With the Windmill Phazer, HO World ushered in a style of body design that was unique. Unique, in that it was the first to start with an all new body, designed from the ground up, and integrating features that others were merely cobbling onto sedans.

The first issue in design was to make it so that all you had to do is bolt it on. Unless you really need to find work for your self, this body follows the tradition of all HO World bodies. Just add screws. We designed it to sit a mere .025" off the track, right out of the box. You could get it lower, if you choose, but with the constraints of resin casting, this is about as good as one can get. For design purposes, we used Hiester extra-low on .225 Hobby Pro rears, and Wizzard fronts, as shown.

The second thing we wanted to do was make the car adjustable. The rocker panels between the wheel wells serve that purpose. For appearance sake, we recommend circles, as shown in the picture at right. You can also remove material from the top or bottom of the rocker panel, depending on the course (i.e. oval, figure 8, road), or track type (i.e. plastic or routed). The objective, of course, is to remove, or adjust the position, of the weight of the car. It is also possible to remove weight from the top or underside of the weight pan. We recommend the top, because it will leave the weight lower, but if you find a way to lower the whole body, then , of course, the weight will be removed from the bottom.

There was one other feature we wanted to include in the package. As with all HO World models, there is no need to cut gear plate rails to make this fit.

Performance with the car, based on its predecessor, the Windmill Phazer, is superior. This car holds a line much better, and is exceptionally suited for banked corners, and Figure 8 racing. If you're on a plastic track with a lot of winding back and forth turns, and S's, you'll be glad your wheels are covered, and the nose swoops low.

This car also kept up with the Windmill 360, and we are certain it will out perform it with a little customizing. One mod to consider is cutting out the rear window. This removes weight from the top, and lets one see more clearly how low the body is getting to the chassis.

Review - John Jernstrom gives his opinion.

Phaze me up Scotty.... there's no intelligent life down here.... (I know it s supposed to be beam me up.) Anyway, the Phaze II is alot like it's earlier brother, sitting side by side you can see the family resemblence. But the handling differs a little, as far as I was concerned anyway. Granted I've removed the handling pan all but completely from the Phaze I so it's going to handle a little differently, but this is about the Phaze II.

Between the two bodies, I was able to knock a few tenths of a second off the lap times with Phaze II, and I believe it's because of the lowered rocker panel weight when I did as you suggested. I prefer the design of the II as well, the pointed nose is interesting, sort of lends itself to some of the new cars on the market these days. It handled best when I limited body rock by tightening the screws to the chassis. This could be my driving that it worked better or not. Spin outs, when they occured were easily recovered wuicker than a marshal can do it. Running these bodies with low profile setups works well. The aero effects must be kicking in at that point.

While there isn't necessarily a class for these bodies, they are a great set of training wheels for a new person to get a grip on handling, and there someday should be a class for them. Perhaps it could be called "Aero Class" or maybe something more along the lines of the LeMans Prototypes. I'd be curious how these would fare in the hands of the best drivers out there. Would it be well recieved? Who knows, I personally find them interesting and the prospect of having a tuned body (as opposed to tuned cars) is part of that interest. Great concept Bob, nice work.

-JJ