Here ya go rally race followers, CEN Racing has dropped their new 1/8 2023 M-Sport Ford Puma Rally RTR. With unbelievable scale seems to be and a beefy 4WD drivetrain, the brand new CEN is posed to be a real winner within the market. Even higher, with me supporting Red Bull earlier than the product even got here to America, the CEN is without doubt one of the few vehicles in the marketplace the place you will get real Red Bull livery. We’ve been driving the CEN like we stole it for a couple of weeks now. Read beneath to search out out our ideas on the mighty CEN Ford M-Sport Rally Car.
From: Cen Racing
Direct Link: 1/8 M-Sport Ford Puma Rally RTR
Review & Pics By: Cubby & T-$$$
Specs:
RTR or Kit: RTR
Age: 14+
2wd or 4WD: 4WD
Shaft or Belt: Shaft
Electric or Gas: Electric
Waterproof: Yes
Scale: 1/8
Width (measured by BSRC): 9.25″
Wheelbase (measured by BSRC): 11.7″
Motor: 3,000kV brushless
Speed Controller: Hobbywing, 100 amp, 3S max
Low Voltage Cut-off: Yes
Radio: AMP 30 2.4GHz
Differential: Front and rear gear diffs
Driveshafts: Steel dogbones
Shocks: Oil stuffed, plastic our bodies
Screws: Metric, hex
Tires: Scale trying, medium smooth rubber, made by CEN
Battery: Not included
Part Number: #8999
Top Speed (measured by BSRC on 3S): 45 mph
Street Price: $459
What’s Needed To Complete: To get the CEN up and operating you’ll want 4 AAs for the transmitter, a 2S or 3S LiPo for the automotive, and a battery charger. The automotive comes 100% assembled and able to jam out of the field.
Build Quality: While we didn’t discover any points on the automotive itself, the ability button on the transmitter labored, however didn’t work effectively. Sometimes we needed to slide the ability button round a bit to get it to activate.
Set-up Notes: We ran the CEN field inventory with zero upgrades. All we did was add some MaxAmps AAs to the radio and we used each a 2S and 3S MaxAmps LiPo for testing.
Turning: Set-up out of the field for rally work, the CEN is a story of two worlds when cornering. If you might be on pavement, the tallish and softish suspension can result in traction rolling. Off-road on filth or small gravel is the place the CEN actually shines within the turning division. Also of be aware, with pretty robust brushless energy beneath the hood, we discovered it pretty straightforward to float the automotive when driving on slicker surfaces.
Jumping: For an on-road automotive, the CEN truly jumped very well. The suspension has a superb quantity of general journey for an on-roader, and the suspension is unquestionably set-up for some gentle off-road use. When leaping, there isn’t lots of rotating mass within the tires to make large mid-air corrections, however there may be sufficient mass and RPM to sometimes land good and flat. Now, the suspension is sort of smooth so it blows via the journey simply upon touchdown, however nonetheless, that is in all probability the most effective leaping rally or on-roader that we’ve examined.
Bumps/Whoops: For a rally automotive, the CEN loves bumps and whoop-de-doos. No, it received’t sustain with a 100% off-roader within the tough, however it should eat different on-road/rally vehicles for breakfast. The CEN comes with it’s suspension pretty tall, and pretty smooth, thus giving it nice chops when the going will get bumpy.
On-Road: We beloved the CEN on-road due to its massive energy, unbelievable scale look, and the way straightforward it was to float on slicker surfaces. Yes, it should traction roll if you happen to aren’t paying consideration or are on larger chew surfaces, however that additionally offers it extra of a lifelike really feel whereas driving.
Grass: Yes we tried the CEN in grass, and no it didn’t finish effectively. The automotive itself isn’t the difficulty as a lot because the inventory tires. The inventory kicks are loads smooth, however are treaded for avenue use. Thusly, our CEN had a tough time getting round in grass. If you do drive in grass, the excellent news is {that a} extra aggressive set of rally tires will make the CEN rather more succesful in grass, in addition to for off-road typically.
Tires: Yes, what about these tires? Well, first off, they give the impression of being attractive! The licensed Pirelli P-Zeros merely look unbelievable. The rubber compound is what I’d name “medium”, which is about good for each day bashing duties. They aren’t so smooth as to wear down each different run, but they’re much softer than el’ cheapo RTR tires.
Power: There is loads on faucet proper out of the field. The brushless motor does have legit energy and the automotive is geared pretty tall proper out of the field. This ends in respectable speeds and many enjoyable, even on 2S. When driving on 3S, the smooth suspension and grippy tires make for one wild trip.
Radio: While the radio by no means did not work for us, it did have a pesky energy change. We did prefer it’s rubber coated wheel.
The Upsides:
The CEN is just attractive! We beloved the Red Bull livery, we beloved the plastic scale components, and we beloved the seems to be of the inventory wheel/tire combo.
Right out of the field the CEN has numerous energy, even on 2S.
We beloved how the inventory suspension is set-up in a practical method. Yes, this provides the automotive lots of lean on high-grip surfaces, however this can be a rally automotive that’s set-up for leaping too. When driving on high-grip surfaces the automotive appeared very life like with all of the physique motion.
Just how massive is the CEN? It’s about 1.5″ wider, and has roughly 1.5″ longer wheelbase, than a regular 1/10 touring automotive. As the CEN is a small Ford Puma, the scaling is correct within the ballpark for 1/eighth.
The Downsides:
When going full velocity and making use of full brake, the rear of the physique would get sucked into the rear tires. A pair snips with the interest scissors fastened this on a budget/free.
There was a little bit of cogging from a lifeless cease from the brushless system. While the cooling system did an amazing job of protecting the motor cool, inventory gearing is unquestionably on the tall aspect.
We would beloved to have seen hidden physique mounts on this stunner.
Summary:
Not solely does the CEN have a great deal of efficiency, but it surely additionally has large scale attraction. The Red Bull livery is straight up LIT and CEN did a improbable job on the physique. We drove our take a look at unit laborious and had minimal points, therfore we are able to very extremely advocate the CEN M-Sport rally automotive to you!