

These black chrome parts are as close to the look of a real cage as you’re going to get, which made it a no-brainer for this custom build. We wanted a more realistic look, so we upgraded to the Traxxas optional black chrome cage pieces. The stock cage that comes on the UDR looks great, but the gray color of the plastic doesn’t. They look mighty snazzy, too.Ī suite of LED lighting was installed to cover the front, rear and roof of the truck, along with a Traxxas power amplifier to regulate power flow. These shafts have a super-tough titanium-nitride coating with a micro-polished finish for smoother performance and scratch resistance. We went the extra mile and also installed Traxxas’ optional gold-colored hardened-steel shafts in the shocks. Traxxas also offers aluminum shock caps in your choice of Fox or King Shocks branding.
#Desert racer upgrade
Looking to increase suspension performance, lifespan and looks all at the same time, we opted to upgrade the UDR’s suspension with Traxxas’ selection of aluminum suspension parts, which includes links, trailing arms, toe links and long-travel shocks and dampers. With the electronics maxxed out, we dutifully went all-in on Traxxas’ selection of aluminum suspension and steering upgrade components. The servo is fully waterproof, not just “water resistant,” and was easily dropped in for a perfect factory fit.
#Desert racer full
The Traxxas red servo combines 400 ounces of steering power with full metal gears, dual ball bearings, and an aluminum center section for added heat dissipation. It feeds on either two 2S or two 3S batteries, giving it up to 6S power capabilities, which allows it to romp in the sand without any problems.įor a more realistic look, the gray plastic cage was improved with optional black chrome sections.Īs great as it is out of the box, we weren’t deterred from pushing the truck a bit further by installing an upgraded Traxxas High-Torque 400 servo. UDR comes equipped with a Velineon 2200kV brushless motor and 6S capable VXL-6s ESC, so you know it’s fast. It’s quick, powerful, nimble and reliable, everything you need on the desert dunes. Traxxas engineers did a great job with the performance of this truck. We also had it custom painted by none other than Matt Brase of MR Custom Paint, but more on that in a bit. In fact, the UDR that you see gracing these pages essentially utilizes every upgrade part that Traxxas makes for the platform. As great as it looks and performs in its stock form, we believe that there are always a few more upgrades that you can add to an RC vehicle. It’s as durable as a real-life Baja racer, too.


The UDR pretty much looks like a copy of a Baja 1000 desert racing truck direct from the factory and comes ready to perform. Thanks to Traxxas’ wide selection of bolt-on upgrades, it’s never been easier to push both envelopes with the UDR. With a highly realistic look right out of the box, we think that the Traxxas Unlimited Desert Racer (UDR) is a platform that easily invites both modification styles-performance with scale realism-into a single package. RC desert racing trucks are often upgraded for both performance and scale realism. There is another RC vehicle type we love seeing that routinely incorporates both forms of RC customization as outlined above. These forms of RC tend to be less about speed and more about style. Most of the vehicles that are modified for enhanced scale looks that we see fall into the crawler, big rig, military, drift and lowrider RC categories. Custom paint jobs, licensed scale parts, creative crafting and 3D-printed accessories are often used to achieve this goal. Upgraded motors, electronics and suspension parts are popular options that can up a car or truck’s speed and handling characteristics.Īnother form of RC customization places attention on a vehicle’s looks for incredible scale realism. In most cases, these customizations and modifications are intended to increase the performance potential of the vehicle. RC vehicle customization comes in many different forms.
