Arrma Fury Brushless Speed Test: Does it Top at 40MPH?
Introduction
Once upon a time in a small village, the village idiot had an idea. The village got their popcorn to watch this idea play out. His idea was to see if an Arrma Fury short course truck with a brushed motor could hit 40 MPH. This sounded like a noble task, and the spectators gathered to see what would happen. Oh, the village gathered around. The idiot gathered a company of friends. It seemed like this was a real bonding moment for the village.
What happened? Well, every village needs an idiot. If you are watching the village idiot, then it means you are not the idiot. So, take note when people are watching you do something. When are you tempted to say, “Hey, hold my beer!” Or as my son pointed out once after church, the Christian version, “Hey, hold my Bible.” Well, you might just be that idiot!
Yes, this idiot was me. “Hi, I’m Paulie, and my ambitions outrun my brain. I did discover something: brushless motors are really fast! They also require very little maintenance.”
From village idiot to guru…. Or maybe less village idiot
The thought of being the village idiot never really concerned me. I embrace the title. I would wear a hat and uniform to proudly advertise my place in the pecking order. I will stay in my lane! However, sometimes even the village idiot can become self-aware. I discovered that trying to get a brushed motor to do 40MPH is just not going to work. I noted in my previous post that it is penny-wise and pound foolish. Oh, how I love saving pennies!
So, to recap, this is the motor and the speed control in the truck. Motor Link on Amazon. ESC through Horizon Hobby. (I do get a kickback from Amazon).
How Fast is this motor?
So, I still want to do a speed test on the new brushless motor. I want to see how fast this thing will really go. I got a bag of pinion gears, and it is time to let the truck rip! Let’s see what this thing will really do!
(I set the truck up so I can move the motor to quickly set the gear mesh. Arrma does not recommend this. This is just the old school way to set gear mesh. We have run the truck about 5-6 times this way and the plastic has shown any evidence of being compromised. These are very solid trucks!)
Well, right now we are running a 16T pinion gear. My butt dyno says that the truck is doing close to 40MPH on a 2S. I bet the truck is hitting close to 50 on a 3S. This power is plenty fast in the dirt.
I want to make sure that the truck hooks up. So, the tires I am running are the Badlands on the front. I run the Blockades in the rear. I have been REALLY impressed with the Blockades. Our dirt comes in three forms: rocky, packed like concrete after a good rain, and then dust right around this time of year. The Blockades do really well in all these conditions. You get to mud or snow, and the Blockades say, “Whatcha talking about, Willis? I can’t grip under these conditions!”
What did we discover?
Well, I got my GPS. I like how the truck is set up right now for our track. It has plenty of power to get down the straights, but please keep in mind this is a track that is really built for the 1/16 scale trucks. So, the truck needs to run in a parking lot.
Time to load up the kid, the truck, and the GPS. Let’s see what this thing will do. The top speed of the truck is 30 MPH on 2S. I hit 43MPH on a 3S. I have not even played with the gearing at this point.
We ran into two problems. The first problem was that we ran out of road for the 3S. We did the test in front of my house, and my son was not about to do the “Hey, hold my Bible.” The reason was that there were way too many parked cars. He did not want the burden to fix broken items on parked cars. So, he handed me the transmitter. I gave him my phone, and he was charged to call out the top speed.
On the first run, I hit the throttle, the truck took off, and then did a huge tumble. Thankfully, it landed on its wheels. When I sent it back to try to hit top speed, the brakes locked the rear wheels, and I almost creamed a light pole. Prior to this, we ran it on a small dirt track, so this was not an issue because we never got it to full speed.
The second problem we had is the ESC/RX was going into thermal shutdown. I also realized that we never gave the truck full beans to find the top end. I pulled the battery and realized that the wires were really hot. I think the culprit was the IC5-to-Deans adapter. I plan to revisit this test, and I will have to void the warranty. I know the Deans will handle the power just fine on a 2s and 3s. I’m sick of all these battery standards that are becoming proprietary. I love the days when you can buy one charger to charge all the batteries.
The reality is that my butt dyno is as reliable as the rest of me. I called 40 and 50; the GPS said 30 and 43. Village idiot status pending. However, in my defense, the truck ran out of road, and then the ESC/RX went into thermal protection. I learned the importance of electrical current matters! I will solder on the new connector and revisit this test. My butt dyno cannot fully embrace the village idiot status. And so we will revisit this test again with a better battery connection and more road!
Conclusion
So, what did the village idiot learn? I learned that being the village idiot can be fun. However, embrace the moments when you know it is time to hold your own beer or bible.
I learned that gearing does matter, but the motor will be hot if you run something too long. This motor combo moves the truck from a sleepy training rig to a serious contender.
In all honesty, I really think that this Arrma Fury is a great bang for the buck in the RC world. If you are looking for something that really rips, I would tell you to find a Fury with the brushless motor. The truck is big, but the truck is tough. It is a hoot to drive, and watching the rooster tail from the rear tires is a real hold-my-beer moment. My son and I both noted that you have to start the truck on hard pack to get it to hook up, but once you get it going, you can hit the loose stuff and watch it clear the dust off the track.
Don’t miss another way to get out with the family.
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