Welcome to our track! We've been advocating the XQ2S for a while as it's exceptionally good for the price. FYI regarding the diff vs spool up front, a spool will give a little bit of understeer on corner entry but will accelerate much harder and give better corner exit steering. We always run a front spool.
I race Xpress chassis here in the UK, the XQ2S at club level will hold its own against far more expensive chassis. One big improvement that you can make for this chassis is the mid motor conversion, takes it to a whole new level of corner rotation. You'll find a front spool makes the car much quicker than a diff, you only need a diff in the front in wet conditions
Ooh nice, thanks for the advice there, Jody! I shall retain the front spool for now then as I don't think they race in the wet at this club. I'll hold off on the mid-mount motor in case they try to keep XQ2S config 'stock' for whatever class they're used in here. Cheers for your thoughts, that's good stuff!
@@RCTNT Nice review as always! Agree with Jody a front diff isn't needed these days. If you are looking for upgrades, the front double joint universals will remove a lot of chatter from the front end. This chatter is noticeable when turning on power and will remove some understeer. A set of sway bars is also a good upgrade to have.
The kit looks good. The only tool I would recommend is a good setup station to make sure that your steering and tire angles are correct and equal both sides. When it comes to touring cars, this tool is essential. Then focus on tires, bodyshell type/position and setup. Nothing else matters as much as those things I just mentioned, no need to buy additional expensive parts. Maybe buy one or two belts in case you loose one, it happens.
Nice man this looks like a lot of fun! I like that you went with what the club guys like to run and recommend. The side benefit of that is if / when something breaks, someone might have the spare you need that day. The folks at the club I've visited seemed all too ready to lend a hand or give advice and one of them let me try their Tamiya Euro Truck on the carpet 😁. Looking forward to more videos at the track when your allows 🍻. Been trying RC drift the last few weeks as it's another version of the hobby that enjoys scale and doesn't really require a ton of space. Those Justock combos are really nice options to get us going with a spec sensored setup for not too much money.
No worries! If you're starting at a track and there's an active club, ask the folks what they're running there. It can be helpful to run the same car. This one is a pearler though, yeah!
COOL! I’m going to enjoy watching how you do. I think I’ll live vicariously through you on this class while I get deeper not my scalers, but touring cars look really fun. I tried my tracks noob class way back when, it was a spec class using tamiya minis hmmm probably M03 or 5 back then, it was fun, I think you’ve got a lot more car to start with but it will be fun seeing how you go.
Thanks Ken. Oh yes, this is a lot more car than the Tamiyas, so much more. Faster and more precise, but once you get the twitchy steering sorted to personal preference, it's a lot easier to drive than the tamiya, too. Cheers!
Nice video! I chose the XQ2S for my first touring car too. It's a perfect first car and competitive for faster classes too. I'm still racing mine. I hope to see your at the next TFTR club day!
It's not necessarily the best choice if you don't have a track, I think. But I also don't know enough about this yet to give you other advice than to suggest you look around at the various options. There's a bit out there!
@RC-TNT I'm up at Puckapunyal and only an hour from the track at Bendigo. Honestly I think I will go with the kyosho fazer as i am new to the discipline. However, this does look as a nice step up from that and I will keep it in mid and talk with the guys at the club to get an idea of what's good.
There's a lot of value in talking with the regulars I think! Big point to note is your Fazer will handle street/car parks just fine, using the tyres it came with, while this car will be only for the track. Cheers
Hey thanks for that, TFTR. I'd heard that from I think Steve at the track some time last year - Fazers are such fun! We might have to go check out that track some time too!
man I'd love to get into this kind of racing or at least have a track to run with the mates at, seems like a lot of fun and less repairs compared to an offroad track with jumps, etc thanks for the video, loved the review and impressions
My buddies and I take over a local tennis court. You can like 40, 4'' road cones for under 20 bucks. Just remember when marking out lanes, make em twice as wide as you think they should be.
These are great entry level race cars with very beginner friendly pricing. Even the highest price, top brand touring cars come with front spools and no front diff. That's what these cars are designed for (and have been for years). Very few people actually run these cars with front diffs any more, but if they do, they usually put in much thicker oils than you planned to use. You talked about maybe going up to 80k or so... front diffs (again: if used at all) usually run between 500k and 1 or even 2 million cSt. Getting a second diff is always a good idea though, as an alternative for the existing rear diff (so you can change oil more easily and cleanly, by quickly replacing the whole diff). Rule of thumb, for outdoor/asphalt, 1k-5k is what most people use, for indoor / carpet is 5k-10k in the rear. Choice of tires (and application of tire sauce) is probably the biggest factor, it's after all what connects the car to the ground. Often overlooked (especially by beginners,) but extremely important as a setup parameter is droop. That, along with the gazillion other setup parameters you can adjust on a touring car such as this will allow you to get rid of any push / understeer you felt - without the need for a front diff (ever). Heck, even choice of body shell and the position you mount it in have an effect. By the way, most people with real car experience have a hard time adjusting to RCs, since physics don't scale down perfectly and what works in one may not work at all in the other. Also what you called "almost no flex" was actually quite A LOT of flex for a racing grade touring car. Real carbon fiber or aluminium chassis are WAY stiffer (but of course way more expensive, too).
@@RCTNT That's nothing. You can literally write books about RC car setups (and many people have). It's a very complex topic, given how many things you can adjust on these cars.
@ruhrpottrc-racingingermany5867 absolutely. I've learned a lot since making this video! There's vastly more to learn than I've done already, but that's part of the hobby. Cheers!
Hey man, glad to see someone else enjoying the xq2s. What a car for the price hey?! You mentioned the car chatters a bit on full steering, this is due to the single joint cardan. Have you tried the double cardan front universals? This is a key upgrade for me, and one that made quite a difference. Anyway, happy racing. I have the XQ10 as well, fully upgraded (except not the x-sqare low profile shock tower) and the xq2s is just as quick round our track, at times quicker!
Short answer is I don't know. Longer answer is it depends how you want to drive it. What kind of track and surface you're on, for example. You have a fast motor there so maybe look to a mid range FDR to begin with. You can always gear up or down as needed after that. There's a gearing chart in the back of the manual. Start there and see how you go.
Haha yes, thank you! I've been suitably roasted in the comments for my uninformed musings on front diff vs spool now! I thank you for being so gracious about it 🙂
If they sell them for that car, get yourself Ball Differentials. A ball diff is externally adjustable, and threw the way they work, its like putting Posi in a real car. With an open diff, Even with heavy oil, under acceleration in a turn, the outside wheel unloads. Sway bars help to certain degree, but a ball diff, will only turn as much as it has to. I just upgraded my Kyosho Fazar MK2, with em, and it makes that car a whole different animal.
Oh yeah? Good to know! My experience with ball diffs has been poor in the past. They've melted from heat. Though I haven't tried them in bigger cars like 1/10, so I'll look into that. Thanks.
@@RCTNT If you are frying em, you didn't have them adjust tight enough. The old rc10 diffs, you tightened it all the way till it locked, and backed it off a half a turn. and then if there was any slip at all, you tightened it back an 1/16th. You want it to be tight, so they almost dont wanna spin, but are still smooth. ALSO use the correct grease, you dont want any other grease or oil to contaminate the rings. Have Fun with your new toy.
There was no adjustment in the little ones I was using. This was in the old Str8 buggies from years ago. Probably quite different to what you're referring to, I'm guessing. I like the sound of these. Thanks for explaining it!
@@TheCabledawg1 Front, and Rear. I do realize that around 50 buck a piece they are expensive, So if you can only afford one do the rear first. I also Added the swaybar kit, and it took the Brushless Fazar MK2 from what handled like an over power muscle car, And made it Somthing that would be fun on a track. Mind you ittll still do MASSIVE Power slides, But now I choose when they happen. And if i dont't I still usually can recover and make it look like thats what i was trying to do lol.
This looks very promising, here in Canberra you cannot drive glow engine cars anywhere (nagged to death by the chronic whingers) so i like the look of this .
Really good video 👍 Do you think the FWD conversion kit would help? I’d like to give track a go as well, always had crawlers or bashers so this would be something new. Is there a big track community though? I know it depends on location but you hear much about it compared to the other formats I mentioned.
G'day Rod, the community would vary by location. If there's a track, there'll be a community around it, I'd expect. If no track, then yeah, things would be a bit harder! Would a front wheel drive conversion help? Well no, not with performance. I mean, you totally could convert it to FWD without spending a penny, just don't fit the rear belt and leave that rear diff only lightly oiled rather than filling it. But that would mean less traction and a different handling to AWD. Fwd could totally be fun, but how you drive it would be quite different. I expect it'd need suspension tweaks to get the most out of the front end. I bet there are fwd classes for track racing, and I bet they'd be great.
We have 5 major tracks in Victoria where this was filmed, the community is quite active. FWD is one of the classes we run. If you're interested in that, I'd recommend the Xpress FT1S over the Xpress XQ2S + FWD conversion kit.
if that's uncoordinated driving... buddy boy.. let me tell you I would be in dark trouble trying to get to that level... sweet track.. you have some of the kewlest rc things at your disposal..
Don't I know it. It's incredible, the hobby these days. I guess I was comparing my driving to the regular guys here. They're like surgeons and their cars like scalpels. I feel like a fumbling newbie in comparison. Everything's relative, I guess!
I made it clear I was a beginner before sharing my thoughts. Clearly, don't take it as advice! As I learn stuff I can share that too. It's why I'm on UA-cam rather than on TV. This is just me sharing my experience, not my expertise. Thanks for watching!
Did not mean it in a bad way. Sorry it came across the wrong way. I have 2 of the XQ2S and some of the upgrades that you want on that car are the anti roll bars as you say. You also need to get a good set of springs because the ones that it brings is crap. Also the mid motor conversion the one for $70 is almost a must. Also the active steering for the rear helps an incredible amount. The set up window on that car is very narrow compare to a T4 or an X20 so all those add ons help a lot on set up
Welcome to our track! We've been advocating the XQ2S for a while as it's exceptionally good for the price.
FYI regarding the diff vs spool up front, a spool will give a little bit of understeer on corner entry but will accelerate much harder and give better corner exit steering. We always run a front spool.
Thank you kindly for the advice. Others have said this in the comments too. Solid car eh! I'm loving driving this thing :)
I race Xpress chassis here in the UK, the XQ2S at club level will hold its own against far more expensive chassis. One big improvement that you can make for this chassis is the mid motor conversion, takes it to a whole new level of corner rotation.
You'll find a front spool makes the car much quicker than a diff, you only need a diff in the front in wet conditions
Ooh nice, thanks for the advice there, Jody! I shall retain the front spool for now then as I don't think they race in the wet at this club. I'll hold off on the mid-mount motor in case they try to keep XQ2S config 'stock' for whatever class they're used in here. Cheers for your thoughts, that's good stuff!
@@RCTNT Nice review as always! Agree with Jody a front diff isn't needed these days. If you are looking for upgrades, the front double joint universals will remove a lot of chatter from the front end. This chatter is noticeable when turning on power and will remove some understeer. A set of sway bars is also a good upgrade to have.
Wonderful, thanks again to both of you. I have sway bars coming but will have to look into the front chatter reduction. Appreciate it!
@@RCTNT no need to fear the mid-motor config, most of the cars are mid motor these days.
I always enjoy your videos 👍 Thank you friend🤜🤛🍻🤝
Thank you 👍
@@RCTNT 🎶👍
The kit looks good. The only tool I would recommend is a good setup station to make sure that your steering and tire angles are correct and equal both sides. When it comes to touring cars, this tool is essential. Then focus on tires, bodyshell type/position and setup. Nothing else matters as much as those things I just mentioned, no need to buy additional expensive parts. Maybe buy one or two belts in case you loose one, it happens.
Thank you for the advice! That's good to know, I'll do that.
Nice man this looks like a lot of fun! I like that you went with what the club guys like to run and recommend. The side benefit of that is if / when something breaks, someone might have the spare you need that day. The folks at the club I've visited seemed all too ready to lend a hand or give advice and one of them let me try their Tamiya Euro Truck on the carpet 😁. Looking forward to more videos at the track when your allows 🍻. Been trying RC drift the last few weeks as it's another version of the hobby that enjoys scale and doesn't really require a ton of space. Those Justock combos are really nice options to get us going with a spec sensored setup for not too much money.
A positive club is just the best, isn't it :)
It appears to be a very good car. I think it's a good idea to make people aware of less expensive choices. I have heard good things about Xpress cars.
For sure. I'm loving this thing so far!
Can't wait for the race updates.
Me too!
Me three!
Great looking car! Thanks for the video and enjoy the track!
Thanks Chris, I'm grateful for both. Will do!
Great video. Look forward to see how you go learning to race
Hey thanks, me too :)
Cheers for the video and info mate. Im going to look into this as im new to the RC world and need a good track car.
No worries! If you're starting at a track and there's an active club, ask the folks what they're running there. It can be helpful to run the same car. This one is a pearler though, yeah!
Sweet ride‼️👍👍🦾🦾
Sure is!
COOL! I’m going to enjoy watching how you do. I think I’ll live vicariously through you on this class while I get deeper not my scalers, but touring cars look really fun. I tried my tracks noob class way back when, it was a spec class using tamiya minis hmmm probably M03 or 5 back then, it was fun, I think you’ve got a lot more car to start with but it will be fun seeing how you go.
Thanks Ken. Oh yes, this is a lot more car than the Tamiyas, so much more. Faster and more precise, but once you get the twitchy steering sorted to personal preference, it's a lot easier to drive than the tamiya, too. Cheers!
Nice video! I chose the XQ2S for my first touring car too. It's a perfect first car and competitive for faster classes too. I'm still racing mine. I hope to see your at the next TFTR club day!
Nice one, Steve. Thanks and yes, I hope to be there too. Cheers :)
Great info👍 Looks like a solid kit.
Thanks, I'm liking it :)
I wish I had a facility near me like this. Mind you, with the weather in the UK, you'd get good at wet running!! 😆
Haha yes fair enough
I'm looking at getting into touring cars, I will definitely consider this car.
It's not necessarily the best choice if you don't have a track, I think. But I also don't know enough about this yet to give you other advice than to suggest you look around at the various options. There's a bit out there!
@RC-TNT I'm up at Puckapunyal and only an hour from the track at Bendigo. Honestly I think I will go with the kyosho fazer as i am new to the discipline. However, this does look as a nice step up from that and I will keep it in mid and talk with the guys at the club to get an idea of what's good.
There's a lot of value in talking with the regulars I think! Big point to note is your Fazer will handle street/car parks just fine, using the tyres it came with, while this car will be only for the track. Cheers
@@snowypods9812 the Fazer is a good option if you're racing at Bendigo, it's their fastest growing class.
Hey thanks for that, TFTR. I'd heard that from I think Steve at the track some time last year - Fazers are such fun! We might have to go check out that track some time too!
man I'd love to get into this kind of racing or at least have a track to run with the mates at, seems like a lot of fun and less repairs compared to an offroad track with jumps, etc
thanks for the video, loved the review and impressions
I'm grateful for this one, for sure. And yes, when you're not sending a car to the moon, things do seem to break less. Funny how that works :)
My buddies and I take over a local tennis court. You can like 40, 4'' road cones for under 20 bucks.
Just remember when marking out lanes, make em twice as wide as you think they should be.
Now there's a great idea. (If the tennis club is cool with it!)
These are great entry level race cars with very beginner friendly pricing.
Even the highest price, top brand touring cars come with front spools and no front diff. That's what these cars are designed for (and have been for years). Very few people actually run these cars with front diffs any more, but if they do, they usually put in much thicker oils than you planned to use. You talked about maybe going up to 80k or so... front diffs (again: if used at all) usually run between 500k and 1 or even 2 million cSt. Getting a second diff is always a good idea though, as an alternative for the existing rear diff (so you can change oil more easily and cleanly, by quickly replacing the whole diff). Rule of thumb, for outdoor/asphalt, 1k-5k is what most people use, for indoor / carpet is 5k-10k in the rear.
Choice of tires (and application of tire sauce) is probably the biggest factor, it's after all what connects the car to the ground. Often overlooked (especially by beginners,) but extremely important as a setup parameter is droop. That, along with the gazillion other setup parameters you can adjust on a touring car such as this will allow you to get rid of any push / understeer you felt - without the need for a front diff (ever). Heck, even choice of body shell and the position you mount it in have an effect. By the way, most people with real car experience have a hard time adjusting to RCs, since physics don't scale down perfectly and what works in one may not work at all in the other.
Also what you called "almost no flex" was actually quite A LOT of flex for a racing grade touring car. Real carbon fiber or aluminium chassis are WAY stiffer (but of course way more expensive, too).
What a wealth of information!! Thank you for taking the time to share all of this, it's very much appreciated :)
@@RCTNT That's nothing. You can literally write books about RC car setups (and many people have). It's a very complex topic, given how many things you can adjust on these cars.
@ruhrpottrc-racingingermany5867 absolutely. I've learned a lot since making this video! There's vastly more to learn than I've done already, but that's part of the hobby. Cheers!
Ive been wanting to try on road, ive been looking for a kit 😎 i might be getting this one or the 3racing kit.
I can't comment on that as I don't know much about 3Racing, but I can affirm this car is excellent in its own right.
Great video. What color is that yellow?
Tamiya Camel Yellow, left over from my Scx6 project
Thank you 😊
Hey man, glad to see someone else enjoying the xq2s. What a car for the price hey?! You mentioned the car chatters a bit on full steering, this is due to the single joint cardan. Have you tried the double cardan front universals? This is a key upgrade for me, and one that made quite a difference. Anyway, happy racing. I have the XQ10 as well, fully upgraded (except not the x-sqare low profile shock tower) and the xq2s is just as quick round our track, at times quicker!
Oh interesting, I didn't know that was an option. Will look into it, thank you!
Just built this kit. Bought a spectrum 2s 4000kv motor. The stock spur gear is 116tooth 64p. What size pinion gear would you recommend?
Short answer is I don't know. Longer answer is it depends how you want to drive it. What kind of track and surface you're on, for example. You have a fast motor there so maybe look to a mid range FDR to begin with. You can always gear up or down as needed after that.
There's a gearing chart in the back of the manual. Start there and see how you go.
Even the top kits have a spool at the front. It's a standard for touring cars these days.
Haha yes, thank you! I've been suitably roasted in the comments for my uninformed musings on front diff vs spool now! I thank you for being so gracious about it 🙂
thank you 😊
Thank you! It's a lovely car.
haha i luv it.... just drive it and do the work to make it go..... this is RC....
The biggest gains are in practice time, for sure. I love this hobby!
If they sell them for that car, get yourself Ball Differentials. A ball diff is externally adjustable, and threw the way they work, its like putting Posi in a real car. With an open diff, Even with heavy oil, under acceleration in a turn, the outside wheel unloads. Sway bars help to certain degree, but a ball diff, will only turn as much as it has to.
I just upgraded my Kyosho Fazar MK2, with em, and it makes that car a whole different animal.
Oh yeah? Good to know! My experience with ball diffs has been poor in the past. They've melted from heat. Though I haven't tried them in bigger cars like 1/10, so I'll look into that. Thanks.
@@RCTNT If you are frying em, you didn't have them adjust tight enough. The old rc10 diffs, you tightened it all the way till it locked, and backed it off a half a turn. and then if there was any slip at all, you tightened it back an 1/16th. You want it to be tight, so they almost dont wanna spin, but are still smooth. ALSO use the correct grease, you dont want any other grease or oil to contaminate the rings.
Have Fun with your new toy.
There was no adjustment in the little ones I was using. This was in the old Str8 buggies from years ago. Probably quite different to what you're referring to, I'm guessing. I like the sound of these. Thanks for explaining it!
Did you put a ball diff in the the rear or rear and front?
@@TheCabledawg1 Front, and Rear. I do realize that around 50 buck a piece they are expensive, So if you can only afford one do the rear first.
I also Added the swaybar kit, and it took the Brushless Fazar MK2 from what handled like an over power muscle car, And made it Somthing that would be fun on a track.
Mind you ittll still do MASSIVE Power slides, But now I choose when they happen. And if i dont't I still usually can recover and make it look like thats what i was trying to do lol.
Is there any rc buggies with slick tires???
Well, probably not out of the box, but you can certainly put slicks or regular road tread tires on any of them..
This looks very promising, here in Canberra you cannot drive glow engine cars anywhere (nagged to death by the chronic whingers) so i like the look of this .
It's a tidy little thing. Nothing else I have here (admittedly not much on road) comes close to the locked-in feel this car has. It's quite good.
Really good video 👍
Do you think the FWD conversion kit would help?
I’d like to give track a go as well, always had crawlers or bashers so this would be something new.
Is there a big track community though?
I know it depends on location but you hear much about it compared to the other formats I mentioned.
G'day Rod, the community would vary by location. If there's a track, there'll be a community around it, I'd expect. If no track, then yeah, things would be a bit harder!
Would a front wheel drive conversion help? Well no, not with performance. I mean, you totally could convert it to FWD without spending a penny, just don't fit the rear belt and leave that rear diff only lightly oiled rather than filling it. But that would mean less traction and a different handling to AWD.
Fwd could totally be fun, but how you drive it would be quite different. I expect it'd need suspension tweaks to get the most out of the front end. I bet there are fwd classes for track racing, and I bet they'd be great.
We have 5 major tracks in Victoria where this was filmed, the community is quite active. FWD is one of the classes we run. If you're interested in that, I'd recommend the Xpress FT1S over the Xpress XQ2S + FWD conversion kit.
Between xq2s and xq3s Which is the better option?
I'd love to answer, but I don't have the knowledge to give you an informed opinion, I'm sorry!
Need to find the time to get back to the track………
After ECCF I'll have a bit more time again! Looking forward to it :)
if that's uncoordinated driving... buddy boy.. let me tell you I would be in dark trouble trying to get to that level... sweet track.. you have some of the kewlest rc things at your disposal..
Don't I know it. It's incredible, the hobby these days.
I guess I was comparing my driving to the regular guys here. They're like surgeons and their cars like scalpels. I feel like a fumbling newbie in comparison. Everything's relative, I guess!
@@RCTNT I've seen worse from a newbie. Stick with it!
Still riding the motorcycle?
Nah, not since 2012. I'll be back to 2 wheels. Just waiting until I'm not actively parenting.
@@RCTNT so happy to see you've started this channel, I had no idea you were into R/C!
I thought I recognised your name! But I can't recall how I know you.. Can you jog my memory? Apologies!
Get used to killing tires, it’s part of racing.
For sure, that's fair.
Beginners should not give advice on what they don’t have experience on! FYI! Everyone runs lock diff in the front
I made it clear I was a beginner before sharing my thoughts. Clearly, don't take it as advice! As I learn stuff I can share that too. It's why I'm on UA-cam rather than on TV. This is just me sharing my experience, not my expertise. Thanks for watching!
Did not mean it in a bad way. Sorry it came across the wrong way. I have 2 of the XQ2S and some of the upgrades that you want on that car are the anti roll bars as you say. You also need to get a good set of springs because the ones that it brings is crap. Also the mid motor conversion the one for $70 is almost a must. Also the active steering for the rear helps an incredible amount. The set up window on that car is very narrow compare to a T4 or an X20 so all those add ons help a lot on set up
Thanks for the advice! I have the sway bars already, I'll look into the rest of it. Appreciate it, thanks
@@idronecharpifpv89 you came across as a complete 🍆.