Perhaps the hottest segment of RC right now is the Short Course Truck (SCT) Spec class. There are many good reasons for this as the trucks that go head-to-head look great, handle realistically and allow just about anyone to get involved in RC racing on a level playing field at a relatively low price. The latest entry to this class is the new 1/10-scale Losi Strike and it brings a few different things to the party. The Strike features a "backwards" mounted transmission, forward motor location, aluminum threaded body shocks, brushless-ready transmission, LiPo friendly ESC and a 2.4GHz radio system to provide perhaps the most complete RTR in the SCT class to date.
I had a chance to get my hands on a pre-production Strike recently and truly got up-close and personal with it. From checking out all the chassis details, diving inside the transmission, inspecting the suspension and more, this was a rare opportunity that I planned on taking full advantage of. With a number of charged Losi LiPo batteries in my pit box and the video camera in the back of my truck I headed out for an early test session at RJD Hobbies and Raceway in Lincoln, IL.

The outdoor track at RJD has always been a struggle for me to get my arms around. From its challenging layout and surface I've done ok here but I wouldn't say this was one of my better tracks. When I arrived in the morning the track crew was preparing to ready the track for a warm-up race before the 2009 ROAR 1/8-scale Nationals the following week. Because of this the current layout was rather dry with a sandy layer of loose dirt on a hard-packed surface. With the dry surface I was concerned about how the Strike would hook up and how well I would be able to drive on the track.
I hit the track with a Losi 3600mAh 20C LiPo and took a few slow laps to re-acclimate myself to the track and get my trims set on my radio. After 3- to 4-laps I opened up the throttle on the straight to see if the Strike had it where it counts. I must say I am more impressed with the Strike than I thought I would be. It handles very similarly to other trucks in the SCT Spec Class but it does a few things differently to help forge its own personality. On this track there's a right-hand sweeper at the end of the straightaway that has what I can best describe as a rut where either the transponder loop is buried or it's where water has run off the track. With other SC Trucks I have run here I have really had to back it down going through there to make sure that I didn't traction roll. Other trucks I have run here I've even tried using a front swaybar to reduce some of the chassis roll. With the Strike I could just breathe the throttle to set the suspension, and once the truck turned in, hammer the power through this corner without feeling like the Strike was going to traction roll once.

Summary:
I can't go too far here without talking about how awesome I think this Bind-N-Drive setup is. For someone like me who likes to have one radio for all his vehicles, Bind-N-Drive is absolutely dialed. It saves me money since I don't need to pay for an extra radio I'll never use. On top of that the MRX-3000 Losi DSM receiver works perfectly with any DSM-based radio or Spektrum Module System. In a word Bind-N-Drive is money.
I've got to say that the Strike fits into the Spec Short Course Class very well. It comes out of the box with a 2.4GHz transmitter, LiPo-friendly ESC, aluminum bodied shocks and a lot more to make it a great total package. Add the Bind-N-Drive format into the mix and you have a package perfect for the beginner to the advanced driver. I look forward to spending some more time behind the transmitter with the Strike, working the setup and trying to get the most out of this truck that I can.


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