Hi yah all

I have been privileged to have a few meetings with Elliott Boots prototype ZX6 recently and was with a view in establishing some base set ups for the production car on our high grip UK tracks.
What I didn’t expect is to find the new ZX6 production car to have so many differences and improvements not only to the older ZX5 but to the production car.

This is what I discovered when I built my new Kyosho 4wd ZX6 launched to the UK shops on the 7th of July 2014

Firstly the box and what’s inside (don’t laugh)
The box just makes a statement of intent. A statement that inside you are going to have something real nice and competitive. A better description of the box would probably be the word, classy!
The usual instructions and what’s what and tools needed and so on. No differences here.
I then spotted the body and my mind instantly said to me that they thought about this car.
We have all been running a forward cab body on the ZX5 for some time and yes you guessed it, a beautifull forward cab body is in the box with some slick lines.
Right at the bottom of the box, there it was, a lovely narrow alloy chassis, just waiting for me (LOL)

I will not bore you to death with all the stage by stage build stuff but just point out some of the advantages of the new car as well as some of the improvement.

The shocks.
Everyone world wide knows the Kyosho shocks are probably the smoothest on the racing scene.
I noticed new upper support cups for the metal big bore cups. Defo an improvement.
I also noticed medium shock bottoms included in the kit. (they had to be bought separate before)
Couple of spare nuts and spare lower inserts part in the kit too.
2 hole pistons just like I have been running for a while so that’s sweet too.
Probably a little soft front spring for UK tracks but spot on Gold rears.

The diffs/Drive train
I heard many people saying they were disappointed with the kit coming with ball diffs instead of gear diffs.
Let me tell you that there are many scenarios where gears diffs are not as good as ball diffs and of course visa versa.
Gears diffs are on their way as you may already know so no dramas. We need both.
I noticed small positive changes here too!
The diff hasn’t changed as such so anyone with a FS2 diff, this will carry over.
Good quality diff balls and a bulletproof thrust races make sure these are sweet from word go!
Same goes for the casings upper and lower apart from the front is the same as the rear lower casing..
The bevel gears have been improved with a new material. Not sure why actually as I never had any troubles with the old ones but Kyosho developments always move forward!
The shaft that carries the bevel gear has changed to a stronger material. For people that didn’t maintain their cars at the highest level, the shaft used to wear after a while and consequently the movement can cause a gear malfunction.
The drive cup to the propshaft has also changed to now a metal one instead of the old one that was plastic.
I love the new double Grub screw that holds this on with 2 flat sides to the shaft. Great idea and safe as! Another improvement.
The propshaft is a thinner dog bone type and also has a new foam pad in the cup to stop any chattering. More improvements!!
The slipper pads have now been changed to 2 white pads……I have been running these like this for some 2 years…..not that they listened to me specifically but again Kyosho taking note of every little detail and implementing it in their kits.

The Chassis and New Motor Mount
The alloy chassis is new to Kyosho on their 4wd car.
Its a lot thinner than the prototype car hence loosing a load of weight.
I have noticed other manufacturers cutting out there chassis ans so on trying to loose weight but no need here.
The chassis comes with side guards like most cars do these days and these fit just perfect.
The chassis has various holes for the different permutations that the car can be run in.
Saddles, Shorty with front motor or Shorty with rear motor.
This can be achieved with the new motor mount with a trick side loading idea.
Again a massive improvement from before.
Everything is in the kit to run any permutation you desire. There are no additions needed.
For a matter of interest, my car in shorty rear motor configuration all uo is 1645g. That’s only 57g over the BRCA legal limit (1588g)
Spot on! We can now put weight (if needed) where we want to.

The wishbones, hinge pins and shock towers.
Here you will find that Kyosho have gone for a stable car rather than a car that is difficult to drive.
Straight rear wishbones on the rear giving the car more stability rather than the lean into the corner and pivot scenario. Of course if you wish to have that its a simple fit the gull wing wishbones on and away you go!
Everything front and rear has alloy hangers as standard. No need again to buy anything.
Can’t speak for other manufacturers but the ZX6 has adjustable front toe angle. A very nice touch that I look forward in experimenting with in the future.
The shock towers again are an improvement with specifically the front one having rear fitted shocks. This I am sure is to eliminate breakages of the front tower at lower levels of racing.
I must admit I had plenty of tumbles and never really suffered with this breaking but some have! Again an improvement.
The rear tower has also been moved slightly forward and this allows front and rear adjustments of the inner ball stud positions and heights without the removal of the shock towers. I must admit this was a pet hate of mine in the past but thanks to Kyosho its all in the past.

Steering
All new steering on the car including new knuckle arms. The steering is just so much better and I have been fortunate to already tried this on the prototype car.
Looking forward in running the production one now.

Body and wing
I love the new body as previously mentioned so no more said there. Just looks superb on the car and fits like a glove!
And you get 2 wings in the kit too!

Dislikes
Only one thing I don’t like.
There is no rear post for a pin to support the body on.
A clever idea for a support so the body doesn’t drop down lower than it should but I have never been a lover of velcro so I just mounted a body post. No drama but there wasn’t the option. Bad Kyosho!! – LOL

Conclusion
I have been racing for over 30 years and its impossible to know how many cars I have built over the years.
Being old school there are many things that I look for.
Tolerances, quality of parts, chances to older model, drive train and the list goes on. The ZX6 production car has not disappointed me.
I have been driving the FS for over 5 years now and seen many changes over that period as the car gets improved.
No one speak of all the good things that kits come with. Like the quality bearings or the quality diff balls and all the other little things that normally other cars need to perform to a high standard over a period of time. Kyosho have always put the good stuff in the kits and some will argue the price is slightly higher but don’t forget its all included.
Everything that may of been suspect on the older versions have been addressed and so many more positives and alternatives added in too.
Nothing needs to be bought. If you’re good enough I am confident this car can and probably will win many events in the forthcoming future.
Thanks Kyosho, I’m happy