I need a quick history update

[maineyak]

When I started racing in 1981 there was 1/8th ic circuit cars and 1/12th scale polished floor then carpet pan cars. Soon after 1/10th buggies took off and to a certain extent 1/8th buggies. When I left racing in 1990 I think the only new class was Pro 10 racing, basically 1/10th scale 1/12th cars but usually raced on outdoor tarmac tracks.

So as a veteran coming back in 2012 I totally understand the progress of the 1/10th buggy from RC10>JRX2>Cougar>Cats>B2-B4>XX/XXX/XX4 but what I can’t understand is all these weird things I come across on ebay like a cougar sold with a Porsche 911 bodyshell on it. Did a class form for 1/10th buggies with saloon shells on? Why did this happen? Did people need something more recognisable? Did a specific rallycross mixed surface racing class start?

I hear that buggies kind of died out and touring cars took over. Firstly what was the reason for this? Obviously the beauty of buggies is that you can kind of build a track anywhere but circuit cars need a specific facility – so I find it hard to understand. So were touring cars evolved from something like the XX4 to the street weapon and then onto touring cars or was it the Pro10 class that evolved into touring cars?

Anything that can fill in the gaps of my knowledge would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Peakey]

BITD before the touring car was really available we use to race buggies with cat shells on. I think this was really where touring cars originated from as you started to see more and more on on road track appear.
It was more of a virsitile thing you could race off road one day and on the other with only a couple of modifications.
Schumacher jumped on the bandwagon quite heavily producing the on road bosscat and cougar both in on road form.

[Mike Haswell]

At the time you gave up there were already a number of manufacturers using their existing 10th scale off-road chassis as a basis for more scale cars and added to that you had the likes of Parma and Frewer producing some road and rally saloon shells. There was also a number of clubs doing Rally-Cross (Off-roaders with 'rally' bodyshells) - for some it was a mixed surface others tarmac. When RRC started their On-Road series it was Buggies, Buggies with Saloon shells and Pro-10. These all evolved and at about this time Schumacher released a range of cars covering the the road and rally, some nitro) with saloon shells like the Porsche, Sierra Sapphire...
By 1992/93 there a BRCA Winter Touring Car Series.
At West London we even had a visit from the drivers from the British Touring Car Championships.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ6YrryUdSQ