Trak Racer RS8 Review – Part 2 – The Assembly

Recently I had to replace my humble cockpit from yesteryear with a modern unit that could withstand the forces applied by my Direct Drive wheel and loadcell pedals. After I carefully examined all the available options and checking out the abundance of cheap and expensive rigs on the market, I opted to go for the Trak Racer RS8 Mach5 in Shelby® GT shiny Blue Sim Racing chassis. It seemed like the best option, as the Steel tubing chassis was built strong enough to accommodate most modern sim racing peripherals for an affordable price.

Three weeks ago, I posted the first of my three part review covering the unboxing of the Trak Racer RS8 Sim Racing chassis. Now its time to publish the second part, in which I cover the assembly of the RS8.

To be honest, while I thought it would be a major task, there is not much to it. The Trak Racer RS8 is pretty much pre-assembled when you get it delivered. You will only need to fit 9 parts, so it should take you no more than 30 minutes to get the rig ready.

To show you how easy it was to assemble the Trak Racer RS8, I included a quick & dirty video time-fading the build. I took the opportunity to shamelessly plug one of my old music tracks produced back in 2004. Phase2 – Back Again.

The front and back sections

First up is the front section of the rig which already includes the assembled pedal plate. It connects to the rear section which features the seat slider and seat mounting plates. Once again, these are already assembled for you by the Trak Racer staff. The only thing we had to do was to connect both parts by means of using 4 quality M6 screws.

This raised my first concerns. Previously, I’ve had bad experiences with tube based parts of racing rigs, as they never seem to line up correctly, making the task of bolting them up a real nightmare. Therefore, it was a very pleasant surprise that the front and rear parts of the Trak Racer RS8 fitted perfectly, and could be assembled without using excessive force. The holes for the screws lined up perfectly.

  

Fitting the Steering Wheel Arm and Wheel mount

Next up was the steering wheel arm and wheel mount. The 50.8mm diameter steering wheel arm slides in the front section of the rig and is bolted securely to the lower frame by means of two M6 bolts. Once fitted, we continued with the upper adjustable wheel mount plate which is connected to the wheel arm by two strong socket pins. This design will enable you with the opportunity to neatly route your cables through the tubing of the arm and front section, resulting in a very tidy racing rig setup.

The top wheel plate is fully adjustable, letting you set up the height, angle, and reach of the wheel. The wheel plate comes pre-drilled to accommodate most of the available hardware.  More on that later.

The Shifter/Handbrake Arm

The Trak Racer RS8 also comes with a mount for your shifter and/or handbrake. Made out of the same 50.8mm tubing, the arm is secured to the bottom of the rear frame by means of 4 M6 bolts fitted as a pair on each side of the frame tubing. The bolts screw into threaded holes on both sides of the tubing. It is worth a mention that this is a way better solution than the often used system where the bolts go straight through the tubing. As a result, the arm is connected rock solid to the frame and does not flex what so ever.

The actual shifter mounting plate comes as a separate part allowing you to mount the plate in two directions having some control over the distance between the mount and seat. Trak Racer also supplies an extra extender tube for those who want to mount their shifter somewhat higher

The shifter plate comes pre-drilled to accommodate most of the available hardware.

Mounting The Bucket Seat

Trak Racer provides the RS8 Mach 5 with a nice looking high-grade fiberglass racing seat lined high-density foam to make for a comfortable seat. The racing seat is mounted on the chassis by means of 4 big knobbed screws that fit straight into the seat mounting panels. When mounting the racing seat, you can adjust the seating position to your own liking by choosing one of the 5 front, and 3 rear mounting holes, varying the angle of the seat.

On a side note, the seat mounting panels do accommodate third-party racing seats, should you want to customise your rig at a certain point in time.

  

The removable Monitor/TV stand

The Trak Racer RS8 comes with a built-in removable monitor/TV stand. The lower part is mounted on the front section of the racing rig and bolted securely to the main center tube by means of a solid clamp. On its turn, it holds the main screen stand locked in place Once fitted, the stand is absolutely solidly locked to the frame and does not flex by any means. As a bonus, Trak Racer RS8 also integrated console stand in the design.

The monitor/TV stand is pre-drilled to accept the most common VESA sizes for supporting up to 50″ monitors. As I have stated, the monitor stand is removable, so it won’t interfere when people use their own stand-alone single or triple screen solutions. For those who do not use the screens stand, Trak Racer provides an extra clamp which is bolted to the steering wheel arm to add extra rigidity.

Conclusion

There not much to say here. The assembly of the Trak Racer RS8 was pretty much a breeze. Though the RS8 comes with assembly instructions, the actual built was very straightforward with hardly a need for a manual. All parts lined up perfectly and were easy to fit. While at this stage we have not yet tested the rig in action, it has become apparent that the design of the RS8 results in a very solid racing rig that can handle the sim racing abuse for many years to come.

See you all next time when I publish part-3 of the Trak Racer RS8 review covering the pros and cons of the unit and share with you my final thoughts.

Track Racer RS8 Sim Racing Chassis

The Trak Racer RS8 is currently on sale for 643.47€ / £526.35 / $699, instead of its regular 729.38€ / £639.30 / $849 at the official Trak Racer website.

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  Official Webpage – www.trakracer.com

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