Xpress Pixel Z1: the Hong Kong brand enters 1/28 competition

Photo: Xpress (source)

Until now known for its 1/10 touring and drift cars, Xpress is taking on a very different format with the Pixel Z1, its first 1/28 competition chassis. The Hong Kong manufacturer’s announcement comes at a well-chosen moment, a few months before the PN World Cup scheduled for November in the Netherlands, the class’s biggest annual event.

What the Xpress Pixel Z1 offers

The kit is built around a 98 mm wheelbase and a deliberately narrow main chassis. Xpress lengthens the upper suspension arms, a classic recipe for softening camber gain and making the car more forgiving on the slippery surfaces 1/28 racing favours.

Damping and drivetrain

• Adjustable droop centre damper
• Grease-filled side dampers
• Bevel gear differential
• Direct servo horn steering, with no intermediate linkage
• Wheelbase: 98 mm

Choosing grease over oil for the side dampers is no low-cost compromise: at this scale it delivers more progressive damping and, above all, far more consistency over time. Direct servo horn steering removes the parasitic slop of a conventional linkage, at the cost of greater demands on servo quality.

A kit set to evolve

The manufacturer states that the images released show the kit as it will come out of the box, and announces that upgrades will arrive shortly after launch. That is a fairly transparent way of indicating that the Pixel Z1 is conceived as an evolving platform rather than a fixed model, which remains the norm in a class where drivers spend most of their time chasing tenths.