Howards

Yeas, they are all Associated B4 clones, which itself was an iteration of the Losi XX/X. I don't know why we'd get excited now about the DirtMaster now, maybe it's nostalgia? Tamiya had the same concept out nearly ten years ago in the Zahaak (a cheap ~£150? version of the 201, itself a b4 clone). At £200 the DM doesn't look that cheap to me, but at least you can buy one I guess.

Isn't the DirtMaster just an RB5 re-re with somewhat cheaper bits and a retro-look shell? The Rb5 was itself was a B4 clone. It's like Tamiya re-reing the zahak.

It's far too high. You'd need to get the steering rack lower for the DB01 body to fit. TD4 might fit OK as the body has to clear the suspension rocker links.

54041 is for stick packs and saddlepack cells in series, 54537 is for shorties and hard case lipo and is not carbon reenforced (unlike the DB01RRR arms and shock towers). They are interchangable (in the sense that they fit any of the DB01 models), you'd decide which you went for based on the battery format you were after and if you needed the extra stiffness (you didn't). 54537 is still in production if you want one. To add to the confusion, there is also a DB01 high traction chassis.

The part numbers will be different, because where the DB01 has glass reinforced plastics, the RRR will have carbon reenforced plastics. But the design of the parts is the same, they are interchangeable. Anecdotally, I heard that it was generally a retrograde step, because the stiffness of the parts made the car less balanced, and the parts were weaker, and broke easily. The belts and diff pullies will be different too, because the DB01 RRR has the same over-driven front arrangement of the 503 IIRC, and came with the gear diffs rather than the ball diffs, as Hi-Grip astro was the thing back then. Ultimately, you wouldn't upgrade a DB01 to be a DB01 RRR because you'd basically be making a new car if you couldn't accept the glass plastics of the DB01. You could upgrade a DB01 to something largely RRR spec, or at least, get the intended benefit of the RRR without chucking the entire model away, by being mindful of what you needed, which I mostly outlined above. tl;dr if you want a DB01RRR and it must have the carbon plastics and the black anodised alloys, you need to buy a DB01 RRR. But you can also incrementally upgrade a DB01 to a good approximation of RRR spec without chucking half of it away, but it won't 'be' a RRR.

Yes, you can upgrade a DB01 to RRR spec. There are minor differences in the chassis but the geo (except for front kick up and rear toe) and layout is the same. finding the upgrade parts is an expensive mission though. you can make do with Big Bore shocks, alloy outdrives, ujs, slipper clutch and alloy suspension mounts, front and rear. The carbon reinforced parts did little for the handling by accounts.

503 is best at looking good. The flat alloy chassis and undertray are pretty retro. DB01 RRR is the most pragmatic and probably 'the best' of the lot for week in / out racing. It will be as balanced as a 503, more resilient and durable, but slightly porkier. DB01 is an older, consumerized 501 on which the RRR is based. Can it take the 503 / RRR belts / pullies? I believe it can. Whether you can find them is another matter.

DB01 / Durga. Pretty bomb proof out of the box. You could probably smash a 8.5t brushless and lipo in it and it would mostly be fine. With the R versions you could do that and do some pretty wild jumps on track and it wouldn't flinch. DN01 was pretty solid OOTB too in the same way.

I'm selling mine (mega hop ups and exotec classic extension) if you can pick it up from London. No I won't post it or the exotec.

Why do folks put Big Bores on this? The stock shocks no good? They look like the older style TRF shocks, so I'm surprised if they suck.

Whenever there is distributor involved.... things gonna suck

Mmmmm yes

Chill dude - it's a big kid's toy

I am conflicted

Imagine the tooling for them is long gone now.