One race isn't enough to really see what's wearing and what's not - but we took a look over the DEX410 anyway. We ran the car in some deep fine dust during the photo session which really coated it - blowing it down with a compressor afterwards we didn't open up the rubber covers until the photos here after the race day.

The chassis got scratched during the first run and took more-and-more abuse during the day. Some of the damage is superficial - the hard anodising isn't worn through, though in some areas it is of course.

ouch	Front dampers & top screws took some knocks

One side on the rear diff had leaked a little oil	We ran the car in some immensely dusty conditions

We'd talked to Durango man Adam Skelding during the day about differentials and how to best build them (see Team Tips next to the diff section in the review) and it was evident one side on the rear diff was leaking slighly. No real problem - it still felt fine but I took it out (a nice quick job) and checked it over. I tapped the main diff gears a little harder onto the outdrives and re-filled the diff with a slightly heavier oil mix ~7k I'd guess to see how that felt next time out on the track.

The rear driveshafts were totally covered in dust and dirt - and in the case of the shaft above also a little oil from the diff. There was a very small amount of dust under the rubber covers but nothing compared to what it'd be like had I run without them in the conditions I had.
The damper on the other hand were spotless under the covers - again these would need a rebuild after running in fine dust on another car - or at least be very dirty.

One of the front CVD pins edged out during my final - I may not have lined up the flat on the pin correctly but no damage so I'll just rebuild it.

Shock shafts were super clean	One front CVD pin edged out during the final	Chewed piston from not threadlocking the screw properly (or at all!)

CONCLUSION
The DEX410 is quite literally breathtaking.  As soon as you start building the DEX410 you'll notice it's not really like anything else currently available - such is the quality of design and components, and impeccable way the car goes together.  The manual isn't big on text, leaving the job of explaining things mostly to the pretty excellent CAD images - not a problem for the experienced builder but perhaps it could do with some explanations in areas. 

Team Tips Use a 3mm washer or similar to 'clip' onto the shock shaft when bleeding the shocks - push the shaft all the way in (3mm from fully compressed) to get a consistent near zero rebound. Use an O-ring trapped under the wing and don't tighten the screws fully down - the O-ring will take up the slack and the wing will survive for longer.

The build quality and in particular the design features like sealed driveshafts and damper shafts as well as sealed gear differentials will make the DEX410 a pretty rugged car - requiring less maintenance than some others for sure.  But at the end of the day it's still a race car - and as such, it goes through a heck of a lot during a race meeting.  Running week-after-week without checking the car and maintaining it certainly isn't something I'd reccomend - tempting as it might be with the obvious bonus of the aforementioned sealed and rugged components. I was happy with the rubber covers - they help a lot. The gear differentials probably need more time to give a true evaluation on maintenance, but performance wise they're great.

There's some tight parts in the build that might stump the younger or inexperienced builder but the quality is right up there and the car does go together well - especially so if you're aware of what might take some extra care, by reading this review for instance.

Team Durango have raised the bar - not a little - but a significant amount.  The car won't suddenly dominate every race in existance - that's not what it's about and certainly not what I'm trying to say. Sure, the car handles well and has tuning options others can only dream about (oil diffs) - but for me, it's the time and effort that's gone into the design that makes the car what it is, and the quality.  It's got the flavour of the old-days about it - when cars were over-engineered to perform without a real clue for real race-inspired performance.  Of course, the DEX410 is different - it's developed by some of the most dedicated designers and race tested by a slew of World, European and USA champions. 

The price of the DEX410 is an issue in its appeal - maybe even Team Durango would admit that.  The 'world economic climate' probably had a small part to play, and maybe the price will eventually fall a little - I don't know.  When the DEX410 price was announced it was backed up with a softening cussion in the form of the announced DEX410R - the 'sport' version of this amazing chassis.  But - what are you getting for the money? do you get double the performance of any other car out there? no of course you don't - but you do get an extremely high quality race car that's been designed with no-expenses spared and needs no upgrades from the box.  It would sell well just by looking & building the way it does - it would sell well by performing the way it does - but the fact it has both those attributes in one package makes it worth the price tag.

I'm a definite fan of the car - maybe that's pretty obvious by now. But I came in with no illustions - I wasn't convinced the car would go as well on the track as it looks, but it did. Sadly, people seem to expect your driving to improve because you have such a high profile and desirable buggy - that's the only real downer, I'm just not good enough. If my kidneys were worth anything I'd buy another car now.