HoBao Hyper 9 1/8 Buggy studio shots

[George Gonzalez]

Latest from ofna.com


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Tim Bump who heads up the Hyper Racing division at OFNA has been working closely with the HoBao engineers on the design of the Hyper 9, which is the car that the HoBao racing team will be fielding at the IFMAR 1/8-Scale Off-Road World Championships. The Hyper 9 will be the first car that’s entirely designed by OFNA. The car featured here is a prototype, but as you can see the design is radical when compared to other buggies. Let’s take a closer look at some of the car’s innovative features.

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All of the vehicle’s components are as close to the centerline as possible. You couldn’t stick a pencil in any of the gaps between the various components! The buggy is extremely narrow; the chassis width is only slightly wider than a 1/10-scale buggy.

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The engine is leaned inward 25-degrees, which allows it to be mounted closer to the centerline. The engine is one of the heaviest components, and having it mounted in the center provides an almost perfect left-to-right weight ratio. In fact, OFNA claims that the left-to-right ratio is identical when the fuel tank is half full.

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The steering and throttle servo are both mounted flush with the chassis. The throttle servo uses a bellcrank to open and close the slide carb. As you can see, the bellcrank is angled 25-degrees so that it is on the same plane as the slide carb. The receiver/battery box and right mud guard is a single molded piece. The Hyper 9 has a super small 40-tooth spur gear, which lowers rotating mass. Check out the brake linkage; a single, straight link operates the front brake rotor that’s mounted conventionally in front of the center diff. Where’s the rear brake you ask?

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There it is! It’s mounted in front of the rear differential. Adjusting the front and rear brake bias is easy since there’s only one brake linkage.

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The Hyper 9 uses a C-hub front suspension, but it’s hardly conventional. The steering knuckles are tiny compared to other buggies. The steering bellcrank system has also been simplified; it uses a rod to connect the two bellcranks together and different rods will be included to adjust Ackermann.

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This flipside view gives you an idea as to how narrow this buggy is. The mud guards are tiny compared to other buggies. Although you can’t really notice in this photo, the mud guards are angled upward all the way around the parameter of the chassis to improve ground clearance and prevent them from scraping while cornering.

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The wing and wing mount are a single molded piece. This reduces weight because there are no screws required to mount the wing, and there aren’t posts between the wing mounts. OFNA will offer a conventional wing mount for those who’d like to mount an aftermarket wing.

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The low-profile fuel tank is mounted super close the chassis centerline. It will have molded-in fuel line clips for a neater fuel line installation. The production buggy will have a splash guard to keep fuel from contaminating the front brake rotor.

OFNA will debut the new buggy at the RCX show in Pomona in a few weeks, and we should have a test sample by then too. Of course we plan to review the new Hyper 9 buggy as soon as we get our hands on one so be on the lookout.

[rccardude04]

THAT is a cool looking car. Looks like the steering linkage is a bit cheezy, but that's the kind of unconventional thinking I think a lot of us have been waiting for with a buggy. One-piece wing/mount, rear-mounted brake, slanted engine.
Brilliant.
-Eric

[JonehRC]

Very interesting design. Especially the brake linkage.. front and rear.. interesting indeed.

[Paradoxmaker]

One-piece wing/mount, rear-mounted brake, slanted engine.
Brilliant.
-Eric

IDk about calling the Wingmount a "one piece"...The upper section may be 1 piece in the sence that the cross bar is molded into the side braces but in this pic:
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You can also se the purple screw washers that mount the side pieces to that flate mounting plate thats attached to the shock tower....

[mugenX5]

The center diff is about as close to center as you can get, so the engine and other components are off the center line by quite a bit.

As for chassis width, well , it means nothing since the components that sit on top of the chassis haven't changed in dimension.

Otherwise , it looks good, though the steering components look a bit on the small side.



1/8 buggies are going the way of Formula 1 cars.....super lightweight but fragile as hell.

[chilledoutuk]

just one thing not all f1 cars are as fragile as red bull racings paper mache cars that disintegrate when you go over a curb.

[mugenX5]

Ever see an F1 go off the track and hit a 2" high mound of grass? It might as well be paper mache.

As for the H9, it looks good, though this is only a prototype, and if I recall, the RTR prototype.

If they can keep quality up and prices down, it'll be a top contender on the track. The 8.5 was right around $400 for a race roller, which is about $200 cheaper than anything else ( yes even the RC8 and 8ight after you factor in the upgrades you HAVE to do to it to make it race-worthy).

[rampage21]

are the lines on plastic pieces supposed to be like that? or is it just because it was prolly CNCed for a prototype model?