Features
If you were in a dark alley and looking at the GT2 it wouldn't fire a memory cell in your brain as to what the old truck looked like. The GT2 is a total redesign, where AE had the chance to address some of the issues that have nagged the GT for years. The good news is that there are lots of little features that should make people happier just reading about them.

Lickity Split
With hour-long mains and soft rubber tires, the advantage of quickly swapping tires in a main can mean winning or losing. The GT2 takes the quick-change hubs to a new level with their design that allows the wheels to snap in place without twisting or any movement. It's so easy that sometimes you think they're not snapped on. Multiple nubs and tapered spots in the rim ensure that the rims go on as quick as possible.

Junk In the Trunk
Probably one of the biggest complaints about the GT was that the receiver pack was just zip-tied on the back. In the factory ranks I've seen many races lost because the pack is ejected, and in the RTR form that frustration can be tenfold. The new battery box is still in the back, and securely holds the main power source of the car where it needs to be. You'll never see a GT2 dragging a RX pack or flying off the track because the pack is lost.

Tranny Time
The transmission is totally reworked in the GT2. To lower the center-of-gravity AE adopted a stepped idler gear that allows everything to sit lower and be more compact. The new revised gear ratio is 4.09:1, which allows the primary ratio to use a larger clutch bell.

Something Borrowed
Part of the new package is the revised transmission ration, which allows the use of the NTC clutch setup. The twin-shoe, composite clutch is spring returned, so unlike the old school GT, it's a little snappier off the bottom end. The engagement is smoother too...that's a double bonus!

Vertical Vertigo
Hidden in the back is something that you may miss at first glance. I did. The GT has a slick vertical ball stud adjustment that allows large to small movements of one of the most critical adjustments in off-road. The kit comes with a black plastic spacer, but you can change that out for some thinner shims to enable fine-tuning.

Instructions
The building process was pretty straight forward. It is hampered by instructions that don't seem to be as helpful as past AE manuals. Gone is the helpful text, and in its place are just CAD drawings. The scale of the hardware is way off, and it does add to some confusion when you're trying to figure out which size screw is used in steps with two different length screws used. The instructions are better than those in other kits, but seem to have taken a step back in the overall scheme, at least in my opinion. Some may like the new style. The one thing some may run into is that the carb can hit the aluminum chassis brace. The GT2 was designed around rotary carbs, but some carbs may be of unusual length and pose a problem. I had this problem and had to Dremel some clearance to make things work. Most people shouldn't have this problem if they buy one of the engines with normal rotary carbs.

Testing
I had a pretty decent test session with the GT2. I got to run it with the team at the local track, and I was also able to race it in the last round of the Southern California Saturday Series. I was pitted against some of the factory guys, and not having raced Gas Truck in ages, had my work cut out for me.

Acceleration and Speed • With today's high output engines designed to make peaky power, running gas truck can be frustrating. Most people who run the class use the smallest restrictor and try to choke power out of the engines. That's good because it's not who has the highest power engine that wins. I ran the OS TZ 12, which isn't the most powerful engine we tested but is perfect for gas truck since it's got a very linear power delivery and easy tuning. On the track with the right tires it was really good. The pipe seemed to be smooth on the delivery as well, contributing to a pretty easy blast out of the corners. I was only occasionally caught out by a rush of power.
Rating: 9/9

Braking • I was a little confused about the brakes. On the bench they grabbed very well, but on the track I had trouble getting used to the delivery. They were smooth and never faded, but they felt weak. It could be that I'm used to the incredible brakes found on 1/8-scales, but over jumps I couldn't get the front end to come down if I hit the jump wrong. If I dialed in more brake the GT2 was hard to control at the end of the straight, so I went with it and dealt with the lack of nose control.
Rating: 7

Low-Speed Handling • I've always felt the GT was easy to drive, and that was due to a slight push. That safe push remains in most conditions, granted you're not just dumping the power to the ground and throwing roost, but I felt like I could have used more natural steering. Off-power I couldn't get the truck to just turn without braking or use of drag brake. I don't really care for drag brake when compared to the truck just turning. But in the heat of the race that push makes for safe and consistent handling. That allowed me to make up lots of time when others were battling oversteer.
Rating: 9

High-Speed Handling • At full clamp the GT2 is easy to drive. Surprises in the back straight always pop up during race day, and for the most part the GT2 faired exceptionally well. The killer rut at the end of the straight caught the suspension off guard, but did so for any vehicle that hit it while in full lean and high-speed.
Rating: 10

Rough-Track Handling • Gas truck requires many things to be fast, and handling the destruction that is left from 1/8-scale is now a common task for the smaller classes. The GT went through the bumps and timing sections with confidence, only occasionally needing some counter steer to keep it straight. I did learn that landing flat is critical as one section had a jump on the outside and if I caught it with half the truck, things got hairy as the suspension soaked up the landing with the front causing it to twist on landing.
Rating: 9

Jumping • The layout in Hemet was true "Joey-style" with a ton of jumps that either required a wide approach or some feat of driving to clear. For the most part the GT2 kept its pimp hand strong and told those jumps how it was going to be done, but that occasional jump kicked the nose up and without the snappy brakes I am used to I couldn't get the nose to come down at all. It was baffling as I dialed more brake in to just have the same result. Proper approach is critical.
Rating: 8

Wrenching
Maintenance • The old GT's design was a little easier to work on simply because it was a less complex chassis design. The new chassis double-deck design requires you to do some extra twisting to get to the steering servo, tank or to clean, but the advantage is that everything is on that deck, and once the screws are loose you'll be at the chassis and ready for a deep cleaning. Everything else is pretty simple, and the E-clipless design is great.
Rating: 8

Wear and Tear • For all the time I've spent with the GT2 including the "press day" where I drove it for an hour straight, only our "durability tester" Wortel was able to break one arm during testing. I drove two qualifiers and a 20-minute main without issue in the heat of battling other drivers for position. I'm sure it may take a few times to get the new truck perfect, as the old truck had literally a decade to become as tough as it is. But as a starting spot, the GT2 is still tops in the durability category.
Rating: 9

Tuning • The GT2 offers a full range of tuning options and adjustments. The added vertical adjustment of the rear camber link is probably going to be the most used, since most have been using that for years. Another positive is that when you make an adjustment it's felt on the track, not enough to knock you off the pace, but enough to see if you're going to go faster or slower.
Rating: 10

Conclusion
Associated put it all on the line in redesigning a product that has been so dominant. I was surprised when they timed the release to be at the Nationals, but that added pressure made the win even sweeter. It added number 15 to the win list and did it in style. It also helped me to finish in the top five in the A-Main, something that I wasn't really expecting considering that I haven't run the class in a long time. If there's a truck that's ready to put the pride back into gas truck racing, the GT2 is ready for the challenge. It handles just as well as the GT, it lasted the entire race day without breaking, and it has the GT lineage built in.