going big and going 4wd

PERFORMANCE TEST cen racing going big and going 4wd Looks small doesn t it? words: Derek Buono photos: Jason Boulanger Big scale RC has always been around but never really got much love from the masses. There are a few reasons for that: they are sometimes more expensive, can be heavy and clumsy and hard to really get support for. The HPI Baja changed that by releasing a mainstream vehicle that, dollar for dollar, might be the best deal out there. With the Baja paving the way for old and new players, more and more big kits are hitting the market and the latest from CEN packs value into a 4WD chassis that can be had in either a buggy, truggy or monster truck. We got the big traditional truck version to see if going big is the way to go. Until you see it in person, you won t know just how big this really is. 76 WWW.RC411.COM APRIL 2010 77

cen racing Threaded Aluminum Shocks: A nice bonus feature is the threaded shock bodies for ride height adjustments. PART #: CEG5001 STREET PRICE: $900-$1,000 Price as tested: $1,050 setup time: 1 hour experience level: Novice to Intermediate SCALE POWER TYPE DRIVE MPG If you have a weed eater, think of the last time 01 you put gas in it. Who can remember, right? Unlike nitro engines, fuel economy in these big 1/5-scales hovers around 45 minutes to an hour on one tank. Add in the fact that you get a gallon of gas for about $3 and you can see the value in having a gasser in your RC vehicle. This tank is by all means ginormous and we d probably get bored before we ran out of fuel. CEN RACING MATRIX5-MT 03 VEHICLE INFO LAYOUT: thickness: material: CHASSIS Stamped single deck 4mm tank capacity: 650cc TYPE: T6 aluminum SUSPENSION 4-wheel independent turnbuckles: Steel This thing will take you out at the knees. Big Box: The radio box has plenty of space to put your favorite battery pack in there. We suggest getting a sub-c pack in there so you can worry less about battery life when you re out running for an hour. Roll Cage: A good roll cage protects the chassis from the occasional trip on its lid. This will also protect the body from being damaged. 02 4WD: Something that makes up for flashy design is that all four wheels are going to be putting that power to the ground, and in a big truck that s much better than just having 2WD. Filter Guard: Keeping the air filter clean is a good idea and this metal shield keeps big chunks of slop from hitting the air filter. Since it s 4WD it s going to kick up some dirt....the Matrix5-MT has enough punch to get some wheel spin and throw gravel in your face... strange suspension 03 It wouldn t be really considered a conventional style of suspension as the in-board pivot ball setup isn t found on much of anything these days, but that doesn t mean it won t do the job. With a truck this big sometimes simplicity and durability go further than performance oriented design. Gears of war Big trucks require big 02 gears and this external gear reduction features composite gears, which should take the abuse of the power and the weight of this truck. The plastic will also be cheaper to replace when the gears wear out. STEERING: Dual bell crank SWAYBARS (F/R): Not included bodies: SHOCKS damping (F/R): pistons (F/R): springs (F/R): type: differential: Threaded aluminum 50-wt. / 50-wt. 1.6mm 3-hole / 1.6mm 3-hole Silver (stiff) drive train Full-tme 4WD Front and rear diff fluid (f/c/r): Grease / solid / grease axle type: transmission: spur gear Material: Clutch type: BEARINGS: Universal / dogbone (rear) Gear reduction Plastic Steel gearing Metal-shielded clutchbell/ spur: 24/39 GEAR RATIOS: PRIMARY: 1.63:1 INTERNAL: 6.90:1 FINAL: 11.30:1 body: tires (F/R): diameter/ width: hex size: body, tires & wheels CEN Matrix5-MT CEN Chevron 5.84 in. x 3.35 in. (143mm x 85mm) 18mm (square) It climbs curbs like nothing. wheels: CEN dimensions weight: 37 lbs. (16,783g) 01 track width (F/R): wheelbase: ride height 21.65 in. (550mm) 20.47 in. (520mm) 2.75 in. (70mm) 78 WWW.RC411.COM APRIL 2010 79

You could have your kids ride this thing. PERFORMANCE TEST Testing Testing was done in a big empty open field where you should run something this big and fast. It was mixed terrain typical of Southern California with borderline low traction, which would test the grip and handling of the big truck. Acceleration and Speed The clutch has a pretty low RPM engagement, which bogs the engine slightly and mellows driveline shock, but the Matrix5-MT still had enough punch to get some wheel spin and throw gravel in your face. Speed was also pretty good, and for such a big truck you ll have to remember that it takes more time to slow down! Running into your leg (like we ve all done) with something this big will actually hurt! /8 Braking The brakes worked, but maybe need some fine tuning to get a more linear feel. For the most part they almost felt on or off, which will stop the truck in a hurry but in terms of performance that isn t the best way of getting the job done. So out of the box they are grabby as can be and require some tuning. Rating: 6 Low-Speed Handling Despite being huge and having a turning radius you can measure out in plywood, the Matrix5- MT wasn t too bad in the low-speed maneuvers. Low traction allowed me to steer with the throttle, and its 4WD ensured that the truck wouldn t swap ends easily. The suspension and tires soaked up the natural rock and roughness of the empty lot. A dual servo option would help improve the truck s overall handling. High-Speed Handling With the throttle pinned the truck was very controllable. You could get a drift going if you had enough open space. You do have to remember the size, weight and speed of this truck when judging how it handles and adjust your driving style to adapt to the slower reaction..5 cen Racing rtr GEAR radio: receiver: steering servo: throttle servo: engine: pipe: tires: body: test GEAR Receiver pack: Skyion DX-Pro FM Skyion G82135 Skyion G82106 Skyion G82122 CEN 30cc CEN Tuned Pipe CEN Chevron Pattern CEN Monster Truck Mugen Power Pack, B0242 $40 fuel: 87 Octane, $3/gallon CONTACT CEN Racing: www.cenracing.com 80 WWW.RC411.COM

Skinny almost tried to ride it. You can guess how that went. PERFORMANCE TEST Rough-Track Handling It was pretty rough in our test area rough enough where any 1/8-scale would have some issues but the big tires and scale of this truck make it at home in just normal empty lots. A rock that s the size of a buggy tire is more scale. The suspension isn t orthodox in setup but it did hold up to some good, old-fashioned beating. Rating: 9 Jumping We didn t have real jumps in our test area, but we did have natural jumps, probably typical for this kind of truck. We did find that if you hit the jumps with some speed it wanted to nose into the ground. That can be suspension or just a characteristic of the truck. Letting off and hitting the jumps on-power made the nose point in the right direction. It s big and heavy so jumping 50 feet isn t ideal anyway. Rating: 7 Wrenching Maintenance One of the appeals of big scale is that not everything is packed in such a small space. With more real estate and larger screws it becomes a little easier to work on, and hopefully less frequent. The center spur gear is buried deep in the car and has a complex setup of gears and axles to send the power to the front and rear, so this will be more complicated if you compare it to an 1/8-scale buggy. Since these cars aren t as mainstream as others, ease of maintenance is lower than most of the average RC cars out there. It s not super hard; just less refined in general and with the added weight seems to have lots of bracing and roll bars to get in the way. to win. It s 37 pounds, or three times the weight of most 1/8-scale trucks and with that comes the chance we will land wrong or hit something hard. We saw some pretty crazy flex in the arms off some jumps, but it didn t show signs of stopping. Overall, we re happy so far with the durability, but we will be watching the exposed center gears for wear. Rating: 9 Tuning We d be lying if we said we changed any settings. It s a big monster truck and while it does have some tuning options we aren t really going to go nuts and start fine-tuning such a heavy vehicle. Adjusting the damping to get the nose to point up over jumps might be the only thing one can feel. Conclusion In some ways the big truck surprised us. It s not the most visually striking thing, and some of the design looks cramped, but in the end it performed well and provided over an hour of runtime on a single tank. 4WD makes up for lots of problems in handling, and even if we wanted to complain about how the Matrix5-MT handled we couldn t. It did what a big monster truck should do drive over stuff and make it look easy. The 1/5-scalers are still rare, but if you want an inexpensive 4WD monster truck, the Matrix5-MT isn t a bad option. Find one for less than $1,000 and it s a pretty good deal. cen Racing SCORECARD SCALE RATING: 1=POOR 10=EXCELLENT 4 INSTRUCTIONS 8 parts quality/fit 9 durability 8 tunability 8 overall performance 8 value hits 4WD makes use of power not wasted Huge tank means huge runtime Optional dual steering servos misses Big tires hit chassis and body at full lock Instructions are almost nonexistent Exposed gears in the center of the drivetrain main competition HPI Baja 5T, FG 4WD Competition Monster, Rampage MT PRO who it s for Those who want 1/5-scale and 4WD Wear and Tear The truck s soft plastic and beefy design has held up so far. But we do expect some issues because, as with all vehicles this size, mass is going 82 WWW.RC411.COM

cen racing SCALE POWER TYPE DRIVE POWERPLANT INFO The engine is mysteriously without a logo so it s hard to tell what brand engine it is. It does come with a stout pullstart and a bright red kill switch. Like most engines of this style, this one starts easy, idles forever and provides insane runtimes. It doesn t rev like our nitro engines do so that takes some getting used to and the power can be abrupt, but thanks to a soft clutch and 4WD it s not very noticeable. performance INFO acceleration curve 0-60 ft: 2.43 sec. @ 26.5 mph Top Speed: 29.8 mph @ 190 ft. Average Run Time: 50 minutes test conditions weather: Temp/humidity: Barometric pressure: altitude: track type: handling TURNING RADIUS: On power: off power: braking Control: Fade: Overall: Breezy but sunny 60 F/52% 20.17 in. 652 ft. Natural loose dirt 8 feet, 1 inch Slight oversteer Slight understeer Poor Satisfactory Good Excellent Poor Slight None Poor Satisfactory Good Excellent The Olsen might be able to use this to go to work. APRIL 2010 85