Review: Kyosho DRX Nitro Rally

I love Rally racing and can argue that it is some of the most exciting motorsports on the planet. While they’re not the fastest and certainly don’t corner like they’re on rails or have super-slippery aerodynamics, the driver is required to pilot his 300bhp hatchback on a 10’ track made up of rocks, gravel, sand and mud at over 100mph! He really has no idea where he’s going except for the cryptic code his navigator spews out. Oh, and it’s very rare that the car is ever pointed in a straight line. Yah, it’s awesome! Lucky for me I’ll get to try my hand at driving the same car Mikko Hirvonen drove in the 2010 WRC! Well, a 1/9th scale version…but still. Don’t ruin my moment!

AT A GLANCE
WHO MAKES IT: Kyosho
WHO IT’S FOR: Everyone
HOW MUCH: $350
BUILD TYPE: RTR

FACTS
– Since the box doesn’t have a window and the pictures on it are a little small, the real joy of this Rally car is when you remove it. It just looks so cool. Fully body, authentic livery and even has a rally stance. Kyosho also rotated the exhaust pipe down so that there is no hole in the side of the body.

– Remove the stylish bodywork and check out the underpinnings. Everything is nice and orderly on the chassis. Receiver and battery box are both tightly sealed. Throttle servo tucked in the back away from flying debris. Steering servo is up front and also protected by a plastic cover. The linkage was a little off and I couldn’t set the front tires straight (from the transmitter), so I had to remove the servo horn and lengthen. No big deal…5 minutes work.

– I’m not a nitro guy and will be the first to admit it, but this is the second time I’ve used Kyosho’s GXR18 engine and both times it has been fantastic. Load the Rally up with fuel, prime the engine, insert the glow igniter and yank the pull start. Within 5-6 pulls the engine fired and has run perfectly since. I did adjust the high-speed and idle ever so slightly due to the cold temperature here, but that’s just normal tuning.

– The fuel tank is huge. At 103cc, I was able to easily get 10 minutes before refueling. Since I didn’t want to cut holes in the body for easy refueling, long run times is a good thing!

– The central braking system can be adjusted independently front and rear. This allows you to fine tune the brakes for that perfect Rally drift. I biased a little more to the back than the front and was able to pull off some killer drifts. Eat your heart out Hirvonen!

– The Rally-treaded tires were surprisingly good. On the tarmac (asphalt for you non-rally peeps), they were quite grippy and required some snap-braking to get into a slide. On the dirt, however, it only took a snap of the steering and blip of the throttle and you were drifting like a pro. Keeping the RPM’s up helped keep the slide, so that’s good news for you ham-fisted drivers that like to be full throttle all the time.

ITEMS NEEDED
+ Nitro fuel
+ Glow Igniter

ITEMS USED
+ Byron fuel bottle, Byron fuels, 20%
+ Magnum glow Igniter

PROS
• Killer looks. Love the bodywork and realistic wheels and tires
• NITRO! Not a fan of it but definitely needed with this car
• Ready to run except for a few, normal nitro items
• Tires have AWESOME traction on dirt!
• Suspension seemed just about right for the surfaces I ran on
• Plenty of tuning options to squeeze every inch of performance out
• Syncro 2.4GHz system works flawlessly
• Plenty durable

CONS
• No holes in the body looks good, but is a pain when you need to refill or restart
• Steering linkage was off slightly on the first run

ON THE TRACK
Since Rally racing is not done on some closed-circuit or freshly paved road course, I decided to put the DRX to the test on two very Rally-like surfaces; dusty asphalt and a large, rough dirt field. On the asphalt the DRX did a good job of drifting and turning, but I didn’t spend much time there as I was ready for some dirt action. Next to the asphalt lot was a huge dirt field with rocks, weeds and some big ol’ tumbleweeds; ah, Rally terrain! After our picture taking I did a few slow runs to create a ‘track’ through the field. I had a nice, long straight through some weeds, a fast sweeper around a big rock, a short chute that led into a narrow section that I could drift into and a huge rock/gravel pit. I filled the DRX back up and started my run. The DRX isn’t a speed demon, but has some pretty snappy acceleration that gets you from point A to point B in no time at all. The Rally-tread tires are amazing on every surface I drove on. They simply claw their way around and harness the power the GXR18 engine provides. I was able to do some pretty impressive drifts around the rock and into the narrow section. I even threw the DRX over some small rollers that turned out to be decent jumps. The suspension worked awesome and even ‘dropped down’ over the jump, just like a real Rally car.

THE LAST WORD
The DRX Rally, with its stylish body, quick acceleration and excellent suspension, will certainly put you in the driver’s seat of one of the most challenging sectors of motorsports. That being said, it’s always enjoyable to take a step away from serious RC and have some fun. Find a field, map out a course that includes many different types of terrains and go for it!

LINKS
Kyosho, www.kyoshoamerica.com, (949) 454-8854