STING RAY – Blasting Off In The All-New Traxxas 4-Tec 3.0

RC is a fantastic way to get to own and drive the cars of your dreams at a fraction of the cost, all without the bother of where to store your collection of rides too. In 1/10-scale, you can own just about any modern supercar or out of reach rare classic you can think of without having to be a multi-millionaire with a 30 car garage. What’s better, being a model of the RC variety, allows you to experience the thrill of driving them too.

This is where Traxxas’ 4-Tec series of on road RC cars really shines. We’ve had our turn with the 4-Tec 2.0 in its many guises, from Ford GT to Cadillac CTS-V and everything in between. We’re willing to bet that the brutal power that its brushless VXL system puts out would more than out power their life-size counterparts if the 4-Tec 2.0 VXL was up scaled to 1/1-size. But we’re getting sidetracked.

We were excited to get our first spin in Traxxas’ latest on road creation, the 4-Tec 3.0. For its debut, 4-Tec version 3.0 is being released as a detailed recreation of the latest Chevrolet Corvette Stingray C8 in 1/10-scale. As the latest high performance achievements for both companies, we think that the release of the 3.0 as a Stingray C8 is quite appropriate. This Traxxas ready to run (RTR) RC supercar embodies the all-new mid-engine Corvette in exacting scale detail on their new, larger 4-Tec 3.0 chassis. Let’s take a closer look.

All-NEW

The brand new Traxxas 4-Tec 3.0 looks to put supercar performance at your control with a newly designed long-wheelbase, wide-track chassis design. Not only does the new 3.0 Stingray look to outperform on the pavement, but it is nearing die-cast levels of scale detail as well. Right out of the box, one can see that the stealth fighter-like faceted Corvette Stingray body and its massive side intakes have been duplicated down to the millimeter. The Stingray even shows off a realistic recreation of its 16-valve LT2 V8, visible just beneath the rear hatch “glass” window. The supercar is finished with authentic black-chrome wheels to fill its oversized fenders. Built not only to drive, this RC car is ready to display too.

THE CHASSIS

As mentioned earlier, the 4-Tec 3.0 chassis is entirely new and features a longer wheelbase and wider track developed specifically for the Corvette Stingray. In addition to ensuring accurate proportions, the designers at Traxxas point out that the longer, wider footprint of the 3.0 chassis improves stability and further refines handling. The results are enhanced steering precision and the simulated balanced feel of the real life ‘Vette’s mid-engine layout.

We compared the 4-Tec 3.0 to our 2.0 and immediately saw the size difference. The 3.0 is much more substantial and it even caused us to look up if the 3.0 was indeed a 1/10 scale car. It’s greater length and width of the 3.0 should give it the edge in overall stability compared to the 2.0.

The low center of gravity chassis positions weight down low for stable handing and superb balance. To avoid frontend scrapes, the front bumper is angled for snag-less approaches. The chassis is made up of interlocking modular pieces, which allows for sectional maintenance with added rigidity. Suspension is adjustable for droop and features dual rear camber link mounts. The 3.0’s shock absorption and handing are handled by four oil-filled Ultra Shocks.

CLIPLESS BODY

Debuting on this chassis is a new clipless body retention system that Traxxas has developed. After all, nothing destroys the look of a detailed scale look than unsightly body clips. Right out of the box, we noticed that the Stingray’s hyper-detailed scale look was left clean, without unsightly body posts and clips. Instead of using old-fashioned body posts and clips, an integrated quick-release system seamlessly secures the body. The hidden mechanism delivers a secure hold, and releases in seconds to provide quick and easy chassis access.

We must emphasize that we really like this method of body attachment. The feel is sold and getting the body on and off the chassis has never been this easy. Without the hassle of aligning posts with ugly holes in the body, the body simply drops onto the chassis and is snapped into place. Taking the body off only requires depressing tabs underneath the chassis. Ingenious.

Power & Grip

A brushed Traxxas Titan 12T 550 motor powers this first edition of the Stingray, which includes an internal cooling fan for extended run times. The Titan 12T’s stock pinion gear allows an out of the box top speed of over 30 miles per hour. In case you want to change out its pinion gear to run customized gearing, a fixed gear motor plate makes setting gear mesh simple with 11 different gearing positions. We’re confident that we’ll see a brushless version of the Stingray sometime down the line and we can’t wait.

The 3.0 features a full-time shaft driven 4-wheel drive drivetrain for confident and dynamic driving. It is equipped with a steel center driveshaft with center bearing support and can readily support powerful brushless systems such as Traxxas’ own Velineon (VXL) brushless system. We found that the Titan 12T that the Stingray comes with has surprisingly plenty of go as is. It’s very quick off the line and is more than a match for many other cars we ran it with. That said, we might go with a VXL upgrade in the future because who doesn’t like even more power at their fingertips?

Putting all that power down requires some major grip and the Stingray’s wheels and tire step it up in the traction department. The Corvette runs a staggered wheel and tire combination with wider rear tires for an aggressive stance. Pushing more realistic details, the 12mm wheel hexes also include replica cross-drilled brake discs. Brake calipers are also included and can be mounted forward or trailing positions. Talk about scale realism!

Electronics

As with many Traxxas RTR’s, the Stingray comes with their reliable TQ 2.4GHz Radio System and their venerable XL-5 electronic speed controller (ESC). The waterproof ESC can be set to run three separate drive profiles, from Race Mode to Sport Mode to Training Mode. Race Mode gives the driver forward and brake throttle controls while Sport mode adds reverse as an option. Training Mode is great for beginner drivers and limits power output to 50%. We’ve been known to engage Training Mode when handing the controls over to the little ones. Trust us, it’s a welcome feature that helps avoid unwanted damage to the vehicle from errant crashes.

Thanks to an adjustable battery hold down, the Corvette can take either a 7-cell NiMH flat pack battery or a 2-cell LiPo without modification. The battery hold down swivels to allow different height batteries and locks securely without any requiring any pins or other parts that can easily become lost.

3-2-1 Blast Off

After fully admiring this beautiful ride and charging up a 7-cell NiMH battery, we were ready to head to a local parking lot to see what the new 4-Tec 3.0 can do. We locked our battery in and attached the Stingray body to the chassis. The clipless body easily dropped on and we were ready to run.

We immediately ran some speed passes and found that the 3.0 is indeed more stable when compared to our 4-Tec 2.0, which we also brought along for some drive time. Straight-line passes were easy to drive with the 3.0 and its handling was tight and responsive. The low center of gravity layout of the chassis noticeably kept body roll to a minimum.

The youngest of our drivers had a blast driving freestyle all around the parking lot. She especially liked the look of the sleek ‘Vette. Who doesn’t? The Stingray body looked ultra realistic thanks to its elongated proportions and details such as its scale engine and replica black chrome wheels. Scale details that this are getting popular in the RC industry now and we’re digging it.

Final Thoughts

We’ve always been fond of the 4-Tec 2.0 and now we are excited that the 3.0 has hit the streets. If you’re looking for a great looking, fun driving road car at a very reasonable price, we highly recommend you looking into this RTR kit. We can’t wait to see which other bodies Traxxas will create for the 4-Tec 3.0 chassis. Its overall larger chassis and stretched wheelbase should allow for plenty of realistic bodies to be made for it. Until then, we’ll gladly roll around with the Stingray.