bashing time

With the playground of the country woods beckoning, the engine fired into life after just a few tugs on the pull starter, and I think it could sense that if there was ever a place to give it a good testing, it was here. It wasn’t a particularly warm day yet it wasn’t freezing either, but after only a few minutes the engine got hot and it needed richening up quite a bit even though I’d barely touched the tuning needle through the break-in. It bogged heavily in second gear too before the tune up but once it had enough fuel running through the system it felt much sweeter.

One thing for certain was that the Mini MGT 3.0 didn’t really like corners, it fell over more often than a drunkard on his way home after a seriously good session. It was quite springy too over the bumps so may benefit from a slightly heavier shock oil, but what I could do in the field was remove the shock spacers to lower the ride height down just a tad as there’s no mention anywhere of what weight oil is in the shocks as standard, but for now the spacer removal made it much more manageable.

The tyres were predictably awesome; they never clogged up with damp sand or dirt at any time and ripped tread marks everywhere it went, except when it was on the loose stones. It seems it also has a bit of a party trick, stick it in reverse and turn hard one way, then floor it. It spins around on the spot like a dog chasing its tail! It kept me entertained for a while anyway. When allowed to stretch its legs it surprised me with a good turn of speed, second gear kicks in and it wails to what must be at least 35mph if not more. With this power on tap it’s only right to throw it off a few jumps and you don’t need much air time to get a quick back flip in, when all four wheels are off the ground the revs unload, second gear kicks in and it whips it round, good job those bumpers are there is all I can say. It loved the jumps and it didn’t seem to mind the landings either, even when they weren’t exactly as I’d planned them to be, proving it’s tough and happy to take the abuse.

Its one weak point was with an unforeseen collision, Dan was out with the Baja SS at the same time and I thought he would move, he thought I would move, but neither of us did and the MMGT came off worse when the two came together. Luckily it was just a bent rear toe rod that was easily bent back into shape, and the bashing session just kept on going.

conclusion

The new Mini MGT 3.0 will find itself in direct competition with the Traxxas T-Maxx and that’s a brave move as the T-Maxx spawned today’s generation for RTR monster trucks but although it’s had updates, it is a design that’s over five years old so surely the Mini MGT can win over? Well it offers everything you expect from a nitro monster truck including two gears and a reverse function although it doesn’t handle quite as well it does have the advantage of a far simpler and more innovative design, plus of course it’s an Associated which wins the brand snobbery award!

The Mini MGT will never make a racing monster truck which doesn’t really matter as 99% of them will be bashed and abused by their owners and it takes this punishment with ease. With a cheaper price tag to it competitor and the fact that the pull start engine does not require an additional 7.2V stick pack you can be up and running for a lot less money. In fact the sensible price tag on the Mini MGT 3.0 makes this an excellent choice for a new tenth scale nitro monster truck although if I were personally striving for an MGT, I’d be saving up a little more money and going for the new powerhouse MGT 8.0. The MMGT 3.0 would be in close consideration as the cheaper and more controllable option and I still don’t think that the Mini MGT is the right name for it; this truck is so much more than the “mini” suggests!