We have obtained body-off photos of X Factory engineer Paul Sinclair’s prototype X – 6 Cubed, and it’s an exciting new design indeed. In recent months X Factory has released photos with the body on, but they have kept the lid on details of the new car while final details of the design were worked out.
As one can see from the photos, the X – 6 Cubed will be an all carbon fiber car in keeping with X Factory’s recently released SCX – 60CF short course and the X – 60CF stadium truck. Spokesman Chazz Sinclair said, “We will be an all-carbon fiber company in about 6 weeks when the Cubed is released. Both the X – 6 Squared and X – 60 will still be available; they are molded chassis cars and there are certain advantages to that. But we believe most customers will prefer the lightweight, narrow carbon fiber cars.”
While the X – 6 Cubed is similar in some ways to the X – 60CF and SCX – 60CF, that basic design has been changed and updated to many buggy-specific changes. Engineer Paul Sinclair explained: “Buggies are lighter and shorter, so you want different characteristics in how they take bumps, jump, and corner. Especially, they must flex differently, and we have achieved that in the X – 6 Cubed.”
Several important features of the new X – 6 Cubed:
Carbon fiber construction.
New top deck for easily adjustable chassis flex. Adjust both the amount of flex and where the chassis flexes.
New slim design for better cornering and performance over bumps.
Very close to minimum legal weight. Lighter than other buggies.
Moves rear shock tower forward. This moves the wing forward for better performance in the air. Many think it looks better too.
Great carbon fiber and polished aluminum look.
All new body and medium-downforce wing. Existing high-downforce wing still fits.
Retains X Factory’s great 4-Gear transmission.
Retains the X – 6 Squared’s rear pivot and control arms.
Uses either saddle or shorty pack; both can be moved forward or back to change weight distribution.
Paul Sinclair said, “The car in these photos is my prototype car, and there are a few minor changes between this and final production. The biggest one is the way the ball studs are mounted to the rear tower; in production, the ballstuds will be in the same location but mounted vertically. Also, the body mounts are not on my car. Otherwise, this is it.”
Chazz added, “Eight Team drivers in U.K. have Cubes, along with one in Belgium, one in Australia, and six U.S. Team drivers. Every one of them reports 2-3 tenths faster lap times than with their Squareds. More important, every one says the Cubed is even easier to drive fast than the Squared. That’s hard to believe, but they are unanimous. They describe the X – 6 Cubed as ‘light and nimble’ compared to the Squared. The Cubed truly is higher math.”
After several delays from various parts suppliers, the X – 6 Cubed should begin shipping to dealers in early June. All dealer orders will be filled before the car is released for retail sales on X Factory’s web store, so the fastest way to get one is from your local hobby store. The car will be available two ways: a Conversion Kit for the AE B4/4.1/4.2 and an UpGrade Kit for the X – 6 Squared.
X – 6 CUBED BODY PHOTOS
These are photos of the new X – 6 Cubed body. The X – 6 Cubed is an all carbon fiber slim design update on the X – 6 Squared. The new cab-forward body shows off the slim design but retains X Factory’s trademark swept-up rear for aerodynamic downforce. The cab is aggressively placed with more rake to the windshield than most for better front downforce.
The Cubed body also features X Factory’s new medium downforce wing. Side dams are still as large as the rules allow, but the new wing is 1/2” narrower than the original X – 6 high downforce wing, and the kick up on the new wing is five degrees less than the older model. The Cubed will be supplied with the medium downforce wing standard, but both wings will fit.
X Factory President Paul Sinclair said, “We should release the new car to our Dealer Family in about two weeks, as soon as the last parts arrive in our shop. All of the sub-contracted parts have been shipped, and we are in full production now on the parts we make in-house.”
The X – 6 Cubed will be released in two versions: a full Conversion Kit which converts a B4, or B4.1 or B4.2 to X – 6 Cubed, and an UpGrade Kit which UpGrades an X – 6 Squared to X – 6 Cubed. Either way, the customer ends up with the same car.
Spokesman Chazz Sinclair said, "X Factory will follow its normal policy of shipping to our world-wide Dealer Family first, and will only release the car on our web site after all Dealer orders have been shipped. So you will get your Cubed fastest from your local hobby store.”
