Quote:
Originally Posted by Optima4Ever
Thanks for the welcome. I know the Optima Mid fairly well by now, but never raced any of these, or any other vehicle, for that matter. I'm purely a recreational driver, parking lot, forest trail, etc. For mild bashing I have some modern cars, most notably the LC Racing EMB 1/14 scale buggy, which is about as capable as a 1/10, but due to the lower weight, has a great power to weight ratio, making it a very zippy car. I do also own a Lazer ZX-5 and while I like it's handling, the open spur gear, in which little stones constantly tend to wiggle themselves between the teeth, made me retire it to onroad duties.
The most rewarding thing about building/restoring a vintage car for me is tuning it as close to perfection as possible, so it runs smooth and quiet, will handle as I like to see it, and be totally reliable.
Considering that during racing a car is tested to it's limits, I'm pretty sure I can learn a trick or two here and there, like the center gear being more prone to wear than all other gears in the transmission. And maybe some of the restorations I've done so far will be to your liking.
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Welcome here, as a fellow Optima mid fan, I know how you feel about the car. I have raced them from 1992 to 1995 in various off road and on road races. They were really good but as usual my limited funds limited my radio and electronics upgrades and had to make do with cheap equipment. Back when everyone else were racing Lazer ZX-Rs and Top Forces, I still stuck with my Optima Mid LWB. In 1992 I raced in on a grass track in the town of Melaka, against ZXR and top forces, got a respectable placing. Then in 93 raced it in titiwangsa track in mud and grass and bent a front duratrax shock that ended my run. In 93 had it in an onroad race on the rooftop of a supermatrket. That was an interesting one as we were racing buggies with foam tyres against the new Tamiya Ta01 touring cars. Oddly enough, 2 seasoned racers brought out their SWB optima Mids with Arrows foam tyres and took the top 2 spots on the podium. It was amazing. But we all new why they chose the SWB, because the track was tight with a lot of turns. That was a unique race and it was never repeated. In 94, I raced my Lazer ZX in another buggy on road race but DNF when my shock came out. The last race I used the SWB Mid in was in another buggy on road race in Melaka in 1995, but this time radio glitching done my race in.
Overall, I had a great time with my optima mid racing and bashing it around near the hills in my neighborhood.