Team Associated RC8T4.2 Team Kit Chassis

The kind of vehicle the maker sells it as. It sets what the car is built to do and which cars it is fair to compare it with.

• A truggy is a 1/8 buggy with wider arms and truck tires: more stable and more forgiving on rough ground.

All four wheels are driven. That gives more grip under power, especially on loose ground.

• The cost is more parts to maintain.

A small two-stroke engine running glow fuel (methanol, nitromethane and oil).

• It needs fuel, a glow igniter and some tuning.
• It has no motor KV or battery rating.

A kit you build yourself from parts.

• Most kits come without motor, ESC, servo, radio and battery, and many without tires or a painted body.
• The manual lists what to add.

The maker's nominal size compared with a full-size vehicle. It works more as a class label than a measurement.

• A 1/10 monster truck is far bigger than a 1/10 touring car, so compare length and weight for real size.
• This one is 560 mm long.

The maker's product number for this exact version.

• A V2, a new color, or a kit instead of an RTR usually has a different number, and parts can differ between them.
• Check it against your box or receipt before ordering parts.

On a nitro car the gear on the engine is the clutch bell.

• Its teeth work like a pinion's: more teeth gear the car taller, for more top speed and slower acceleration.

The large gear the pinion drives. A bigger spur with the same pinion gears the car shorter.

• Pinion and spur must have the same pitch, or tooth size, to mesh.
• The Gearing parts table below shows this car's pitch and part numbers.
• On a nitro car the clutch bell drives it.
• On this car the spur is mounted on the center differential.

Every reduction after the spur, multiplied together: transmission, differentials and axle gears.

• It is fixed by the design; the gearing you change is the pinion and spur.

How many times the motor turns for one turn of the wheels. A higher number is shorter gearing: more acceleration and pulling power, less top speed.

• Among 1/8 truggies in the catalog, the middle half run between 13.5:1 and 14.8:1 on stock gearing; this one is 16.4:1, shorter than most.

Silicone oil sealed inside the differential. A diff lets the wheels on one axle turn at different speeds in a corner; thicker oil makes it act more like a solid axle.

• At the front, thicker oil keeps both front wheels pulling out of a corner but makes the car turn in less willingly; thinner oil steers more easily.
• It is graded in cSt (centistokes), a measure of thickness that means the same across brands. K means thousands, so 15K is 15,000 cSt.

The center diff splits power between front and rear. Thicker oil there sends more drive to the end that has grip and helps acceleration; thinner oil lets the car steer more easily off the throttle.

The rear diff mostly shapes drive out of corners.

• Thicker oil there puts power down more evenly on loose or slippery ground; thinner oil lets the car rotate more easily through a corner.
• This car runs thicker oil in the front diff (15K) than the rear (7K): steadier on turn-in, with a rear that lets the car rotate.

The outside diameter of the mounted tire, tread to tread. A taller tire covers more ground each turn, which gears the car taller.

• Race tires wear down over a day, and a smaller tire gears the car shorter.

The hex on the axle that the wheel locks onto and is driven by. A wheel must match the hex size to fit.

• 17 mm is the standard size on 1/8 cars.
• The wheel nut is a separate size, so check its thread too before buying nuts.

The oil in the shocks slows how fast the suspension moves. Thicker oil settles the car more slowly and resists bottoming out; thinner oil lets the wheels follow bumps.

• At the front it mostly shapes the steering: thicker oil makes the car turn in more calmly and dive less under braking; thinner oil turns in sharper and keeps the front tires on the ground over bumps.
• Racers go thicker for big, smooth jumps and thinner for rough, choppy tracks.
• It is graded in wt here. A wt number is the oil maker's own grade and differs between brands, so match the brand, or use the oil maker's chart to convert.

The rear shocks mostly shape grip under power and how the car lands.

• Thicker oil at the rear holds the back up on landings and keeps it steadier on the throttle; thinner oil lets it squat and follow rough or loose ground for more grip.
• This car runs thicker oil at the front (45 wt) than the rear (40 wt). The front reacts more slowly, which steadies the steering, while the rear follows the ground more freely for grip under power.

An engine has no KV rating.

• Nitro engines are sized by displacement in cubic inches, such as .21.

An engine drives the gears through a clutch, so there is no motor shaft.

• The clutch bell takes the place of the pinion.

An engine car has no drive battery.

• A small receiver pack or a BEC powers the radio and servos.

An engine has no KV, so a theoretical top speed cannot be worked out from the gearing alone.

Overall length as the maker states it, usually with the body fitted.

• Useful for comparing real size, since scale labels are loose.