pattinsonchris

I've been running a 2020 T/Scorcher gearset, running it hard with 10.5 brushless on astro, carpet and multi surface racing, with no issues. As with my original 1988, initial runs were louder, the gears wore in , and are now fine.

Ok, thanks. I'll try the wishbone strengthening mod ...... though I dont plan on running the car much. This race meeting was its first outing in 2 years. Maybe I'll race it at next years vintage national. Those cold temperatures (-20C wow) will be responsible for cracked plastics I feel.

Thanks Saito2, I'll make this modification to mine. Chris.

Hi Stu, yes it was exactly that

This past weekend, I raced my Terra Scorcher for the first time - at the UK vintage national at Worksop, a 50th Anniversary event for Modelsport. On the way to the famous indoor Worksop venue, it was all supposed to be about retro fun running my Tamiya Terra Scorcher for the weekend..... I tried to keep it that way, but that changes when you get on the rostrum, and the fun gets competitive. Loads of people asked why I was using such a car, lining up against Optima Mids, CAT XLSs and Yokomo Super Dog Fighters. It's the car I first raced back in 1990 for a number of years .... Practice - the retro failures in practice (bodyshell flying off, with just the model driver left to pilot the chassis) around really took me back. The chassis felt well balanced and lots of drive, though it was difficult to gauge it with the bodyshell flapping around so much. No mechanical failures, all was good. I replaced using an R pin to retain the shell, with a keyring loop, to prevent any more flappy bodyshells. Once we got into qualifying and racing, I'm pleased to say the Terra Scorcher was pretty good, and robust enough for me to throw it at the track. It was loads of fun Qualifying was 4 rounds. Qualifying Round 1: I was getting round nicely, running in 1st position for a few laps, though the pace of the other cars was too fast to maintain that. Unfortunately, the traffic when lapping wasn't very forgiving, and I ended up breaking a front wishbone when another car clattered into mine. The wishbone was partially broken, and I managed to finish 6th in round. 14 laps in 318 seconds. I kept losing the back end at speed, and had too much rear traction at lower speed. With limited adjustability on the car, I chose to increase rear negative from -1deg to -2deg camber, to keep the tyres in contact at full lean, and reduce their contact patch at lower speeds. Qualifying Round 2: The car felt better at cornering, I felt I could push on. However with great speed, comes great bumpiness! Carrying more speed into the bump and jump sections, it was exposing the limitations of my shock setup. I didn't have the correct springs for the Hi-Caps, and it was over damped to compensate for soft springs. The car flipped a number of times on the bumps, I tried to get the time back and crashed more ...... a poor round from the driver , I finished 9th in round. 14 laps in 317 seconds. That was the end of day 1. My car was attracting a lot of attention, and some of the quicker drivers watching advised getting my shocks sorted out. I went to the pub .... I should probably have worked on the car .... but it was good to chat through what I could do with friends I was racing with. I needed to solve the shock puzzle, and the solution in the pub, was to fit some Schumacher big bores. Day 2.... bit of a rush in the morning to rebuild some Schumacher shocks, guessed at 1.8 pistons 450 oil in the front. 2.1 pistons 450 in the rear. I used Schumacher front springs on the rear (red), and Cut 2.5lb springs on the front. Qualifier 3: I went 5th in the round, after a couple of driver errors. Time was 14 laps in 302 seconds, so a huge 15 second improvement over the previous day, and a lot more confidence in the car. The only problem being ... everyone else was improving. Qualifier 4: No changes to the car, but a more confident drive. One incident of note was early on a car rejoined on the main straight just as a came along flat out .... luckily I fired that car straight off the track and though I spun out, it didn't break my car. I took TQ in the round (1st in the round), beating 2nd position by two tenths of a second over the 5 minutes, with 15 laps in 316 seconds. The Final: My initial aims were to sneak in at the back of the A final, but I lined up 3rd. The front two cars were very quick, but I hoped I had the pace to contend, if I drove hard. No setup changes, the car was as good as it was going to get. I started the final aggressively, I knew if the front cars gapped me, I'd not pull it back. I passed the 2nd place car on the first couple of laps, crashed once in the run, but spent the majority hunting down the lead car. Its a decent watch, to see the Terra Scorcher having it's neck wrung around the track. I finished 1.5 seconds behind the leader, to take 2nd place. I also managed to get the fastest lap in the final. To top off an amazing weekend, there was a concourse competition. There were close to 200 cars entered, most were incredible airbrush paint jobs and colours. One winner was selected from 2wd, and one from 4wd. Almost embarrassingly, my One Can Van Dam Boxart Terra Scorcher took the concourse aswell. Thanks ....... Thanks to the Worksop Team and Modelsport UK. Now .... I've been asked for setup sheets for the car ..... for those that asked, I dont think they exist, so bear with me....

I'm waiting for my new shock towers before fitting my HiCaps to my Terra Scorcher, but thanks for the info above. I'm going with the HiCaps, but using Schumacher springs for tuning. I' don't mind cutting springs if I cant get the ride height low enough, we'll see, and I'll update here.

Some updates of the build. First off, thanks to Brian at SCREWZ4RC for the stainless steel screwset I am using, top quality: I've opted for a one way front diff for two reasons. I run a FAB on my Schumachers,, and like the additional turn in over a full time diff. and it'll take stress away from the front transmission under braking, relieving the diff and the front and rear crown gears. I used the post here as a guide to do it: I reviewed my old Terra Scorcher for wear and tear, for areas to strengthen. All hingepin points were cracked (resolved on this build by using e clip hingepins. All knuckle arms were cracked (upgraded to alloy here), chassis was broken (replaced with carbon fibre chassis here), and also the gear box fixing points were cracked. To resolve this, I decided to reinforce the gearbox fixing points with alloy rings. I ordered some tube from ebay, and drilled / filed it to fit: Next was the steering. I noticed on my old Terra Scorcher, that the steering was a little sloppy with the wire bell crank, so I used a Schumacher Rose joint to build in a turnbuckle across the two steering radius arms. The turnbuckle can be used to play about with the ackerman: I deliberated over running a servo saver, but I don't like the steering it steals away, and this albeit budget metal gear servo should be ok..... so this is where I'm up to. I'm still going slowly, as I'm waiting on shock towers from FibreLyte, I need to give them a call on Monday. One concern I have is the rear driveshafts seem sloppy in the drivecups, but I'll wait to see how they are once the shocks are on. .... and though I need to take some better pictures, I have restored my original Terra Scorcher with parts from the 2020 kit, here's one I have. It's restored to as it was on my first night of racing, same speedo, servo, motor (which was a real challenge to get). I'll cover this in another post sometime. I'm just waiting on the tyres (2" fullspikes Yellow compound) to complete.

In 1990, after many hours watching promotional videos in Beaties, I bought a Tamiya Terra Scorcher. I used it for many hours in the local streets and fields, and raced it from 1992 til 1994 at a local club. Since then it's mainly sat, broken and worn. The A5 broke quite quickly, and a friend of my dad turned a new one out of a block of aluminium, it was an item of wonder at the local club. I recently came across the Tamiya Legends youtube channel, which motivated me to fix up my Terra Scorcher. I was unaware of the 2020 Re release, and so when I learned of this, my plan has grown. I will purchase the re-release kit, repair my broken Terra Scorcher from this kit (chassis, shock towers, shocks, suspension hangers, knuckle arms, C hubs, all cracked , broken and glued on my original. I will paint the car as my original in a petrol blue colour, and add the luminous yellow wheels I used when I raced it, so that it is restored to the way the car was when I first took it racing at the local club. As for the 2020 kit, I will replace the parts I take with upgradedes, alloy parts and the carbon chassis conversion, with a plan to once again take it racing in a vintage heat in the North East regionals. My plan for this car are: Carbon chassis conversion Alloy A5 / B8 / C hubs / knuckle arms. Carbon fibre fibre lyte shock towers One way unit in the front (not only for handling, but to eleviate the stress on the car from braking on high grip surfaces) Screw kit from RCSCREWZ Gearbox reinforcement sleeves to protect mounting positions HiCap dampers Hingepins and upper arm mounts to be replaced with e-clip style Improved turnbuckles. I intend to try and get this setup to get closer to the other vintage cars, RC10s, CATs, Cougars, Top Forces etc..... though maybe not close to the CAT2000s I anticipate being in that category. I'll post updates, and videos of races, once I get there. Any tips for setting up the Terra Scorcher for racing, much appreciated. Picture here of part built car I intend to race in the vintage class:

SOLD

Thanks for noticing, It is priced to sell. and the £110 includes UK postage.

SOLD

Hi Jed, I can't believe I've only just found this on here. It really is a great read, and look forward to any future installments. I've just read the entire thread, and mentioning my Terra Scorcher making a brief appearance on your first outing, I think I need to run it again. I never knew you had such an interest in the cars themselves .... great to read. Reading about your first visit to the race meeting with your friends, takes me back to my first race meeting, with race control at one of of the school hall, and a stage for the drivers at the other. I couldn't believe the speed and skill of the drivers with ... two drivers standing out in particular ... one with a black procat, and the other with a silver Manta Ray converted with a carbon double deck chassis. And the car I turned up with that night, was my Terra Scorcher ... 23 years ago (September 1991) .... I need to get that car out and running around again.. Thanks again for the read, and I look forward to the next installment. Chris.

New, sealed in packet 3454662 Front upper alloy bulkhead for the 511 £30 posted in UK

For Sale High End Brushless Speed Controller, NIMH or Lipo compatible LRP SXX TC. Boxed, with instructions and decals. Fully working, just removed from my 2wd car as I am running my sponsors electrics. Includes switch and capacitor and cooling fan. Cost me £210 when new. 6 months old. Never missed a beat. Sell for £50 posted in UK. Link to the description of the item here: http://www.modelsport.co.uk/index.php?product_id=34119 Manufacturer's description here: SXX series is a complete redesign of the super-successful SPHERE series and boosts brushless performance into a new dimension. LRP sets new standards and is conquering R/C-racing worldwide!SXX series is a complete redesign of the super-successful SPHERE series and boosts brushless performance into a new dimension. LRP once again confirms and proves its leading position in brushless technology. The all new SXX TC spec represent the best of todays brushless speed control! With its new ADPC 2 software, low profile heatsink and plugged fan, optimised Internal Temp Check System 2 and many more great features results in a perfect speed control for 1/10 Onroad (Touringcar modified) and 4wd Offroad modified. Features; C3 Technology: Revolutionary Copper Core Cooling technology for lowest running temperatures New X.Brake: Stronger brake and 10 autobrake setting for perfect adjustments. New ADPC 2 software: 10 power profiles, includes all profiles used by the team. Extra small size: 30.5x34x21mm Optimised Internal Temp Check System 2: Allows you to read out the maximum internal temperature that the speedo has reached. Sensored design AutoCell System: Automatic NiMH-LiPo adaptation Externally removable power capacitor and 3.3mm2 power cable Specification; Rec. Motor Limit - Over 3.0T (7.4V) Rec. Motor Limit - Over 2.5T (6V) Voltage Input - 4.8-7.4V Type - Forward / Brake