Loving these stories.
I remember me & a few mates used to go into Model Junction in Bury St Eds & prod the suspension of Brats, Strikers, Porsche 959's & the like, & on the way out we would gawp at the Avante that sat on it's own shelf, lol. I guess it was '83-'85 ? I'd have been between 11-13. I remember the Brat was £55odd ! On the occasions when we didn't have the courage to go in (lol) we'd watch the Tamiya vids on the tv through the front window
I even took their black & white photocopied a4 brochure with me on holiday to Menorca & would look through it repeatedly, deciding which kit to buy, as if i could afford any of them, lol.
A mate eventually beat me to it & had a Thundershot bought for him, then i got a Boomerang, other friends got Super Sabre's, Hotshots etc. Iirc he replaced the Thundershot with a Kyosho Maxxum FF !
The Bury Buggy Club used to race at the back of the Shimpling Bush pub, we only made one or two meets spending more time 'bashing' than racing.
In 1990 i got a job/apprenticeship, i became mates at college with a chap called Ian Kemp, he had a mate called William Mitcham
Ian was sponsored by Schumacher & raced a Cat XLS, he even got William to rebuild one or two of my Reedy motors !
I then went 2wd with a Cougar Club 10 but never actually raced it. Annoyingly i sold it for parts only last year & now wish i hadn't as i would've liked to do some vintage racing with it
So, i am another who has returned after a 20 odd year gap, now at the age of 39, i never would have thought i'd be racing clubs, regionals etc now...