A little building

So far I’ve not mentioned the shocks and that’s because I haven’t actually made them yet. No problem though as they’re quality big bore units with Teflon pistons and with the help of the instructions, I had them done in no time. Although I did find a lack of information as the manual doesn’t inform me of the properties of the supplied shock oil, and for a Pro kit that’s disappointing. So far I am yet to be enlightened on this subject, but to me it looks like 30wt, smells like 30wt and even tastes like 30wt. But all I can say for sure is that you really don’t want to be tasting it!
I then made up the throttle and brake linkages, the steering and the high flow profiled air filter so all that was left was to bolt on the rear wing and the super shiny, polished inline tuned pipe that’s supplied. All done and ready for an engine and some radio gear!
Being an awesome bit of kit, it deserved something a bit special and luckily for me I saw Dan’s wallet on his desk and promptly ordered myself an RB C6BB with the company credit card, seeing as I needed some servos it would’ve been rude of me not to get these at the same time and I selected a pair of Hitecs, a HS-5925MG for the throttle/brake duties and a HS-5645MG to handle the steering. In what seemed no time at all (because I splashed out on a courier too), I had the latest offering from the legendary RB Concepts in a box in front of me and ready to install into the awaiting Hyper 8. But it’s still a fair way from being ready to run, as I now have to strip it down and fill the diffs with my choice of oils. Again there is no mention of diff oils in the manual, so with my inquisitive mind I had to take a look for myself to appease my curiosity. Sure enough all three diffs were empty barring those lovely six spyder gears, which begs the question, why bother selling it pre-built when you have to then take it apart? The money they paid the lackeys on the production line could have been saved and taken off the RRP to make this buggy even more competitively priced, or even just to cover the cost of some diff oil. Fortunately the front and rear diff cases are more compact in the Hyper 8 and aren’t chassis mounted, allowing the diff to be mounted lower and resulting in easier access. Two screws from underneath takes the bumper/hinge pin retainer off, two big screws take the toe-in plate off, two more small screws for the sway bar clamp and then just two screws in the top of the gear box, That’s eight screws and the diffs pop straight out!  I used 10,000wt in the front and centre with 800wt in the rear so it digs in on a loose surface and because I know exactly how I like a buggy setup, or more truthfully that’s what Dan gave me to put in there.

I also decided not to use tyres supplied with the kit and it is unusual for a Pro kit to included tyres but I felt the HoBao Fire’s wouldn’t give me the grip I wanted on the MaxBashing track. Feeling a more aggressive tread would be better in the damper weather we were running in, I opted for a set of DLD Scrapes that are available through RC Hop Ups, they also give me another European touch because they’re French.

The low profile racing body is something different too, it scoops down at the back before it clears the engine and ramps back up way past its rear mounting position, which is unlike most other buggies and I think some people are judging it on this look, so I sent my shell off to be painted by our good friend and airbrushing wizard, Jim from Absolute Control. The man never ceases to amaze with his talent and this time is no different as my Hyper 8 shell came back in a black scheme with flames flicking and licking the bodywork. This almost made me want to dye the wing and wheels black to match for a super stealth look and maybe in the near future I will. But for now if you want to judge it on looks, I’ve made sure it looks its best!

RB Power

The C6BB really deserves a special mention here because it is just such a powerhouse of an engine. It has been developed from the monstrous C5BB, but improved in that it has a larger outside bearing, a new nylon carburettor with an 8mm venturi and a reinforced crankcase to contain the gruesome punch it packs. The C6BB will give you everything you could possibly desire from an off-road engine in that the torque levels are there in abundance providing the rocket launch and with the ability to rev around 40,000RPM, I’m sure you can guess for yourselves that the top end is simply breathtaking. It has the same 14mm bi-turbo balanced crankshaft as the C5BB, yet should provide better fuel economy over the C5 that came with a 9mm venturi in its aluminium carb and it has a 5+2 porting system whereas the C5 has 8+2. It’s of course topped off with an orange cooling head engraved with the C6 logo that protrudes proudly out of the Hyper 8 shell and once I have the steel 13T clutch bell supplied with the H8 kit meshed up to the steel spur, it’ll be ready for the arduous task of breaking her in.

By the book it demands a single tank at idle with the HSN set to 5.5 turns out, before richening it up by a further turn to four stroke it through three tanks of fuel, then I could close the HSN a bit and run another three tanks, before bringing it in further on the last two break-in tanks of fuel. This obviously took a while and about half a gallon of fuel but with an RRP of £300, I wasn’t going to rush it and risk the life of such a mental screaming top spec race engine. And of course there’s the grin factor, the reward for my patience in the run-in was plain to see as it began to produce the awesome power I expected with every turn in of the HSN, on the track I think it’ll be more of a case of can I handle this thing?

Sizing things up

As it stands now ready to go for a bit of exercise, I’ll admit to getting a little excited about it and couldn’t wait much longer to see it strut its stuff, so I packed up for the day and headed off to the MaxBashing track as a recompense for my efforts so far. The surface was damp and tacky which would suit my choice of the DLD Scrapes superbly (actually Rich at RC Hop Ups told me they’d be good), I know this for sure now as when I put the Hyper down and accelerated away I was coated in the mud that flicked back at me (note to self – get Dan to put it down). Stretching its legs down the long straight would get her warmed up nicely and with consideration, but then a tyre flung itself off as it reached the end. Cheese and crackers (I thought to myself), I asked Dan to do one thing for me and I now could almost hear him laughing to himself in the office as I picked it up. Still, a splash of glue and we’re back in action! By now I was getting desperate to launch this up a big jump and watch it fly, so I did and found it to be very well balanced in the air landing gracefully and equally on all four wheels. Pushing it into a corner was great too as it dug into the track, swung round and presented itself nice and straight for the next jump, which means if you were racing competitively and rolling the jumps (yawn) it would be even better. When pressed for a full throttle burst, I’m not sure who made more noise, me or the buggy! I was screaming with glee like a schoolgirl who just caught sight of Shayne Ward, the buggy was a little more butch yet blisteringly quick and in no time I was jamming the brakes on at the hairpin turn. So after a hard session of testing I broke nothing, the steering rod on the servo popped off once but that was easily sorted and I don’t think I put it on right in the first place. Pretty much everything about its performance was indeed flawless!

A done deal

The low slung mechanics are lower than any other buggy I've known and lower than a Kyosho 777 by a way; the steering has so much throw the wheel can actually touch the screw that attaches the lower part of the shock absorber on the A-arm! In fact the only thing not to impress me was that it has dog bone drive shafts in the centre instead of CVDs all round, it would have been nice to complete the set. All the same my overall opinion is – “Wow”. I can see how this could breed a whole new family of success just as the Hyper 7 did and this new HoBao Hyper 8 coupled with the RB C6BB gives a pairing that makes wishes come true, so it’s no surprise that the likes of Jeremy Kortz and World Champion Greg Dagani have made the switch to the International Hyper Team to drive the new Hyper 8. But I bet they’re not lucky enough to have a C6 in theirs, nevertheless they are blessed with the talent to drive them properly.

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