Best car of its era

[Gayo]

Here is a little game for you old-timers.

Pretend you have been sent on a time tunnel that takes you back to 1985...
Obviously, you forgot to take with you the winning numbers at the lottery, so what is left to do ? RC, of course!

What would be your car choice over the years, now that you know what works and what’s not ?
Another way to say it would be : what was the best car of its era? 2WD and 4WD.

My choice :

4WD
1985..........Zerda
1986..........Optima
1987..........CAT XLS or maybe YZ870c
1988..........Mid LWSP
1989..........Lazer ZX
1990..........
1991..........Works 91
1992..........
1993..........Works 93
1994..........
1995..........Cat 2000EC
1996..........
1997..........XX-4
...
2004..........BJ4 or X-5


2WD
1985..........RC10
...
1988..........JRX-2
...
1990..........RC10 Team Car
...
1992..........TRX-1 or Cougar 2
1993..........
1994..........Losi XX
...
1999..........Losi XXX
...
2003..........RC10B4


Feel free to comment and add your own list!

[darryl]

favorite 2wd for me was a traxxas rad2 loved it , would like one for nostalgia but very hard to find now
and my fave 4wd was a yokomo works 93 i think or was it 91 ,

[timmy121]

Predator 98 if i got it to finish a race

[B44&501xRacerEX]

Favorite 2WD: goldpan RC10 classic
Favorite 4wd: Kyosho Optima/Mid

[sosidge]

When I first got into RC racing in 1988 (after getting my first car at Christmas 1987) until my semi-retirement in about 1993, the best cars at the club/regional race meetings I was going to in the UK were ALWAYS Schumacher CAT's, XLS to start with, then Pro-Cat, then BossCat. A few very good drivers locally ran the Kyoshos of the time (Optima Mid/Lazer) but the vast majority of people were quicker with a CAT.

2wd didn't really exist in my world at that time, RC10s were pretty rare I think, there were quite a few Schumacher TopCat and Cougars, maybe a handful of Traxxas TRX and Losi cars.

Ever the stubborn individual, I decided to run Tamiya from about 1990 onwards - Avante 2001, Madcap, Top Force Evo. In retrospect, were these the best cars on the market. NO. Would I have run something else? No, I liked the cars, still do!

What I do remember though is that the Schumacher was pretty dreadful quality compared to the Kyosho's. I looked at my brothers old ProCat a few years ago and was shocked at how ropey the mouldings were and how inefficient the drivetrain was - no wonder anyone worth their salt fitted loads of different parts.

The Kyoshos were about the same as they are now in terms of quality - ie good. The Tamiyas were not built for racing though and you used to get these niggling breakages all the time, thankfully they now build their race cars properly!

[GRIFF55]

4wd for me would be the Cat XLS and 2wd would be either the ultima graphite or jrx2

[Northy]

Darryl, I have a Rad2 hanging on the wall in the garage


G

[darryl]

wow bloody great car i had one when i started racing back in 97

[gaza121]

In my opinion, I think the car the changing Buggy racing/design has got to be the original Optima, I had one of the very first in my club and no other car was even close to it at the time, I think the closest to it was the mardave meteor!!!!

A year later the Cat was released and my optima just could not keep up with them, the biggest floor in the original optima was the chain stretching!!

G

[Gayo]

IMO, the cars that raised the bar the most were the original RC10, then the Team Car, the Losi XX and the Losi XXX. In 4wd, it would be the Cat XLS (specially indoors), the YZ870C, and of course the fantastic Cat 2000 with laydown shocks.

Awesome post guys, keep them coming!

[bender]

This is quite a difficult question to answer, as often a successful car in one continent didn't necessarily mean it would work well everywhere else.

The Optima is a prime example of this - in Europe this car ended the reign of the 2wd (before the classes were split), most notably at the 86 Euro's, where Jamie Booth was the lone RC10 (10th) in a field of 8 Optimas and 1 SG Coyote.

However locally for me (Australia), the Optima was completely outclassed by a buggy released in 1985, the Mugen Bulldog. This was simply because a local distributor developed some excellent mods for this car which saw it completely dominate our racing scene for several years, and was even competitive against the Cat.

Outside Australia, the Bulldog was probably an almost unhead of car.

For me, the best cars are the one which were innovative for their time, such as:

83 Hirobo 44b
84 RC10
85 Bulldog
86 Incident
86 Cat
89 JRX2
93 Losi XX
94 Yok YZ10
97 Losi XX4

[BORMAC]

Yep Im going to put this one out there- how about the Tamiya 501X. Sure its new and even though it hasnt revolutionised the racing scene as such it certainly lifted the bar as far as Tamiya is concerned.
But talking vintage-perhaps the biggest suprise would have been when the JRX2 came to town. Not many people knew much of Team Losi when this car was released and it quickly ate up alot of the current competition cars.
I think puting almost any car in the right hands will yeild good results.

[B44&501xRacerEX]

Originally Posted by bender

This is quite a difficult question to answer, as often a successful car in one continent didn't necessarily mean it would work well everywhere else.

The Optima is a prime example of this - in Europe this car ended the reign of the 2wd (before the classes were split), most notably at the 86 Euro's, where Jamie Booth was the lone RC10 (10th) in a field of 8 Optimas and 1 SG Coyote.

However locally for me (Australia), the Optima was completely outclassed by a buggy released in 1985, the Mugen Bulldog. This was simply because a local distributor developed some excellent mods for this car which saw it completely dominate our racing scene for several years, and was even competitive against the Cat.

Outside Australia, the Bulldog was probably an almost unhead of car.

For me, the best cars are the one which were innovative for their time, such as:

83 Hirobo 44b
84 RC10
85 Bulldog
86 Incident
86 Cat
89 JRX2
93 Losi XX
94 Yok YZ10
97 Losi XX4

Oh you mean this:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cJLvSa9CcA
It's the 1987 iFmar Worlds

Now Look at this one:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoWT-lMs0Pk
2003 Ifmar worlds with a B4 and T4.

And this one:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veKEnDts85w
This is the qualifying with a lone 501x, I think I saw one.
And compare the 3.

After seening these japan pro drivers practice I got a 501x.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfsdiRa38ws

[Eccentric]

Originally Posted by Gayo

Here is a little game for you old-timers.

Pretend you have been sent on a time tunnel that takes you back to 1985...
Obviously, you forgot to take with you the winning numbers at the lottery, so what is left to do ? RC, of course!

What would be your car choice over the years, now that you know what works and what’s not ?
Another way to say it would be : what was the best car of its era? 2WD and 4WD.

My choice :

4WD
1985..........Yokomo Bulldog
1986..........RPS Yokomo SE
1987..........Cat XLS
1988..........Mid LWSP
1989..........Lazer ZX
1990..........
1991..........Works 91
1992..........
1993..........Works 93
1994..........Predator
1995..........Cat 2000EC
1996..........
1997..........XX-4
...
2004..........BJ4 or X-5


2WD
1985..........RC10
...
1988..........JRX-2
...
1990..........RC10 Team Car
...
1992..........TRX-1 or Cougar 2
1993..........
1994..........Losi XX
...
1999..........Losi XXX
...
2003..........RC10B4


Feel free to comment and add your own list!

I agree with your list...except for the changes above in red!

[traffman]

I remember racing a swb turbo mid optima , i loved that car it just looked right and went round corners nicely and was pretty responsive.
I allways wanted to buy loads of carbon fibre for it , however i couldnt afford it back then.
My Tomy intruder was an interesting car , it was actually pretty competitive , in the hands of Jimmy Hamilton it did really well up here in Scotland.
The lazer mk1 was a nice car , felt heavy and the bodyshell wasnt the most attractive. I got a very early one from Elite models , the manual was japanese but the clarity of the pictures were well printed and i had no trouble working out what went where.

[chalky]

anyone remember the kyosho scorpion it must of being around 1980 the first 2wd competition electric race car

and also the bolink digger all grp construction

[CHEVY]

i remember the scorpion tomahawk gallop progress

had gallop what a pile of c--p no good in straight line
but would bite its own gear box on corners ie fourwheel steering