I decided to forge ahead despite my stomach issues and risk having to do what bears do in the woods
and went trailing with
@OSRC. Or like I told my girlfriend, "I went hiking with a tiny truck like a nerd."
Since I was dog-sitting at my girlfriend's and 40-minutes from my home, I only had the option of my slightly modified Vanquish Fordcye RTR. RTR's are typically not the best performers, but we were about to see what Vanquish and the, uh, "bumpy member" were made of! I also only had a small selection of batteries on hand. This meant I would have to trail run with the 2S battery and the Fordyce would be fairly slow. I didn't expect that my 2200mAh 3S batteries would last all that long so I saved them for crawling on the rocks at the end. Out on the trails, I didn't feel the flat-ground speed on 2S was bad, but when climbing I definitely wanted more wheel speed at times.
First test rock. I watched OSRC's overlander TRX-4 Sport walk right up it and the Fordyce followed suit. This is a two step rock with a landing about 2/3 of the way up. You can see this landing in the second photo. Then you can choose a variety of different lines with varying grades up to the top. There are some lines that are nearly impossible and only the best performing rigs will make it. It doesn't happen often. This truck made it all the way to the top, but definitely not on the steepest line. When I first got into scale crawling and trailing with my OG SCX10 2012 Jeep Wranger Unlimited Rubicon (of course, because does Axial ever use other brands?), this rock was much more difficult than it is now. At least that's the way my dim bulb remembers it. Scale trucks have evolved a lot over the years and the performance shows.
Next we get up to the famed mushroom rock. After all my years of crawling, it is somehow still standing. There was one tricky spot where teh truck impressed me. Then we venture to a downhill that often results in a spill. I forget how I made out here honestly. I think the truck was on its side once.
Beware, the Rabbids are still free! You probably have to be a gamer or have gamer kids to understand this one. All the grafitti sucks, but sometimes it is beautiful and/or funny. The one rock on the trail down said "Penis music". That would have been fitting for the Fordcye. Not sure why I didn't take a photo.
I saw mushroom species that I don't ever remember seeing before. I was entranced by the shrooms on this run.
I called these "crab leg" mushrooms because as a non-seafood eater it reminds me of the red shell and white meat of a crab.
This is how we rollooollloolll... (For all my country music fans)
The truck definitely conquered steeper inclines than I ever thought possible. That just speaks volumes for the design and suspension geometry IMO. You can definitely drag tire in this photo. I will explain that below.
Stradling rocks is always a fun challenge. This gives me a chance to speak about the tires. I like them. They do very well except for in mud. That's when they pack full of mud. This is a rare case of an RTR not immediately needing new tires. Nice! I will changeout the tires to something with more spacing for my East Cost (what what!) terrain that can be wet, muddy and slippery.
Let it all hang out. Here you can see the left front tire conforming nicely to the rock.
Now let's head to test rock #2. This thing is such a challenge. You can make it down the side, but if you go down the middle, where you climb up, it is too steep for all but the best rigs. On the way up, the rock is split and you often end up in the gap. Crawling on the right side of the gap is easiest and this truck handled that, but not easily. Straddling the gap and climbing up the middle is tough and this truck could not make it.
This is on the climb up to the left of the gap and it's just not happening. You can see a bad case of drag tire here.
Look at that sweet view. This place is great. Almost like it was designed for scale trucks.