As a schoolboy my first RC car was a Tamiya Renault F2 car back in 1979 but its low ground clearance and having little flat area to run in meant it was superceded by a Holiday Buggy the following year. A move to Gloucester in 1981 meant my first competitive races at the Gloucester YMCA racing 1/12th cars indoor on carpet on Friday nights. I started racing with a Gemini SLX then Associated RC12E but in 1982 purchased a Schumacher C car, which was the car of choice in the UK at the time, and began club racing at Gloucester, Stafford and Watford while also following the BRCA national series around the country.
Off road racing was not big at the time but buggies were receiving more and more press through Model Cars and RRC and the first ever off-road race I witnessed was at a model show in 1983, the location of which I can’t remember, but I believe it was towards London. There were a lot of recognisable names from the 1/12th circus taking part including Pete Winton who was commentating.
Cars were a mixture of Kyosho Scorpions, Tamiya Frogs and slightly less competitive, and now outdated, Rough Riders and Super Champs. We didn’t stay for the finals but I remember the Bolink Digger driven by no other than Robin Schumacher was probably the fastest car on the circuit. Tracks at the time were usually fairly high grip flat grass tracks which suited the Digger. It was almost like racing on carpet again - apart from the rain. The Digger was basically a 1/10th scale C car. See here for details
http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/inde...howtopic=23876
Having a stock of GRP and being pretty handy with a file I constructed my own Digger creating my own chassis and wishbones and purchasing the plastic parts from Schumacher. I ran this car and then bought a 2nd hand Scorpion for mucking about but didn’t really get involved in racing then as I was living and breathing 1/12th scale, sometimes racings 5 nights a week! At the time (1983) I don’t believe there was an official BRCA off road race series anyway. (first in 84?)
During ’84 and ’85 the off road craze was grew rapidly and a new outdoor purpose built buggy track was built near Gloucester. That and the fact that a lot of people were putting their carpet cars away and joining the buggy ranks persuaded me to join in. At the time 2WD and 4WD classes were still being run together and it was the technological showcase that was the Kyosho Progress that was my weapon of choice. Unfortunately it was not progress at all
The Gloucester track was a ‘proper’ off road track with bumps and jumps and multiple surfaces including concrete and dirt and the ¾ inch suspension travel on Progress could just not cope. Should have bought a Hot Shot, even with its weight, inefficient drive train and sloppy suspension it looked unbeatable at the time. At the tracks opening event Rory Cull and his Hot Shot ran away with the win. Little was I to know at the time that Rory was to go on to be a good friend and personal nemesis in the years to follow.
Even with this set back I was bitten by the off road bug. Almost at the point of joining the Hotshot clan until news broke of the first Associated buggy from the U.S. – the RC10. It was only 2WD but national results declared it a winner and my friend and I ordered ours from Ted Longshaw Racing, much to the amusement of the Hot Shot Clan. Due to low stocks they didn’t arrive until early 1985 but when building them up you realised these were the first serious off-road racing machines. To be continued…
Great times. Would love to hear anyone else's memories from the very early days.