Associated RC8

After a long wait, many design changes and even some rethinks, the long and highly anticipated RC8 from Team Associated (AE) is here. Coming from their R&D team “Area 51” and backed by a company with 22 world championships under their belt, will the RC8 be up to challenging for the World Championship in 2008? The specs are certainly impressive, it boasts the lightest chassis and the most suspension travel in its class, along with a new lightweight drive train, 4mm gold shock shafts and more adjustability on the rear wing than a jet fighter! It’s already taken the BRCA National Championship in the hands of CML driver Neil Cragg, and a lot of the top drivers have started to favour the RC8 over some of the more established rallycross brands, so things are already looking good!

a brief history of time

This may be the first 1:8 scale rallycross buggy from Associated but AE are by no means new to the off-road scene. The RC10 has been dominant in the 1:10 scale class since 1984, winning nine world championships and countless national titles, plus several “car of the year” awards. And with the new 1:10 scale 4WD electric B44 buggy winning the 2007 World Championship before it’s even officially launched, the R&D team at AE’s Area 51 proved they certainly know a thing or two about dirt racing.

opening the box

The RC8 comes as a race roller as proper “kit” versions seems to be an endangered species; most of today’s top pro kits are pretty much pre-built. Looking over the car, you see some clever design changes over other 1:8 scale rallycross buggies; the tall narrow shock towers stand out the most which lay the shocks right over to maximise grip in the corners. The internal ratio of the diffs are set at 4.3:1, which you would normally see on a truggy, yet this helps propel the RC8 out of a corner with more punch than Ricky Hatton allowing it to accelerate hard up to and over the big jumps. The 43T diff gear has also been on a diet so that the rotating mass is at a minimum, thus also helping acceleration.

At the end of the front A-arms the RC8 uses a normal C hub and knuckle, but on a pro spec kit like this, you would have hoped for CNC aluminium knuckles rather than the cast ally ones that you get. Yes the cast ones are lighter but they’ve always proven to be weaker.

Like the Team Losi 8ight, the RC8 uses captured outer CVA pins where the outer bearing holds the pin in place instead of a grub screw, while on the rear you even get dust covers to stop the UJ’s filling with dirt and binding. The outer bearings are also oversized like the Losi giving more support to the drive shaft and hub.

Factory Team Titanium blue turnbuckles then keep with the common theme of lowering the overall weight, along with the Carbon Fibre steering Ackerman plate. The upper steering plate is made out of graphite which makes it lightweight but as many users have found, there is a weak area around the upper hinge pin holder (so an aluminium top plate and hinge pin holder is a very worth while investment)

Area 51 hasn’t favoured solid aluminium braces but instead went for blue torque rods on ball ends for the RC8 and this really adds to the amount of chassis flex the RC8 has, there’s so much AE made the rear body hole oval to allow for it. But all this flex is in the design because it helps the car generate traction and makes it easier to drive, but obviously if there’s too much it will allow parts to wear and break.

Stopping the RC8 is taken care of by their Free-Float Calliper (FFC) braking system which stops any pad bind on the composite discs that have an aluminium centre to allow heat dissipation quicker than normal fibre discs, so brake fade is a thing of the past and endo’s are the new party trick! Also note here how both brake lever arm are above the centre diff mount for easy access