The Arrival

Page three of the article beginning here.

There's just something about a huge box delivered to your door that's exciting. Maybe it's like reliving all the expectations your parents crushed when they told you the truth about Santa Claus.

The Mayhem came pretty much as you'd expect, the shrink-wrap sealed retail box floating in a sea of peanuts inside the shipping box. Even with the most barbaric handling during shipping, it looks like the original packaging holds up pretty well. The buggy and box itself show no visible damage, but the wing dug a couple grooves into the box for the JR Racing xR3i transmitter. Packaged in a molded styrofoam case, the radio suffered no damage.

THANKS JON!	Get your peanuts!	Peanuts Aside	Retail Box
Well Packaged	Out of Box	Next to 1/10 scale AE GT	Cracked spot on tank

• Unlike most entry-level RTR's, the drive axles aren't dogbones, but massive chrome-plated CVD's. I was a little concerned that the center drive shafts didn't get the same treatment; they are typical dogbones.
• Throttle/brake linkages are color-coded and seemed to be correctly set up for a startup. The Mayhem comes with a throttle return spring pre-installed.
• Most RTR's come with bushings throughout; the Mayhem RTR has full bearings throughout.
• Although considered an entry level engine, the 2.75 HP .26 engine with slide carb looks massive next to a .12. This is going to be fun!
• I've never seen a kit come with such a complete set of extras. The Mayhem comes with a set of allen drivers, a glow/wheelnut wrench, an inline fuel filter (not installed,) preload spacers, and other spare suspension goodies.
• The starter is a nice touch. A variation on the roto-start, the starter is a hand-held device with a 540 motor that accepts a standard 6 cell pack and interfaces the engine through the back of the buggy into a one-way bearing.
• Great chassis layout, everything is easily accessible, and good attention to detail, down to the splash guard on the tank. Spilled fuel is channeled through grooves on the top of the tank to a short piece of fuel tubing and out a hole in the bottom of the chassis. Nice!
• A flip-top receiver box contains the R135 3-channel receiver and battery pack, with room for a failsafe (not included.) My only reservation here is that it looks like a tight fit if I want to add an 110 maH 6.0v hump pack.
• The 3 channel, LED display JR Racing xR3i FM radio that comes with the kit may be considered an entry-level radio, but it's no slacker. Lightweight and digital, it has three programmable model setups with an internal Lithium battery to hold programs when powered down or batteries removed. Low battery level alarm, thumb-actuated lap timer that remembers up to 50 lap times, one-touch throttle and brake trim adjustments, EPA - it's got all you need and more. Right now it's the best transmitter I own!
• At 85 oz/in, the metal gear Z590M servo is sufficient, but very likely marginal. Most buggy owners prefer 100 oz/in or better, but this is an RTR expiriment, so let's just see.

On immediate observation, the only visible defects I could find were a small crack in the tank for one of the splash guard mount screws. The crack doesn't go into the tank, so we can live with this one. The Sportwerks weighs in at around 7 pounds. My initial impression was that the stock black springs were far too light; when dropped from about a foot, the chassis bottoms out easily.

So before we hit the track, we're off to the Horizon Hobby web site for a Sportwerks clutch spring tool, header manifold tool (headers are retained by springs, I'm all for making life easier for $10 or less,) medium and heavy springs, an Ofna micro-failsafe, and a few different weights of oil for the diff. In the meantime, lets take some glamour shots of this baby, she's a beauty. At first glance it looks like the engineers got everything right.