Losi received five separate honors at the 2007 RC Car Action Reader’s Choice Awards this year. The 8IGHT was recognized as the Reader's Choice for Nitro Buggy Award, and the Micro-T RTR won the RC Innovation of the Year. Team Losi Racing's Adam Drake was named Driver of the Year. The Editor's Choice Awards went to Losi as well. The 8IGHT was selected for 2007 Car of the Year, while the Micro-T won the 2007 Truck of the Year award. This is the first time in the history of the awards that the same manufacturer has won both Car and Truck of the Year awards in the same year. We recently sat down with the two men most responsible for these innovative vehicles, Jukka Steenari (lead designer on the 8IGHT) and Josh Alton (lead designer on the Micro-T). From what they’re most proud of and what these awards mean to them to what were some of the more challenging aspects of these projects, Jukka and Josh definitely provided some interesting insight.
Jukka Steenari
Q: Jukka, as a former IFMAR Electric World Champion, you were presented the task of creating Team Losi Racing’s first 1/8-scale buggy. What were some of the key features you had in mind when designing? More specifically, was there anything you knew going into the 8IGHT project that you knew you wanted to implement to really separate this car from anything else?
Jukka Steenari: I was certainly excited about the challenge. Expectations for us as a company were high because of our strong racing heritage. We were also going to be entering a category with well established competitors.
The key drivers from very early on were the desire to rely on innovative solutions to create a very competitive product and make sure we focused on features that really resonate with the racers. These included durability, being easy to work on, great jumping and, of course, great track performance.
The key practice through the design process was to ask a lot of questions. Is this the best possible solution? How can I make the car easier to work on? How can I make the car more durable? How can I make the car look better? And ultimately, what can I do to ensure that when the racers get the car, they simply have more fun with it?
Q: When it was first unveiled in early 2006, many people questioned the 8IGHT’s unconventional design. Once the car raced for the first time with Adam (Drake) and Peanut, (Travis Amezcua) and people saw how well the car drove and how fast it was around the track, they began to buy into the concept. What was your reaction when you saw that change in perception, and demand for the car grew?
JS: Every time you come out with something radical, there will be both positive and negative reactions. The 1/8 buggies have looked very similar for a very long time, so mixed initial response was anticipated. We knew the tremendous potential of the car, and it was only a matter of time to prove it to the racing community.
The most rewarding thing for me was to read on the boards how racers instantly improved on their lap times when driving the 8IGHT for the first time. Knowing that your product makes your customers have more fun with their hobby means you have been successful.
Q: One of the most stand-out features of the 8IGHT is its centralized engine and weight placement. This created some design challenges, specifically with the middle driveshafts and the rear ring and pinion gears. How did the idea of reversing the mounting position of the rear ring gear on the diff come up?
JS: Well, that’s a good question! Getting familiar with the competing products is one of the early steps in product development projects. I was sitting in a hotel room overseas after a frustrating day at a race track, trying to figure out how to make the car I was racing work better and how to arrange the driveline for better handling when we would design our own car. A couple of sketches on a corner of a napkin that night and the idea was born…
Q: One of the subtle but truly unique features about the 8IGHT is the Clunk in the fuel tank. What are some of the other subtle features that you’re especially proud of on the 8IGHT?
JS: My favorite ones would be the following that are geared towards making the car easier to work on:
- It takes only four screws to remove the radio tray from the chassis.
- The front clip can be easily removed while leaving the steering assembly in place.
- Both the front and rear diff housings are sealed so you do not have to worry about getting dirt in the gears when the clips are removed for cleaning and maintenance.
And of course there is the way the antenna tube is locked in place with a vertical setscrew—simple and effective!
Q: Anything else you’d like to say about the 2007 Radio Control Car Action Car of the Year, the Team Losi Racing 8IGHT?
JS: Every project at Losi is a team effort and I want to thank the whole product team for the success of the 8IGHT. I also want to thank our customers and Radio Control Car Action for these prestigious awards.
Josh Alton
Q: Josh, the Losi Micro-T debuted at the 2006 iHobby Model and Hobby Show and was an instant success. Its exceptional out-of-the-box performance and go-anywhere 1/36-scale size made it a hit. What was the biggest challenge in creating a hobby-grade vehicle that was smaller than anything else ever created?
Josh Alton: The biggest challenge had to be the micro-size differential. We knew that the hobbyist would want Li-Po batteries and brushless motors, so we had to design the strongest possible gears that could be molded. The adjustable slipper helps to put the power to the ground.
Q: Other toy-grade RC cars and trucks have tried to enter the market, offering vehicles of the same size as the Micro-T. What features separate the Micro-T from the pack?
JA: Speed, durability, functionality, and the ability to customize. Almost everyone wants to be faster than the competition or at least look better. The Micro-T might be micro, but it is hobby quality.
Q: What was the catalyst to designing the Micro-T?
JA: We're always looking to push the design envelope and prove that big innovation can be found in small packages. We wanted to design something that was totally different and performed better than anything else out there. The result is the Losi Micro-T.
Q: The mini and micro market has been absolutely flooded with new products since the class was introduced several years ago. Why decide to design a 1/36-scale truck versus something larger?
JA: No one has produced a fully functional independent suspension off-road vehicle in the 1/36 scale. It presented a fun and unique challenge that everyone welcomes. We think the final product pretty well speaks for itself.
Q: You were also very involved with the Mini-LST and Mini-LST2. What were some of the different challenges that the Micro-T presented that were different from your previous efforts?
JA: I'd say the two biggest obstacles had to do with the overall size and manufacturability. Designing a new product on a computer screen is not always the hard part. The real challenges appear once the design comes off the computer and prototyping begins. The production and holding design tolerances cannot always be accounted for, in regards to things like parts expanding or shrinking as something cools when it is pulled out of the mold. In regards to the Micro-T, the differential gears are an example of one such production challenge.
Q: What does the future hold for the Micro-T? I’m speaking specifically in terms of bodies, wheels, and hop-ups?
JA: Unfortunately I cannot be specific about the hop-ups, but we will have bodies, wheels, tires, and more. We have a Li-Po battery pack and wall charger that is now available for the Micro-T, and we have also been working on some outstanding aluminum suspension and chassis parts. In all, there’s some pretty cool stuff in the works.
We’d like to thank both Jukka Steenari and Josh Alton for sharing their insights and time with us. We’d also like to send our thanks and congratulations to everyone within Losi and Horizon Hobby for this outstanding achievement. Special thanks go to the hobby stores world-wide who carry Losi products, the RC enthusiasts and beginners who purchase them, and to the editors and reader’s of RC Car Action who selected Losi products as their category favorites.
