Review: Team Associated Qualifier APEX Touring Car

The Touring Car segment is like the F1 of our hobby. These machines are designed to take full advantage of components like carbon fiber, titanium and aluminum. They’re sleek, lightweight, extremely fast and can pull quite a few G’s in the corners. If you want to get into this segment, you’ll need to shell out quite a few sheckles in order to do so. AE sees this as a problem and has introduced a very cost effective alternative to this problem in the form of the Qualifier APEX V-Type Touring Car. This car allows an entry-level user to get their feet wet without the exorbitant costs involved with Touring Cars.

AT A GLANCE
WHO MAKES IT: Team Associated
WHO IT’S FOR: Everyone
HOW MUCH: $289.98
BUILD TYPE: RTR

FACTS
– At first glance, the Qualifier TC appears much like AE’s older TC3 or TC4 touring car. While the layout is similar, it’s actually a completely new design. The chassis now comes as a 3-piece, modular unit, and has been molded with the battery and electronics swapping sides.

– AE has occupied the electronics area with their XP DS-1903MG servo, a SC500-BL brushless ESC and Reedy 3300kV 540 brushless motor. This little car boogies on the included 3000mAh NiMh Reedy WolfPack battery, but I can’t wait to try it on a 2S or 3S LiPo! Major mojo on the way!

– The high-grip racing tires are actually pretty good, as tested on a dusty parking lot. My nephew, who’s only driven an RC car a few times, was able to really rocket the V-Type around without doing constant donuts. On the downside, however, the tires are pretty soft; you’re giving up some longevity for maximum traction.

– An odd feature that I’ve never seen before in a 1/10th scale car is the screw-on wheel hex adapters. Basically, the threaded axle and locknut has been replaced with a female threaded axle and 5mm socket head screw. I didn’t notice any pros or cons to this setup so my guess is that it’s just a ‘new and different’ feature.

– For those of you that might be feeling the need to hit the track, AE has incorporated some of the most useful tuning options into the APEX V-Type. Ride height, roll centers, droop and shock locations are just a few of the more popular adjustments. If you want to adjust camber you’ll need to purchase aftermarket turnbuckles as the Qualifier comes with molded links.

– The body is a rehash of the TC4 RTR lid but in a new, Lucas Oil Products livery. AE has also dumped the carbon-Lexan wing in favor of a new, stronger molded wing. The new look certainly looks great.

ITEMS NEEDED
– Battery pack

ITEMS USED
+ Reedy 3000mAh NiMh WolfPack

PROS
• The Qualifier APEX V-Type is a complete RTR (Ready-To-Run) touring car, including a Reedy 3000mah NiMh Wolfpack battery.
• The Reedy/XP brushless system has great power and is even water-resistant.
• The Qualifier includes AE’s XP DS-1903MG metal geared servo and XP2G 2.4Ghz radio system.
• Reminiscent of the TC3/TC4, this new chassis is modular and easy to work on.
• Comes equipped with a full set of bearings, CVA drive axles and fluid-filled, metal-gear differentials.
• Screw on wheel adapter is different, but works well.
• Nice set of medium compound tires have good traction.

CONS
• Tires wear pretty fast.
• Not many aftermarket support parts listed as of yet.

TOOLS & ACCESSORIES INCLUDED
+ Wheel wrench
+ L wrenches

ITEMS NEEDED TO RUN THIS CAR
– 4 AA’s for the transmitter

ITEMS USED
– Reedy 3000mAh NiMh WolfPack

SPECS & TUNING OPTIONS
DIMENSIONS
Length: 16.7” (425mm)
Width: 7.5” (190mm)
Wheelbase: 10.2” (259mm)
Weight: 3.9lbs (1760g)

BODY, WHEELS AND TIRES
Body: Trimmed and painted Team Lucas Oil Racing
Wheels: Plastic 10-spoke
Wheel adapter type: 12mm hex
Tires: High-grip racing tires

SUSPENSION
Type: 4-wheel independent
Shock positions: Tower – 3, Arm – 2
Camber: Fixed links
Roll: Adjustable link heights
Wheelbase: Fixed
Ride height: Preload spacers
Misc: n/a

STEERING
Type: Dual bellcrank
Toe: Fixed

CHASSIS
Type: Tub design
Material: Molded plastic
Thickness: n/a
Misc: n/a

DRIVETRAIN
Type: 4WD
Transmission: n/a
Differential: 2 gear diff
Clutch Type: None
Gear ratio: Optional pinion gears
Bearings: Full set of shielded
Misc- n/a

MAINTENANCE AND TUNING TIPS
There’s very little that can go wrong with this TC since the entire drivetrain is sealed. Even the spur gear is pretty well hidden, but it’s not a bad idea to check out this area of the car after every run. Any debris getting lodged near the spur gear could cause problems if left unchecked.

ON THE TRACK
Initially I was going to take the APEX V-Type out to a local parking lot and give it a go, but that changed when my nephew, Matthew, asked if he could go along to help. You see, he’s from East Texas, and there’s not much RC anything going on out there. I figured this might be a good chance to see if he has any RC skills…maybe prep him to be the next World Champion!

We headed over to a local park where there just happened to be a nice, freshly paved asphalt parking lot as well as a couple handicap ramps up onto the sidewalk. A small, 6’ wide concrete path weaved its way through the park, so there was plenty of room for Matt to navigate and, hopefully, not send the Qualifier off and into the grass or dirt. We unloaded the car and prepped the TC for its maiden drive. Since Matt was going to drive it (and this car was geared towards beginners just like him), I ‘let’ him do all the work; remove the body, drop the battery in, plug it in and replace the body. He was able to get all that done quite easily, so we moved on to the more difficult step … driving!

He flipped the switch on the transmitter and then the car (yes, the proper sequence), and proceeded to slowly drive the car around the parking lot. After a few minutes I let him loose and in no time he was flying around the parking lot! The 3000mAh NiMh WolfPack is a great starter battery and fed plenty of fuel to the brushless system, but not so much to actually overpower the stock tires. The tires low profile, medium-compound design worked great on both the asphalt and concrete, but after an entire run the rears did seem overly worn. I’m pretty sure this was due to Matt’s heavy trigger finger once he figured out how to go fast!

Matt seemed comfortable controlling the Qualifier around our makeshift track. He was able to go up and down the access ramps, follow the path a ways and backtrack back to the parking lot. He mentioned the transmitter having a good feel to it and that the car was very easy to drive (both of which I confirmed during my test drive of the car). He did have a few off road excursions, but most of his ‘issues’ happened at a pretty slow speed so there wasn’t much chance of damage to occur.

He did have one pretty substantial crash; an encounter with the curb as he tried hitting the access ramp at a pretty decent speed. The Qualifier went popping up in the air, sliding up onto the concrete and tumbling off onto the grass. The funniest part of the whole situation was the look on Matt’s face; I’m pretty sure he thought he just killed my brand new AE car. We picked it up and gave it a quick look but didn’t see anything wrong other than a slight crease in the front of the body.

THE LAST WORD
The Qualifier APEX V-Type is a great car for anyone looking at getting into the Touring Car market. Its complete redesign (from the TC4 standpoint) is now much simpler and definitely a lot less costly to produce, meaning more inexpensive car for you. The fact that it comes fully assembled with a brushless system, 2.4GHz radio and a quality NiMh battery pack is an absolute bonus, especially since it drops in at under $300. While I haven’t seen any upgrades yet, I would certainly suggest picking up a good 2S or 3S LiPo pack. That should put some serious speed in your Qualifier. Matt won’t stop bugging me to drop one in ‘his’ car now!

LINKS
Team Associated, www.rc10.com, (949) 544-7500
Reedy, www.rc10.com, (949) 544-7500