These are my 'very' retro memories

[maineyak]

As a schoolboy my first RC car was a Tamiya Renault F2 car back in 1979 but its low ground clearance and having little flat area to run in meant it was superceded by a Holiday Buggy the following year. A move to Gloucester in 1981 meant my first competitive races at the Gloucester YMCA racing 1/12th cars indoor on carpet on Friday nights. I started racing with a Gemini SLX then Associated RC12E but in 1982 purchased a Schumacher C car, which was the car of choice in the UK at the time, and began club racing at Gloucester, Stafford and Watford while also following the BRCA national series around the country.

Off road racing was not big at the time but buggies were receiving more and more press through Model Cars and RRC and the first ever off-road race I witnessed was at a model show in 1983, the location of which I can’t remember, but I believe it was towards London. There were a lot of recognisable names from the 1/12th circus taking part including Pete Winton who was commentating.

Cars were a mixture of Kyosho Scorpions, Tamiya Frogs and slightly less competitive, and now outdated, Rough Riders and Super Champs. We didn’t stay for the finals but I remember the Bolink Digger driven by no other than Robin Schumacher was probably the fastest car on the circuit. Tracks at the time were usually fairly high grip flat grass tracks which suited the Digger. It was almost like racing on carpet again - apart from the rain. The Digger was basically a 1/10th scale C car. See here for details http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/inde...howtopic=23876

Having a stock of GRP and being pretty handy with a file I constructed my own Digger creating my own chassis and wishbones and purchasing the plastic parts from Schumacher. I ran this car and then bought a 2nd hand Scorpion for mucking about but didn’t really get involved in racing then as I was living and breathing 1/12th scale, sometimes racings 5 nights a week! At the time (1983) I don’t believe there was an official BRCA off road race series anyway. (first in 84?)

During ’84 and ’85 the off road craze was grew rapidly and a new outdoor purpose built buggy track was built near Gloucester. That and the fact that a lot of people were putting their carpet cars away and joining the buggy ranks persuaded me to join in. At the time 2WD and 4WD classes were still being run together and it was the technological showcase that was the Kyosho Progress that was my weapon of choice. Unfortunately it was not progress at all

The Gloucester track was a ‘proper’ off road track with bumps and jumps and multiple surfaces including concrete and dirt and the ¾ inch suspension travel on Progress could just not cope. Should have bought a Hot Shot, even with its weight, inefficient drive train and sloppy suspension it looked unbeatable at the time. At the tracks opening event Rory Cull and his Hot Shot ran away with the win. Little was I to know at the time that Rory was to go on to be a good friend and personal nemesis in the years to follow.

Even with this set back I was bitten by the off road bug. Almost at the point of joining the Hotshot clan until news broke of the first Associated buggy from the U.S. – the RC10. It was only 2WD but national results declared it a winner and my friend and I ordered ours from Ted Longshaw Racing, much to the amusement of the Hot Shot Clan. Due to low stocks they didn’t arrive until early 1985 but when building them up you realised these were the first serious off-road racing machines. To be continued…

Great times. Would love to hear anyone else's memories from the very early days.

[john333]

Some good memories there and very similar to mine as it was exactly the same time I started racing, I got into 1/12th scale in 87 though and did the nationals for 2 or 3 seasons.

I went down the hotshot and rc10 route when they came out, but much preferred the hotshot and got some good results with it (don't think I ever beat Rory cull though!)

They were the good old days as far as racing club nights was concerned, we raced derby on Tuesday night, rolls Royce on wed night, Kimberley on a Friday and then an outdoor or national etc on a Sunday, if no big meeting was on a Sunday rolls Royce was on that day too!

Agree with you about the progress, my mate had one and it was a turd of a car, unlike the optima which is one of my favourite all time cars

[Naushad]

When I was younger I always scanned the catalogue magazines to look at the remote control cars. I would also see the occasional races on tv (remember those Saturday morning kids shows) and in Hyde park, London. I had several when I was younger including a radio shack porsche 959 (I think). However I was fascinated about the tamiya cars. At that time I wondered why they were sooooo expensive! I like the grasshopper but loved the rugged looks of the hotshot! I would show my parents so often but they said it was far too much. It was only later I realized they were kits and not complete cars. The magazines sold them for more anyhow and I remember phoning around shops (e.g. Beatties and Antics) to find cheaper deals but my parents were still refusing.

Anyway, when I was ten my parents bought me a turbo blaster...I would consider it my first 4wd. It had a black body with a few decals and on back of the rear gearbox had a switch to change from low to high gear and vice versa. It took 8 AA batteries. The remote was a stick affair but had trim control...so at the time this was no cheap and basic package!! However, it broke down twice for reasons unclear to me. My father took it back for repairs but by the second occasion it was beyond repair. After that I forgot about it and we moved to Gloucester. My interests then changed to computer gaming.

In the last 3-4 years I have come back into it and not looked back. I bought that hotshot I always wanted. It was a pleasure to build and since then I've caught the building and renovating bug! The racing aspect is something I want to get more into though.

[Kelk]

Well I'm 3 weeks into a return to RC racing after a 20 year hiatus.

At school a few friends and I got together to bought our respective cars - my first non-Toys'r'US RC car was a Tamiya Thunder Dragon. Compared to what else I'd had before this felt like proper engineering and my now dear departed uncle helped me build it over a weekend.

I loved this thing - it was quicker than I dare believe and had that heavy feeling of quality rather than the cheapo plastic junk I'd played with before. So we started racing at a nearby club and at one point I even won a race or two. Many a day I would wander into JS RAcing in Wolverhampton and stare at all the new shiny racing kits - Schumacher Cat XLS's, Yokomo and Losi JRX2's never mind the myriad of parts bags that hung on the little spline arms like baubles on a christmas tree.

2 years later on Xmas day I got my Procat - now this was fantastic for me - composite-esque chassis, belt drives and grip till Tuesday.

So I went racing for another year or so but University beckoned and the ways of RC cars went by the by - I simply couldnt afford to stay racing.




I always looked in on stuff from time to time - browse the odd copy of Radio Race Car in WH Smiths or poke around in Modelzone but never did anythnig about it.

Last year my uncle died and the nostalgia and thoughts of the time he spent helping me build the cars and take me racing came flooding back and for the last year or so I've been hankering with getting back into it. I did a lot fo internet research, I bought magazines and posted up on here.

So I got a Losi 22, spent a weekend building it, reminisced a bit and with help from people at SHRCCC I'm up and racing, well steering round a track and hoping to finish each race.

[john333]

I love threads like this, keep the stories coming

[Stretch]

My first car was a Tamiya Rough Rider, bought for £55 new in 1981. My parents bought me the radio gear as a Birthday prezzy. This car never raced, but the body and rear cage were quickly broken (heartbreaking as I'd painted it up exactly like the box art...)

Next I had a Kyosho Skorpion. This also never raced, and barely got driven as it was building them that I really enjoyed.

Next was a Tamiya Toyota Hilux. This raced. Against Skorpions. Indoors. Thankfully only once, but then I was hooked.

Next came a Hotshot, an AYK, an Optima, an RC10 (original gold/white), a CAT (I finished 3rd in the C at the 1st BRCA Modified meeting of the year - I was the 3rd highest place CAT at the meeting, which had 10 cars per final, and A to O Finals...), CAT XLS, Yokomo YZ870C, and the rest just get boring...

[cjm_2008]

I reckon new racers should be forced to race with brushed motors and 1200mah sc packs just so they know how good they've got it nowadays!

[maineyak]

So because I've raced against a Bolink Digger I guess that must make me the oldest racer on this forum?

Writing up some more memories as we speak. It's good exercise for my brain

[dirt track date]

Wow what a cool thread....................................
I remember going to thee Eastor model show with my parents in 1982 ?? maybe 83 and watchng the boats and planes, but being totally obsessed with the buggies, I loved it when they wheelied off the line!! I was so exciting because unlike real motor racing you could see the whole track. We went every year after that, me and my brother used to choose a car that we liked the look of at the start of each race and see who came in first, we begged and begged for our own car but my dad used to say 'they're not toys' and 'they're too expensive etc....'. I used to look forward to Eastnor all year just to watch the buggies and see 'whos' car would come in first every race. In mid /late 1986 my dad heard about racing at the TA centre in Hereford so we used to go and watch the racing (I think it was on tuesday night) still dreaming that one day I'd be able to have my own car. I remember the fast drivers were driving SWB Cats and PB Mini Mustangs, Dave Rogers and Clive Hall ruled supreme in Hereford back then. In early 1987 after 5 years of begging and nagging my parents finally conceded and my dad swapped his prized model boat for a Marui Samurai. That car was so bad, the diff gears used to strip every other race. Me and my brother race alternate weeks. I used to practice at home in the garden after mowing a track into the front lawn but the Samurai was really no fun and the majority of the time it was in bits, I remember frantically trying to change those stupid diff gears in the back hall of the TA centre. Christmas 87 was the best year ever my parents bought us a Mardave Meteor to share between us. I remember building it on the kitchen table with my dad. It took 2 days to build!! I think my dad let me and my brother do most of it and at 12 and 11 respectively i don't think we had a clue!! For my birthday we got a new body shell (I'll post some pics because i would love to try and identify it so that I can rebuild that car) and painted it british racing green with some white stripes, our Meteor now looked like the fast cars. Some time late 87 we got another Meteor so we could both race at the same time, loads of other kids had Meteors so we had our own little Meteor pitting area. Racing by this time had moved to the Shire Hall and the Meteor was now long wheel base with long wishbones, MG Orange Dot with a Speedmaster Silver Star speed control. I got that car in the A final one time, soooo proud, but spent most of the time getting out of the way of the fast boys ha ha ha!! During the summer we raced behind the Bulls Head Pub in Hereford, various other school fetes, steam rallies and Eastnor Model Show. Some time in 89 I sold one of the Meteors and got a 2nd hand Top Cat, I remember racing this outside at the Bulls Head and racing at Eastnor with a Trinity 19 double which I bought from a team driver (so he said) managed the C final and was the highest placed 2WD. I sold the Top Cat in early 1990 and bought Clive Halls old PB Mini Mustang which I remembered from the TA Centre days of watching and dreaming. The Mustang was a little out of date but at least it was 4wd and I could win the B final from time to time at club level. I think I had the Mustang for 4-5 months before I sold that and got a second hand worn out Lwb Optima Mid with a red anodised tana plan chassis. I really loved that car and regularly used to win the B final. This car was great indoors and outside on grass. Sadly this was sold in early 1991 and I bought a Swb cat for £20 (Oh how I wish I'd kept it) and sort of converted it to a Pro Cat, well it had a Pro Cat Body and Chassis, I hated this car, it was horrible to drive, but by this time girls and music were taking over and nothing puts off teenage girls more than 'going to play with toy cars'. So in the summer of 1992 aged 17 I took my 'Pro Cat' to Eastnor Model Show and sold it for £35. I've still got my original Meteor although it needs a new chassis because the endless modifications finally cause it to snap. Occasionally I'd go and watch the racing at Hereford but soon I was playing in bands and that was the end of that....... Until May 2010 when I got a Mardave Cobra off ebay and bashed around the garden for a bit of fun. I liked it A LOT. September 2010 I started racing an Associated B4 at Stoke Model Car Club and tried to collect all the cars I owned as a kid. So far I've got all of them except a SWB Cat, but these are rare and expensive now. Any way thats my memories of the happiest times growing up and the best time I ever had with my dad.

[Dave 1975]

Love the old days...

My first car was a kyosho optima..loved it... complete with mechanical speed control and 540 motor lol.. had quite a few hop ups too like the belt conversion and ball race kit.

Then went on a Cat XLS and a JRX2 !

[Dave 1975]

Don't miss the old batteries though.. and skimming motors

[john333]

Originally Posted by maineyak

So because I've raced against a Bolink Digger I guess that must make me the oldest racer on this forum?

Writing up some more memories as we speak. It's good exercise for my brain

Lol, no I raced against some bolink diggers too. I remember them being incredibly fast for the time and only touching the ground about 3 times each lap as they had sort of 1/12th scale flexy fibreglass suspension

[maineyak]

Even though 2WD & 4WD were still being raced together the RC10 with its lightweight, efficient drive train and fantastic suspension ruled the day. I really got on with the RC10 and started producing some reasonable results in the Std class at Radio Race Car rounds. I was using Demon motors at the time and there seemed to be a new model every month started with a 28T, then 27T, 27HT, Mr T, Mr T Special. At a RRC round in Oxford I purchased a ‘works’ Mr T special standard motor from Nick Adams out of the boot of his car. Turns out it was faster than any modified I owned…

At the same time as the RRC and occasional BRCA rounds I also started racing in the Tamiya series using a HotShot. I used to travel to a lot with Rory and his dad and we shared a lot of TQ’s and wins and we were both offered sponsorship by Keith Chaplin of Malvern Models. I think it’s fair to say that initially I had the upper hand over Rory but he just got better and better each week. While I found my level in the RRC rounds Rory attacked the BRCA series and started making A’s. Keith was happy with this as Model Cars usually followed the BRCA rounds so with me in RRC race reports too he got great coverage.

As part of the sponsorship deal Rory and I received a PB mini Mustang. I hated that car. It was like a fragile Airfix kit and I rarely finished a race with all 4 driveshafts. A group of us entered a race at Romsey and in frustration I ended up drop kicking out of tent and never used it again. Thus ended the Malvern Models sponsorship.

It was at around this time from racing at Worcester I met Nick Marson who for his sins also struggled with a PB. It was kind of out of the blue one Friday night racing at Glos he asked me to try one of his new speed controllers he had been working on. At the time I was running a Laser packed with relays but Nicks was slimmer and smaller and had something called mosfets in it. The difference between the two was amazing. I described it as it made my std motor into a modified motor. I believe that was the 2nd controller he ever made and I kept it for a while and then became a test mule as new modifications came out. The rest is history Marson became Nosram and he started selling speedos to the public. I’m still in touch with Nick today. He lives in Texas now and is still into RC but planes rather than cars.

After the PB I bought an Optima and proceeded to bling it up with one way rollers on the front and an orange wasp? belt drive. On a smooth grass track at Eastnor Castle I won the A final with one way rollers on front and back! The car really suited my fast and flowing style of driving. Having no reverse and no brakes didn’t really affect me. I was bought back down to earth again the next weekend back at an open meeting at the Gloucester track. The car was a pig, with no traction and the belt constantly jumping. Rory walked away with it again, with a PB no less. Another lesson learnt.

Next Up: THE Reedy International.

[cornishboy176]

What a brilliant read this has been so far,

I started off RC racing when i was 10 years old with a Mardave Mini Stock that my Dad bought at our local club at Leedstown Village Hall in Cornwall,then swopped my BMX for a Tamiya Falcon,tried racing that indoors but found it too brittle on parts (especially after my mechanical speedo decided it wanted to go flat out into the wall and smash the front end off completely!!),my parents then bought me an MRC MRX for Christmas,i raced that at our local outdoor track in Hayle for a season what a nightmare car that was!!,I then got my hands on a Kyosho Ultima which was the car to have then,after another season of running the Ultima i bought a second hand Schumacher Topcat with a Tekin 410s for £75 from RSW in St Austell no sooner i got it the Cougar came out and we bought the cougar front end,that was one brilliant car,had some good results with that car,then i had a second hand RC10 for Christmas,and started going to the regional series in Cornwall (SWORDS),i had 2 seasons with the RC10 after upgrading it to the current spec FT at the time,The Losi XX was the new kid on the block then and i managed to get my hands on one and also Sponsorship from Kevin Waite at RSW in Plymouth with his PLAZMA batteries and also Corally for Motors,i started getting into the top 5 at regional level and then......passed my Test and found Cars,Beer and Women!!!!

All the RC gear was packed away and left after spending Saturday nights on the p**s and duly lost interest in the buggies for a few years and then 3 seasons ago a mate of mine phoned up out of the blue and i got hooked again and i havent looked back since,apart from throwing my toys out the pram with the Cougar SV and selling it all,i have recently bought a 210 but then sold it after a Centro come up,

I cant believe how much had evolved from my early years of buggy racing,back then you would have your gearing exact so the batteries would just last 5 minutes or so,no practice laps before the race,running more weight than you can shake a stick at!!,back then we used to cut the chassis tub down on an RC10 to get rid of weight,now we are piling brass into it!!

All in all i am enjoying my racing but our only problem is,apart from our 1 local track the next one is a 220 mile round trip to Tiverton every 2 weeks just a shame we are that far down from everything here in Cornwall

[tisher]

Great thread guys I will try and give a little insight on my racing

I started in 84 with my first car which was a grasshopper great car but when I started racing at my local club I soon realised that it was not really a race car.
So then after a few meetings I persuaded my dad to get me an optima I soon started raising up in the club winning a few b finals etc.
About a year later we started racing at oldham and bury metro
i got better and better over the next year or so then came the big turning point for me the release of the optima mid
this put me from B finals to near the top of the A finals I remember alot of the the older guys giving me loads of abuse because a 13 year old was beating them by this point lads at oldham then started to get the new car on the block the cat xls.
I remember thinking I really need this car to keep up so with some persuading my dad got me one.
The cat xls was an amazing car in its day and kept me pretty much top three in the A final for the following years to come. I f remember correctly it was me Antony lomas and Chris ellis always battling for first place at oldham.
By 1989 I was running a cougar outside and cat indoors we had a team set up from oldham that did some national events and the best result I got in these was a B final 1st.
I stopped racing in 1991 when I got in to real cars beer and women
I restarted again at the beginning of last year when my son was older enough to start I now get more of a buzz watching him race than I get racing myself but now I realise how much it must have cost my dad to keep me going back then god bless you pops

[cornishboy176]

Originally Posted by tisher

I stopped racing in 1991 when I got in to real cars beer and women

Haha this sounds familiar now we have gone back racing to get away from the missus for a bit of piece and quiet

But always remember,

Growing old is inevitable,Growing up is optional!!

[john333]

Here is what I remember of my early years in the sport.....

In around 83 I saw someone at school with a tamiya rough rider and thought it was the coolest thing ever so the following Christmas my parents bought me a holiday buggy which I spent the next few months bashing around the local parks etc. eventually got a bit bored with this and stumbled across a mardave mini stock for sale new in a local shop, me and a mate both bought one and started racing them in our school playground.

About a year of bashing around passed when we found out about Ilkeston model car club (now Broxtowe) which raced on a Friday night, one visit to this wonderous place and I was hooked! On my first night there met Phil booth who was racing 1/12th scale and was only about 5 years on from winning his 1/8th circuit world championship, after this I spent many an hour in his shop and travelling to race meetings with him and Christine, acting as his pit crew occasionally which scared me witless!

My trusty mardave made way for a succession of buggies from Phil booth models including an ayk sidewinder, hotshot, pb mini mustang, rc10, optima, tamiya fox and an original short wheelbase cat.

Of all these cars I think it was the hotshot that gave me the most success, after Phil had put universal joint drive shafts and a one way centre drive shaft on it that is, with a tq and win at Dudley and 2nd overall at the "midlands championships"

At around the age of 17 I got into 1/12th scale as my local club, derby had always been predominantly for this scale and only tolerated buggies lol. I bought an RC12i with a corally conversion kit (all ally bits) and over 2 seasons of BRCA nationals worked my way up from the bottom heat of formula 3 to the top heat of formula 1 (beating a young Dave splashett in the process (if only that could have carried on! Lol)) to be honest my first run in this top heat against drivers like the late Phil davies and Tim dakin really demoralised me as I was being lapped mercilessly and I think I actually left the meeting early, never to race 1/12th again!

A break of 7 or so years ensued, and purely by chance I was passing through Worksop and heard that there were Rc cars being raced in the sports centre there, putting my head round the door the first people I see are Phil and Christine! So one major credit card session later I'm all set up with a schumacher SST and all the gear (god I loved that car)

Took to touring car racing really well and again worked my way up the rankings and got some sponsorship with GM and latterly CML with the Associated TC3. My best result was at the Broxtowe national when I had FTD after heat 9 of round 4 after a very rain affected day, but then the bloody sun came out and I was punted into the b final! (still had a good final though with my one and only win against Jamie booth after years of failure lol)

At this point I became a dad and had to give up racing completely, up until early 2011 when yet again ANOTHER chance meeting with mr booth at ardent raceway (I'd seen it advertised so called in for a look) and a tax rebate convinced me to get a cat SX2 and do a bit of racing "just for fun"

A year on and I'm back doing regionals etc and loving every minute of it with the new technology etc.

Thanks for reading, John jones

[maineyak]

Too true Cornish Boy

I've just started racing buggies again after a 23yr break. Haven't done many races yet but it's a lot more difficult than I remember I seem to have no subtlety in my thumbs whatsoever. I need to race more than once a week to get anywhere good again.

The problem is my wife needs to understand I've got a hobby again now

[cornishboy176]

I am really enjoying being back racing,my missus thinks i am a big kid (i have just turned 35 and reliving my youth,just shame i havent got the reactions with my thumbs like i used to have)

I doubt i am the only one that is like this but i am always tinkering with the Durango and Centro (my new nickname is "Tinkerbell"),going up to it pushing down on the suspension,generally fiddling with the car and checking oople for new parts,upgrades,updates,set ups and reviews etc

I think i have caught the bug again after last season having a Cougar SV and nearly pulling my hair out trying to set it up,the Centro is so much easier to drive and set up

like i said our biggest downfall is we are so far away down here in Cornwall we have got 1 track down here for 1/10 buggies,i would love to travel but we have got at least a 2-3-4 hour drive to get to anywhere like Tivvy,Weston,Yatton etc,there is a group of us that travel up to Tivvy every 2 weeks (when the weather is good) and we have a really good laugh and always a good days racing

[tisher]

I wonder how many people have just got back into the sport in the last two years that raced 20+ years ago