SAVAGE X 4.6 RTR

By my reckoning, the HPI Savage has now had more reinventions than Madonna herself, but in its defence at least a Savage hasn’t released a greatest hits album and doesn’t bring any strange kids home with it. In this guise of 1:8 scale 4WD big block Savage X 4.6 RTR, HPI claim it is even tougher and more powerful than any previous model, so what I think they’re saying is, if Chuck Norris had a monster truck he’d probably have one of these. Chuck is the epitome of toughness, some people wear Superman pyjamas, Superman wears Chuck Norris pyjamas… and cries himself to sleep if he’s told Chuck is coming for him!

WHAT’S NEW?
This isn’t just a straightforward replacement truck as there are actually a number of differences between this RTR, the 4.6 SS version and all others before it The most obvious is that it comes, as most other RTR’s do, with a pre-painted GT-2 body shell in the X style with the flared arches for an aggressive look. You have the huge choice of going for a red or a blue one, but take this off and you’d be forgiven for not noticing the other changes straight away, although if you flipped the truck over so it’s belly up you can’t fail to see two bright red fibreglass brake discs staring back at you. These, it is said, will provide even greater stopping power and yet be almost immune to brake fade, which is nice.

These brakes will have a hard job to do (of that, there is no doubt), because the new F4.6 engine (.28ci) has been designed to deliver nearly three horsepower and much more torque All this adds up to a top speed of 45mph (73kph) and some wheelie popping action from its ABC construction, 8 port liner, 7.5mm carburettor and three shoe clutch, and all that is topped off with a new purple billet cooling head and a big two-stage foam air filter. Not to mention the fact that it has a roto-start back plate and no pull start, so it’ll be a lot less effort to get running.

Now it is claimed that the F4.6 engine is so powerful, the HPI designers had to have a rethink on the chassis and drive train so it wouldn’t break itself, and they all got together in a huddle and decided to strengthen it all up. The result of their little group hug is that the “X” TVPs have been reinforced and have extra screws to hold the gearbox in place, which now also features structural webbing both externally and internally, the 7075-series engine mount and plate are now thicker than before and some extra material has been added to the skid plates so they’re thicker for unrivalled durability… in fact they’re nearly as thick as Brian from this year’s Big Brother house! Happily the drive train has had some similar treatment with rubber-sealed ball bearings fitted throughout and the four spider geared diffs are now encased in aluminium cases that are all shimmed up nicely too. The 17 turn clutch bell on the end of the F4.6 has a steel spacer replacing the brass predecessor for a more consistent mesh to the 47 toothed spur gear and although the adjustable slipper clutch stays much the same it has been beefed up with a more durable material with the onus on more driving and less maintenance.

All in all, HPI seem to be well on their way to delivering on all their claims that this could be the ultimate basher truck! Most other things stay the same though, including the massive plastic shock towers, cross braced lower A-arms and the easy access diffs that pop out in minutes thanks to the removal of just six screws! Not that we’ll need to keep taking them out now they’re securely shimmed up in ally cases. The radio box is also the standard X style of clip-less closing which is far easier than the fiddly ones of yesteryear, and held inside is an RF-1 two channel receiver and the standard HPI SF-1 and SF-2 servos taking responsibility for the throttle and steering respectively.

The 17mm hexed hub Warlock wheels have some chunky treaded tyres on them, kept securely on the axles by serrated wheel nuts that won’t vibrate loose and it wouldn’t be a Savage without the eight long throw shock absorbers with hard black springs ready and willing to soak up every bump and jump, no matter how big.

The top of the strengthened two-speed gearbox lifts off to reveal some hardened metal gears and plastic two-speed gears; doing away with any chassis disassembly should it need to come apart for whatever reason. The fuel tank is still a huge 160cc with a rear pick-up point, but the cam-style servo saver is left completely unchanged, and that is an area that could well have been filled with bearings instead of bushings, but it isn’t, so even with all the improvements going on here the Savage still needs all the help it can get making tight turns. So for a few extra pounds it’s well worth getting a set even though they’ll only perk up the response time and smoothness, not the turning circle itself.