Cougar 2000?

[El Mexican]

Hello!

Anyone know if this car is any good?

One LHS from around here has a NIB kit going for cheap cheap cash, so was pondering buying it.

I gather its rather old (1995?), so there isnt a lot of info out there, so Im asking for some help.

Just a couple of basic questions:

a) What kind of chassis layout does it have?

Does it use one of those weird belt transmissions from other Schumacher cars?

c) How durable is it?

Thanks!

[Incredible_Serious]

G'day el Mexican mate..

Never ran the Cougar2000 myself, but I do have parts of one... they don't use the same transmission as the earlier Cougars. The one I have seems to be more like an RC10 transmission... but then again, I don't have very much of it. I think they came out around the middle of 1994, according to the Aussie RC mag I have in front of me. They were raced for a while, and I know there was also a Cougar95 model... then they replaced them with the Fireblade series of buggies...

How cheap is cheap cheap cash??? lol....

Alex

[Lordcroker]

The Cougar 2000 was a great car, albeit with the usual Schumacher quality control issues (ie, plastic parts often need filing to make them fit etc).

I used to Race a Cougar 2 Works (with the weird belt drive) and I remember how radically different the 2000 was when it came out.

It had a twin deck (carbon fibre I think?) chassis rather than a pressed metal plate (this stopped all of the interferance problems)and most importantly gear drive coupled to an improved slipper clutch.

I'd think twice about buying one now though as parts might be hard to come by. A bit like old Tamiyas, but Schumachers due to their complexity and lack of quality tend to need more.

It's no exaggeration to say that I was down at Apex EVERY week after a race meet needing parts with the Cougar 2, although my friends 2000 was more reliable.

If you can pick a new one up very cheap then go for it...they are a good car []

[Incredible_Serious]

A few additions from the October '93 Radio Control Car Action...

- "bi-level fiberglass box-monocoque chassis"

- gear-driven transmission

- smooth shocks, infinitely adjustable

- high price tag, confusing adjustments

- long arms

- friction slipper clutch

- factory built and adjusted diff

- "The Cougar 2000 is the finest 2WD that Schumacher has ever produced, and it's already their best-selling car".

Oh and Lordcroker, my Cougar2 Works is the most reliable car I've ever run... I thrash the bubbles out of it pack after pack, and it rarely breaks... ;-)

Alex

[El Mexican]

Thanks for all the info, guys. Very valuable.

Incredible_Serious: the NIB is going for around 50 British pounds. In this country, thats cheap for ANY rc car. Even more so considering its a vintage Schumi.

One last question: does anyone know the battery arrangement the chassis on the 2000 uses? Side-by-side? Stick pack?

[terry.sc]

They were great cars. They won many national titles here in the UK. For pictures of one try bcollections http://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.a...id=14418&id=470

As shown the battery layout is side by side, although it can be modified to fit a standard stick pack. Quite a few parts are still available from Schumacher themselves. http://www.racing-cars.com

[quincey]

THEY TAKE BOTH BATTERY SETUP'S THEY ARE JUST LIKE THE LATEST COUGAR 2000

[El Mexican]

Me again, guys.

Well, I decided to buy the kit and can say that the building process is very different from what Im accostumed in your typical Tamiya kit.

Schumacher seems to make every other step of the building process very difficult. Or maybe its just beacuse the car is very tunable?

Anyhow, one part seems totally new to me: theres a sort of knob in the steering system connected to one of the steering linkages. Apparently you can use this know to adjust the tension in something there because under it is a spring. (Sorry I dont have a pic at the moment).

What the heck is this for? The instructions dont say so, so maybe someone over here knows?

[fastboy]

that is a servo saver.

basically when the steering servo is connected to this,you will be able to turn the front wheel side to side and see what happens

it is like a shock absorber for servos,if the front wheel gets a hard knock sideways so as to deflect the steering,the shock isnt transmitted back to the servo,but absorbed by the spring.

but running the spring too loose makes the car want to have little steering on grippy tracks because the wheels always want to deflect back to straight.trial and error in setting the spring is the way to set it and of course dependng on what servo you use.

i use ko servos with metal gears and always lock my servo savers up so they arent used.

dave

[Dirt Racer]

I find servo savers incredibly annoying to use, like fastboy i just lock the whole thing up tight. I just have it repaired or replace the plastic gears myself if it needs fixing.. I too use KO servo's..

[terry.sc]

The servo saver in the cougar is much better than the standard Tamiya one mounted on the servo. The Tamiya one usually has a bit of play when new which gets worse over time. The Cougar one should be solid with no play so your steering will always centre properly. If it is too soft you can adjust it by tightening the knob a little at a time until it is right. if the Tamiya one is too soft or loose you have to replace it with a stronger one. Unless you use servos with metal gears I would advise you to not tighten it down solid, any accidents can break plastic servo gears if there isn't anything to absorb the shocks in the steering.

[El Mexican]

Ohh, so its a servo saver! Very elaborate of Schumacher. Very different to what Im accostumed seeing in Tamiya.

Today I finally finished building the whole thing a here are my first impressiones of the Cougar 2000:

Building: As stated before, complex in some steps. Parts have a lot of blisters, so lots of filing is involved. Some parts simply dont fit where they're supposed to. The instructions can be confusing.

Driving: For my setup I used a Trinity PK2K, Futaba MC230R ESC, and some Radioshack 3000mih cells. Pinion and spur gear are the one ones included in the kit (95t spur, 22t pinion. Curiously, the 95t spur is the largest one you can use, according to the instructions).

Wow! Fast! Even the stock Trinity motor I used easily beats any Tamiya I'd had with much hotter setups, heck, it also beats my Losi Jr-X Pro with a modified ruby motor by Trinity. Its also very quiet and the suspension system, even if the shocks are rather difficult to build, give it a very plush feeling. Tyres are also excellent. In the front there are spikes and in the rear 2.2 "Cat" minispikes. Handling is very predictable, as well as jumping. The included yellow springs are a little soft in my opinion, but otherwise give a very good setup to start on any track, even if I was running it on pavement!

Did I mentioned the thing comes fully ballraced in axles and transmission? Did I mentioned it also comes with slipper clutch? Fully built balldiff? Graphite chassis?

Superb car by Schumacher.

Thanks for the info by all you guys. Couldnt be happier with my new car.

[fastboy]

i think if i remember i used to run grey springs all round,with sometimes blue on the front if the grip was high on grass.

dave