Review: Racer’s Edge Enduro RTR 4WD Brushless Truck

Racers Edge has been ramping up production with their 2WD RTR vehicles for the past year and they have now stepped into the 4WD ring with their Enduro RTR. Holding no punches, the Enduro is all business with its powerful brushless system, fully tuneable suspension and an ESC that can handle a 3S LiPo. We got our hands on one and not only did a little backyard bashing, we took it to the track to see if it could be tamed for competition.

AT A GLANCE
WHO MAKES IT: Racers Edge
WHO IT’S FOR: Beginner to Intermediate Racers
PART NUMBER: RCEP2060O
HOW MUCH: $359.99
BUILD TYPE: RTR

THE FACTS
• The heart of the Enduro is the wickedly fast brushless system. Racers Edge has equipped this SC with an 80A waterproof ESC and a 4-pole, 4000Kv brushless motor. On the 6000mAh 2S Racers Edge LiPo we tested it with, the Enduro was a madman on the track. There’s no lack of power here.

• The backbone of the Enduro is the 2.5mm aluminum chassis. Differential cases are mounted at each end and tied together by a molded, two-piece top deck. This top deck meets in the middle and is mounted to the center bulkhead. You may notice the drivetrain being a bit odd as the battery sits longitudinally under the rear drive bone. Yes, this is quite different than most 4WD platforms, but it seems to work great!

• The suspension appears stout and of race caliber. All of the suspension arms have additional ribbing internally, the hinge pins are captured and the turnbuckles are a beefy 3mm. Even the rear suspension arms have been molded with the now popular gull-wing design. Front and rear shock towers are thick and braced by the standard short course bumpers. These bumpers are rather flexible but should do a good job of protecting the front and rear of the Enduro.

• The shocks seem puny but actually do a great job. I punished the truck over some pretty rough terrain and the suspension felt great.

• The tires actually worked pretty well but did tend to ‘pizza-up’ when hitting higher speeds. This may be more of an issue with the diff fluids than the tires, but we’ll get to that later. Oh, and thank you, Racers Edge, for not coming out with your own line of wheels and hex sizes. Keeping to the standard 12mm design allows racers to mount up whatever tire and wheel works at their track. Kudos!

PROS
+ Simple, 4WD chassis layout
+ Powerful (and waterproof) 80A brushless ESC and 4-pole 4000Kv brushless motor
+ LiPo read
+ 2.4GHz radio system
+ Removable radio tray for easy cleaning
+ Fully tunable racing suspension
+ Fluid-filled gear differentials
+ Cool looking body with integrated body clip retainers
+ Standardized wheel hexes

CONS
– Receiver not protected
– The deadband on the radio is a bit wide, causing the car to go from zero to 30-40% throttle when it does kick in.

BEHIND THE WHEEL
STEERING: Neutral
The stock setup was pretty good when we ran the Enduro around the track. Steering was quick and snappy thanks to the 6KG Servo (apparently the official name) and the soft rubber up front. Entry steering was good as was mid-corner, but on-power steering required a bit of a lighter touch. Again, that may be more due to the light diff fluids than the tires themselves.

ACCELERATION: Very Good
For the most part, the Enduro’s acceleration was really good. There is a slight delay in the throttle (known as deadband) that causes the truck to pause until a certain throttle percentage is reached. I’m guessing it was around 20%, so the Enduro wouldn’t move until about 20% throttle was applied. The problem with this is that when the throttle did kick in, it started at 20%, or lots of tire-blazing kick. This isn’t that big a deal (for most people), but I like a nice, smooth throttle that is completely linear to my input. On the straights or over jumps, it was manageable…simply wait for it to kick in and then adjust. Coming out of corners (with the truck’s weight shifting around), resulted in the front tires turning into saucers before I could adjust the throttle. Another issue is the lightweight diff fluids. These didn’t help matters either as the center fluid (grease, I’m assuming) is so light that upon acceleration, all the power is shifted to the front with very little going to the rear. I’m going to have to mess with the fluids to see if I can help overcome this issue (since I can’t see any way to adjust the deadband from the transmitter or ESC).

BRAKING: Good
The brakes on the Enduro are good; however, any trail-braking resulted in the rear end getting loose. Braking in a straight line was controllable, braking while turning caused the rear of the truck to get light and the rear end ‘diffing’ out. This did cause some stability issues which, again, could be fixed with some differential tuning.

SUSPENSION: Very Good
The suspension is actually really good on this truck. The kit setup worked better on the smoother parts of the track, but the shocks were definitely the star of the show. I powered through some rougher sections of the track like I would if I were driving my uber-expensive race truck and found that the Enduro was quite stable. Racers Edge hit the mark with the suspension and it should only take some fine-tuning (if any) to get it up to speed at your track.

JUMPING: Very Good
A suspension system that is as well-tuned as the Enduro’s typically gets high marks in the jumping department. This SC flies nice and level in the air with very little drama on either take-off or landing. I didn’t have any of the in-air issues normally attributed to short course bodies (the dreaded ‘kite’ effect), but thankfully Racers Edge has prescribed the body to allow you to vent it for higher wind conditions.

DURABILITY: Very Good
The Enduro seems to be a pretty solid ride. It took a few normal tumbles without incident and one pretty hairy crash, but it just kept going. The one thing we’d like to see and suggest you do, however, is to get some thicker fluids in the diff. What’s included is ok for the backyard (maybe), but if you’re going to do some serious racing I would suggest changing it. In stock form, when you rocket out of a corner the oils are so light that the front tires turn into saw blades. This looks cool and all, but eventually could damage the diff internals, the axles or wheels… something is going to give.

SPECS & TUNING OPTIONS
DIMENSIONS
LENGTH: 21.25” (539mm)
WIDTH: 11.5” (292mm)
WHEELBASE: 13” (330mm)
WEIGHT: 4.825lbs (2188g)

BODY, WHEELS AND TIRES
BODY: Pre-painted Lexan Short Course body
WHEELS: 9-hole beadlock style
WHEEL ADAPTER TYPE: 12mm
TIRES: Soft multi-pin

SUSPENSION
TYPE: 4-wheel independent
SHOCK POSITIONS: (F) 3-tower, 2-arm, (R) 3-tower, 2-arm
CAMBER: Adjustable turnbuckles
ROLL: Fixed
WHEELBASE: Fixed
RIDE HEIGHT: Threaded shocks
MISC: N/A

STEERING
TYPE: Dual bell crank
TOE: Adjustable turnbuckles

CHASSIS
TYPE: Flat chassis
MATERIAL: Aluminum
THICKNESS: 2.5mm

DRIVETRAIN
TYPE: 4WD
TRANSMISSION: Center drive diff
DIFFERENTIAL: 3 sealed, fluid-filled diffs
CLUTCH TYPE: None
GEAR RATIO: Optional pinion gears
BEARINGS: Full set of shielded ball bearings

WRAP UP
Short course racing is here to stay, especially the 4WD segment. Seeing new trucks enter at an affordable price point is a good thing, especially if they’re as solid as the Enduro. As a box stock RTR truck, it’s definitely one of the faster trucks out there. Throw on some sticky kicks, a few fluid changes and a competition battery and I’ll bet you’ll find yourself in the A-main! See ya there!

LINKS
Racers Edge racers-edge.com, (866) 855-5566
Hitec hitecrcd.com, (858) 748-6948