A Early Mid-motor MRC Santana

[jeroen206]

http://www.rcmagvintage.com/reviews/retro/voitures/electrique/musee/mrc/articles/tt/santana/santana4x2rcm971089/rcm97108915.jpg

Does someone knows how the handling was , off these early mid motor cars (1989)

[sosidge]

http://www.rcmagvintage.com/reviews/retro/voitures/electrique/musee/mrc/articles/tt/santana/santana4x2rcm971089/rcm97108915.jpg

Does someone knows how the handling was , off these early mid motor cars (1989)

Like an X6? :woot:

That is a fantastic looking car though. I especially like the 2-gear transmission. Those MRC wheels used to turn up quite regularly in the UK, and I remember their 4wd buggy being reviewed in a mag, but never actually saw one in real life.

That website - www.rcmagvintage.com - is really good too. I'm having a little browse now :D

[Body Paint]

I had a MRC MRX back in the day. It was sold in 2 versions 4wd and 2wd and looks fairly similar to what you have there.

The 2wd version was identicle to the 4wd but didn't have front diff front driveshafts and belt, and the front wheels mounted onto some stub axles using a taper fit hex.

As I recall the car was very good on high grip and fairly good on slippy surfaces largely due to the fact that the 2 gear tranny which make the motor inertia load up the rear wheels under traction (in the same way as the 4 gear X-6)

[samd]

So thats a 1989 mid motored car with a geared diff, the future maybe?!

[mr. ed]

So thats a 1989 mid motored car with a geared diff, the future maybe?!

Well they also had a front motoer front-wheel-drive... but then FWD's were forced to drive in 4wd and the FWD craze soon died out after that.

On aside note: am I mistaking or was the tamiya fox also a Mid-moter design???

[jimmy]

My Kyosho raider was a mid motor from what I remember - never driven such a piece of crap in my whole life. It was terrible and had zero grip.

The only mid motor car in my stable is the TAG Coyote - I have the 2WD version which basically didn't come with the running gear to make it 4WD - otherwise it's the same I think.

[mr. ed]

I actually ran my boomerang in 2wd for a while: after realizing a starters budget wasn't going to allow me much in 4wd. (Only 2 wd had a stock class in our club almost 20 years ago.)

I think if you look around you'll see many other mid moter 2wd's in rc history: I know AYK had one at least.
It's only in the latest years mid-moters became a big thing for 2wd.
Before that , tires and suspension were so poor that a mid-moter was often not stable and grippy enough to handle the rear moter 2wd's.

So who's going to be the first to run an optima mid rear gearbox? Straight forward, easy to mount ;)

[terry.sc]

On aside note: am I mistaking or was the tamiya fox also a Mid-moter design???
The Fox was definitely rear motored, in fact Tamiyas first rear motored 2wd after the SRBs.


I think if you look around you'll see many other mid moter 2wd's in rc history: I know AYK had one at least. Like the AYK Sidewinder, Playtron Doberman, Mardave Apache, Tamiyas Frog and Hornet, and the motor above axle layout of the Marui Cosmo Shooter.

All were before 1984 and were abandoned when the RC10 came out and was faster on the track.

The Kyosho Raider was basically their 4wd Rocky kit with the front gearbox removed, so was never going to be good. Saying that, there were also RWD versions of the Schumacher CAT and PB Mini Mustang, for those who couldn't stretch to the full price of the 4WD cars.