Anaheim, California
May 22, 2005

Thousands of spectators jammed into the Anaheim Convention Center for the annual RCX hobby show. Over the past 3 years RCX has firmly established itself on the show scene by creating the most dynamic hobby show in the world. This year the show included a huge dirt track, built by dirt track guru Joey Christiansen, grandstands for the spectators, a stunt track, a “try-me” track so spectators could drive R/C cars, a boat pond, an indoor flight area for R/C aircraft, and high energy music pumped throughout the building to get everyone excited. With action going on the whole weekend, the crowd was able to see what R/C can really do, much better than a typical hobby show and exactly what our hobby needs to show off all of the exciting products to the public. And there was also competition, with HPI co-sponsoring the RCX/eBay Challenge which featured 3 contestants driving Savages hopped up with $1,000 worth of option parts courtesy of eBay. You can’t go wrong when you have R/C cars screaming around the track, doing giant jumps and getting cheers from the crowd.

The HPI Racing booth was packed with spectators for the entire weekend. The big HPI tower could easily be seen from anywhere on the show floor. Inside the booth there was a wide variety of products, from the Micro RS4 up to the big Savage trucks. The main feature of the booth this year was the exciting introduction of the Savage Quad, a realistic R/C Kawasaki KFX 700 Quad ATV that is based on the mechanicals of a Savage 25 RTR. Kawasaki provided a real KFX 700 quad for display in the booth, which turned out to be a perfect photo opportunity for families all weekend. Our big screen TV cranked out a DVD video of the Savage Quad, showing the realistic action and excellent performance (see the video!). Look for the Savage Quad to appear in hobby stores later this year, it will be released as a complete ready-to-run with the KFX body and pre-painted flexible vinyl rider. The body and rider will also be available as option parts, allowing all current Savage owners to create their own Quad.

Other new products included our Vintage line of bodies, wheels and tires. On display for the first time were a ’65 Shelby Mustang and ’68 Camaro that will be released soon, and the Vintage wheels and tires which were just released for owners of our new Pantera and Countach bodies. Savage trucks were well represented with the popular Savage 25 RTR, Savage SS 4.6, and a fully optioned Savage with custom painted Escalade body on display. Two exciting new tire combos were shown for the first time, our Nubz and Dirt Claw tires. The Nubz are lightweight and sticky and aimed for the track, with testing showing a significant increase in performance over the leading competitor’s tires. New 17mm hex hubs make the Nubz a perfect hop-up for the track, especially when using high horsepower engines. The Dirt Claws are an option to the standard Savage tires, with an aggressive tread pattern and sidewall…which should make them a great tire for the growing rock climbing class.

For Touring Car fans, the Hara Edition Pro 4 was on display for the first time. A bright Hara-inspired limited edition box contains competition upgrades to the National Champion Pro 4. Features include a lightweight Delrin diff, new 2.5mm upper deck, all-new shock absorbers, a new motor mount, sway bars, and several other refinements that make the Pro 4 even faster! Also on display for Touring Car fans was a new 200mm version of the 2004 Honda S2000 (AP2) body wearing realistic Volk TE37 wheels, available in 0mm, 3mm and 6mm offsets! The 6mm offsets are perfect for 190mm owners who are looking to use 200mm bodies on their electric cars. Also on display were the new HPI Racing Subaru bodies for 1/10th scale and Micro cars, complete with realistic graphics just like the real Super Taikyu racing car. And, the popular HPI Power Fuel line now sports bold Tribal Skull graphics for the bottles.

This year, for the first time, the Hot Bodies line was displayed along side the HPI products. Getting attention all weekend was the upcoming E-Zilla 10 electric 4WD 1/10th scale truck, inspired by the Savage TVP design and looking very durable. Team driver Atsushi Hara’s personal HB race machines were on display, with his familiar flo pink flames on the Lighting Stadium Pro, Lightning 2 Pro Buggy, and the Cyclone Touring Car prototype. Also on display was the huge twin engine Lightning GTX2, the standard Lightning GT, and the 1/18th scale Minizilla truck.

So, it was another great year at RCX with lots of new products on display and big crowds stopping by to check them out. If you didn’t get the chance to attend RCX this year, you must try to make it to the RCX show next year. Coming up next is the iHobby show at the Los Angeles Convention Center on October 22-23, 2005. Stop by and say Hi, get there early for some free HPI stickers and our latest catalog!

Check out our sneak preview of the upcoming KFX 700 body for the Savage!

[ 26-05-2005 ]