American HardCORR – Traxxas Slash

Middle
Moving to the middle of the truck you will at first notice the huge grey coloured plastic tub chassis. A bit of the norm when it comes to a race car is that all electrical components like steering servo, battery pack, speed control and receiver are placed relatively high on the chassis plate. This in turn allows for a huge ground clearance of more then 10 centimetres measured in the middle of the chassis plate. Although made out of plastic the chassis offers a rigid base for the internals because of its tub/tunnel design. The battery pack is located centrally in the chassis, the waterproof Traxxas steering servo as well as the also waterproof receiver box are located left and right from the battery tub.

Just behind the battery pack the XL5 ESC can be found. Overall at first it appears as if Traxxas chose to use a very unique, not to mention weird design for the truck but the high position of the components offer additional protection against water, mud and dirt plus the higher centre of gravity helps to simulate the extensive chassis rolling associated with the full-scale trucks.

The XL5 speedo is of Traxxas’ own design, can take power packs up to eight cells (9.6V) and offers a total of three driving profiles plus a strong 6v BEC system to power the strong yet reasonable fast Traxxas steering servo. The driving profiles divide into full forward and reverse, forward only and a special training mode where only 50 percent speed is available which should make adapting to the truck easier for beginners. Like the servo and the receiver box the ESC is water sealed to ensure the Slash survives even the meanest of track conditions like dust, mud, snow and ice! Unfortunately it does not offer a LiPo mode which means that you have to buy an aftermarket LiPo cut-off module if you want to boost your truck into new speed levels. That aside the included electronic pack offers good value and is easy to use.

Rear
Up rear the Traxxas Slash is equipped with a strong 2WD buggy-type three-gear gearbox with steel transmission gears. These beefy internals should hold up very well even under the rigors of LiPo battery or brushless motor use. To further increase lifespan and add driveability the gearbox is equipped with a slipper clutch adapted from the Revo nitro monster truck. Drive from the grease-filled planetary differential to the ball raced wheels is provided by plastic universals. Speaking of ball bearings: you can find them throughout the whole truck including the gearbox as with every competition based chassis.

Castor of the rear wheels is adjustable via steel turnbuckles, multiple fixing positions for the shocks offer again loads of set-up potential. A huge tangle of plastic rods at the very end of the chassis make it look silly without body but it protects the motor and gearbox as well as the body from harsh impacts from behind …

Motor-wise the Slash comes with a so called Titan 12T in 550 can size. An internal fan should help cool it down during operation. Cooling is also supported by additional channels within the motor holder which should create some sort of airflow through the motor while in operation.

Finish
To power the Slash we used a LRP HV2 4000mAh Race Pack #77110. The XL5 ESC comes with Traxxas own high power connectors so we had to change the Tamiya-type plug of the LRP pack for one of the Traxxas items. The Traxxas connectors are sold in packs of two (#3070 male – for speedo/charger or #3080 female – for battery).