Newbie, is Mini-X for me?

[cdog4w]

I'm pretty much new to serious RC racing; I picked up some bit-char OEMs and have definitely enjoyed them. Despite all the mods available for bitchars, I feel something is missing from the total package. I have a feeling much of this is also due to the fact that I bought OEMs that are a bit shoddy in quality. When I first received my OEM, it didn't steer very well. I popped it open and played with the steering spring and then it ran perfect. Since then I've been tinkering on and off and now the steering is gone again and I can't seem to fix it (I'll be making a somewhat parallel post in the bitchar forum about it). I was careful when working so it seems a bit arbitrary and is very frustrating. This seriously contributed to me looking into a more serious alternative and the 2 primary names turned up were Mini-Z and Mini-X. They seem to be the 2 easiest entry points to more serious RC racing. I'd love to pick one up but I had a few worries about my ability to enjoy them. I have pretty much no space in my apartment (carpeted except for small chunks of linoleum in kitchen and bathroom) which leaves me with racing outside. Luckily I park in an attached parking garage of which the upper exposed deck is virtually unused. My question is how capable are the Mini-Z's and Mini-X's of running on rough concrete? This is not smooth poured concrete, this is nasty cheap parking garage concrete. Not to mention the divider strips between sections. If these cars would run on somewhat rough surface, which would you reccomend? If you recommend other cars, I would prefer to keep my investment and storage space someone small for now (so I like the scale of these 2 cars). This seems to be the best forum out there so I'm hoping you guys/gals can help me out and answer my questions. Thanks.

CDog.

[tinyrc]

cdog4w, of the two, the Mini-X is your best bet in the abuse department. The surface you're running on, you say it's rough, but how much debris is on it? Because both cars should be okay as long as it's fairly smooth, but if there a lot of rocks, twigs, etc. it can seriously impact your ability to enjoy them. Tell us a bit more about the surface.

[cdog4w]

Thanks for the welcome (on my bitchar steering thread) btw. As for the surface of the parking garage, its relatively debris free (not to mention I could clear a least a small chunk for racing). I know there will be some trouble going between cement chunks (they have 1/2 inch to inch of rubber molding between to account for size changes due to temp. changes) since those vary from smooth transition to you feel it in a real car. The concrete itself looks like it has been raked instead of smoothed if you know what I mean? It's not nec. a fine raked pattern. Basically it would be a bumpy ride for the car.

I spoke with wedginator a bit (very helpful guy) and he said I should be OK as long as I don't run it full speed the whole way. He also recommended the Mini-Z saying it would take more abuse and was more easily mod'ed (especially the suspension). Either way I got to thinking about possibly raising the suspension on either the Z or the X and putting bigger tires on to make it more of a rally car. Dunno how possible this would be so I might as well ask a pro (you). Would prolly also need a wider wheelbase. It would be nice to develop these mods so that I could have a set of rally parts and a set of street parts that I could change out. Anyway, I really just need to bite the bullet and buy one :P If I were to get an X, your full kit for $85 has everything but the controller. What would you recommend for that and how much should I expect to pay?

Thanks again.

[tinyrc]

cdog4w, email us for pricing on the controller. I would say that the Mini-X is still better for this surface, it has better stock suspension and clearance, and is 4WD so you will spend a lot more time driving and a lot less time spinning out. As far as the rally mods, check out Mini-ZRacer.com's Forums as a number of people are working on this and you might get some ideas from them. The Mini-X is already pretty rally, all you'd need to do is come up with a way to increase the spring tension on the arms so that the ride height is increased.

[cdog4w]

Cool, thanks for the advice.

[irc]

As Tiny said Go with the Mini X for the out door stuff and I would reccomend the 1/43 Epoch for small indoor racing.