LOSI XXX-S Review By: Cory Kappler

This really isn't a review of the XXX-S, more like what I have experienced with the car…good and bad. By no means am I a hardcore racer. What I run and how I run it works for me, and may not work for you. If I run this car 8 or 10 times during the winter, I am doing good. So take this as you will…one guy giving his impressions of the Losi XXX-S.

To start with, I have run a few different Touring cars. Included in these are approximately 4 different Schumacher's, 4 different Yokomo's, a TC3, an FSR, a Corally, 2 different Losi's, and probably one or two I am forgetting. Each one has its own unique characteristics. Some worked well right out of the box…others did not. Some required a lot of tuning to get it right. Others, well, they reached a handling limit. Nothing could be done to overcome the problems.

That being said, I have to say the Losi XXX-S is at the top of my list. It's so good, I bought a second car. Some cars are better for stock and some are better for mod. It just depends how they react. Over the years I have generally found the Schumacher's better for mod, and Yokomo's better for stock. Again, this is based on my own limited experience. The XXX-S is one of the few chassis's I have found that work well for both the stock and modified classes. The only real competition the XXX-S has is the Associated TC3. For stock the TC3 is probably a better car. Because of its design, the TC3 feels "snappy" when you pull the trigger. So it has a little more "get up and go" when exiting a corner. But the Losi, with its single belt and large diffs, feels a lot smoother. You can roll on and off the throttle (like a real road racing car) much better, and yet the car still feels stable when you do slam on the throttle.

The XXX-S has standard chassis layout compared with other cars on the market right now. (Picture 1 and Picture 2) Batteries are on the right and electronics on the left. This has to be one of the easiest cars to build and maintain. One example is the diff access. To access a diff, just loosen the center belt tensioner (one screw) and then only a few screws hold the diff cover on. It's about half the amount of screws you need to remove on the TC3 to do the same thing. The instructions have excellent diagrams. You cannot put something where it doesn't belong.

The hop-ups I put on the car are minimal. All I have is the graphite chassis (for weight), threaded shock bodies (for better fine tune adjustment), and ball bearings in the bellcranks (for smoother steering and to reduce slop). I have Titanium turnbuckles and hingepins, but I have not yet had a reason to put them on. The stock ones have held up so far. If you race, the graphite kit might make sense, especially the new milled out graphite chassis on the XXX-S Graphite Plus kit. The chassis is the place where you save the most weight.

One thing I found is you run the front arms either forward, or to the back. For some reason, the car does not respond the same running the arms in the middle. (Picture 3) You can see that the front arms are full forward. Both spacers are to the rear. In a close up you can see a small shim on the left side. (Picture 4) I used a thin armature shim to get rid of the slop in that side. I don't know why, but in both of my cars, I had to shim the left side arm. There was a little more front to back play than I like…but a small motor shim took care of that.

Another thing I did was to replace the bushings in the bellcranks with bearings. The one thing I didn't, and still like about the car is the amount of slop in the front end. You can wiggle the front tires slightly with the servo not being moved. Some people use o-rings to help that. I don't like that idea too much. If something moves, I don't want to put a restriction in its way. But the nice thing is that you cannot feel the front end wander while driving. Even with the slop while stationary, the front end tracks straight while going down the track.

I pretty much only run on carpet, and the place I run at allows foams. (Picture 7) For a setup, I run a ride height of 5 or 6mm, and the same shock setup, and the same tires all the way around. For the most part you do NOT want to run the same all the way around. But for my specific situation…it works.

Out of the box, the XXX-S has built in oversteer; generally meaning the rear end of the car wants to come around on you. This is also called a "loose" condition, but the proper term is oversteer. A car with oversteer is by far faster on the track compared with car that understeers. People make the mistake by thinking they steer with the steering wheel…you don't. Ask any racer from open wheel or stock cars…you steer with the throttle! That is with the standard setup. If you play around with the setup, you can get that dialed out. With my setup the car exhibits slight oversteer entering the corners, and neutral to slight understeer on power. It all depends how you drive. If you don't like a loose car, this one isn't for you. But loose is fast!

The Achilles heel of this car is its rear hubs. (Picture 8) The front is rock solid, the drive train is smooth, the car exhibits little chassis roll, but the one bad thing about the car are those rear hubs. Now there are new arms and rear hub carriers deigned for small, tighter tracks. I have not used them, but I don't believe they are any stronger. The graphite rear hub carriers are stronger, but those too can snap. Even though they are the weak point in the car, they do not break often. Every car has a weak point or two, the rear hubs just happen to be the weak point of the XXX-S.

I have been very happy with this car. I run one in stock and mod, and the setups are virtually identical. The Street Weapon also worked very well out of the box. But you just could not do much with it. That car was not really designed to be a top-level racer. The XXX-S is a huge improvement. It is well balanced, easy to work on, and there are no limits to the chassis. For more info on this car, the March 03 issue of R/C Car has reviews of both the Graphite Plus kit, and the Sport kit.