PERFORMANCE

While I was putting this project together, I sometimes questioned the direction I was going. I knew the performance would be better as a buggy, but I wasn’t too sure about how it would look. Once I had the body mounted and painted, I was really happy with the result. I headed over to my backyard track with a gallon of Traxxas 33% Top Fuel and my starter to get some laps in. Before the conversion, I took the time to drive the Nitro Slash in stock form to get a feel for it.

The truck had a good amount of body roll, the rear end swung out a lot, and the hard-compound tires struggled to get traction on the dirt, although they slid nicely on pavement. The softer rubber compound used to make the Pro-line buggy tires made the biggest difference in the performance of my Nitro Slash because they grab on any surface much better and also do a better job of soaking up bumps. Forward bite is improved, but that extra grip causes the front end to get light, which makes it push slightly when I’m on the power, and you get an occasional wheelie—often when you least expect it. The wheelies are pretty controllable, and if the front end gets too high, the rear bumper hits the ground and keeps the chassis from flipping over. On the track, the rear end still likes to step out in the turns, but the extra grip in the tires and the reduced body roll in the chassis (the lighter body toned that down a bit) make it less pronounced. Corrections using steering input are not as lazy thanks to the aluminum bellcranks that I installed, which don’t flex like the stock plastic units. Since more of the engine’s power was getting to the ground, my buggy carried more speed from corner to corner, and that required harder braking to get it slowed down. I made my way from the track to my yard, and my converted Nitro Slash was more at home and was more fun to drive. Again, the 1/8-scale buggy tires shone, but this time it was thanks to their larger diameter, which provided more ground clearance under the chassis, resulting in less disruption from obstacles and debris.