Associated Factory Team 12R5.1

The Factory Team 12R5.1 is the latest evolutionary step in Associated’s twenty-five years of 1:12 scale racing history. New for the RC12R5.1 is the wide three-point rear pod that has been optimized for fitting brushless motors as well as heat dissipation. The 12R5.1 is built on a 2.5mm woven carbon fiber chassis that utilizes a pivot-ball link rear suspension that allows for independent adjustments for chassis roll, bump, and alignment.

Having the ability to make these chassis adjustments independently gives the 12R5.1 greater potential for the best possible handling on any track surface. While testing, the pivot-ball link chassis has proven to be more durable in high-speed impacts and excels in bumpy track conditions.

The 12R5.1 features shocks with a through-shaft design providing equalized damping throughout the full stroke of the shock in both directions without any unwanted rebound. The center shock tower has four mounting positions that split the spring rates for even finer adjustments. The center shock also controls the chassis droop and can be adjusted on the car with a turnbuckle wrench, making it easier and quicker to get dialed in.

The 12R5.1’s “Active Strut” front end has been optimized, featuring symmetric components with adjustable caster and track width, as well as a front axle with wheel nut. Factory Team blue aluminum servo mounts position the servo flat on the chassis for a lower center of gravity and include Ackermann adjustment spacers. The foam front bumper helps protect body and chassis during impacts.

The 12R5.1 comes ready for brushless with a new optimized wide rear pod. The rear pod features a woven carbon fiber top plate and Factory Team blue aluminum machined motor mount, left side bulkhead and motor mount standoff. The woven carbon fiber top plate attaches to the motor mount and left side bulkhead at three points, and uses an integrated standoff, making the rear pod more rigid. Front-to-rear chassis balance is optimized at the center of the battery, allowing an easy transition to 3.7V LiPo batteries.

12R5.1 Factory Team features:
- Wide rear pod allows easy installation of brushless motors and features Factory Team blue aluminum machined motor mount, left side bulkhead, and standoff.
- Accepts single-cell LiPo battery packs without changing the front-to-rear weight bias.
- Factory Team shocks feature a through-shaft design, making for equal damping with no rebound in both directions.
- Active strut front end features symmetric components with adjustable caster and track width, as well as a new front axle with wheel nut.
- Woven carbon fiber center shock tower allows for incremental adjustments of rear spring rate.
- Factory Team pivot ball-link chassis allows for independent adjustment for roll, bump, and alignment.

Source: Associated [rc10.com]

Categories - Cars, Products, Team Associated

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Comments

1. mav - August 11th, 2009 at 09:04

Brushless solution is all good.

But, people at AE should accelerate on coming out a chassis for Li-Po, like next month! Hey, the reality is… it is getting harder and harder to get Sub-C battery these days. Distributors, resellers don’t stock them as they need to buy in large qty. The general pop. for 1/10 are all Li-Po now, having a large inventory is suicide.

I wonder if they really notice this. Pretty soon, the 1/12 general pop. market is dead. world champion is good and all, but it doesn’t pay the bills, people…

AE people, any thing soon???? Been waiting for long time…

2. MM - August 11th, 2009 at 10:23

What are talking about??
The Lipo 1S batts already fit in any 1/12 link car!!!!

3. blah - August 11th, 2009 at 15:11

Ummm you been around long buddy, the third pic down is the car with a reedy lipo mounted in it…. have been doing these for a while now. rather than spending time on here asking AE to give you a product, you should open your eyes and spend time to see the product you want is on this exact webpage…. silly

4. M. B. - August 11th, 2009 at 16:34

Mr Mav.

You know if you did not like AE having a chassis that was not optimized for lipo, why don’t you make one yourself? People in Europe and the US have been doing their own conversions for a while!!! Also the Nimh SC Cells are not hard to find! Have you read any r/c magazine and seen advertisement? Try cheapbatterypacks.com for one! I mean how many batteries do you go through? If you take care of your packs they should last a while before needing to buy new cells. My guess is that you may have just started racing or “toying” with 1:12. So yeah the market is coming around to Lipo, do you know how much it involves to retool? And as mr blah stated look at the pics before posting. My next guess you are going to bash CRC, or Serpent for there 1:12 chassis. And Lipo are just now making it to 1:10 WGT and 1:12. Give the market some time, and 1:12 is far from dead, where have you been, under a rock???

5. mav - August 11th, 2009 at 22:05

To MM, thanks.

To blah, eyes are certainly opened. I guess people at SpeedZone really thought about problem people face. BTW, I love my AE’s actually and I have been playing AE 12th scale for quite sometime too. So please just chill. BTW, I am not associated with SpeedZone or any vendor.

To M.B. No, I am not under some rock. We just have different perspectives.

People at AE “maybe” know what the problem is (at least I hope they do) but perhaps they don’t know they are best in position (or don’t want to) capitalize on the market needs. I enjoy T-bar car, so many others. A lot of people don’t go out buy a new car and ditch their old ones. Maybe you do and I certainly honor that. However, I know a lot people are still rolling L4 or even L3. We have a lot of fun just “playing” at the track. You do know their 12th scale has been around for long time, don’t you? These old cars are still very nice cars, maybe people don’t want to buy a new one. I am merely trying to say there are lot of these kind of “installation base”. Honestly, offering a LiPo solution is not hard if AE put their mind to it, e.g., just a few drawings, a few meetings away, some ad’s, some joint-marketing with bettery makers (oops, they have Reedy, they can’t…). Well, if they do, I think they can sell a lot of these and book a nice profit. You do know that profit for parts are much higher than box set, right?

Please, don’t talking about re-tool with me. You don’t know what you are talking about here. It is not that difficult. In fact, with supply chain system these RC companies adopt these days, it is not difficult and costly either. Trust me.

No… I am not trying to bash anyone. Just a liitle hope and dream and suggestion. BTW, CRC is a great car. Serpent, humm… maybe it deserves a little bashing with poor quality, precision… it is a open secret, everybody knows. Yeah… I never ready that in a magazine… true.

This I agree… 12th scale is not dead. I love it.

6. Mike - August 16th, 2009 at 18:23

What are you talking about, you sure went off on a rant? Gues you took this a bit personal. And who said anything about speedzone? Oh well, I hope we can all get along here, and not Bash, but enjoy some racing. I think it is great that Associated is offering up a refresher on the RC12R5, maybe they can offer a kit to all us who have the first version of the RC12R5? Just my ten cents worth!