X-Games – Hot Bodies Cyclone 12X

Rear
The side by side movement of the chassis is controlled by a central friction damper. Two plastic plates clamp a carbon upper plate that is attached to the rear power pod. The damping characteristic is adjustable via fluids with different viscosity. After using the supplied differential grease we switched to Corally hard syrup later in the test to stiff the rear up a bit.

Damping is also controlled by an oil-filled shock with a threaded alloy shock body and titanium-nitride shock shaft. The stock set-up offers a huge amount of droop (around 2.5 mm) that can be reduced by placing washers on the shock shaft inside the damper if desired.

The rear motor pod is a multi-piece affair consisting of two alloy side plates and a connecting alloy tube. The left side motor plate has a large opening to allow for an easy installation of the motor but during assembly we found out that none of the brushless motors we had in stock fitted into the pod without unscrewing the upper friction damper carbon plate. That’s not much of an issue but it can be frustrating as it potentially changes the set-up of the friction damper …

New to the Cyclone 12x is the carbon rear axle with an updated clamp style wheel hub on the left hand side. It is of a lightweight design and allows for an easy set-up of the trackwidth as well as does away with filing the axle to fit a grub screw as with earlier designs. The new axle rotates in updated ride height spacers that offer adjustments in 0.25 mm steps from 0 to 2.5 mm.
Supplied with the kit is a 95 teeth Xenon spur gear with eight differential balls. Although ‘only’ containing eight balls the differential is super smooth and offered consistent action throughout the whole testing period.

Finish
In terms of electronic equipment once again the GM-Racing Genius 95 1/12 Spec speedo came into play. This time we soldered a relatively mild Team Orion 6.5T motor to it. Steering duties are taken care of by a JR/Graupner DS3781 servo together with a Futaba R604FS receiver. Power came from Orcan VTEC 4600 cells, traction and site bite was provided by Jaco purple/lilac tryes up front and pinks at the rear. Body-wise we opted for Hot Bodies delicious C-12 Mark III that promises high downforce while remaining a low-drag body. The body was painted by Kai of HYPERLINK “http://www.ok-gfx.com” www.ok-gfx.com.