4WD buggies have been around for a long time, and a staple at electric offroad races like the International Offroad Carpet Championship, so it came as a surprise to see a company like Tekno RC, who is more associated with nitro 1/8-scale, enter in to the class. They've been creating quite a buzz with their new EB410 buggy that has taken an unconventional route with a design that bucks the current trend in platform layout you'd normally expect to see. The obvious highlight of the buggy is the positioning of electronics and battery, making for a very aggressive forward weight bias, but there are several other big features that set it apart from their competitors. The shocks are big bore with 13mm bodies instead of the more common 12mm size. Overall weight for the buggy is low and the engineers worked hard to make it very light in the class. The arms at both the front and rear of the buggy are solid on the underneath, creating a very durable and stiff suspension system. At this point, the buggies uses gear diffs, front, center, and rear, but a slipper could be in the works, but at this point there is nothing confirmed. According to Mason, they've only had their hands on the new buggy for about a month, but the big learning curve for the team was how well the buggy jumped and landed, letting them drive it harder than what they are used to. On carpet, he admits they have some things still to figure out, and during development when the team did testing on carpet they often tested with a 13.5T motor, so their testing isn't as thorough. He was also quick to point out that for him and teammate Joe Bornhorst, carpet is a very foreign surface compared to the dirt of nitro tracks and the International Offroad Carpet Championship is their first carpet driving they've ever done.

Mason's Main Sponsors: Tekno RC, AMain Hobbies, ProTek RC, Team Tekin Racing, Pro-Line Racing, MIP Radio Control RC Car Hop-Ups and Tools for the Hobbyist, Schelle Racing Innovations, BOOMrc Graphics and Design

Transmitter: Sanwa M12s
Speed Control: Tekin RSX
Motor: Tekin Gen 3 5.5T
Battery: ProTek RC 6100mAh LiHV shorty 2S LiPo
Servo: ProTek RC Low Profile 160T
Body: Tekno EB410 kit
Tires (f/r): JConcepts Inc Swaggers/ JConcepts Inc Pin Downs (spec tires for International Offroad Carpet Championship)