The other side of the "competitive" coin

[Saito2]

Tamiya is not known, overall, for their competitive cars on the racetrack. While TRF cars were certainly competitive, the brand, as a whole, does not have the competitive roots that a company like Team Associated does. I'm not 100% certain why we Tamiya enthusiast pit our cars' merits against those designed for the job on a racetrack. Aside from TRF, they really aren't the right tool for the job. That's not to say one can get great enjoyment out of besting a field of Optimas and CATS with a Boomerang or beating some RC10s with a Fox or outrunning a Yokomo with a Top Force. Perhaps that's part of the thrill, the underdog effect. Regardless, I thought about looking at the scenario flipped. from a competition brand's perspective. Its one thing when a large company like Tamiya designs race winning cars to go along with the bulk of their RC products which are decidedly "fun" type vehicles. But what if you were sitting on the other side of the equation?

Competitive cars have been criticized as being cold or clinical from time to time, but in fact, their is a great deal of passion (there's that word again) behind them. Winning races is a passion for those companies who concentrate on competition. Every little detail examined for every little bit of edge on the track. The problem is, racers are a small piece of the RC pie and I'm guessing when the RC phenomenon cooled, it became harder for those brands like Associated and Losi to keep profits rolling in. Its interesting that both sold out to Thunder Tiger and Horizon respectively and that both overseers expanded those product portfolios to include more "fun" type vehicles. I wonder how hard it was for them (the original employees fromt those brands) to be passionate about these "non-competition" products working their way into the lineup? Associated seems to have faired better than Losi in this respect. I gather that Horizon didn't understand the hows and whys of a competition based brand like Losi (with Gil Losi Jr leaving, in time, back then). I imagine when things are done in the pursuit of performance, they may not make sense from a purely profit driven business aspect like Horizon would have approached it. So, why it might be hard for us to understand why Tamiya doesn't just come out and dominate in the competitive arena (which from a profit/returns aspect, we really can understand whether we want to admit it or not) imagine trying to explain/rationalize the competitive passion to a cooperate overlord holding the purse strings. 

 

[87lc2]

Very interesting and spot on analysis.  As most of us on TC are, I am a huge RC fan.  However, competitive racing is really not even on my radar at this point.  I raced a bit when I was younger, but my RC interests have moved on to other things and I honestly don't see ever getting back to competitive racing.  In my humble opinion, the hobby has so much more to offer in other areas that are of much more interest to me.  I dont begrudge anyone who is into racing, in fact I quite admire someone that can set up a car perfectly for a track and drive it on the ragged edge.  

What you said about the big names in racing having to "sell out" to stay afloat can be said in a lot of industries, it could not be more true in my opinion.  I head up an R&D department in the aftermarket auto parts business and I feel like one of the employees you described.  When I first started out we were making very unique perfrormance oriented products that I and my team were very passionate about.  In the years since we have had to cater to what customers want to buy en masse, rather than what we wanted to produce and we were passionate about.  We are all making more money and we're greatful for it, but it's not like it used to be and some of that passion is gone.  Luckily I get to take it home to my RC & 1:1 projects, so not all is lost and I still get to put food on the table so can't complain too much.

 

[BuggyGuy]

I think tamiya have found their groove with 1/10th on road - especially in the last few years. The TT02 is a fine entry point at a low cost for on road racing, with the the TA07 and TB05s being the next rung up as excellent race cars out of the box. If you have the skills to use it you can go big on the TRF420, TA07 MSX, or a TB EVO if the base models are holding back laptimes. 

I don't see any other manufacturers having such a broad range in a single class, and we haven't yet mentioned the XV01, and still available TA02s and TA05v2 (or TC01).

So they're covering all the bases in one class with everything from £100 bashers right up to £600 competition cars - could they do this with their 1/10 offroad range as well? Possibly - but it would cost a packet, and most of the models in the range as it stands wouldn't make a suitable base for a competitive club car so they probably need to start from scratch, off roads also a bit more fragmented in terms of classes too. If TRF buggies had been profitable - would they have stopped making the most recent TRF buggies? Or do they just get a higher return investing that R&D money into the onroad side - who knows, but I feel like they won't do it unless they can really dominate - which is probably not possible for them in 1/10 off road without many years worth of effort. 

[GTodd]

Tamiya's slogan used to be models suitable for RC.  Like anything else someone always wants to test their merits against someone else and before you know it, bam racing. 

At first Frogs, Fox's, Hotshots were the ones to beat. Tamiya quality was good so they out lasted others. Once the RC10 came out and the race worthy Kyoshos that changed. Tamiya stuck to the pretty, and fun to drive models while Associated etc went after the form follows function formula of a race car. 

Every once in a while Tamiya gets interested in Racing and introduces Avantes, Astutes, Top Forced etc.  Usually serious enough for those of us that like Tamiya's but not enough to take sales away from RC10s etc. 

TRF was the answer with everything from 1/8 Truggies to 1/10 on road. But this is expensive, to stay competitive you need top tier drivers to develop the car, produce new models, and advertising.  With everything else Tamiya does this was probably the least profitable endeavor for them. I wish Tamiya would adopt the long term strategy that Kyosho has. Kyosho has everything from basic beginner RC to Top Tier 1/8 Gas.  

Tamiya can do it, but they never seem willing to stick with it.