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  • Resurrecting old (early 90s) RC cars
  • clubber
    Free Member

    My parents are clearing out their attic and I’ve now got three of my old RC cars at home 🙂 I’m sure my 5yo son will love them… 😉


    (Cougar 2000, Bosscat and a 1/10 Tamiya F1 not pictured)

    So, I’m figuring that it should all work but I guess I’ll need new batteries as I expect that the SCRC 1700s will be dead after 20 years.

    Given that I do want my son to be able to drive them and I don’t think that he’ll handle the 10/13 turn motors in them at the moment, I’m thinking something along these lines:

    – new batteries (capacities seem to way higher!) – 3000mah NiMHs I’m reckoning to save needing new ESCs for LiPo, etc. These maybe?

    – New charger – I can’t seem to find my old one so I’m thinking of something like this or the double battery model

    – slower motors – I’m thinking of bog standard Tamiya ones – 27t/35t IIRC geared fairly low to restrict top speed for now.

    – Connectors – corally connectors on there at the moment but any suggestions for any alternatives? Or are they still used?

    So, does that sound reasonable or should I be looking at something else?

    rossi46
    Free Member

    Nice! I wish I still had my Kyosho Laser ZXR and my Schumacher Cougar. Some toe rag nicked them when I moved house a few years ago.
    I still want to get one again!

    clubber
    Free Member

    I have just thought of a problem – if I break anything I guess I’m likely to struggle to get any replacement parts (wishbones, etc), aren’t I? 🙁

    enduroforever
    Free Member

    I had the cougar and a manta ray. They are probably still in my mum and dads attic

    clubber
    Free Member

    The Manta Ray was an odd but great looking car 🙂

    Nothing will ever beat the Avanti for massive over-engineering but being a thing of technical beauty.

    andyl
    Free Member

    I was just wondering this yesterday.

    here at the house I have:

    Schumacher Cat 2000ec – needs a new wishbone as it’s not been used since a friend crashed it into a wall in 2002.

    Associated RC10B2

    Losi XX-CR

    Back in my mums loft I have:

    Schmacher Procat (my first car)
    Shumacher Bosscat
    Kyosho Lazer ZX-R
    Associated RC10 Team Edition

    and enough spares to 90% build a stock Cat 2000EC as the one above is loaded with carbon fibre, aluminium and titanium as it was a team car.

    Got loads of old brushed Corally motors, Orion SCRCs (all dead now i expect), M-tronics, Novak and LRP speedos as i was sponsored by the importers at various stages at my early teens.

    I remember by 10×3 corally motor that nothing could touch on the straight at southport. It could only be used a few tracks on the calender.

    The speed of modern cars with brushless motors and lipo batteries is scary but they just seem to be all about speed these days. The car tech doesnt seem to have moved on much.

    V8_shin_print
    Free Member

    ooo, fond memories! I had a schumacher cougar with a Reedy Mr T. (11×3), lovely performance but would kill a battery in a bout 5 minutes!

    To the OP, I would consider buying something you’re 5 year old can bang off walls while he learns to drive and save the collection for when he has the hang of it.

    Rockhopper
    Free Member

    If you go the lipo route you need compatible esc plus the right charger and then a motor and car that can handle the power! I’d stick with NiMh I think. Most popular connector is the Tamiya type (not sure if it has a real name) but most batteries come with that type as standard.

    sobriety
    Free Member

    I don’t know about kyosho/schumacher, but the last time i needed to get bits for my old tamiya rc (manta ray chassis with short wishbones/suspension for road car bodies) the parts were available onebay and far cheaper than I remember them being!

    fervouredimage
    Free Member

    Very cool. Brought back some memories seeing those. When I was a kid I used to race rc buggies pretty seriously. My dad and I used to do a lot of travelling racing all the nationals. Was a great hobby, really loved it.

    My absolute favourite buggy I’d ever owned was the yokomo super dog fighter works edition. It was a thing of carbon beauty but was an absolute pig to build and maintain, nothing like the the super easy to build buggies you buy now.

    [/url] image by blogs15, on Flickr[/img]

    [/url] image by blogs15, on Flickr[/img]

    stylish
    Free Member

    Brings back memories, in the loft at my dads are the following,

    Bolink Pro10 car, Schumacher Pro-Cat, Cougar 2000, Cat 200ec and my Bosscat, last raced by Dave Spashett before he went on to win 3 world titles in one year, The first Tamiya Astute in the uk, and a Tamiya Egress with proper independent suspension, one of 3 team cars built for the uk, and a Tamiya King Cab Nissan with a body painted by Dallas Matheson (In the 80s/90s if you knew r/c you knew Dallas).

    favouredimage, I too spent many years travelling the uk and Europe with my dad racing at BRCA Nationals, and the Euro”s, friendships were formed that are still around today.

    Southport was an awesome track, really fast and always beautifully prepared. Missed the A final there by 1/100th of a second, trying to recall all the places we went too now, Aire Valley (Leeds) was good, Eden Park was hard to master, but great when you did.

    Good times.

    clubber
    Free Member

    I used to race at Eden Park. I was rubbish though 😉

    Funnily enough, my sister’s just moved house to almost next door where it used to be so I was back there a couple of weeks ago.

    mboy
    Free Member

    Crikey, I had a Cougar 2000 and a Bosscat too!

    Anyway… Not sure where the Bosscat is now, but the Cougar 2000 is in my mates attic. Not been driven in about 18 years, but still mechanically sound. I can dig it out if you want it potentially as a spare?

    rureadyboots
    Free Member

    Monster Beetle FTMFW. 🙂

    stylish
    Free Member

    My monster beetle used to round the ends of driveshafts all the time, it was running 7 cells and a Tamiya Technigold motor, as that was the done thing in the Tamiya Challenge at the time!

    Eden Park was a real car breaker, my best shunt there was at a 2wd national, at speed into the pit under the rostrum, I clipped the apex on the way in but ran wide, when the car came into view, both left hand corners were ripped off!

    Although my claim to fame was at the Touring Car Euros in Germany 2006, early days of brushless, and the motor caught fire going down the back straight, cue loads of smoke and laughter, but it kept going for 2 laps, even had a good turn of speed still, it finally came to rest at the feet of a marshall who was too bust laughing to do anything with it..

    cp
    Full Member

    Great thread 🙂

    A few months ago I brought my Tamiya Bearcat home from my parents with a view to resurecting it. I never raced it but had great fun in my youth with my mates just driving them around. Must sort it… something in the gearbox has stripped as theres no drive.

    Interestingly the charger has died and the 7.2v ni cd battery packs will be goosed now. Just noticed someone up there talking about 7 cell packs… has anyone tried running theirs off an 8.4v bike light pack?

    Mine has BEC so the receiver electronics are powered off the main battery and it just uses a servo driven 3 stage speed controller through a resistor, rather than the more elaborate electronic speed controllers.

    Ah…. happy days 🙂

    howsyourdad1
    Free Member

    Great post. Lots of memories. I had a Terrascortcher:

    http://www.tamiyaclub.com/pictureframe.asp?t=n&id=img5927_09052012215238_1.jpg

    Always wanted a Midnight Pumpkin. Not sure why

    benman
    Free Member

    Great thread! Never really a buggy racer myself but owned a Tamiya Grasshopper, Mardave Meteor and Traxxis TCX over the years. Remember doing a Southport clubnight once at the indoor multi-surface track?

    Was mainly a 1/12 scale driver and had countless cars over the years – Kawada, Corally, Trinity, Woods (never had an Associated for some reason?). Did National Series, Euros etc.

    Mountain bike now and again with Jamie Booth of buggy R/C fame.

    clubber
    Free Member

    Jamie Booth was a bit of a hero back then, wasn’t he. Big news when he signed for Tamiya (1992ish?) as I recall.

    It seems that there’s several good RC racers who are now mtbers. Interesting mix given the very different natures of the sports – maybe it’s the technical aspects that link them?

    mboy – thanks for the offer but I’m assuming that there’s still some value to your car and I’m not really looking to spend lots on RC cars (yet… we’ll see once Clubber Jnr (and me) get going 😉 )

    benman
    Free Member

    It seems that there’s several good RC racers who are now mtbers. Interesting mix given the very different natures of the sports – maybe it’s the technical aspects that link them?

    I think its the years spent squirreled away in workshops, leisure centre sports halls, and gazebo’s. It’s like an awakening to the outside world! And fitness 😆

    davidrussell
    Free Member

    bit of a hijack but in the off chance that anyone wants a 27mhz controller i have one that i bought recently for my nitro RC car that never made it back to life. I can’t mind the brand but its basically in as new condition and i think it has 2 red crystals with it.

    cool thread btw, although this hobby seems to eat money more than MTB!

    clubber
    Free Member

    27mhz transmitter you mean? I might be interested though I’ve no idea what they cost now.

    clubber
    Free Member

    And back to my OP, are the charger/batteries that I suggested OK?

    davidrussell
    Free Member

    yeah sorry clubber, its a transmitter. i can’t for the life of me remember what it was but i’ll find out and let you know.

    apologies also for the hijack too, but i’m afraid i can’t answer the question on your OP 🙂

    davidrussell
    Free Member

    Hi Clubber, its an Acoms techniplus transmitter like the one in the link here, but its only the transmitter and 2 crystals, no receivers or servos etc.

    my email is in my profile if you want more info, i’ll not take up any more of your thread!

    fervouredimage
    Free Member

    favouredimage, I too spent many years travelling the uk and Europe with my dad racing at BRCA Nationals, and the Euro”s, friendships were formed that are still around today.

    Yeah, it was a great hobby. I really miss it. Haven’t raced or owned a buggy in about 10 years. You’ll no doubt remember all the names from that era – Drescher, Kinwald and Matt Francis etc. My highlight was racing at the IFMAR Worlds in 95 in Japan. I was 14 and that was a week I’ll never forget. In the end though the pressure of the whole event got to me and I didn’t drive anywhere near as well as I’d hoped for.

    There are quite a few YouTube vids from the early 90’s of various events including the worlds in Basildon in 91 I think. Worth a watch, for the day-glo pink Reedy caps and jackets if nothing else.

    alibongo001
    Full Member

    HI All,

    I found some stuff in a box in my cellar yesterday.

    If anyone wants some bits of a Tamiya hotshot – Suspension arms / chassis / body etc then let me know.

    I would prefer someone on here to get them rather than have to ebay

    clubber
    Free Member

    Don’t forget Oakley Mumbos!

    davidrussell – thanks think I’ll hold off for now until I see whether Clubber Jnr enjoys it enough to make it worthwhile me getting a second transmitter.

    What happend to Craig Descher – he was a child prodigy, wasn’t he?

    Or Hirosaka (spelling?) and his Yokomos.

    stumpy01
    Full Member

    Didn’t Tamiya do some smaller motors (for the Grasshopper and perhaps the Hornet) – 380’s instead of 540’s?? Something like that…

    Would they fit and be more suitable in terms of lower speeds and less crash/smash/bash action…..

    clubber
    Free Member

    Yes – 380 sounds right. Good idea – will look into that.

    benman
    Free Member

    Ha ha, yeah I had a 380 in my first grasshopper. It had no BACS circuit in the receiver, so used to go haywire when the battery voltage dropped 🙂

    Hirosaka raced at my local club once (CARS in Clay Cross), we held an on-road worlds warm-up event.

    clubber
    Free Member

    Apparently Craig Drescher’s still going:

    http://www.teamassociated.com/news/race_results/1221-Craig_Drescher_Wins_BRCA_18_Electric_Buggy_Championship

    1/8 electric – didn’t know that existed!

    maxtorque
    Full Member

    “Found” all my old RC stuff a while back during a loft clear out. Pretty much found as it had been left about 20years ago. Stuck it on ebay and even though it was all pretty knackered, i was amazed by what it eventually went for! (Kyosho Optima Mid and loads of spares / radio etc)

    wilko1999
    Free Member

    Anyone used to race 1/8 IC circuit on here? I did! In my teens used to travel round the country with my Dad doing the BRCA rounds, towards the end used to quite often win them too. Last ever meeting I did was at the now long-dead Bournemouth circuit and I won the open final both days. Anyway, enough bigging myself up, this thread has made me want to get my old car going again. Wonder if my 2.5 year old daughter would be interested!?

    dlr
    Full Member

    On Topic: I had a Tamiya Blackfoot back in the day, great laught

    Semi Off Topic: Recently got back into RC and now race “Mini’s” which are the Tamiya M03/M05 chassis at a local outdoor circuit. Weekend before last I did my first indoor carpet event, less run off, ended badly with broken front suspension and a missing driveshaft lol

    clubber
    Free Member

    Ah, I was wondering what minis were – so are they only Tamiya? like Tamtech from years back?

    dawson
    Full Member

    I used to race at Worksop club – Jamie Booth used to race there too.

    I did a few regionals, and also went to some national team thing down south with Worksop club.

    All my stuff is still in the loft at my mum’s – half thought about getting it up and running again, but the cost of new cells etc put me off.

    clubber
    Free Member

    Those batteries I linked to are only £14 for 3300mah!

    clubber
    Free Member

    Ah, minis – they’re actually mini cars not mini scale 😳

    dlr
    Full Member

    I think HPI made a similar one but its basically Tamiya only where I race http://www.eecc.co.uk/downloads/MiniRules2013.pdf

    A lot of faff potential out of the box, camber, toe, all other suspension etc, got mine off ebay and just added a decent Lipo and new tyres

    The outdoor track is near Hailsham in East Sussex for anyone interested http://eecc.co.uk/ copy and paste this into Google Maps 50.864745, 0.241092

    Indoor one is at Tonbridge http://www.wkrcc.co.uk/

    Both cater for Mini’s and Touring cars, Tonbridge one also does the rwd only World GT cars or whatever they are called. Theres also another outdoor track over by Brookland near Rye which does larger scale

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