A new rig from Axial?

Posted on Posted in News

Tonight I got home from work and running errands and sat down in front of my computer to do some catching up on RCC.  I did my nightly rounds on all the sites, then like I always do I headed over to the Axial blog to see if maybe Brad has built something new or added any new tech.  To my surprise I see a new article about Racers Only Motorsports Designs

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m a big fan of Racers Only Motorsports Designs in fact so much so that just in the past few weeks I took delivery on a drawing Rory Ward did for some new shirts we are having done for our sister site, RCShortCourse.com The new article in Axials blog is really awesome and goes into a lot of the history behind Rory and Racers Only, and touches on some badass desert vehicles.  Here are a few of the pics from Axial.

See the latest and Discuss this new vehicle in this thread.

 

 

Old School Walker Evans fan drawing
Rorys first race car the Trophy Truck Killer
Old School Nelson & Nelson Team Chevy driven by Larry Ragland
Rorys badass prerunner once owned by Walker Evans

 

 

Now we’re getting to the point that made me rush back over here to RCC and do this article.  Here’s a pic of Axials Rodney Wills going over something with Rory.

 

Rodney and Rory collaborating on something evil?

 

 

Could Rory be doing some new stuff for Axial?  Some spy drawings?  Kickass box art?  I read further into the article and the last line reads “WILD CARD: How cool would it be if the drawing Rory was working on is a new rig for Axial? How about those green apples!?” Oh crap, they are working together.  Let’s look at that picture and see what we can figure out.

 

Something new from Axial?

 

Now from working with Rory myself I know he always tries to be very correct in his artwork.  He wanted pictures from me of the exact truck I wanted him to draw, “just do a short course truck” didn’t work.  He wanted to see the exact suspension so it could be correct.  Looking at this drawing I can tell for sure that it’s of an rc vehicle.  The a-arms and knuckles scream RC.

Looking at the other side I can see the side of a front diff, and an axle shaft!  Oh yea, this thing is 4wd.  Now is it going to be a desert racer?  Maybe a short course rig?  A KOH type rig?

Oh wow, now I am getting excited, look at that killer body!

Can it have a solid axle in the rear?  Oh please tell me!

Damn it, I can’t tell from the drawing!  It just doesn’t quite show.  I tried all my Axial contacts, Matt goes straight to voice mail.  Brad hasn’t returned my call.  Rodney is busy with dinner.  Brandon is getting his weekly pedicure.  Or all they all avoiding me because they know I am going to hound them for info?  Am I just reading way too much into this, did Axial just stop by for a “visit” or were they there working on this new project?

 

UPDATE-

Spunkysandoval on the forum pointed out this picture I totally missed.

Look there on the right, is that a CAD rendering from Axial.  Let’s spin it around and zoom in.

Now that we can see that, I am leaning towards an IFS rear, but still not totally sure.  The shocks for sure look like Axial, and I think with this rendering laying there we can confirm they are in fact working on something.

 

UPDATE-10/26/11

So I was just scanning facebook and noticed Rory posted this:

“We did some work for Axial racing (Radio Controlled cars) and Brad, Rodney and Scott came out to Arizona for a visit. They were nice enough to do a little write up about Racers Only and a little of our history in the sport of Off Road racing. They have a pretty trick line of off road type RC vehicles, including some very cool rock crawlers and soon to be released concept off road racing type vehicles. Look for more info to be released at SEMA!!!”

So he just confirmed that he was doing the drawing for Axial,  and that they’ll have some new “concept off road type vehicles” debuting at SEMA next week!

 

UPDATE-10/31/11

Just had this picture sent to me, looks like these are the tires for this new beast!  Hankook Dynapros!  I wonder if the little Tanner Foust character is a clue to the livery?  This wouldn’t be the first time Tanner dealt with Axial.

 

UPDATE-11/01/11

Check out these latest pics from Axial’s photo stream.

Looks like some awesome new scale tires!


Nice action shot!

“Abstract detail with dust aftermath surface treatment.”

Rear wing? Does that mean this thing can fly?

Axial EXO Terra Buggy side vent

And a couple of photo’s from Axials web site

“The product has been blessed by a Baja Champion.

Rory Ward of Racers Only: cartoonist, communicator and “historian” for the off road community, has given his blessing to the EXO™.”

 

And one of RCShortCourse’s members (DylanICON) posted this today.

“Hey I thought you guys may want to see this. I am friends with a couple of the guys from Axial from way back (worked on some desert race trucks and rally cars with them) and they were nice enough to infect me with the RC bug . They have been hinting about a new vehicle but wouldn’t say much till a couple days ago when they brought me this! I was sworn to secrecy until today when it could be reviled here at the SEMA show. It is a very cool machine and I couldn’t wait to leak some pics!

A couple of months ago I met Brandon from Axial (the designer of this car) when he came to a shock dyno seminar I had at my facility. We have been talking alot since about the parameters of vehicle dynamics and what does and doesn’t correlate between scale and 1:1. As soon as I get back from SEMA we will be making a fixture to mount RC shocks on my full size shock dyno so we can see how RC shocks behave compared to the full size race shocks . We will let you know what we find out!”




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