Who Actually Raced Tamiyas Back In The Day?

[Saito]

I'm curious what racers actually bought and raced Tamiyas after the SRB era. Its a given that many racers started with SRBs as they were the first of their type. In the states, after the RC10 and Optima came out, Tamiyas were strictly for backyard basher/entry level racers. Tamiya designed race type buggies like the Avante and later Astute/Egress. Some (like Super Shots and Bigwigs of yore) got these cars becuase they were "rich kids". I'm interesting in the actual competitive racer that sought out and bought a Tamiya for that purpose. I'm interested to know who bought an Avante and intended to give it a go. Avantes were far too expensive for the backyard person and by the time of its intro, Tamiya had no rep for building competitive cars. What person would lay down that kind of money on a relative unknown when proven Optima Mids were available? I wonder if there were other Tamiya diehards back then like myself. Today, hardcore Tamiya enthusist are about, but back then Tamiya was mostly the "first car" on the way to better race buggies. As a small lad, I recall we had one guy who raced a Fox in a sea of RC10s. He did well and I always rooted for him. When I got older, I raced a Vanquish despite the hoards of Kyoshos and occasional Yokomos. Other than that, I never met another like me.

[Singapore_959]

From '90-'93 I raced a King Cab (briefly!) and then specifically bought the Super Astute for racing in the Singapore outdoor series (run by the then Tamiya importer). I also ran a road wizard.

Among a 'sea', as you put it of, ultimas, optimas, RC10s and Nikkos (yes they had some sort of comp race cars, that did in fact run hard).

I was quite successful with the SA and it's the memories of those great competions that made me get back into r/c 11 years later

I wish I still had MY old cars!

-good thread topic

[andi4x4]

First car I raced was - A Grasshopper ! Yep - even had a couple of results with it - long way from standard though , and in those days, our club pretty much allowed anything to run. But, my best car (tamiya that is ) was an old Hotshot the someone had given me. It arrived as a box of bits having been run over by a real car whilst its owner had been playing with it in the street ! Chassis was dead as was one of the gearbox casings, but a few quid at the LHS to replace a couple of essential parts and a new home made twin deck type aluminium chassis ( this was before the twin deck chassis had really caught on, and Schumacher were about the only one with the Cat XLS ) and I had myself a pretty mean racing machine ! went like stink, handled like a dream ( for a Tamiya ! ) and was one of the most competetive and reliable cars at the club. I had regular Top 3 placings with it and even won a couple of races - it got sold when I eventually raised the cash for a Schumacher ProCat !

[Shodog]

I started racing with my frog but then quickly moved to a Fast Attack vehicle that was converted to a wild one spec. Then briefly a Fox and then once I saw and RC10, I knew I had to have one so luckily for x-mas my parents bought one for me.

[pikachoo75]

my first car was a grasshopper 2 .i never got racing with it tho.but my 2nd car the terra scorcher was raced indoor and out.i realy liked running it but i guess i was a complete novice.i thought that it had all the right ingredients to be competitive in more competant hands.i certainly got some results against some kyosho's that had money thrown at them but driven at my skill level!

i remember thinking that compared to some of the yokomo's and kyosho's that the terra scorcher was limited in its adjustability.but i now realise that it was perfectly designed in some ways.for example the blue wishbones had a molded down stop.i chopped these off thinking i could get extra suspenion settings from it.i reckoned the downstop was purely for the mono shock versions....turns out that the down stops were perfectly placed to stop the drive shafts chattering on full droop!

i guess the point is that at one stage i followed the heard and got "competition" machines,now i realise that Tamiya have engineered there models to be as durable and user friendly as possible.that may not translate to out and out performance,but it really does add up to a model that is fun to compete with and own.

some of the comments relate to Tamiya as a starter model..perfectly fair in some ways,but my experience has shown me that a lot of Tamiya's models are not limited but rather preset for adequate club level performance.

i wish i had stuck to my guns early on and stuck with Tamiya.thinking back my head said "competitive equals belt,frp,alloy shocks etc" but my heart said "fun".

im glad my heart has won in the end!!

[bakaguyjean]

I started with a Frog then a Fox, The Fox was a very ggod car and didnt have a problem getting in the "B" main against RC10s. I also had a friend that ran a Fox and got it into the A main with out problems,good driver

The main reasons i could get in the "B" was the RC10 transmission is easy to screw up,and it seamed alot of the drivers just couldnt figure out how to adjust the diff. The only mods to my Fox at that time was the Trinty Monster horsepower Stock Motor,and Schumacher Cat tires on the rear with the spike nipped off a little,and bearings. Even used the Speed stock speed control.

The On/Off switch had a habit of getting turned off when the rear of the body would get hit,doing the Tamiya Salute.

[GTodd]

I have always been a tamiya nut. I would have raced the avante if I had the money but I didnt. I did however race their other first gen of "real" competitive cars: The Monster racer, Astute and Top Force. The Top Force was the last one I raced as I became more involved with sports and girls in high school. All said mentioned cars were competetive against their rivals.

[3doorpete]

I raced a Vanquish in '89 to '90 in a West Kent Championship. I won the stock class in 1990 with it. You had to run a 27 turn gold/ kit Mabuchi motor and a manual speed controller.

End of 1990 I moved up to the modified class - threw a load of money at the Vanquish converting it to an Avante with a load of Egress parts as well running a Reedy Red dot or Pink dot motors and a 110 ESC!! Car was thoroughly uncompetitive as Schumacher Pro-cats were winning everything closely followed by Kyosho Lazers back then.

I sold it stupidly cheaply and bought a Schumacher procat and specced it with MMS diffs for 1991/2. Unfortunately I was funding the hobby through paper rounds and there were adults racing there, so I never had much success due to lack of funds. Back then - matched 1700 mah racing cells were costing 40-60 for a 7.2V stick and I needed 5 to compete each round.

Was great fun racing the Vanquish, but I have better memories of my Pro-Cat and my friends Midnight Pumpkin. I guess that's why when I came back to Tamiya, I didn't feel the need to buy a Vanquish - I remember it as a bad handling fragile money pit compared to the Pro-Cat that was utterly marvelous!!

Taught me to drive and set up cars though as we alternated between off road track, tarmac school play ground and indoor badminton/basket ball courts for each round - the indoor stuff on mini spikes was really drifting before drifting existed, but we all used buggies.

[Wireless]

I raced back in 87/88 or so with my Falcon. Indoor racing on a carpet track with ramps and bumps and such. I was part of the group of guys who's mums and dads dropped them off and collected later (ie: took little interest) so I raced with just one battery pack (7.2v Tamiya racing pack) and charged of a borrowed 12v leisure battery with my Acoms mechanical timer fast charger. I raced against guys similar to me and we used to tussle around the midfield of the 'C' finals. There were Tamiyas and a couple of Mardave Meteors in there IIRC. Great fun.

None of us had a hope of beating the fast guys who were like F1 teams - they turned up with a support crew (mum, dad, sister etc) a whole spare car, more battery packs than I had seen at even a hobby store, dozens of tyre combinations and the latest cars (CAT XLS IIRC was the car to have then). These guys were my age (10) and I always wished that I could have those types of cars and some help in setting them up (hey, how do you set up a Falcon anyway...? They don't handle well regardless). Some of those guys were great and they taught me about how differet tyres and suspension geometry changed the way the cars handled. It was simple but I understood it (hey, I was 10 years old).

The only memory that sticks in my mind was that one one of the kids was there not really because he loved the hobby, not because he worked his backside off all weekend odd-jobbing to fund his cars but because his parents funded the lot. He was spoiled rotten and regularly threw tantrums if things did not go his way. During one event his car speared off near the end of the pits and close to where myself and the other 'basic racer kids' were. Now, watching the race, it was obvious the reason he had stacked it was he'd gone into the corner way too hot trying to catch someone, had ran out of talent and stuffed it. He came storming over and started mouthing off in a furious rage at us guys that somehow our cars receivers (yes, RECERIVERS) had interefered with his causing the crash. The lads dad came over but was useless, just telling him to calm down quietly. What this lad needed was a whack. My best mate stood up off the ground where we were sat watching the race and levelled the kid with one punch. I remember crapping my pants thinking we'd get arrested or something.

Anyways, onwards from that the Falcon was sold in favour of an Optima. It went well on the carpet there thanks to 4WD and very spikey kit tyres. I used to get into the B final with that car. By then I had a mains fast charger and two battery packs plus a Le Mans 360ST high-torque motor. It was a great car but very poorly engineered and used to fall apart at the seams unless you spent one hour maintenance for each 5 minute race.

For 1990 I was earnign more 's through odd jobbing and got a Schumacher Top Cat (converted into a Cougar) and raced that. By this time I was getting good and regularly pasted a number of guys racing 4WD Pro Cats and such even though I ran a lowly 27t stock motor. Loved that car. Made the A final on a few occasions but wasn't fast enough to catch the good guys with 4WD.

I won't bleat on as no Tamiyas from this point until I found eBay many years later...

[Miggers]

I got into buggies when I was 27 years old!!!!.

I started work for Lucas Industries in 1987 and soon found out they had a buggy club.I'd already bought a Boomerang and learned how to drive it,so off we went racing.

The track was in the works Sports and Social club,90% carpet with the polished wood dance floor at the stage end(where all the drivers stood)as turn 1 off the main start finish straight.

We had wood jumps,"bot dots" and the obligatory sand filled fire hoses to mark out the track.They were a good crowd ranging from 10-12 y/o's whose parents worked at the factory upto 40y/o adults who raced and ran the club.

Most folks ran Tamiya machinery of one sort or another,pretty much run what ya brung really,with a couple of Meteors and even a Ministock thrown into the mix.

There was one kid whose father held a management position,and raced a standard Hotshot.One week he turns up with a Technigold motor in it and blows everyone away on the straights,but stacks it on every corner as he was still running the mech.speedo.

The next week he turns up with a 100 Futaba ESC fitted in it.Everyone was thinking this isn't quite fair as no one could keep up with him.

Anyway,I raced the Boomer for 2 years,by which time it was pretty knackered and needed a lot of money spending on it so I went for it and bought

an Optima Mid Custom,an ESC and fully ballraced it.

The Boomer was sold in 1991 for 15,not really a fitting end for such a worthy warrior I suppose and the Optima went in 2000 for 35.

Man,how I wish I'd kept 'em both.

Earlier this summer my son decides he want's another car and buys himself a Yokomo drift chassis off of E-Bay and takes it to work to play with.

One evening he comes home,dumps a carrier bag on the table and tells me to have a look in it.

Hiding in the bag is a very,very sorry looking, bashed,crashed and thrashed 20 y/o+ Mardave Meteor.

I was absolutely thrilled to bits.Needless to say ,and thanks to a few of the lads on here,it's now 99% finished.Not quite a standard Meteor but it'll be a pretty good thrasher when it's done.

I've fitted it with my old Futaba Attack R gear,HiTec SP1500 ESC,a Parma Cyclone Superstock 27 turn motor and some Schumacher minispikes.

All good period stuff eh?

Miggers

[civilguy]

I think I posted this picture somewhere before, but I raced in 86-87 on indoor carpeted tracks and rollerskating rinks. I ran RC10 in the 2wd, but my Hotshot won many 'A' mains. It ran especially well on the indoor carpet- and there were several Kyoshos, some MIP conversions and others (Yokomo,??). I did have Futaba MC8 ESCs (I think they ran $120 each back then- that's a lot of lawns mowed/papers delivered) and ran Kyosho LeMans motors in mod and Trinity in stock. Switching back and forth in the HS was a royal pain, but I guess it kept me busy between races Before I got the Hotshot I did race a Grasshopper and placed a few times (mainly because the GH would still run with 3-- and sometimes 2-- wheels!!).

[GTodd]

Wow I completely forgot about racing in roller skating rinks!!!! Where did the time go?

[Live Steam Mad]

I was part of the group of guys who's mums and dads dropped them off and collected later (ie: took little interest) so I raced with just one battery pack (7.2v Tamiya racing pack) and charged of a borrowed 12v leisure battery with my Acoms mechanical timer fast charger. I raced against guys similar to me and we used to tussle around the midfield of the 'C' finals. There were Tamiyas and a couple of Mardave Meteors in there IIRC. Great fun.

None of us had a hope of beating the fast guys who were like F1 teams - they turned up with a support crew (mum, dad, sister etc) a whole spare car, more battery packs than I had seen at even a hobby store, dozens of tyre combinations and the latest cars (CAT XLS IIRC was the car to have then). These guys were my age (10) and I always wished that I could have those types of cars and some help in setting them up (hey, how do you set up a Falcon anyway...? They don't handle well regardless).

Wow does that ever sound familiar . I was also one of the boys who was droppped off at the track (in my case in a Reliant 3-wheeler) at 1 to 2 p.m., and then I was only picked up again by my father at around 5:45 to 6 p.m. I loved every minute of the racing, and lived for seeing all the RC buggies, but my dad didn't take the slightest interest in what I was doing (he never took much interest in me, period. The problem is that I was his second family, not his first, but that's water under bridges...). I remember regularly being the last one there, with a kit box and a heavy 12V car battery, whilst I sat on a brick flower bed wall waiting for a LONG time to be picked up again .

Regularly 30 to 40 people would turn up, every Sunday. A lot of 20 to 30+ year olds would turn up, racing mainly ProCat's and Cougar's. The model shop owner Harvey had a Top Force Evolution and regularly beat the pants off everybody on the tarmac track (Supermarket car park).

I had to race with a Kyosho Raider. I knew how bad it was even back then. The Cougar 2 I got to replace it was hopeless (in the steering department, a ton of understeer just like a Vectra Mk.5 LOL) but that may well have been my fault for not knowing how to set it up properly.

Tamiya was my first love from when I was about 7 years old staring for hours at the Sand Scorcher advert on the back of a model magazine, through to when I got the 1987 Tam. catalogue. A few years later I began to recognise how most of Tamiya's cars were Nylon and ABS plastic chassis' and I saw how Kyosho and Schumacher seemed to be way in front and so I kinda lost faith. I never had a Tamiya anything until 2004 when I discovered TC and went on a "Voyage to Vintage City" to discover many old gems and have stayed here ever since .

Oh boy, memories.

Alistair G.

[hedge]

Raced in the 1985 Tamiya Nationals with a modified hotshot.

Back in the day it was not about touring cars it was all off road. There where 2 classes both required you to use the standard silver can motor. Stock was literally out of the box cars no changes at all, where as modified was a Tamiya car with subtle changes. I dont quite remember the rules, but I am sure there was somthing along the lines of it should still look like a Tamiya kit.

I ran modified, the main mods I made where to the shocks - 4 rather than 2 - and the chassis. The chassis in my case was made from FRP and just made the car easier to maintain really. There where various circuits around the South of England, which meant my dad and my racing friends dad ended up driving us around each sunday morning!

The main event the final was a 2 day affair in Malvern on a purpose built off road track (mud, jumps etc..) in a big barn. It was fantastic fun. I qualified 7th in the B final, after the first corner I was out in front (read pile up!) and for at least 2 mins I was doing what it took, however a miss timed jump here and a slight nudge of the corner there and I finished back in 7th, which I was over the moon with.

Loved every minute.

[markbt73]

My Falcon made a decent dirt-oval racer. Lower it by putting tubing in the shocks (about 1/4" in the front and 1/2" in the rear), which keeps the dogbones from popping out and lowers the CG to keep it from flipping, add pre-load spacers to the right side, and Wild One rear wheels/tires. I ran in stock class with a Twister stock motor, and I did okay in the B-mains. Even won a couple heats. The A-mains were all Ultimas and RC10s, so I didn't stand a chance.

[CARRERA]

I started with a Sand Rover, but as i did'nt want to wreck the body! soon purchased a Holiday buggy shell. I briefly raced a Sand Scorcher but again bought new Rough Rider body to go on it so the Scorcher body did'nt get smashed up!! How i wished i'd kept those two cars!!

The best Tamiya car i raced was a FOX. It utilised a modified front stabiliser devised by Phil Booth models that ran through tthe centre of the front chassis. Very clever design as it did'nt pertrued on top of the front of the car like the Tamiya one did. Once the rear drive shafts were replaced with thinner CRP (i think) upgrade and fitted with Schumacher Cat pin-spkie tyres it was awesome!

Aghh, the memories come flooding back...those were the days!

[MAD RACER]

I started with a Brat than updated it to a Frog with Fox shocks in 1985. I used to just bash with my mate who had a Hornet. I started competitive racing in 1987 and it was a big decision to buy a new Super Shot or a Turbo Optima. It took months to decide but i ended up buying a Turbo Optima and started my racing with it.

At my track (first time racing) during pratice i saw a guy on the drivers stand with a very well sorted Super Shot that he raced the year before. I said, "That thing is a jet!" He had a Kyosho Le Mans 480 Gold stapped in it. Back then we raced mod only. At this track they also raced 8th scale so it was a big track with a huge straight. Well my Turbo Optima was ok to start off with but my mates (optima too) and I were blown into the weeds so much we didnt know what to do. What buggy was this?? My mate was not sure but it was so quiet and you could here a distintive clunk at half speed and it shot off like a rocket. We soon found out that this thing had a 2 speed auto gearbox and a single belt drive. It was called a PB Mini Mustang and within months everyone had one. Even the Super Shot driver swapped to it. I was the only Optima or different brand out there.

It was not a reliable buggy at all and kept falling apart almost every race. Looking back i wished i had bought a Super Shot instead but i was stuck with it.

For the next year racing i ordered a Optima Mid and put togeather a whole new package with help from a local hobby shop. I also worked 6 days a week (radio, batteries, motor, peak charger, KO CX1 speedie and a heap of R & D over the X'mas break. My racing was far better but could not match these Mini Mustangs in outright speed on our very big straight. I kept trying different motors but was still coming 5th or 4th to a 18 + Mini mustangs.

I then came across a Technigold and the specs read lower on rpm to my Kyosho Spa 480 but when bolted in, it was a screamer. We raced for 6 min on 1200mah batteries, not 5. The Tamiya technigold was such a good motor I bought 2 more and they went on to power my Mid to 2nd in that years state titles .

I think Tamiyas buggys are always good and do exactly what they were designed for. The Super Shot to me, at the time, was the best overall package. That is why i bought a re released Hot Shot and got the HP suspension kit for it. I also restored a PB Mini Mustang with the 2 speed. I hated that buggy so much i never thought i would own one LOL.

[Saito]

I never saw a PB Mini Mustang in action. I was always intrigued by the idea of a two speed gearbox. A few guys ran Hot Shots when came out which were unlike any Tamiya before them. Besides the 4wd, their suspensions seemed so long and lanky. We had one guy with the first Yokomo Dogfighter. I remember folks were not very impressed with it. Who knew it would evolve into a world contender?

[qatmix]

I used to race against the PB mini mustangs and the shumacher cats with my modded boomerang.

It was a top time, My Dad, brother and myself used to turn up every Sunday afternoon (weather permitting) and race buggies at an old club in norfolk. Needless to say I was on a budget and got my boomerang second hand from the club (the guy had bought a mustang so was selling this on). He had already ball raced it, had cat tyres and it did run really well, it had a demon 23DD and the car was fantastic!

I joined the season half way through and was runner up at the end of the year (to a shumacher cat). The Mustangs were great cars but they really only seemed to excell indoors or on really flat track, this buggy course was neither. I raced that boomerang for ages and the cats / mustangs were beaten quite often. However it started gettign really competitive and all of a sudden another buggy club merged with ours and it all went a bit too extreme (people with 300 esc's etc). It destroyed the fun for me so I started a rally club which was just with friends and moved away from the competive stuff. (Plus girls started to become a real distraction). I do have a video of the club, with lots of tamiyas / cats mustangs etc I need to dig it out for a notalga trip. Since then its just been the occasional bash etc.

I now race mardaves as there is club minutres away from me (and I never really got into touring, although drifting is real fun), but maybe it will change as the Durga has tempted me as the first tamiya buggy in a looooooong time that makes me thing I can be competive on a decent budget, and its sitting there under the tree ready for me (and my son) to dabble with competive buggy racing again

[highflyer]

From '90-'93 I raced a King Cab (briefly!)

My avatar shows my #1 King Cab TQ pic from 1992 (started as a KC).

Started racing Hopped-up Beetles/'Foots in 1988, had fun but never won.. Then came a new Tamiya truck-

I raced King Cabs from '90-'93, TQ'd and won some mains in club racing. But I never won a points series, the closest I got was in 1993 with a Second Place overall.. I still have the 2 race trucks and a few trophies also.

I had to race with the Losi JRX-T and LXT's, RC10T's, Traxxas Blue Eagles, Ultima Outlaws and a few hopped-up King Cabs. The Competition was TOUGH!! My Cousin had a chain driven Outlaw and raced with me on occasion..

Looking back now, how did I win or even TQ a race??? Motivation!!!!

I will say this, it was fun beating the World Class trucks on occasion !!

[gixxer]

My avatar shows my #1 King Cab (started as a KC).

Started racing Hopped up Beetles/'Foots in 1988, had fun but never won.. Then came a new Tamiya truck-

I raced King Cabs from '90-'93, TQ'd and won some mains in club racing. But I never won a points series, the closest I got was in 1993 with a Second Place overall.. I still have the 2 trucks and a few trophies also.

I had to race with the Losi JRX-T and LXT's, RC10T's, Traxxas Blue Eagles, Ultima Outlaws and other King Cabs. The Comp was TOUGH!!

Looking back now, how did I win or even TQ a race??? Motivation!!!!

I will say this, it was fun beating the World Class trucks on occasion !!

Wow, you raced and won with the king cab? Awesome, since it was my first Tamiya! I had one back in 91 and decide to pick up a JRX-T because I didn't think the king cab would have been compeditive. If it was I could have saved for better batteries and etc..

[Voltar]

Ahhh the good 'ol days of offroad. I remember the Scorpion was the SRB beater and monster truck kings were Blackfoot, Monster Beetle etc. Then........everything changed in truck when the RC10 conversions and the King Cab came out. We even had to seperate the trucks into 2 classes then. 4 wheel drive was ALWAYS a matter of finishing the race. Hotshots etc. broke, Yoks ate belts and the 1200 batterys demanded the proper gearing & motor just to make the 4 minutes. Sure had fun though. Jim

[highflyer]

Wow, you raced and won with the king cab? Awesome, since it was my first Tamiya! I had one back in 91 and decide to pick up a JRX-T because I didn't think the king cab would have been compeditive. If it was I could have saved for better batteries and etc..

Yeah, won my share of races. I put alot of time (maintenance, practice) and $$$'s into my King Cabs back then just to keep up with the World Class trucks. Must admit, I was a better driver than most of whom I raced against ....

I had driven every truck in my class. They were all better than the King Cab..

[Saito]

I still remember seeing the King Cab for the first time in my LHS. The owner was a Tamiya diehard (he hated Kyosho). When I stopped by for some Lunch Box parts one day he said "look at this!" With a funny smile he pulled a new King Cab kit from under the counter. It was unlike any other Tamiya truck. It wasn't trying to be the biggest, strongest, toughest truck like all the others...it was a racer! I firmly remember it being the first truck to stand up against the conversion trucks that had wiped out the once-plentiful Blackfoots on the track. Everybody wanted one. Sadly its fame was short lived as the JR-XT came out shortly there after. Being basically a conversion truck in a box, it was tough to beat.

[pUs]

I did!

Raced an Optima Mid back in 1990 or something and had a friend who had bought an Avante earlier and raced it just once. He offered it to me almost for free and I tried it out on a surface which obviously must have flattered it at the time - both me and my dad initially thought it actually handled better than the Mid, which of course it didn't. But at the time, so we thought

We both had a soft spot for Tamiya since that's how I started in R/C with a Wild One, so we decided to try out the Avante. Turns out it wasn't really good with all its faults, but instead of going back to the Mid we still liked it and bought an Egress  which I raced with some success as my skills improved. At the end of 1992 we upgraded to a Top Force Evolution and at that point the results also started to come. Also did a few 2WD races with a Super Astute and a Dyna Storm in the meantime..

I think in hindsight me and my dad just enjoyed running something different, a brand which almost nobody else raced at the time. There were also a few occasions where it actually gave an advantage. Particularly on grippy tracks like grass and indoors.