower: part no. P/N RB5FRA |
Atomic Carbon have been producing custom parts for the RC market since late 2005. New 'products' have been a little thin on the ground of late however since all the efforts have been put toward their 4WD buggy, the S4. Whilst the S4 is nearing completion, the 2WD version - not surprisingly called the 'S2'.
The Atomic Carbon shock towers on test here are some of the first hop ups available for this great new 2WD buggy - developed in conjunction with Stu Wood from Team oOple, these towers are designed to give  extra tuning options and high strength.
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The Atomic RB5 shock towers are available seperately - 4MM thick carbon gives these towers amazing looks |
When we initially reviewed the RB5 we noticed the rear shock tower was narrow when compared to the rc10B4 - arguably the most dominant 2WD around it seemed a good car to compare against. This gave the rear shock absorbers a more 'leaned in' angle which didn't look quite right. Jonathan at Atomic Carbon suggested making some towers for the Kyosho and asked if there was anything we'd like since Stu was the best driver in the country with the RB5. The result is what you see here - and after an A final performance at Bury Metro National and various Regional and club level wins - Atomic have finally released the towers to the public.
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red: RB5 kit tower - BLUE: B4 tower, shocks more upright. |
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The prototypes of the Ultima RB5 all used carbon fibre towers, unlike the moulded items included in the kit - so it's not too hard to figure that the finished car would be able to use carbon laminate towers like these Atomic items. The kit towers are good and seem very strong - though we managed to break a rear kit tower during the RB5 review, it was a big crash so 'fair enough'.
The rear shock tower on Stu Woods car in the photos is the early prototype without addition bracing along the top - there wasn't a break that forced this 'addition' but it's always welcome.
The only real problem with original the shock towers on the Ultima RB5 was the lack of adjustability and front shock absorbers rubbing on the shock tower under certain conditions / using certain springs.
The Atomic Carbon towers are a direct fit and solve both these problems. The extra adjustability comes in the form of two extra holes for shock mounting at the rear, and one extra at the front. The new holes all place the shocks further out than kit settings, and a quick photo-comparison (TOP LEFT) with the rear B4 shock tower shows the middle hole on the B4 tower is approximately where the first new hole on the Atomic Carbon tower is.
In addition to the shock mounting holes, the wing mount holes are spaced further apart - the upper set giving a higher wing position than kit.
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Stu performed well with the standard car but it never looked 'right' and Stu never felt 100% happy and knew there was more to come with the setup. After two Nationals with the car and two C final wins with the RB5, Stu expressed some doubts coming up to the 3rd National at Bury Metro. Stu spent an entire day testing prior to the National and finally found a setup that worked for him - this included putting the Atomic Carbon shock towers to good use, using the new 2nd hole in from the outside.
Despite running old cells and near-death motors, Stu qualified 7th in the A final using the new setup which utilized the Atomic towers properly. Being the only RB5 out of 130 cars, Stu did a fantastic job to get the car to the top level.
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Conclusion
Despite running on some of the most demanding tracks in the UK Stu didn't manage to do more than scratch one of the production Atomic towers so far (touch wood).
The 4MM Carbon looks trick and gives the car a new look - but more importantly the additional settings are very useful, especially on the rear - not cheap, but worth it!
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