How The Avante Stacked Up Against Its Competition

[Saito]

I'm sure its no suprise that the technologically stunning and beautiful Avante was not the best performer of the day. Here's a RCCA shootout article showing it going up against the Turbo Optima Mid SE, Cat XLS and C4.

[bakaguyjean]

I didnt even read this,but the adds that are mixed in are nice to see.

Our local circut back in the day had a Avante and it was all was "A"main. Along wth the other cars in this review. Magazines are all hype anyway then and now.

But thanks for posting

[civilguy]

Those ads definitely send me back-- there were soooo many aftermarket companies!!! Neat stuff- thanks for the scans.

[RichieRich]

I liked the Technacraft and Bullet Racing Products ads. That Bullet chassis would be cool for an Ultima or RC10 project.

[Gruntfuggly]

Great read - although I think there is a section missing (page 94). Quite sad to hear how poor the Avante was though...

[Saito]

Sorry about the missing page. Check back, I'll put it up tonight.

[pikachoo75]

Wow,blast from the past!

When i raced ,the cars i tried were a Schumacher ProCat,an Optima Mid Custom Special (the Lazer ZX had just come out and i managed to buy the Optima as a member was trading up to Lazer).I had never owned a Yokomo Dogfighter but i had seen them race and they seemed real good.

I do remember that the ProCat needed quite a lot of "fettling" just to assemble it ,let alone run it.The front belt alignment caused quite abit of swearing to get it to run straight as the adjustment method was abit crude.

Dont get me wrong it was a great car,i felt the materials were excellent but the finish let it down.

The Kyosho was the closest thing ive seen to perfect.It had the quality of finish,the materials were great (those "gritty" grp plastic wishbones and such)and there was fantastic alloy parts were needed.The set up was clear(the belt ran in pulleys and was never a problem).But i guess the part,for me, that let it down was the fact it wasnt a Tamiya...It didnt have the presence as a model.Sure it was fast and handled great but it lacked the "X-factor".maybe this was due to the volume of similar cars at the club,who knows.

One thing for sure ,my Terra Scorcher was completely out gunned by the ProCat and Optima Mid Custom Special could own it all day.but the Terra had charm and character and I guess that goes along way.

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken]

But surely the avante is the best

Its weight and suspension let it down. Though i bet with a little adjustment it could lap better than the others. I better buy one and find out!

[Saito]

Added the missing page. What I liked about the article was how it wasn't all warm and fuzzy. The Avante didn't do so hot and they let you know it. Still even a non-Tamiya fan has to admit the car is stunningly beautiful compared to its competition. It certainly shows more innovation (albeit misguided at times) than the rest of the bunch.

[pikachoo75]

I too must agree,the Avante is the most WONDERFUL looking buggy ever.It looks menacing at rest and yet purposefull aswell.I only recall seeing one in Beaties model shop back in the day but it had huge wow factor in the glass case!

Looking at the prices in the adverts in that magazine makes you wish time travel was possible!

Respect to the reviewers in their article,I bet it was hard for them to keep a stern clinical racing approach in their decisions for a winner.I would have thought it would have been pretty easy to slate the Avante as "eye candy" and not give it a fair chance,as back then it seemed if it wasnt raceable it wasnt worth reviewing.

I for one would have been biased purely for the innovation in design,materials and overall look of the Avante(and may have tampered with the stopwatch to justify my decision!)

thanks very much for sharing your magazine!

[Corona Powered]

Thanks for posting this article. I remembered reading it back in the day - wish I didn't toss that old stack of RC mags!

Love the ad for the Tecnacraft wheels! I wanted a set of those so bad back in grade school but they were bank!

I was always a fan of the 4wd buggies. I still have my original Turbo Optima Mid SE and a RPS Yokomo SE Dogfighter. Back then, the Schumacher Cat was a bit exotic, and parts were not as accessible as Tamiya or Kyosho. The Mid SE really should have had a regular wide chassis instead of its thin aluminum job. And it needed a lexan belly pan. The bane of my existence though was the fragile plastic front uprights. Didn't take much of a hit to break those.

When I was making my purchase decision back then, this article did influence me. I liked Tamiya kits, but the Avante just seemed like it was from another planet. Compared to the other kits, it did seem a lot more engineered, but in a strange way. Shaft drive when the others had belts, weird two piece rims, and that sticker on the wing - Being nuts is neat? While the Avante seemed to emphasize engineering, the other kits seemed to focus on simplicity and light weight, with hardly a nod to aesthetics. The Avante body at the time was so futuristic looking, like it was from space.

In the end, it's a lot like comparing vintage full scale cars. Twenty years pass and a half second difference in acceleration doesn't matter as much. You begin to focus more on aesthetic details and engineering, all things that the Avante excelled in.

[Hibernaculum]

I think the Avante really exemplifies what a lot of us have said over the years about buggy design, and the importance thereof...

The Avante didn't perform as well as it's opposition, yet look at it's value on the collector market now. Why is this so?

Well, it's just an interesting car. The kids voted, both then and now - The Avante looked cool.

Perfect performance, whilst remembered and credited, is just not necessarily remembered as fondly as something that captured the imagination in other ways...

cheers,

H.

[astute77]

I always loved the Avante as a kid, and it was disappointing when I learned that it didn't stack up to the competition. Does anybody know if the Egress (my other favourite Tamiya) was more competitive?

[pUs]

I always loved the Avante as a kid, and it was disappointing when I learned that it didn't stack up to the competition. Does anybody know if the Egress (my other favourite Tamiya) was more competitive?

The Egress was a lot more competitive. It actually had a working suspension, better dampers, lower weight, less complicated. However, it wasn't enough; the competition had produced better cars at this point as well. Cars like the original Lazer ZX and Schumacher's Procat were simply better. I'd say mainly the Lazer ZX was way ahead of its time back then- double belt drive, long span suspension arms, symmetrical weight distribution left/right etc.

The Egress needed a lot of modifications to be competitive against cars like that, even with pro drivers like Jamie Booth driving it.

[B.M.T.]

When it came down to it, the Avante was an exercise in design and styling. Tamiya proving it could make something complicated with such a high parts count fall together, like butter slipping off a hot biscuit (shameless theft of simile from Primus).

[GTodd]

What was great about the Avante was that it was sexy as badword, was a fine tribute of Tamiyas modeling ability and could hold its own if needed against the competition. It might have not been the best but it would do ok on the track and look good on the shelf, you cant say the same about any of her competitors.