Review: Team C Racing TM2SC Short Course Truck

Short Course trucks have been around awhile now and, as everyone has fine-tuned their versions, they all look pretty similar in design. Team C, however, is looking at things a little differently. Instead of designing a typical SCT to run with the big dogs, they’ve thrown everyone a curve ball and based their 2WD version off of their 4WD SCT. The result is a mid-motor layout that looks nothing like its competition. In fact, you could say it’s unique, and I’ll be using that word quite a bit in this article to describe just how different the TM2SC is. The performance, however, is anything but unique.

AT A GLANCE
WHO MAKES IT: Team C
WHO IT’S FOR: Beginner to advanced racers
PART NUMBER: TM2SC
HOW MUCH: $359.99
BUILD TYPE: Kit

FACTS
• The first thing you’re going to notice is the unique chassis layout. The design is based on their 4WD SCT minus, of course, the front drive system, and has been extended forward slightly to allow the battery to sit as close to the centerline as possible.

• The chassis of the TM2SC features a T-6061 aluminum chassis plate that is reinforced on the sides with orange-anodized aluminum rails. These rails run from the front bulkhead to about the 3/4 mark on the chassis to allow a little bit of rear flex. A pair of carbon fiber top decks reinforce the chassis from the front to the rear bulkheads.

• The centrally-located, one-piece aluminum motor mount makes this truck a real mid-motor design. The spur gear is attached to a long CVA joint that feeds into the rear gearbox. A plastic gear cover helps protect wandering fingers from getting chewed, but unfortunately won’t protect the gear much from track debris.

• The TM2SC includes a full set of Big Bore shocks. These units are extremely smooth and feature a bottom-load cartridge but, instead of using a bladder in the cap, use a bleeder-screw setup instead. One thing you might also notice is that the box art shows two springs per shock, but a running change has changed this to a single, higher-rate shock spring. I prefer the single spring setup myself … thanks Team C!

• There is plenty of room for electronics on this chassis. Up front, the servo sits flat on the chassis with the receiver right behind it. The ESC, however, mounts way to the back behind the motor. To keep my motor wires short, I mounted the ESC with the power leads facing to the rear of the truck. When plugging these leads into the receiver, I noticed they weren’t going to reach so I had to devise a servo-lead extension. While not a big deal, it did delay the build slightly. I’m pretty sure the Team Orion ESC leads are a typical length so you may be in the same boat as me and need an extension.

• Almost every tuning option you would want on a competition-level SCT is included with the TM2SC. Camber, roll, multiple shock locations … even anti-roll bars are included.

PROS
+ Unique mid-motor design mimics a 1/8 platform minus, the front drive system
+ Unique, long drive bone transfers the power from the center bulkhead to the rear gearbox
+ Unique, one-piece center aluminum bulkhead has a plastic gear cover to keep fingers safe
+ Unique T-6061 aluminum chassis plate with orange-anodized aluminum side rails and dual carbon fiber top deck
+ 14mm Big Bore shocks
+ Ballcup with holes at the end of every turnbuckle makes changing locations a breeze
+ Carbon fiber battery strap with thumbscrews for easy pack change
+ Plenty of room on the chassis for electronics
+ CVA drives in the rear provide a sturdy, low-maintenance drive line

CONS
– Could possibly require a power lead extension depending on how you mount the ESC (mine did)
– Body mounts are a bit fragile

ON THE TRACK
STEERING: NEUTRAL
On my first test drive, the steering felt a little mushy. I kept the truck out for the entire pack but could see the front tires deflecting around harder corners. After the first pack was done, I brought the TM2SC back in and gave it a look. Apparently during the build process I hadn’t tightened down the servo saver enough so I have it an extra turn and half and went back out. After that adjustment I think we need to add another option to this category – Aggressive! The truck, even with the Pro-Line Clay tire setup, can carve a corner like no-ones business. I had to make a few adjustments on my 4PKS-R to settle it down and that made it a lot easier to drive. Just be prepared (once you build it correctly) for a ton of steering!

ACCELERATION & BRAKING: EXCELLENT
On our prepared track, the TM2SC was quite impressive on acceleration. In most cases I could get the front tires off the ground when pinning the throttle so I figured this was a good chance to test the sensitivity of the slipper clutch. I figured this might be a chore but realized that if I used a small Allen wrench I could insert it into a hole in the slipper collar and loosen (or tighten) the tension without disassembling anything. After a quick 1/4 turn I was back on the track and the TM2 felt much better. I could hear a slight ‘whirl’ as I accelerated now so I may tighten it back up 1/8 of a turn. Under braking, the TM2 felt pretty rock solid and stable. Since more of the mid-motor weight is far forward (than most MM SCTs), the weight shift isn’t as great so the truck doesn’t dive as hard.

SUSPENSION: VERY GOOD
The test track was pretty fl at so I didn’t get to pound the suspension very hard, but there were a few ripple sections that allowed me to take different lines through at different speeds. At lower speeds and a tighter line, the TM2 took this area quite well. When taking the line a little wider and blasting through, I did notice a bit more rear end hop, probably due to the loss of weight in the back. The truck didn’t get upset at all, it just lost some momentum. On the tuning side of things, the truck is acceptably sensitive to changes. I adjusted the rear shock locations, front roll center and overall length (with the rear hub shims) and each time it felt a little different.

JUMPING: VERY GOOD
Off-road is all about airtime (well, for me it is) so, of course, I had to find a way to air this baby out. On the smaller, shorter jumps the truck works great. It’s very comfortable in the air and sails nice and fl at. put it in the air off of something bigger and it still works great, however you have to be aware of an issue that plagues all shaft-driven airborne vehicles; torque-rotation. Since most offroaders have the motor running from side-to-side, the TM2SC has it running from front to back. If you hold the truck in your hand, give it throttle and slam the brakes, you’ll feel the truck ‘twist’ to one side. Now, figure this same motion up in the air without any hand holding it. On my first couple roll-out laps I did get quite a bit of torque-rotation (while slamming the brakes to bring the nose of the truck down) and landed all funky, so I basically had to change how I left the jump. it’s a process and not as fun as just bombing the big jump, but it gets the job done and, honestly, seems way more consistent.

DURABILITY: VERY GOOD
Because the TM2SC is easy to drive, I didn’t have any problems with crashing out. I clipped the track pipes a few times with the tires but the steering, suspension and shocks held up fine. The only real issue I had was the rear body mounts breaking on a seemingly normal landing. I brought the TM2 down from a normal jump, landing on all fours and powering away. I noticed the body seemed skewed so I brought the truck in and found a rear body post had snapped. On most trucks, the actual body post is separate from the mount. On the TM2SC, the mount and post are all one unit. Now I’m not saying this is the cause, it could have very well just been a freak accident. Either way, I didn’t have any spare parts and couldn’t just replace it with a different post (seeing as it’s all one piece) so unfortunately my day was done. Just as I was starting to have some fun!

SPECS & TUNING OPTIONS
DIMENSIONS
LENGTH: 20.1 in. (511mm)
WIDTH: 11.8 in. (300mm)
WHEELBASE: 12.6 in. (320mm)
WEIGHT: 3.9 lbs. (1756g)

BODY, WHEELS AND TIRES
BODY: Clear SCT
WHEELS: Black 2.2 in. dish-style
WHEEL ADAPTER TYPE: 12mm
TIRES: Not included

SUSPENSION
TYPE: 4-wheel independent
SHOCK POSITIONS: (F) 3-tower, 2-arm, (R) 3-tower, 2-arm
CAMBER: Adjustable turnbuckles
ROLL: Adjustable ball heights
WHEELBASE: Adjustable with shims
RIDE HEIGHT: Threaded shocks

STEERING
TYPE: Dual bell crank
TOE: Adjustable turnbuckles

CHASSIS
TYPE: Flat chassis
MATERIAL: T-6061 aluminum with aluminum side rails
THICKNESS: 3mm

DRIVETRAIN
TYPE: 2WD
TRANSMISSION: None
DIFFERENTIAL: Fluid-fi lled gear
CLUTCH TYPE: Slipper clutch
GEAR RATIO: Optional pinion gears
BEARINGS: Full set of shielded ball bearings

WRAP UP
Being unique is not always a bad thing and the TM2SC proves that. It’s fast, agile and easy to work on. On the track, this truck will easily give anything out there a run for its money on a well prepared track. Unfortunately, you’ll probably have to get more intimate with it if you want to be competitive on a looser track, as this is where most rear-motor SCs have the advantage. I like that challenge though, and will be throwing some quality tuning time at mine!

LINKS
Futaba, futaba-rc.com, (217) 398-8970
Kustom RC Graphics, kustomrcgraphics.com
Pro-Line Racing, prolineracing.com, (800) 899-7223
Savox, savoxusa.com, (855) 76SAVOX
Team C, teamcracing.net
Team Orion, teamorion.com, (800) 338-4639