Quote:
Originally Posted by Si Coe
I'm pretty sure I've got an article with Gene Hustings saying IIRC 1 in 10 RC10's ever actually make it to the race track dated around 1988 ie pre-Traxxas. So not 5%, 10% but you get the idea.
Look at a US RC mag from that era and every other advert was for RC10 conversions - make it a monster truck, sprint car, Nascar, dragster, give it trailing arm suspension, flat carbon chassis, double deck chassis, 4wd etc.
In the US back then the RC10 was literally everywhere!
We tend to forget that because over here an RC10 cost the same as a Procat and twice the price of a Topcat, so most race meetings had 90% Schumacher grids and most bashers used much cheaper Tamiyas and Kyoshos.
Whilst I don't think Associated shoudl re-re the RC10 themselves for the reasons listed I think it would make some sense to license somebody else to do so - rather like those companies that make licensed repros of real cars.
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You could be right, but at the same time during that era (late '80s) track growth in the U.S. was mind-boggling - seems there was a new track opening every six months. At one point I had a choice of about 8 different tracks within 30 minutes driving time to choose from.
Yes, there were a lot of "conversion kits" back in those days, and also a huge aftermarket parts market - in part to address all the issues those early cars had (being as none of them were any good straight out of the box), but at the same time AE only had the RC10 buggy and the RC12 and with 1:1 racing being so diverse they were only replicating the other popular classes (straight 'buggy' racing has never been as overwhelmingly popular in the U.S. as it is in the U.K.). Sprint cars, nascar, truck racing, etc., were all just as popular and in some regions of the U.S. even more popular.
People tend to forget that what we today call the ST, or Stadium Truck, class developed out of the so-called monster trucks Tamiya was making back then (and still do today), and conversion kits were available to turn RC10s into monster trucks using tamiya rims and tires and a body from bolink or parma. We originally called it the Heavy Metal class, and even the first ST's by Losi (JRXT) followed by AE (RC10T) were just called Trucks.
I remember thinking Schumacher was only a tire manufacturer, being as they changed the tire market pretty much overnight - with the release of their original Mini-Pins - and never even knew they made a car until I came over to the UK for a big race. For reasons I've never understood they've never really tried to build their U.S. marketshare, as I can count on one hand how many Schuies I see at the track over the course of any given year (every other brand is better selling and more widely available) and as a result they've always been more pricey and never gained a following.
Anyways, again, I just don't think it'd be of any real benefit for AE to spend the time and effort and investment on a re-pop - but since ThunderTiger owns them, perhaps they'll do something. I just don't see it happening under the AE banner.