Hobao Hyper 9.5 GL review – from a user point of view

by Pedro M. S. Oliveira | Sep 14, 2009 | RC Buggies

Last time I wrote about the Hobao Hyper 9  I was waiting the 9.5 arrival. It did arrived and I managed to put a gallon on it on practice plus a weekend competition. The competition didn’t go that well but it wasn’t the cars fault, just did practice and qualifications having to leave afterwards.

But lets go to what matters, how’s the Hyper 9.5 GL behaving and what are the new features?

Hyper 9.5 GL has some big improvements on its predecessor the Hyper 9 here’s a list:

1. 4mm thick + 4mm longer rear lightweight chassis
2. CNC Front chassis brace
3. CNC Rear chassis brace
4. Spider diff (front 5000, center 3000, rear 1000)
5. 20 Degree engine mount
6. CNC Coordinator mount
7. 17mm (20mm) Big Bore shock set
8. White spring set
9. CNC one piece shock top cap set
10. Fiber brake disc set up
11. Front +2mm wheel hubs
12. Rear +4mm wheel hubs
13. Rear 3mm stabilizer
14. Dust proof wheel nuts
15. Proline 9024 tires

In my opinion on this list of upgrades from the hyper 9 to the 9.5 the really important ones are:

1. 4mm thick + 4mm longer rear lightweight chassis
2. CNC Front chassis brace
3. CNC Rear chassis brace
4. 17mm (20mm) Big Bore shock set
5. White spring set
6. Dust proof wheel nuts

With the new chassis and braces I’ve been damaging lot less parts than I had with the Hyper 9, specially the center dogbones and plastics, the new shocks are also great in handling as the new springs. The dust proof wheel nuts aren’t just a fancy upgrade they do help a lot preventing dust inside the nuts making it faster to replace or upgrade parts on the track.

About all the other improvements they work really well the brakes are much better, tiny springs where added to the brake pads this makes the brake free as soon as you hit the accelerator. The differential as better too, although I didn’t complain on the previous ones.

What I didn’t enjoy that much and reverted to the setting of the hyper 9 was the engine mount, I like the 25 degrees engine mount better, in my opinion the car handles better, but maybe it’s just me that I’m used to the older mount.

About the handling, what can I say, I loved the car before can’t deny it, but now I love it even more (my wife will kill me for saying this) but the handling in curve is better with the new chassis, the life cycle of parts is improved, I ran the gallon and the track weekend with almost no maintaince other than changing shock springs for tunning, and some minor setups (specially on the brakes). I’ve also noticed that with the with the white springs I can go faster on the corners without rolling. I also enjoy the gray ones for tracks that doesn’t have that many jumps.

What more can I say about the car, not much, just a little comparison I’ve been driving an HotBodies D8 and a Kyosho MP9 and compared to the D8 I like the Hyper 9 much more but compared to the Kyosho… well the Kyosho is a really nice car too, it’s fast and small like the Hyper, they both fly well and turn well in the long run I think the Hyper may have some advantage in what matters to shocks and turning speed, in accelaration they both perform very well but i think with the kyosho you can accelerate a bit sooner existing the corners, but this is just a thought, didn’t do an extensive test.

I’m more experienced with the hyper and it shows on lap times, but with the Kyosho I’m a second and a half slower, maybe due to the lack of habit driving it, with the D8 well… I’m three and a half seconds slower…and I’m equally used to it as I am with the Kyosho MP9.

In conclusion I think the Hyper 9.5 GL a great evolution on the hyper, it’s not that cheap nor it’s a car free of trouble, but is one of the best RC cars out there at least that I’ve drove, on the bottom end I really dislike the access to electronics as you have to take out the break linkage to change battery or do something else in the box, but well perfection doesn’t exist 😉

Cheers,

Pedro Oliveira