The rest of the buggy is more or less the same as the Hyper 8 Pro, so we still see the CNC aluminium steering knuckles, 22-degree C-hubs with universal joints and chunky braced A-arms meeting the bulkhead area where you will find (one of the three) six bevel geared Spyder diffs. Centrally, there are dog bones to make the join to the centre Spyder and its two vented metal brake discs, passing the 125cc side opening fuel tank, the steering posts with an adjustable bellcrank and the carbon fibre radio tray that has just been fitted with a pair of my Hitec servos. The tray also has a personal transponder mount in place, and looking down on the radio tray is the large oval shaped foam two-stage Hyper air filter that has an extra-secure place as it is fixed not only to the fuel splash guard, but also it now has an extra support brace that fixes to the top of the centre diff mount.

The engine, as previously mentioned, is the .21ci Axe Mamba Rossi, chosen simply because it’s a similar model used by the current European rallycross champion Robert Batlle in his Hyper 8.5. This gets fitted with the three ally clutch shoes supplied, which in turn bite into the lightweight vented 14t clutch bell and all sit on the CNC’d Hobao engine mounts. While there is a perfectly good in-line tuned pipe included in the kit, I opted to let my Mamba stay coupled to a Jammin JP3 pipe because they are so suited to each other.

All I have left to do before we’re up and running is to glue the tyres on, set my end points on my Spektrum wearing Helios and wait for the body shell to come back from the workshop of Jim at Absolute Control! But one thing I’ve forgotten is to fill the diffs. Now this is OK if you like to run the buggy with grease-filled diffs, but I don’t, so apart the buggy must come. If you’ve had any experience with spiders diffs then you’ll know that however efficient and strong they are, they are also always a pain to fill; there you are carefully filling them only to find that as fast as you pour the oil in the top, it leaks out the bottom through the bolt holes! Not anymore people! After many years of development, HoBao have finally included a rubber tool to block the holes at the bottom so filling the diffs will never be messy again. My choices of diff oils for the 8.5 are 5K front, 7K centre and 1K rear; this gives you a nice forward drive along the straight with plenty of on-power steering through the twisty bits

COOL RUNNINGS
The very next day my shell duly arrived. With the amazing shell now in place, it makes this buggy have a far more convincing second coming than even David Icke could ever manage! You can also see my ulterior motive for going with the red shock springs; it finishes the colour coded look I was hoping for, as the red splash on the front end ties in with them and the red 8.5 stickers. The white centre matches the wing and wheels, whilst the carbon fibre effect contrasts with it wonderfully, with a cheeky driver name at the rear. Fantastic job as per usual from Absolute Control!

At the track I re-tuned the Mamba engine because although it has been previously run-in and used, it would now be drinking its first taste of O’Donnell’s 25% race fuel and with that done, it was time to get dirty and have some fun! With all the extra parts added, will it make any difference in the way it drives and feels to the Hyper 8 pro?

After a couple of slow laps, just taking my time to get used to the 8.5 and admiring how it rode the bumps, with the throttle closed it would have a tendency to flick the back up, but under power it stayed planted and rode them with ease, The more I started to push the buggy closer to the edge, the more you start to notice the oodles of on-power steering around the tight corners, sometimes rolling on its nose causing the front diff to send all the power to the rear raised wheel. I noticed that the twitchiness you used to find on the old 8 Pro when entering a corner hard had gone - it wasn’t forgotten - but with just a gentle release of the throttle, it relaxed back into the gracious state which you once knew. I decided to come in for a pit stop and alter my set-up from 5K oil in the front diff to 7K, and as good as the Angle Spikes are, I was up for a bit of experimenting with some Panther Komodos, time for another run.

This time the 8.5 felt more relaxed; the steering felt more responsive, it slid into the corners with ease, and pushed out onto the straight without a twitch from the rear end, making you feel more confident when putting the power down and overtaking, knowing you could carry far more speed into the corner. On the loose stuff it did have a tendency to want to swap ends, but reducing the rear shock oils down to 20wt will overcome this by increasing traction and making the response even quicker. Over the jumps it flew level without the need for any correction, and if you did get it a bit Pete Tong, simply blipping the throttle would make the 8.5 level out and land with grace and ease thanks to the big-bore shocks. Braking at first felt a little weak, you never really knew if you were slowing down at all! This did get better as the Ferodo pads started to bed into the vented metal discs and endos were becoming more and more common, just like on an Eddie Kidd show. But just as they started to work well, they faded back to their former selves, so a worthwhile upgrade here would be to swap them out for some Craddock anti-lock discs.

The more I drove the 8.5 the more confident I became as it relaxes you into a good rhythm, giving you the feeling that if you made a mistake, it would be forgiving and let you correct with ease, yet it does like a more aggressive style of driving; it wants to be thrown into corners not knowing if it’s going to come out the right way up the other side. After a few minor crashes, the Hyper was holding up well with only one steering ball end popping off after hitting the security fence (whoops), the strength of the Hyper brand shines through and this is one tough buggy!

CONCLUSION
Just because it’s not an eight times world champion, and it doesn’t finish on the top step of the podium in every major event in which it’s entered, does not make it a bad car. The 8.5 had its debut at the 2007 Euros, was the top qualifier on the day and won the A final even though it was, at one point, in last place! It’s far more stable than the previous Hyper 8 Pro, the suspension is a lot smoother and they’ve made the whole car easier to set up and drive. Yes they’ve only included one fitment servo horn, yes they should have included CVDs in the centre as opposed to dog bones and yes, a bolt and washer in the top shock mount would stop them popping of in bad accidents, but it still has the Hyper’s strength and parts are cheap and easy to get hold of. So it’s just about the perfect car for the common racer with tall dreams, and it’s always nice to say that my buggy is the current Euro champ!

Distributed in the UK by CML Distribution