Racing SRBs back in the day

[Rockcrusher 6]

I'm hoping to draw some of the older members out of the woodwork with this post. What was it like to race the SRBs back when off-road was in its infancy? The "metal" era was just ending when I got into the RC scene so it was mostly Frogs, then RC10s/Ultimas for me. I've seen some of the period hop-ups. What worked? How were the cars prepped? How did they drive? When the Scorpion came out, what did the Tamiya faithful do to keep up? Could they keep up? I know the RC10 more or less ended the reign of both cars but to a degree, so did the lighter ORV chassis from Tamiya. Were there any other off-roaders around like the old Bolink Digger?

[Will16 45]

Have a look here mate! http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=30033

Sadly, I'm old enough the even remember RC racing, but I've researched lot on period SRBs!

From the late 70's till the early 80's the SRB reigned supreme! In the mid 80s only a few hardcore enthusiasts were still using the SRB chassis. Well, it wasn’t really an SRB chassis. The only thing left that would be SRB was the front uprights, shock tower pipes and sometimes the gear case! SRB's were alright at off road racing, the mad rear camber sometimes helped, just like on the 1:1 VW Beetle, when it did the Baja!

There were loads and loads of period hop ups. Many made there own! For the SRB, weight was the biggest enemy, so people started producing nylon parts. There was nylon suspension arms, trailing arms, shock tower, complete roll cages. There was also lighter, stiffer, bigger fibreglass chassis, monoshocks and full, with nerf bars, aluminium rollcages. Search for CRP Suberbuggy . All of these hop ups worked as it cars were better to drive. The wider front end conversions though, combined with the super duper heavy roll cages made the cars have a turning circle the same as a dragster! There was also 4WD conversions. These were terrible and very fragile and extremely expensive.

No car was the same. Each car was prepped on what the individual could afford. For example, you could have a 14 year old with a brand new sand scorcher he just got for his birthday in one class and some guy with loads of money who has a complete superbuggy with 4x4 conversions. The Superchamp was Tamiyas first proper attempt at making a racer. It was OK, but the monoshock wasn’t as good as people though and couldn’t keep up with the stress, so people converted to coil overs.

I'm not sure what threat the Scorpion posed on the SRB. As you say though, once the AE RC10 came out, it was over for the rest of the competition. I hope the Bolink Digger was racing! Isn’t it a dragster?!

Will

[OldSchoolRunner 116]

I was around when the SRBs were all over the track. You are right as soon as the (lets say) plastics came out it was a game changer.

OSR

[hedge 314]

Personally I think these are the most under rated vintage rc cars. I think there are two main reasons why, the first being they where mostly "home" made. Some used other model parts such a the Kyosho vanning shocks, some used after market parts from CRP and RCH - amongst others. However most would also have some home made - knocked up in the garage - components to complete the package. I believe the second reason they are not very popular is hardly anyone raced back in the early 80s, so while plenty bashed around with the original SRBs (and today still have fond memories) very few went racing and of those that did few took the measures or did the mods to make a racing SRB.

There was one manufacturer I know about that put together a package and branded it. This was an Australian company called Pitstop and they put together the Taipan. The package was very expensive I belive it would be in the region of £1000 in today's money? The taipan bought together the bits that where available such as:

Differential

Long wheel base chassis (butterfly)

Extended rollcage

Upgraded shocks ( I believe these where kyosho 1/8th vanning )

Wide front end

Wide rear end

Cut down gearbox

Optional gear ratios

Toughened parts (UJs, Axels)

Nylon front and rear arms and front uprights

Lexan body shell

There where a few iterations of the Taipan but being part of a small hobby, with even fewer racers, from a far away place, there are very few left making them extremely rare today. That said all the parts - except the branded Taipan gear box - where all available as hop-ups so most racers would just add new parts as their budgets allowed.

I've seen a few racing SRBs (not Taipans) listed on eBay over the years but never in time to bid on them. I've seen them go for as little as £150 right upto just under £1000 however most of the time when they turn up its as a part of an old collection and neither the seller or buyer knows what there got!

As for actually racing a hopped up SRB I never did, my earliest memories are from 1983 in an old wooden floored church hall where everyone put silicon on their tyres to get some grip. Back then I know there where SRBs and I remember the Superchamp coming in but I don't remember nor did I own a hopped up SRB. By the time I graduated to actual racing it was with a hopped up HotShot then a Schumacher Cat and finally a PB mini mustang. Of course coming from that era I also saw the rise of the magnificent RC10 seeing that race against Frogs and SRBs was like watching an F1 car race against Formula Ford :-).

However I do own most of a Racing SRB today - still collecting for it as time and money allow -

http://i330.photobucket.com/albums/l426/hedge1970/photo-1.jpg

I hope others jump in but it's a dwindling group who are interested in these nowadays.

[OldSchoolRunner 116]

Personally I think these are the most under rated vintage rc cars. I think there are two main reasons why, the first being they where mostly "home" made. Some used other model parts such a the Kyosho vanning shocks, some used after market parts from CRP and RCH - amongst others. However most would also have some home made - knocked up in the garage - components to complete the package. I believe the second reason they are not very popular is hardly anyone raced back in the early 80s, so while plenty bashed around with the original SRBs (and today still have fond memories) very few went racing and of those that did few took the measures or did the mods to make a racing SRB.

There was one manufacturer I know about that put together a package and branded it. This was an Australian company called Pitstop and they put together the Taipan. The package was very expensive I belive it would be in the region of £1000 in today's money? The taipan bought together the bits that where available such as:

Differential

Long wheel base chassis (butterfly)

Extended rollcage

Upgraded shocks ( I believe these where kyosho 1/8th vanning )

Wide front end

Wide rear end

Cut down gearbox

Optional gear ratios

Toughened parts (UJs, Axels)

Nylon front and rear arms and front uprights

Lexan body shell

There where a few iterations of the Taipan but being part of a small hobby, with even fewer racers, from a far away place, there are very few left making them extremely rare today. That said all the parts - except the branded Taipan gear box - where all available as hop-ups so most racers would just add new parts as their budgets allowed.

I've seen a few racing SRBs (not Taipans) listed on eBay over the years but never in time to bid on them. I've seen them go for as little as £150 right upto just under £1000 however most of the time when they turn up its as a part of an old collection and neither the seller or buyer knows what there got!

As for actually racing a hopped up SRB I never did, my earliest memories are from 1983 in an old wooden floored church hall where everyone put silicon on their tyres to get some grip. Back then I know there where SRBs and I remember the Superchamp coming in but I don't remember nor did I own a hopped up SRB. By the time I graduated to actual racing it was with a hopped up HotShot then a Schumacher Cat and finally a PB mini mustang. Of course coming from that era I also saw the rise of the magnificent RC10 seeing that race against Frogs and SRBs was like watching an F1 car race against Formula Ford :-).

However I do own most of a Racing SRB today - still collecting for it as time and money allow -

http://i330.photobuc...970/photo-1.jpg

I hope others jump in but it's a dwindling group who are interested in these nowadays.

Nice photos! Are you planning to put it back together at some point??

OSR

[MAD RACER 566]

This Red Zones SRB in action at Boondal.

Love it.

[OldSchoolRunner 116]

Nice video! Thanks for sharing! I love action videos of the old stuff! Do you know if this buggy is running a totally stock suspension set-up?

OSR

[redzone 212]

Not quite but not far off, it is an original sand scorcher mk2, it is running a kamtec lexan radio box with a miniature hitec servo mounted for direct steering, bigger tie rods & ends, gpm alloy shocks for the rear of a mini-t mounted to the front with longer eyelets, and 55mm touring car shocks in the rear. I'm using the purple springs that came with the gpm shocks up front, rear are the softest touring car springs I could find. As you can see our track is bumpy so it is setup well for it. It is still running the locked diff and I'm reluctant to change as I do take it on the beach regularly...

[OldSchoolRunner 116]

Not quite but not far off, it is an original sand scorcher mk2, it is running a kamtec lexan radio box with a miniature hitec servo mounted for direct steering, bigger tie rods & ends, gpm alloy shocks for the rear of a mini-t mounted to the front with longer eyelets, and 55mm touring car shocks in the rear. I'm using the purple springs that came with the gpm shocks up front, rear are the softest touring car springs I could find. As you can see our track is bumpy so it is setup well for it. It is still running the locked diff and I'm reluctant to change as I do take it on the beach regularly...

Thanks for sharing the hop-ups! It really looks like what you are using is working for you!

OSR

[redzone 212]

Yeah it's almost spot on for boondall i think, other than the locked diff causing it to spin easily. But i find it fairly controllable. My mate Gary was driving it in the video and he wasnt that used to it I have somehow perfected opposite lock slides in it (well most of the time)...

It is spot on for the beach, soooooooo much fun!

[Flat_Out 57]

EDIT.... sorry, apparently I did something stupid with my photo hosting account and these pics got messed up...

I'll have my own personal SRB thread up in a couple months when my garage is finished and I'm back on these projects.

Sorry folks...

[OldSchoolRunner 116]

Now those are some nice vintage hop-up! When you are finished you need to get some action shots of your runner. It would be great to see it.

OSR

[Grastens 2795]

I too would love to see this upcoming thread! How much lighter is the chassis with all those nylon pieces?

[swedishwiking 4]

Hi guys. I´m trying to make a copy of the "super buggy" using homemade parts. I have a rough copy of the long and wide butterfly-chassis which I made in 2mm fibreglass. Once I mounted the gearbox and front end I realized that it has way too much flex. My question is how thick the original chassis was?

[Shodog 1835]

The old CRP chassis are 3mm thick. You could strengthen it by running 90 degree aluminum angle stock down the chassis

[swedishwiking 4]

Ok! I´m not entirely sure what You mean with that 90 degree aluminium thingy though.. Are we talking about a longer version of the original stiffener? Would the 3mm chassis need such strengthening? You wouldn´t have a blueprint of the butterfly-chassis by any chance...?

[Flat_Out 57]

Ok! I´m not entirely sure what You mean with that 90 degree aluminium thingy though.. Are we talking about a longer version of the original stiffener? Would the 3mm chassis need such strengthening? You wouldn´t have a blueprint of the butterfly-chassis by any chance...?

He's talking about something similar to how the old Hot Trick chassis were strengthened. here's an example (though it's a hot trick replica done in black)-

..or another example on this pile of **** that I'm building from old beat up left over SRB parts.

These are home made and pretty thin, but also sort of function as a "tub" to help keep dirt out.

There's a member on RC10talk who sells pin-router made copies of the butterfly chassis if you have BST access there. Nice parts and FAR more reasonable than one of the originals people try to sell on ebay for $200+

I guess I promised you guys a thread for my SRB projects too... I should get that started.

[swedishwiking 4]

Many thanks guys! Back to the drawingboard then. Love the pink shocks btw...